Ever since the late Jim Fixx’s 1977 bestseller, The Complete Book of Running first popularized what was then referred to as jogging, annual mass-participation running events have been a mainstay staple on city streets. But interest in traditional road racing waxes and wanes depending on what off-road events or other forms of physical activity are in vogue at the time.
Running, however, has rebounded in a big way and organizers are expecting to crack the 10,000-participation level for the 36th Times Colonist 10K on April 27, up from the 8,600 this year. That follows the 12,367 who ran the Royal Victoria Marathon races last month, the third-highest total in the 44-year history of the event. The Royal Victoria Marathon in the fall and Times Colonist 10K in the spring are the two big bookends of the Island racing calendar.
More than 9,600 participated in the last pre-pandemic Times Colonist 10K in 2019.
“We have seen 10 per cent growth each year since the pandemic,” said race general manager Mark deFrias.
“It shows that no matter what’s happening in the world, people want to enjoy community and movement.”
Times Colonist 10K race director Mariah Kelly echoes those thoughts: “Races are again selling out everywhere. It’s an exciting time for racing in North America with the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028. Running is again experiencing a boom and is back to the levels of the 2010s.”
While mass participation is the key component of road racing events, they are also a big draw for elite runners, and recent past winners of the Times Colonist 10K have included back-to-back 2017 and 2018 women’s champion Dayna Pidhoresky of Tecumseh, Ont., with Malindi Elmore of Kelowna second in 2019. Pidhoresky and Elmore both represented Canada in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Elmore again in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Past home-Island winners of the Times Colonist 10K have included Olympic track-medallist Angela Chalmers and two-time Olympic marathoner Bruce Deacon.
“We have such a high level of talent right here where we live, higher than anywhere else in Canada, and we love to showcase Island runners,” said Kelly, an alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team.
The 2025 Times Colonist 10K will feature a start route from Menzies Street that will be new over the first four kilometres, heading toward Beacon Hill Park, and then back from Cook Street through downtown to the finish line in the legislative precinct.
“We wanted to showcase more of the beauty of Beacon Hill Park,” said deFrias.
“We can’t share the route quite yet because we are just finalizing that.”
The 2025 race medal is designed to be both a stand-alone and also part of a unique three-year piece in which the 2025, 2026 and 2027 medals will connect together to form a larger medal.
“Each medal works on its own, but if you do the three races consecutively over three years, they will join together to create a larger medal,” said deFrias.
The registration portal for the 2025 run was launched Wednesday and is now open at tc10K.ca.
