Ready, set, wait another year
Organizers cancel Cabot Trail Relay Race for second straight year
BADDECK — Running enthusiasts will have to wait another year before they can take part in a well-known and much-respected Cape Breton relay race.
For the second straight year, organizers have been forced to cancel the annual Cabot Trail Relay Race due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It wasn’t an easy decision for us to make,” said Grace Mason-Parkinson, organizer and communications liaison for the event.
“We took a lot of things into consideration and we looked at the current case numbers here and all the different provinces where teams come from and we felt it was best to cancel for 2021.”
The race first began in 1988 when six teams of 17 runners per group tested the idea of running around the Cabot Trail. The race was first timed in 1989.
More than 30 years later, the event typically draws close to 70 teams and more than 1,200 people from across Canada and the United States each year in May.
The 276-kilometre relay sees competitors race 17 stages through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, the Margaree Valley and along various points of the Cabot Trail.
Organizers believe the race brings more than $8 million into the communities around the Cabot Trail each year, kicking off the annual tourism season on the island.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Mason-Parkinson, noting participants and the community have been supportive of the decision to cancel.
“It’s an event that a lot of people look forward every year. It brings a sense of camaraderie and excitement into a lot of communities. Overall, I think everyone is much more comfortable with the fact that it’s not happening this year.”
Prior to the cancellation announcement, Mason-Parkinson said organizers received inquiries about the event and when registration would open for 2021.
“We did have people asking when we would make our decision,” she said, noting the event would have been held May 28-30.
"We decided in the fall to hold off on making a decision — fall is usually when we open registration — but we wanted to wait until the new year before deciding.”
Mason-Parkinson said physical distancing would be a challenge for the relay race, given there are social events like the awards banquet on the final day.
“We looked at the vaccination plans for all the different provinces around us and most of those didn’t include the general public until July or August,” she said. “With that in consideration, the safest thing for everyone including organizers, participants and the communities they’d run through, cancelling was the right move.”
Last year, organizers were forced to cancel the event for the first time in 32 years due to the coronavirus and restrictions put in place by the provincial government to limit the spread.
Despite the 2020 cancellation, Mason-Parkinson said some runners took it upon themselves to complete their leg of the race either virtually or on the Cabot Trail.
“They ran the distance of the leg they were supposed to run,” she said. “We had a few people from the Atlantic bubble who came down and did the relay themselves as well as runners from Cape Breton.
“The participants are excellent for just doing it by themselves. It surely kept the spirit alive even though there wasn’t an actual event last year.”
Mason-Parkinson encourages runners to remain active through the pandemic.
“We’re always advocates for physical activity and running specifically,” she said. “We love to see people take it into their own hands and keep the event going ... I’m sure they will do it again this year.”
For now, organizers are not looking too far ahead in planning for the 2022 Cabot Trail Relay Race, which is expected to take place May 27-29.
“Where things are changing so quickly, we’re not going to look at 2022 probably until the fall,” said Mason-Parkinson. “Until then, we’re going to keep in touch with people and continue to share their memories on our social media pages.”