A New Era of Racing for the 2025 Servus Calgary Marathon

The Servus Calgary Marathon is thrilled to announce an exciting evolution for its 2025 race weekend. After celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024, the oldest marathon in Canada is shifting to a two-day event in response to explosive growth in participation and to deliver an even better race experience. With this expansion, the event is not just adapting to meet demand—it’s enhancing the race weekend into a full festival, making it a bigger, better celebration of the running community.

2024 was a year of celebration, community and growth, but we’re looking ahead, turning the page to ensure this iconic event continues to inspire, challenge and unite Calgarians for decades to come.

Why Are We Making the Shift?

As you may already know, 2024 saw the Servus Calgary Marathon sell out – proof that running is thriving in our community! With more people than ever lacing up their shoes to run, walk, and wheel, we found ourselves faced with an exciting challenge: How can we meet the growing demand while ensuring a safe, fun, and seamless experience for everyone? This is a big city race, and it deserves a big city experience!

An intense summer of strategic sessions resulted in an exciting growth strategy, 6 new team members, and *hot off the presses* a shiny new permit for a 2-day event from our wonderful partner, The City of Calgary. 

Run Calgary is realizing a many-year dream to move from one day of many events to two full days of events and a true race weekend. In addition to 6 distances, for every age and ability, there will be exciting pop ups, community meet ups, shake out runs, the Runner’s Expo and much more to help you curate your very own race experience which is so much MORE THAN RUN.

Here’s What It Means for You: A Weekend to Remember!

We’re rolling out the green and blue carpet with a whole Race Week experience, filled with excitement, energy, and opportunity to meet new running friends, learn from experts how to level up, try new tech and techniques and celebrate in ways you typically only equate with travelling to big city races. Are you ready for this?

• Monday: Crafty Monday’s – Cheer Sign Making
• Tuesday: Pop-up Event & Run with a local Run Crew
• Wednesday: Inspiring Documentary Watch Party: Go On, Be Brave + meet Andrea Peet (watch trailer) 
• Thursday: First Timers Dinner + RunTalk with Olympian Trevor Hofbauer for our newest marathoners
• Friday: Runner’s Expo Opens, Pace Party/Shake Out Run with a special guest
• Saturday: The ASICS Runkeeper 10 km, GoodLife Fitness 5 km, Wee Wild Ones Kids Race and Diaper Dash, and more will take over the streets early, followed by a Post-Race Festival and Yoga and an incredible expo where you can connect with vendors, local businesses, and fellow participants. 
• Sunday: The big day will still feature the Servus Credit Union 42.2 km, Centaur Subaru 21.1 km, Wee Wild Ones Kids Race, Post-Race Festival, and of course, an unforgettable After After Party—a celebration of everyone’s achievements to wrap up the weekend!

We are hosting a Wee Wild Ones Kids Race on both days as we are committed to getting kids moving and want to make this as simple as possible for caregivers. 

So Why All the Change?

We’re committed to improving the experience for everyone, and the decision to expand from one to two days comes down to a few key reasons:

1. Sustainable Growth: While 2024 saw near-record participation, we are committed to accommodating even more runners in the future while ensuring the race remains a high-quality, enjoyable experience.
2. Route Optimization: The growing popularity of the event means we need to fix some challenges like route congestion and overlapping events. We want to create a smoother, more enjoyable race day for you, and this means adjusting the schedule and logistics.
3. Construction and City Growth: As Calgary continues to evolve, so too does the infrastructure around the city. This requires us to adapt our routes to fit the changing landscape, ensuring we maintain safety and maximize the experience for all.
4. More Support for You: One of the biggest takeaways from our recent strategy sessions is the importance of building an even stronger community experience around the race. We’re working closely with local run crews, partners, and spectators to fill the route with energy and encouragement, giving you the motivation you need to power through to the finish line.

Benefits of a 2-Day Event

This move allows people to get involved in different capacities on both days! We are thrilled that this will allow families, teams and organizations more opportunities to race, cheer and/or volunteer.

1. Race & Cheer: If you are part of a group that is racing different distances, this move allows you to cheer each other on when you’re not racing! Instead of starting or finishing at different times, waiting hours for the 5 km to start at noon, or missing each other out on course, this switch encourages teams to take turns cheering each other on and make the whole weekend a celebration!
2. Race & Volunteer: Race one day, volunteer another. The 2-day event allows you the opportunity to be part of the excitement all weekend. Races wouldn’t be possible without our incredible volunteer crew that consists of over 1,500 individuals. We always encourage participants to give back to the running community by volunteering, whether it’s at our race or one of the many other incredible race events that take place in Southern Alberta.
3. Volunteer & Cheer: Not a runner/walker, but still looking to fully immerse yourself in the race weekend festivities? We would love to have you join us as a volunteer on/before race day to get a unique behind-the-scenes perspective of what goes into planning a race. Then, mix things up by heading out on-course on Saturday or Sunday to cheer on participants as they chase down their goals!

What Does This Look Like for You?

If you’re gearing up for the ASICS Runkeeper 10 km, which is now moving to Saturday at 7:30 AM, expect an invigorating new race day experience! You’ll have more space to move, more cheering crowds along the route, and a new wave of excitement that sets the tone for the whole weekend.

If you’re running, walking or using a mobility device in the GoodLife Fitness 5 km Family Walk & Run, your start time is Saturday at 9:15 AM. There will be no late start, reduced potential for high temps, lots of time to join the post-race festivities at Enmax Park with post-race celebration, stretch and youth activities.

If you’re already registered in the 5 km or 10 km, you received a specific email at 3:00 pm MT on Monday January 13 with the subject line “2025 Servus Calgary Marathon – An Update Regarding Your 5km/10 km Registration” containing a variety of options for how you’d like to proceed with your registration.

A Bigger, Better Event for All

The expansion to a two-day event is complex – but we are creating a truly world-class festival that celebrates the incredible energy and spirit of Calgary. This move allows us to:

• Meet Growing Demand: We simply can’t go beyond certain registration numbers due to road allowances and closures. By expanding to two days, we can accommodate more participants while keeping things safe and efficient.
• Boost Economic Impact: With more people participating and visiting Calgary for the race, this new format will drive even more economic growth in our city—supporting local businesses, tourism, and the economy as a whole. Double after party anyone?
• Elevate the Festival Atmosphere: We’re not just a race; we’re a celebration of Calgary’s vibrant community. With two full days of events, our marathon weekend will become a festival, bringing runners and spectators together for a truly memorable experience.

What’s Next?

We’re excited to bring these changes to life in 2025, and while there are still a few logistics to work out, we’re ready to rise to the occasion. We have a comprehensive plan in place to ensure this transition is smooth and brings you the best experience possible.

The Servus Calgary Marathon has been a beacon of community spirit for 60 years, and with these exciting changes, we’re ensuring it thrives for decades to come. We can’t wait to welcome you to the starting lines for the biggest and best race weekend our city has ever seen!

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Let’s keep running, Calgary—together! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️