Thousands of Edmontonians showed up to cheer on runners at this year’s historic Servus Edmonton Marathon.
Sunday, 965 participants had registered for the full marathon. It’s the first time in the race’s history that more than 900 people have signed up.
Across all events, more than 4,500 runners and walkers were out, aided by nearly 400 volunteers. Counting the runners and the crowds, one race official said attendance was close to 15,000.
“This year we sold out,” said Brian Torrance, Elite Athlete Coordinator with Servus Edmonton Marathon. “Over 60 per cent is where we wanted to be in the marathon, and we exceeded that.”
“It feels pretty good, feels pretty satisfying.”
Registration wasn’t the only record broken at the event.
David Eliuk ran the marathon in 78 T-shirts, unofficially breaking the Guinness World Record for the most T-shirts worn during a marathon.
“My shoulders are killing me,” Eliuk said.
Finishing with a time of just over five hours, Eliuk said the shirts add a lot of extra time to the race, which can be a problem when you’re wearing dozens of shirts.
“This one’s really hot,” he said. “Thanks to the race, they had the six o’clock start, so I got an extra hour of cold temperatures. Made a big difference.”
In another first, the winner of the women’s marathon, Janelle Bykowski, came in with a time of 2:51:53, despite it being the first marathon the Lethbridge resident had ever run.
Taiwanese-American Meng-Tsung Chu took top spot in the men’s marathon event. The 41-year-old’s time of 2:22:54 was one of the fastest in the race’s 32-year history.
This year, more than $20,000 was raised from registration fees. That money will be donated to KidSport Alberta and the Edmonton Food Bank.
With files from CTC News Edmonton’s Brandon Lynch