After concerns that smoke from the British Columbia wildfires could force the cancellation of the 2018 Edmonton Marathon, the event took place Sunday under ideal conditions.
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Stanton said a decision was made at 5 p.m. Saturday to move forward with the event.
“We had been monitoring all day long. At 10 a.m., we issued a statement that we were considering a go,” Stanton said.
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A total of 5,000 people participated in all the events this weekend. Stanton said there was a record number of people participating in the full marathon.
“The marathon numbers are way way up — record numbers in the marathon — and the army 10K is way up, and a lot of that is attributable to fact that the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, which is steeped in tradition here in Edmonton, is involved.”
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Soldiers held the banner for the winners as they crossed the finish line and presented medals to participants.
Lucas McAneney and Leanne Klassen were the full marathon winners on the men’s and women’s sides, respectively. McAneney is now a repeat winner of the race.
“I won the marathon in 2013, so five years ago. I won’t wait another five years to do the Edmonton marathon again,” McAneney said.
“The other runners on the course were great. The marathoners — we ran past all the half-marathoners from the start — they were so supportive, they all made space for me to go through so the city of Edmonton was wonderful today and I’m very grateful for that.”
Sunday also featured a marathon walk, a 21.1-kilometre half-marathon, an army 10-kilometre walk or run, a five-kilometre walk or run and a kids’ event.