Entering its eighth year, Texada Island Run the Rock has earned the reputation for those in the know of being one of the toughest road marathons in Canada.
“The person who gave it that title is Dr. Janet Green,” said race director Rob McWilliam. “She has run more marathons than any other woman in Canada so she has lots to compare it to.”
The race starts and ends at Shelter Point, traversing much of the island in its 42 kilometre distance. A half marathon and eight-kilometre run take place the same day.
Racers from across Canada make the trek to Texada, according to McWilliam.
“This year we have people from Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and quite a wide cross section of people from all over BC,” he said.
Getting to Texada takes a level of dedication, especially in light of changes to ferry schedules in recent years, he added.
“We were doing great the first couple of years when the runners from Vancouver Island could come over in the morning,” said McWilliam, “but when BC Ferries changed its schedule our numbers went down quite a bit.”
Given the proximity, McWilliam said it surprises him how few residents from the upper Sunshine Coast participate.
“We get quite a few runners from Vancouver Island, but one thing I’m a little disappointed about is we don’t get a lot of local runners, like Powell River runners,” he added. “I guess they don’t consider it far enough away to be an exotic marathon.”
The race takes place on Sunday, August 26, however, the deadline for registering for the full and half marathon is August 22.
“It’s a hard deadline,” said McWilliam. “We’re a very small committee so for us to have to deal with last-minute entries takes quite a bit of doing and it’s more than we can handle.”
Participants can be picked up and returned to the ferry on the day of the race, but those taking part in the full marathon need to be on the island Saturday night in order to make the race’s 7 am start time.
Shelter Point is a popular camping spot as the race begins and ends there, said McWilliam.
“For the eight [kilometre race], you can show up on the day and register; it’s a fun run basically,” he added.
For more information, go to runtexada.ca.
