Blue Nose Marathon celebrates 20 years with rainy running events

The atmosphere at the Halifax Commons was electric as thousands pounded the pavement this weekend to participate in the Blue Nose Marathon.

Over the last two days, the non-profit organization hosted six running events.

Starting off the weekend was the Lifemark 5K and the Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Run, followed with the 10K race, relay, and a half and full marathon.

More than 8,000 runners signed up for the big event.

“The event touches so many lives and so many people,” said Sherri Robbins, Blue Nose Marathon’s executive director.

According to Robbins, the marathon relies on an average of 1,000 volunteers to make it happen, but this year, only about 600 people signed up. The shortage of volunteers required many to work multiple days in order to keep the events effectively running.

While gusty winds and rain picked up as the day progressed, spirits remained high among runners.

“It was amazing. I remember after running for five minutes straight, I could barely feel my own body,” exclaimed marathon participant Matthew White.

White does not refer to himself as a runner, but he participated in both the Lifemark 5K and the 10K.

“Last year, I did just the 5K and I felt like it wasn’t enough so I decided to do both and it was definitely worth it.”

For participant Mengwai Wang, joining this marathon meant beating her personal best.

“I wanted to do the run in an hour. I’ve never run 10K within an hour, but today, I did it.”

The challenging weather did make for a more difficult run, said the first place winner of the men’s 10K, Jacob Benoit.

“The first half was very smooth and then the second half was hard, especially coming across the bridge, we had a bit of headwind, and then going uphill, I started to just fall backwards.”

His sister Eileen Benoit came in first place for the women’s 10K. Eileen is a cross-country runner and this year is her first time running the marathon.

“It was really nice to do it, especially since I don’t think I’ve done a road race since COVID-19, so [it was] fun to jump back in on the roads and get off the trail and tracks for a bit.”

The Blue Nose organization also gave a shoutout to the charities that participated in the event.

“We have more than 60 charities that are participating. We’re very happy to share that they’ve raised over $250,000 for their worthy causes,” said Robbins.