It's the Bluenose marathon (BN) and associated events, half, 10k, 5k and kids run, this weekend (May 21-23). It's pretty much the largest event of it's kind in Nova Scotia, maybe the Maritimes. Of all the events, the full marathon, arguably the Blue Ribbon event of the weekend, attracts about 350 runners, with maybe 1000 in the half, the same again in the 5 and 10k and usually about 3500, or half the weekend's total, in the 4.2K kids run on Saturday.
Bluenose bills itself as the peoples' marathon, which means it has had several run-ins with the local running community over the years, as regards their policies on Elites, prizes, t-shirts, routes, rules and like. Not to mention a spectacular black-eye two years ago. Last year went pretty smoothly though, so they got those problems sorted. This notwithstanding, their self-proclaimed remit is to get Halifax running, and in this respect, they do this very well. Those 7000 people represent maybe 2.5% of the 280 000 or so who live in HRM (yes, we know not all the runners are from HRM but work with us here!). Speaking of dodgy statistics and marathon running, if you look at the Boston start-list a month ago, there were over 100 Nova Scotians, which given the population of Nova Scotia (ca. 1 000 000) means 0.01% of the Province's population ran Boston. That's not bad, is it
The half-marathon, probably the most popular distance among triathletes, takes in a loop and a half around peninsular Halifax. Starting at the Metro Centre, you go around the Citadel, Commons, the north end, down to the Navy on Barrington, Provo Wallis, Hollis, Inglis, Point Pleasant Park, back up to the Common, another little loop of the north end and back to the Metro Centre. A good place to see the race is at Young and Inglis, everyone passes twice, plus the park sorts people out a little bit. If you haven't got the miles in for the half, this is where it is going to start to tell! Apart from Tower in the park, the first half is pretty flat and you might start to wonder where BN gets its reputation from. It gets it from the second half, mwah ha ha!
The full and half run together for the first 21km. The second half of the marathon goes over to Dartmouth and does a loop past Mic Mac Mall, Shubie, Grahams Grove, up the infamous Maple and then back over the bridge to finish. A good place to see the full marathon is at the Timmies on Waverly by Montebello. Why? Well, there's the obvious; coffee (after a fashion) and toilets, but there's another reason. It's the exit from Shubie. The marathon only does two or three kilometers in Shubie, but Shubie is, nonetheless, a magical place where wondrous things happen. Not magical as in Magic Kingdom, but if the marathoners are doing it right, there's still a good chance they'll see Tinkerbell.
...and you don't get the nice Tinkerbell after twenty miles either, you get Kylie's manic, hopped-up-on-Absinthe Tinkerbell
You see, you go into the park at 29k and everything should be feeling OK. You leave at 32 k, the mythical 20 miles, after which nothing in a marathon can be guaranteed! You may not have blown up leaving the park, but be rest assured, it could happen any time in the next 5km, and often without warning. So you're just left wondering when it's going to happen. One minute you're fine, the next, you're a drooling wreck running into trees. And all just in time for Maple. So all things considered, Locks Road is a great place to see the full. Coffee, loos, donuts and the prospect of seeing people in great pain in the name of sport (theirs) and entertainment (yours); "are you not entertained?".
Is this not why you are here?
The 10k usually starts separately and is a simple out-and-back over the MacDonald Bridge to Dartmouth and back. The big draw is you get to run on the span of the MacDonald, not the little walkway. Stop and take pictures, we've seen many who do.
This year the start-schedule seems a bit ambitious with four start times; one each for the marathon, half, 10 and 5 k spread over an hour. If you are running, pay attention. You don't want to start in the wrong wave and inadvertently clock a 60 minute 5 k or something; that'll really screw up the chip timers. This goes double if you're feeling a bit punchy, being half way through the Bluenose Brick. A Bluenose Brick is whereby some of our number rise extra-specially early and clock 100km on the bike before reporting to the Metro Centre, pinning on a dossard and doing the half. No-one, to our knowledge, has ever tried the Bluenose Brick but with the full. It can only be a matter of time (you know who we're talking about).
Triathletes have traditionally done well at this race and occupy many of the places of honor in all of the events, from 5km to 42.2km, from 2004 to now. We think the Cookie Monster has the record for the greatest number of BN full marathons in TNS (and possibly the record full-stop); he ran the inaugural 2004 full and then the full in each of '06, '07, '08, '09 and is down for '10. This is on a par with David MacLellan, who has raced each full (6 total) and who's record stands at five wins and a DNF.
Mark Campbell and Cookie Monster looking suitably grim at the 40K mark in the 2008 Bluenose
We think Penny Hart has the TNS ladies record with three fulls ('06, '07 and '09) and is also down to run the full this weekend. The TurnAround itself has three fulls under our capacious number belt ('04, '05 and '09) as well as a half ('06). We're down to pace bunny the half to a 1:30 but we'll probably keep on going to get marathon 12 in the bag and hopefully some personal redemption following Boston. Marie-Claude Grégoire will bunny the 1:45 half and Cathy Carter, who was handing out medals and water and doing most of the other jobs at Du It For Shelter, will be bunnying the 2:00 half, so between us there will be enough friendly faces to see you home if you're out there.
The weather has always been hit and miss for BN, usually miss. We reckon if you only came to Halifax for BN, you would likely be under the impression we didn't have a harbour, as it is usually obscured by fog; running over the span is like running in a cloudy bubble, and you are unable to see either the tops of the bridge spans or the water below.
The MacDonald Bridge in Bluenose livery
It may be too early to say for sure, but the forecast is looking atypically good for BN Sunday, double figures even, although old hands will say there's still time for snow, just in time for the start.
So we'll see you down the races this weekend then. We'll be at the Expo on Friday and Saturday too, at the TNS booth where we'll be taking memberships, giving out schedules, selling TNS mugs ($5 only, correct change would be awesome), raffling a TNS hoodie and we have a little secret something for members (the password is "what is Mark doing?").
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The half-marathon, probably the most popular distance among triathletes, takes in a loop and a half around peninsular Halifax. Starting at the Metro Centre, you go around the Citadel, Commons, the north end, down to the Navy on Barrington, Provo Wallis, Hollis, Inglis, Point Pleasant Park, back up to the Common, another little loop of the north end and back to the Metro Centre. A good place to see the race is at Young and Inglis, everyone passes twice, plus the park sorts people out a little bit. If you haven't got the miles in for the half, this is where it is going to start to tell! Apart from Tower in the park, the first half is pretty flat and you might start to wonder where BN gets its reputation from. It gets it from the second half, mwah ha ha!
The full and half run together for the first 21km. The second half of the marathon goes over to Dartmouth and does a loop past Mic Mac Mall, Shubie, Grahams Grove, up the infamous Maple and then back over the bridge to finish. A good place to see the full marathon is at the Timmies on Waverly by Montebello. Why? Well, there's the obvious; coffee (after a fashion) and toilets, but there's another reason. It's the exit from Shubie. The marathon only does two or three kilometers in Shubie, but Shubie is, nonetheless, a magical place where wondrous things happen. Not magical as in Magic Kingdom, but if the marathoners are doing it right, there's still a good chance they'll see Tinkerbell.
...and you don't get the nice Tinkerbell after twenty miles either, you get Kylie's manic, hopped-up-on-Absinthe TinkerbellYou see, you go into the park at 29k and everything should be feeling OK. You leave at 32 k, the mythical 20 miles, after which nothing in a marathon can be guaranteed! You may not have blown up leaving the park, but be rest assured, it could happen any time in the next 5km, and often without warning. So you're just left wondering when it's going to happen. One minute you're fine, the next, you're a drooling wreck running into trees. And all just in time for Maple. So all things considered, Locks Road is a great place to see the full. Coffee, loos, donuts and the prospect of seeing people in great pain in the name of sport (theirs) and entertainment (yours); "are you not entertained?".
Is this not why you are here?The 10k usually starts separately and is a simple out-and-back over the MacDonald Bridge to Dartmouth and back. The big draw is you get to run on the span of the MacDonald, not the little walkway. Stop and take pictures, we've seen many who do.
This year the start-schedule seems a bit ambitious with four start times; one each for the marathon, half, 10 and 5 k spread over an hour. If you are running, pay attention. You don't want to start in the wrong wave and inadvertently clock a 60 minute 5 k or something; that'll really screw up the chip timers. This goes double if you're feeling a bit punchy, being half way through the Bluenose Brick. A Bluenose Brick is whereby some of our number rise extra-specially early and clock 100km on the bike before reporting to the Metro Centre, pinning on a dossard and doing the half. No-one, to our knowledge, has ever tried the Bluenose Brick but with the full. It can only be a matter of time (you know who we're talking about).
Triathletes have traditionally done well at this race and occupy many of the places of honor in all of the events, from 5km to 42.2km, from 2004 to now. We think the Cookie Monster has the record for the greatest number of BN full marathons in TNS (and possibly the record full-stop); he ran the inaugural 2004 full and then the full in each of '06, '07, '08, '09 and is down for '10. This is on a par with David MacLellan, who has raced each full (6 total) and who's record stands at five wins and a DNF.
Mark Campbell and Cookie Monster looking suitably grim at the 40K mark in the 2008 BluenoseWe think Penny Hart has the TNS ladies record with three fulls ('06, '07 and '09) and is also down to run the full this weekend. The TurnAround itself has three fulls under our capacious number belt ('04, '05 and '09) as well as a half ('06). We're down to pace bunny the half to a 1:30 but we'll probably keep on going to get marathon 12 in the bag and hopefully some personal redemption following Boston. Marie-Claude Grégoire will bunny the 1:45 half and Cathy Carter, who was handing out medals and water and doing most of the other jobs at Du It For Shelter, will be bunnying the 2:00 half, so between us there will be enough friendly faces to see you home if you're out there.
The weather has always been hit and miss for BN, usually miss. We reckon if you only came to Halifax for BN, you would likely be under the impression we didn't have a harbour, as it is usually obscured by fog; running over the span is like running in a cloudy bubble, and you are unable to see either the tops of the bridge spans or the water below.
The MacDonald Bridge in Bluenose liveryIt may be too early to say for sure, but the forecast is looking atypically good for BN Sunday, double figures even, although old hands will say there's still time for snow, just in time for the start.
So we'll see you down the races this weekend then. We'll be at the Expo on Friday and Saturday too, at the TNS booth where we'll be taking memberships, giving out schedules, selling TNS mugs ($5 only, correct change would be awesome), raffling a TNS hoodie and we have a little secret something for members (the password is "what is Mark doing?").
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See you at the expo. 10K here I come (I like to cross the bridge, but am no where near being marathon ready).
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