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A royal event
Royal Victoria Marathon, Canada.
OCTOBER
07
2007
PHOTOS CREDITS: SIMON DESROCHERS, TONY AUSTIN
By Louise Hodgson-Jones
Many call it the perfect marathon.
Course undulations and
occasionally inclement weather
make it a challenge but most agree
that the Royal Victoria Marathon is
a memorable ‘royal’ experience
under any conditions.
It attracts a wide selection of the
racing fraternity – from the onetime
marathoner to the elite chasing
a course record. Hotel rooms on
race weekend – the race is always
held on Canadian Thanksgiving
weekend - must be booked weeks in
advance. With the marathon, half
marathon, 8km road race and a
kid’s run, over 9,000 runners with
family and friends descend on
British Columbia’s capital city to
take part in one of most scenic
races in North America.
According to race director Rob
Reid, a running icon in Victoria,
what stands the RVM apart is that:
“It’s scenic, and we treat everyone
royally”. He knows, because every
year he is at the finish line shaking
thousands of hands as runners of
all ages complete in personal best
times. Many are in tears, not quite
believing they did it. “I remember
Rob Reid shaking my hand as I
came across the finish line for my
first Victoria Marathon three years
ago,” Catherine Wiggins recalls.
A seven-time marathoner from
Vancouver, Wiggins calls Victoria “a
unique experience.” It was so
memorable that she came back in
2007 with her friend Deborah
White. White had lost 200lbs (90kg)
in five years by joining a Vancouver
running group and progressing from
10km races to half marathons.
Deciding to do Victoria was a big
decision. “As race day approached I
got very nervous, but I knew I had
trained hard. My only goal was to
run the race without stopping.”
Supported by family and friends she
finished in 4:57:40 – a huge
achievement and one that will stay
ingrained in her memory. “No one
will ever need to ask me what my
first RVM marathon time was as it
is now tattooed on my foot,” she
says proudly.
For others running Victoria is a
matter of course – there are three
runners who have run all 28 races
and not to run the race would feel
unnatural. “It’s such a tradition
now that I can’t think of doing
anything else for Thanksgiving,”
says Rose-Marie Preston. A runner
for over 35 years, her best time is
3:46 and she comes back every year
to challenge herself over the scenic
route. “My goal these days is to
start and finish.”
Ken Bonner, a local Victoria runner,
has run more than 160 marathons
and used to average 10 marathons
a year. Now he usually does three,
with Victoria his favourite.
“Victoria isn’t a big city marathon
but has a class about it. It has a
nice fall atmosphere with all the
colors,” he says. One marathon
stood out in his memory: “It was a
foggy day and we were running on
Dallas Road by the ocean when the
fog started to lift. The sun was
trying to peep through and it
created such a surreal image.”
For Terry Slater, another Victoria
runner, running the race is more
challenging now, but he wouldn’t
think of doing anything else. “It’s
part of my life and even though I
don’t run or train as hard as I used
to, I still enjoy it,” he says.
The marathon course has seen some
changes in its 28-year history – for
the first four years it consisted of a
13-mile double-loop course that
started and finished at Beacon Hill
Park. 1985 saw it take on the shape
it is today with an out and back
course. Since 1986 the start has
either been on Government Street
or more recently on Menzies Street,
a block away from the Inner
Harbor, and the finish in front of
the majestic Legislature, the B.C.
Parliament building. Apart from a
stretch through downtown at the
beginning of the race, a trip
through two of Victoria’s affluent
neighborhoods, and a meander
through the prestigious Royal
Victoria Golf Club, the out and
back route has ocean views for its
entire length.
“The nice thing about an out and
back course rather than a point-topoint
is that you can see and say
hello to friends as you pass,” says
Distance Running January – March 2008
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