Thousands of people ran, walked or just supported their loved ones on the sidelines in this year’s sold out 31st annual Edmonton Marathon.
“It’s just good to have the community back,” Men’s half-marathon winner Trevor Hofbauer said.
This is the first time the Edmonton Marathon has been held in person since 2019. In 2020 and 2021, virtual events were held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I definitely think people were missing this, I know I didn’t race through the early part of the pandemic,” Women’s half-marathon winner Danielle Thiel said.
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More than 3,500 people signed up for either the 42.2K marathon, the 21.1K half-marathon or the 10K army run on Sunday.
Kelowna’s Trevor Hofbauer won the men’s half-marathon with a time of 01:04:53.
He said not having races like this was tough.
“For a lot of people races like this are big goals, so during the pandemic when you didn’t have races and you had time trials it really deflated a lot of individuals and their goals,” Hofbauer said.
Lethbridge’s Kip Kangogo recently won the Calgary Marathon and had his sights set on winning Edmonton’s — which he did with a time of 02:23:23.
“I feel really good, after not running this race for the last two years because of the unprecedented pandemic, it was cool to come back, the energy was lifting,” Kangogo said.
After having a baby not long ago, Edmonton’s Danielle Thiel won the women’s half-marathon with a time of 01:19:35. She said she was thrilled to have her son there to watch.
“This is my third race back and so it’s sort of coming along,” Thiel said. “It was great to have him here on the course cheering for me, I got to see him a couple times so that was super special.”
Despite all the medals handed out, organizers said there is a much bigger win in all this.
“That’s what it’s all about, getting out and being active and healthy and start living outdoors again with one another,” Edmonton Marathon director Tom Keough said.