Calgary marathon set for Sunday on 'flat and fast' new route

The 55th annual Scotiabank Calgary Marathon takes place Sunday with a new route.

The new course is flatter and will require less city resources, such as police, to staff the event, says Run Calgary executive director Kirsten Fleming.

"We've cut out the whole south section of the route that went all the way to Mount Royal University and through South Calgary and back up 14th into Kensington," she said.

"And now we're primarily affecting Memorial Drive east-west. So there will be significant impact on that portion of the route, but the impact overall in the city will be less on Sunday."

The new route — described on the website as "flat and fast" — starts and finishes at Stampede Park. It goes through the Beltline along 11th Avenue, along Memorial Drive into the communities of Montgomery and Bowness, and back again after looping through Bridgeland.

"We worked with our city partners really closely and the biggest impact is on city police, so this route uses significantly less police than our old route."

Jacqui Esler, spokesperson for the Main Street Bowness Business Improvement Area, says after a 15-year hiatus, the community is excited that the race will go through the district again.

"We call ourselves historic Bowness. It's a reminder that we're still here and we're great to have people come visit," she said.

She says there will be limited, rolling road closures in Bowness as a result of the race and they will have cheer sections and live entertainment. An interactive map of all road closures can be found here.

More than 9,000 runners are registered for the race on Sunday. Registration for the marathon remains open.

This year's event also features a half marathon, a 50K Ultra, as well as a 10K and a 5K race.

The marathon's participation record was set on its 50th anniversary in 2014, when 15,000 racers took part.