Organizers of the Vancouver Triathlon have cancelled the run portion of the race through Stanley Park following a string of coyote attacks in the park.
“The Vancouver Park Board, park rangers and the wildlife team have just deemed it necessary to cancel the run portion of our event due to the number and randomness of these incidents,” reads a message posted to social media by Multisports Canada.
“We are working with our contacts in the park to find an alternative run course that meets their newly-imposed safety requirements.”
Organizers say their worst-case scenario will be turning the Sept. 6 event into an AquaBike race, which consists of swimming and cycling.
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Vancouver Triathlon race director Trevor Soll said a run is “highly unlikely because there is limited routing available.”
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“A definite setback, but taking the light side of it, at least we can still race. Some athletes are very upset because it’s not what they signed up for, but it is what it is. There’s still the opportunity to come out and give it your all with the limitation of the one event taken out of it at this point.”
There have been nearly 40 coyote attacks in the park since December 2020, including one in July involving a two-year-old girl.
Last week, the Stanley Park Ecology Society provided an update on initiatives to solve the problem.
The society and UBC have deployed trail cameras throughout the park in an effort to identify individual coyotes, along with possible sources for their unusual behaviour and triggers for the attacks.
The society website tells park visitors never to feed coyotes and to shout, wave their arms or throw rocks or dirt near the animals if they appear curious or begin to approach.
— With files from Simon Little and The Canadian Press
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