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More runners laced up for the Manitoba Marathon than ever before, with 14,000 people racing through parts of Winnipeg in the annual Father’s Day tradition on Sunday morning.
The marathon’s executive director Rachel Munday said a “sea of people” and “lots of excitement” hit the city’s streets in the largest Manitoba Marathon to date.
About seven in 10 runners were participating in the event for the first time, she said. The event has several different distance races, including a full marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K races.
“We’re seeing a lot of new runners, a lot of people are running distances that they’ve never run before,” Munday said.
There was lots of excitement along the course too, with run crews and cheer stations motivating competitors from the sidelines throughout the morning.
Racers took off at Chancellor Matheson Road in south Winnipeg around 7 a.m. and will cross the finish line at Princess Auto Stadium.
Chancellor Matheson Road is closed between Research Way and University Crescent until 3 p.m. on Sunday, the city said earlier this week.
University Crescent is closed between Chancellor Matheson Road and Pembina Highway and there is no access to eastbound Jubilee Avenue from Pembina Highway, the city said.
There are several partial closures on Wellington Crescent too.
Single lanes of traffic on many roads will be affected until 3 p.m., the city said.
“It’s a great morning,” said Munday, who hopes to see 15,000 runners in next year’s race.