Overnight rains didn’t put a damper on the Manitoba Marathon, with thousands racing to the finish line on Sunday.
Just over 10,000 people registered in the annual race, which is a Father’s Day tradition in Winnipeg.
Rachel Munday, executive director of the Manitoba Marathon, says staff were watching the weather closely with overnight rains in the forecast.
“The morning was a little bit crazy, obviously we had some not great weather this morning [but] luckily, Mother Nature co-operated,” she said Sunday.
The races that kicked off early Sunday morning were the full and half marathons, a marathon relay, and 5K and 10K runs.
Munday says the best part of the day is always the joy of the finish line, but Sunday was even more special as half of all registered runners were new to the event.
“Every moment of today is going to be exciting for them, you know, we work all year for one day and this is it.”
Caydin Cleland, a biochemistry student at the University of Manitoba, was one of those first-timers to register in the event. The 24-year-old is originally from Alberta but moved to Winnipeg as a teen to play hockey.
He saw the marathon as a chance to remember his dad, Jay Hamilton, who died at 42 years old in November 2022.
“I lost my dad about a year-and-a-half ago, to a drug overdose, and it has been really hard for me and others in my family,” he told CBC on Saturday. “My uncle also passed away from an overdose, two years before my dad.”
His goal was to raise $5,000 for Sunshine House’s mobile overdose prevention site — which offers people a safe place to use substances where they can also be supervised by staff — before the end of Sunday.
Cleland’s fundraiser garnered just over $6,000 as of Sunday morning.
“I think my dad would be proud that I’m doing something that [is] fighting a fight that has impacted me,” he said.
Cleland’s advice to anyone wanting to give back is to “go outside and look in your community, look down your block and see what immediate impact you could have.”
Winners
Cameron Levins, who resides in Black Creek, B.C., was the first winner of the day. He won the half-marathon for the second year in a row.
“I know this course like the back of my hand,” he told CBC after the race on Sunday.
The athlete is headed to Paris this summer to compete in the Olympics.
“I’m really looking forward to it, I’ve got a lot of marathons under my belt now, so just getting ready and as fit as I can,” he said. “Any chance to represent Canada again on the international stage is great, obviously the Olympics is the peak of that.”
People called his name from the sidelines of the race, and Levins took some pictures with fans afterwards. He hopes some of them will follow in his footsteps.
“If I’m able to inspire any younger athletes, that’s a win in my books.”
The first runners to finish Sunday’s full marathon were Andrew Taylor from the U.S. and Winnipeg’s Dawn Neal.