SAINT ANDREWS – The annual Kiwanis Father’s Day Road Race takes place this Sunday in Saint Andrews.
Organizers halted the run in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic, bringing it back last year. There are also children’s runs that take place before the adult run.
The 5M run began in 1979 and still uses “Imperial units or old units,” said race organizer Michael Power. He said the race was initially sort of five miles, but in the last few years, “we made it exactly five miles for championship or record purposes,” he said.
The race is an official RaceNB event and is classed as a Super Series race.
Prior to the pandemic, Power said they had more than 200 competitors, including children. Last year and so far this year, numbers are down.
“I think the running community is just getting back to normal now,” said Power, adding he is hopeful a large number of people will sign up in the last week before the race.
Power said the children’s races are shorter and the participants run toward an RCMP cruiser with its lights flashing, run around the cruiser and back to the start/finish line.
Power said the route makes a circuit around the outskirts of the town, going down to Pagan Point in the south and past the golf course in the north.
One notable part of the race is a large hill that Power said runners always comment about. It’s toward the end of the race.
“(It’s) a nasty hill that runners always talk about because it’s in the last mile of the race.”
Runners can register on the Facebook page or on the RunNB website.
robertfisher@stcroixcourier.ca