Changes on the horizon for the Servus Calgary Marathon as Calgary becomes a top Sport City destination.
Congrats to all the 59,226 finishers of the New York City Marathon this past Sunday – always such an epic celebration of the human spirit. A very special congratulations goes out to some Calgarians who made us proud: Ken Young who placed 1st in M65-69 with an incredible result of 2:55:51, Blaine Penny, who placed 3rd in M50-54 at 2:33:57, and Run Calgary Board of Directors Vice Chair, Meredith Conrod, on her first marathon and fundraising efforts for Classroom Champions.
The NYC Marathon is one of the biggest days in running in the world, the last world marathon majors of the year, and punctuates the end of the race season, at least here in North America. When I ran the New York Marathon in 2013, I returned to my job at the Calgary Marathon and wondered how we could possibly call what we do and what the New York Road Runners do as the same thing. Apart from both organizations putting on marathons that are 42.195 km in length, the similarities are limited.
One of the benefits and commonalities between all marathon major cities is that people really want to visit there. There’s already an energy and thriving tourism industry in New York City, Chicago, Boston, London, Tokyo, Berlin and now Sydney.
We might not have arrived at that level quite yet, but Tourism Calgary has an ambitious business plan to “Propel Calgary’s visitor economy to $6B in visitor spend by 2035 by inviting the world to explore our vibrant Blue Sky City, creating unforgettable experiences that connect people to our city and to each other.”
And folks working in tourism, business and hospitality believe we are well on our way…
Check out the new state of the art event centre (followed by a new stadium coming soon), record attendance at the Calgary Stampede this summer, world leaders touching down for G7… and if you need raw hard data, while summer travel from the U.S. was down across Canada, it was up by 29% in Calgary.
The Abbott World Marathon Majors won’t be vetting the Servus Calgary Marathon anytime soon to join their exclusive running club; however, Run Calgary still puts on a world-class event. The Servus Calgary Marathon has been ranked as a Top 50 Marathon Brand (we are 46th globally, top 5 in Canada!) according to this independent Brand Finance Report, alongside a world-class venue, and we want the world to not only know about it, but to join us at the start line.
According to this recent article by Brad Parry, CEO of Calgary Economic Development “Fueled by major infrastructure investments and a growing roster of professional teams, Calgary’s sport economy is emerging as a powerful driver of tourism, job creation and city vibrancy.”
Being an annual community event in a thriving city with a vibrant sports and conventions sector doesn’t come without its challenges. In 2026, the Servus Calgary Marathon is taking place a weekend earlier than usual to accommodate a new event coming to the city. Instead of our typical last weekend in May, participants will run on May 23 (5 km and 10 km) and May 24 (half-marathon and marathon), which is the weekend after Victoria Day Long Weekend!
Participants will notice some other big changes in May, as we will be sharing Stampede Park with a plethora of other events during race weekend, including Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals, which means double the number of people coming and going from the park, and hotels across the city near capacity.
Most notably, we will be moving the start line from Stampede Trail (adjacent to GMC Stadium/Nutrien Western Event Centre), where the event has begun since 2012, to the north side of Stampede Park. Participants will still have access to transit and will be staged in the new-ish Campus, which includes Enbridge Plaza and The Sam Centre. It’s right across the river from Enmax Park and the finish line and it boasts beautiful outdoor spaces as well as some indoor facilities.
As the city evolves, so does the race weekend and our team is excited to reimagine key aspects of the race to make the experience even better for our growing event.
We expect to welcome even more people to the start line after record attendance in 2025. We are dedicating resources and projecting growth in a number of specific areas including the Corporate Team Challenge, out of town runners, and women in the half-marathon and marathon. All this to say, we anticipate reaching the 20,000 participant milestone in the not-too-distant future. Exciting!
If you’re coming from out of town, please reserve your hotel room as soon as possible. We have roughly 600 room nights between all of our awesome hotel partners with preferred rates, access to downtown amenities and in close proximity to Stampede Park, where we host Package Pick-up, the Runners Expo, the start of the event and post-race festival in Enmax Park. We expect the room blocks to fill and you can always cancel (just check the specifics for each hotel), so secure your room now!
With a strong north star, exceptional team of passionate professionals and a bold strategy, Run Calgary has its eye on breaking into the Top 40. Calgary being well positioned as a top Canadian destination and sport city, make it a little easier elevating the Calgary Marathon brand, especially with the help from the experts at Tourism Calgary and Travel Alberta.
I can’t wait to share with you the incredible impact Run Calgary had this year through our events and programming, two lasting legacies from the Run Calgary series and our lofty goals for where we are headed in 2026! Coming soon…
Kirsten Fleming
Executive Director, Run Calgary
