Close to 4,500 people put on their running shows and participated in this year’s Queen City Marathon.
Sean Weimer, the executive director of Run Regina and the Race Director for the Queen City Marathon, said it was a fantastic race weekend with people from across the country, continent, and world hitting Regina for the marathon.
After a few down years, Weimer said they saw 4,400 runners participate, a step closer to their normals pre-pandemic.
“This year, our numbers were up about 21 per cent from 2022,” he said. “A significant increase from last year and really starting to regain that feel that we had for the event back in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Still, there is a little recovery for us to go and get back to the numbers we saw back in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but we’re well on our way there, and this year is a great indication of where things are heading into the future.”
He said watching people from different experience levels and ages participate is always great.
“It’s really a heartwarming experience bringing the entire community together. Whether the person is completing a 5k for the very first time or whether they’re doing their 100th marathon, it is really a story behind each of their journey to get to the start line and, probably more importantly, to get to the finish line on a race weekend.”
Weimer said an event like the marathon is only possible with the community.
“The support of the entire community around what we’re doing is absolutely fantastic. I mean, there are very few events in Regina that take over 42 kilometres of roadway,” he said. “Something like a marathon really does take the entire city to be a part of the team to put that event on because they are coming from the northwest corner all the way to the southeast corner of the city.”
He noted that includes the 650 volunteers.
“Our volunteers are fantastic, and often runners, especially those from outside of Regina itself, speak to that as one of the reasons why they choose to come to Regina and run the Queen City Marathon, is the encouragement they get from the volunteers, and as the race director, there is absolutely no way we would be able to put the event on without that support.”
It wasn’t all about the marathon, as Weimer said that they had live music on-site all weekend, had a movie night, as well as the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Regina Pats, and Regina Red Sox on-site to make it fun for everyone participating or watching the marathon.
Weimer said they already have great things planned for 2024 and encouraged everyone, whether as a volunteer, spectator or participant, to check out the Queen City Marathon next year.
