Read the 2025 Run Calgary Community Impact Report Here
I recently celebrated 13 years since joining the Calgary Marathon Society as Executive Director, and as the organization’s first-ever full-time employee. Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of the positive impact this small but mighty team has created year after year.
2025 Hit Differently.
It was bigger, bolder, and richer with meaning. Before we turn the calendar forward, I want to honour the incredible work the Run Calgary team did, not just in getting more people moving, but in creating a deep, lasting impact for Calgary in ways both high-profile and quietly powerful.
Run Calgary delivers premier events that get people off the couch and into motion, chasing goals, building resilience, and crossing finish lines that mean something. 27,203 people registered for our events this year. Beyond the medals, we know running shapes lives: lowering stress, creating belonging, and contributing to long-term health outcomes, including reduced risk of heart disease and chronic illness.
Of those nearly 28,000 participants, 22% are under 18. At a time when youth are spending more time on screens and less time moving, we’re proud to see youth running participation up 70% in the last 2 years and more kids trading phones for finish lines, and discovering the joy and excitement of race day.
We also reached major milestones: expanding the Servus Calgary Marathon to a full two-day race weekend, launching a fall road half marathon with the Calgary Police Service, breaking into the Top 50 Global Marathon Brands, and contributing $25 million to the local economy. And then there’s the quieter work that doesn’t always make headlines, the lasting legacies we are especially proud of.
Legacy in Action: Phil in the Park + Wild Walk
Phil in the Park and The Wild Walk showcase how traditions evolve when community partners dream big together. Phil in the Park, now a free outdoor concert drawing 10,000 people to Prince’s Island Park, grew from Run Calgary’s eight-year partnership with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on Beat Beethoven, where runners raced to finish before a Beethoven symphony ended. Today, Phil in the Park carries the same spirit of delight and accessibility.
“Run Calgary has been the most wonderful partner for eight years,” says Calgary Phil CEO Marc Stevens. “There are runners who are orchestra fans and orchestra fans who are runners, and these moments bring us together around what we have in common.”
Similarly, Wild Walk continues the legacy of the Gorilla Run and Wild Run, which began in 2004 and evolved through a long partnership with Run Calgary. The inaugural Wild Walk raised more than $13,000 with 200 participants in support of conservation programs and the 4,000+ animals in the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo’s care. As Development Officer Jordy Nomura shared, “We’re deeply grateful to everyone who stepped up—literally—to champion wildlife across Canada and around the world.”
With enrichment stations, live entertainment, zoo admission, and a whole lot of community spirit, Wild Walk is poised to become a signature annual tradition, proof that impact lasts long after a race is retired.
Letting go of some of our smaller events allowed us to make space and deliver Calgary’s only road fall half marathon for our community. We continue to be humbled that Calgary Police Service entrusted Run Calgary to usher its iconic community event into a new chapter as the Calgary Police Classic. 2,300 participants joined us for the September event at Cowboys Park and we raised $22,109 for The Calgary Police Youth Foundation. Working with the CPS committee and outgoing race director Acting Inspector Steve Dowler this past year was an unanticipated highlight for the Run Calgary team. Together, we have big aspirations for the future of the Calgary Police Classic as a signature Calgary running event. Stay tuned!
Over the course of this year, 2100 Calgarians helped bring these events to life and gave of their time and talent across all of our events. You will often hear me repeat two things: The Run Calgary team is small but mighty and volunteers are the heart, brain and soul of the organization. Without both of these incredible groups of people being consistently exceptional and ridiculously dedicated, there is no Run Calgary. The Run Calgary team and our army of awesome volunteers spend so much time together we have inside jokes and nicknames and we look forward to the next event where we get to be together.
Recently, I spoke at an event at the Central Library and after I finished, a 20-something student who moved here from India last year shyly approached me to say that he has volunteered for Run Calgary 3 times and had so much fun and couldn’t wait to come back and asked when was the next opportunity to sign up. I had to hide my eyes because I started to well up. I just wanted to give this young volunteer a big hug because he articulated a sense of belonging that we are intentionally trying to create for every person who gives of their time and while we don’t always get it right, we got it right with him.
If you’re reading this and you are one of these awesome volunteers who choose to spend their finite amount of leisure time helping us create magical experiences to get people moving and have a lot of fun doing it, please believe that we are grateful and humbled.
A Culture That Adapts, Learns & Never Stays Still
One thing our team does exceptionally well is look honestly at what didn’t go as planned, own it, and improve. Folks who excel at Run Calgary have a growth mindset, take feedback with grace, and don’t take themselves too seriously. It makes us nimble. It helps us evolve. It gives us the courage to let go of beloved programs to make space for new opportunities. While we said goodbye to some longstanding races like Wild Run, Beat Beethoven, Flapjack 15 and Love is Love Mile to make room for The Calgary Police Classic, the end result was that more people crushed fall goals in 2025 with Run Calgary than ever before.
Participants aren’t the only ones with dreams! The Run Calgary team checked some big things off our bucket lists in 2025!
We hosted our first ever Run Crew Summit in partnership with Pomeroy Kananaskis. 31 community leaders came together for an inspired day to run trails, connect, move intentionally, laugh and dream about how we can work together to further galvanize Calgary’s running community.
We helped 221 low income Calgarians by becoming a City of Calgary Fair Entry partner, removing financial barriers and making our races more accessible to people because movement really is for everyone.
“Thank you for the great work you’re doing to make Calgary’s running events more inclusive. I wouldn’t have been able to participate in these events without the $30 registration fee offered to Fair Entry recipients. It’s a great initiative and truly appreciated.” – Andrea T.
Speaking of accessibility, we were incredibly proud to host and accommodate a number of athletes with disabilities including our special guest, author, filmmaker and ALS survivor, Andrea Peet, seen here with Servus Calgary Marathon ambassador and global speaker Chris Koch.
We know movement isn’t a one size fits all approach and again we don’t get it right all the time but we are learning, growing and trying to make sure each Run Calgary start line has room for every person regardless of ability.
Finally, we expanded our community events, throughout the year and specifically throughout race week. This provided an exceptional lead up to the races with so many ways to choose your own adventure to build anticipation and excitement on the way to the start line. And we didn’t stop there… you asked for it and we listened!
The Return of Ale Trail
Some of you noticed the revival of Ale Trail this November, co-hosted with Run21, one of the OG run crews that has supported and volunteered at our events for many years. It’s a free, themed, community run starting and ending at a local brewery, and yes… it’s back by popular demand.
More details on theme, route, brewery, and surprises are coming soon but save the date for January 21!
If you want to dig deeper into the stories, decisions, numbers, and heart behind it all, the 2025 Run Calgary Impact Report (all 27 pages of it!) tells the full story of a year that was nothing short of exceptional.
And finally, to our community (yes YOU!): thank you. You are the reason we lace up, show up, and keep building a city that moves. See you in 2026 and here’s to another wonderful year of making our community better one step at a time.
Thank you for reading my final blog of the year and if nothing else, I hear this has really helped our SEO 😉
Happy running,
Kirsten Fleming
Executive Director, Run Calgary
