Like many spring marathons around the globe, the Scotiabank Blue Nose Marathon has been postponed.
But unlike marathons in Toronto, Vancouver, Vienna, Rome and Tokyo, which were cancelled outright due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Blue Nose event – scheduled for the Victoria Day long weekend – will be pushed back to the fall.
Sherri Robbins, the executive director of the Blue Nose Marathon, said the event’s board of directors are very close to announcing a rescheduled date and are waiting for the green light from Halifax Regional Municipality.
“It was the best decision for everybody,” Robbins said. “We want the event to continue so we looked at a time later in the season when that can happen.”
Organizers are looking at possibly late October or early November to hold the Blue Nose weekend.
Robbins said they have to be “mindful and respectful” of other running events in the region that are staged in the fall. Among others, the Maritime Race Weekend is slated for Sept. 11-12, the Cape Breton Fiddlers Marathon is Sept. 13, the Prince Edward Island Marathon is Oct. 16-18, the Valley Harvest Marathon is Oct. 20 and Legs for Literacy Moncton is scheduled for Oct. 23-25.
“There are a number of factors that we’re trying to consider and we don’t want to interfere with those events,” Robbins said.
“There’s nowhere we can move where there’s going to be a little bit of an impact. But we’re really trying to minimize that impact.”
Some major spring marathons have either paused or postponed their races to the fall.
The Boston Marathon, which was set to run on April 20, will now be held on Sept. 14. Run Ottawa has paused registration on all events including the May 23-24 Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon.
In Europe, the Paris Marathon has moved from April 5 to Oct. 18 and the London Marathon has been postponed from April 26 to Oct. 4.
This will be the second consecutive year in which the Blue Nose has moved from its usual May long weekend spot.
Last year, the event was pushed back three weeks to early June to accommodate the 2019 Memorial Cup, which the Halifax Mooseheads hosted at Scotiabank Centre.
Robbins said organizers weighed the pros and cons of either postponing to a later date or cancelling for this year.
She added that the availability of a facility like Scotiabank Centre or the Halifax Convention Centre to stage the event also came into consideration.
“We’re working through that as well,” Robbins said. “But we wanted everybody know – our participants, our volunteers, our sponsors, our charities – as quickly as possible. A lot of people are training and fundraising for the event. There’s a lot to figure out.
“This time last week, we were cautiously optimistic that we would be able to continue with the Victoria Day weekend," she recalled. "But by last Friday, that changed. And then Saturday, it changed more. And then Sunday, even more. Within a matter of 24 hours, we knew it was not possible.
“We knew it was coming. But we really don’t want to postpone, we want this to happen. However, the health and safety of our community is most important. Now we have more time to plan for this.”
As of 1 p.m. on Wednesday, registration was paused and will reopen as soon as a new date is confirmed.
