Record-breaking 25,000 runners race in BMO Vancouver Marathon

Organizers say a record-breaking number of people turned out to run in the BMO Vancouver Marathon on Sunday.

The race, now considered the largest marathon in Canada, started in 1972 with only 32 finishers. Organizers estimated Sunday afternoon that more than 25,000 people from over 60 countries ran in the marathon, half marathon and eight-kilometre and kids' races.

The event draws everyone from athletes to amateurs each year, each with their own reason for running, and many with the goal of fundraising for a cause. 

Running with family, to raise money

Cherie Ehlert and Drew Scollon ran the half marathon Sunday with 15-year-old Charlie-Anne Cox, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at six months old. 

Cox has been part of Canuck Place Children's Hospice, B.C.'s only pediatric palliative care provider, since she was nine months old. 

She wasn't supposed to live past her first birthday, but now at 15 years old, she's completed the marathon for the fifth time, and raised over $92,500 for Canuck Place — surpassing her goal of $60,000.

Ehlert, Cox's mother, said the marathon represents hard work and is something they can do to give back to a place that gives so much to them.

Over the last few years Cox's racing team, Charlie's Angels, has raised half a million dollars.

"We just want people to see the physical things that we're willing to do, and the way Charlie puts herself out there," Ehlert said, adding that Cox kept telling them to "hurry, hurry, hurry" during the race.

"She's been the youngest marathon-goer for the last few years, her first one was at 10. It just means a lot to us to do a physical activity as a group."

Another runner, Katie Creel, said she was out Sunday to honour her partner's parents, who have cancer. She ran the eight-kilometre race alongside them, despite herself having a recently dislocated shoulder.

"It was just wonderful, they're strong, they're in their 60s, and they're doing it," she said.

Increased security unrelated to festival tragedy, says VPD

Vancouver Police Department Insp. Jeff Neuman said Thursday that they would have 200 officers at the marathon to work alongside thousands of BMO race volunteers.

He said the deployment was an increase from last year, but not as a result of a specific threat to the event, or in response to the Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy.

One of the half marathon runners Sunday, Jusong Baek, said he had friends who attended the Filipino community festival last weekend.

"Thankfully, my friends were okay, but it was definitely a growing concern when it came to security," he said. "When I was running, it was good, it was relatively safe and well-organized, but it was still a whiplash effect to see this sudden catastrophe happen out of nowhere."

Baek said he saw several runners with Filipino flags on their clothing.

"I was really empowered to see people going through [with] it, despite everything that's been going on."

CBC also spoke to two other half marathon runners, Monica Wach and Amber Tulissi. It was Tulissi's first time running a marathon, but both said they felt very safe.

"Vancouver's done a really good job of making sure they've upped police presence, and making sure that everyone does feel secure and safe," said Wach. "That incident was very isolated and I wasn't worried about anything happening here."

Tulissi added "there was police presence everywhere, not at one time did I feel unsafe — it was a great day."

Race results

The first-place marathon titles Sunday went to Dominic Arce at 2:14:33, in the men's category, and Dayna Pidhoresky at 2:35:07, in the women's category.

The half marathon champions were Andrew Davies, who finished in 1:04:10 in the men's, and Melissa Paauwe, who completed in 1:17:09 in the women's.

Full race results can be found on the BMO Marathon webpage.