Ottawa Sun
Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010

City finishes first

Hot and humid days, finally, herald the arrival of a bevy of late-spring, summer and early fall festivals that could fill up one's calendar every weekend from now until Halloween.

There's Bluesfest -- psst, I need some Keith Urban and Crowded House tickets -- along with the Tulip Festival happening right now and then there is the one-day and inaugural Orleans Festival d'Orleans on June 6 at the Shenkman Arts Centre (yes, I'm involved) that in a few short years will rival then surpass the successful Westfest in terms of talent and community impact, but I digress.

Which begs the question: What is our most successful festival in terms of economic impact, attendance and helping to put Ottawa on the map? In my less-than-humble opinion, it has to be Ottawa Race Weekend taking place on May 29 and 30.

This year's races of 2 km, 5 km, 10 km along with the half (21.1 km) and full marathons (42.2 km) have, again, shattered previous attendance records. To date, some 38,355 participants of all shapes and sizes from across the continent and around the world will pound the pavement of our downtown streets and lumber through Gatineau, several Ottawa neighbourhoods and up and down the canal.

ATTRACTED ELITE

In fact, every race is sold out except for the kids' marathon and this will likely fill up in the coming days. Race weekend has also attracted 100 or so elite runners -- some of the fastest distance runners in recorded history -- from across the globe. As an avid runner I can tell you from chatting at pre-race expos from Toronto to Philadelphia to Portland, Oregon, everyone knows about Ottawa's Race Weekend.

Almost 40,000 participants put Ottawa's races -- unquestionably the most successful and prestigious in Canada -- on par with the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon which happens each October and in the same numbers league (not history, to be fair) with the Boston and New York marathons. Moreover, the Ottawa Marathon now competes in the realm of other storied races in cities with names like London, Berlin, Tokyo and Sydney.

Sadly some back spasms (since January) have relegated this scribe to the 10 km race this year as opposed to my customary half-or full-marathon effort. But I will gamely hit the road along with 9,809 other runners in this race and marvel at the blistering pace set by the elite Kenyans, Ethiopians and Moroccans who aim to smash the world record of 27:01 with a $100,000 prize as incentive if someone can accomplish this feat.

To put this into perspective, even beating the world 10 km record by one second equates to a consulting rate of $61.73 cents per each second of striding like a gazelle through Ottawa's streets: Take that overpriced eHealth consultants.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

In terms of economic impact, every hotel room in Ottawa will be booked, restaurants, retail and bars will do a booming business and the estimated three-day tally of this activity will leave a cool $25 million of economic impact in our region.

This is all accomplished without a single government grant and in the absence of a title race sponsor. And you can still participate. Simply go to www.runottawa.comto check out the race routes and times and show up at a designated cheering station to be part of Ottawa's premier festival.