BMO Vancouver Marathon breaks registration records for 2019 event
Posted May 3, 2019 11:38 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Excitement is building is for this weekend’s BMO Vancouver Marathon, as the event expo opens today.
The roads will be more crowded than ever because of record breaking registration. Race organizers say more than 18,000 people are signed up to run on Sunday.
“This was basically a complete sellout across all of different event distances, so that’s the first time that’s happened in our history,” Race Director Eric Chéné said.
(Courtesy BMO Vancouver Marathon)
Runners from over sixty countries will be represented in the marathon, and many of them don’t always come alone. The marathon can generate a lot of business for the Vancouver-area.
“What happens is, yes, we do get the 6,000 plus destination runners, but a lot of them travel with families, and a lot of them will stay, you know, three, four, five nights in the city,” Chéné explained. “We estimate our economic impact to be about $55 million.”
The benefits aren’t just seen in the city, however, with Chéné adding many of these visitors often will travel to places like Whistler and Victoria post-race.
He partly credits Vancouver’s mild winter for the big numbers this year.
“I just think that [runners] were able to get their runs in this winter just due to the incredible weather we’ve had in this past year.”
A number of road closures will be in place.
Full list of road closures:
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