Close to 6,500 expected for Hamilton’s Around the Bay road race this weekend

Hamilton’s iconic road race could see the end of an era on Sunday with a finish at FirstOntario Centre likely the last for a while amid a forthcoming large-scale downtown redevelopment.

Director Anna Lewis told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton the 2024 edition of the Around the Bay Road Race will move to Tim Hortons Field, meaning some alterations and detours for the historic 30-kilometre event next year.

“I will miss the staff for sure and an opportunity to kind of use this facility in this way,” Lewis said.

“With anything that lasts over 129 years there’s got to be change, and I think every change could be a new door opening that leads to some more exciting experiences.”

The 2023 in-person 30-kilometre race this weekend will look familiar in its 129th incarnation, seeing the ever-present Heartbreak Hill — a 500-metre hill at the 26-kilometre mark of the route.

Since the beginning of the month, runners not in the Sunday event have been participating via virtual races — runs using an entrant’s own personal route — set for a period between March 1 and March 31.

Close to 6,500 runners are expected to compete in person.

The run will benefit the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation which is looking to support two projects within the hospital network: the purchase of breast cancer screening equipment and support upgrades to a birthing unit.

Registrations for the race will continue at the free Health and Fitness Expo Friday and Saturday located on the concourse of FirstOntario Centre.

Here’s a list of roads in the city that will be affected by the race’s routing:

• York Boulevard, Plains Road to Queen Sreet (eastbound only Hamilton bound), closed 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• York Boulevard from Queen Sreet to Bay Sreet (eastbound only), closed 6 a.m to 4 p.m.
• Old Guelph Road, York Road to York Boulevard, closed 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Bay St, York Boulevard to King Sreet, closed 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Dundurn Sreet, King Sreet to York Boulevard, closed 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Nikola Tesla Boulevard (formerly Burlington Street) overpass (eastbound), Parkdale to Woodward, closed 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
• QEW Toronto bound exit ramp to North Shore Boulevard East, closed 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Detour via Fairview Street)
• North Shore Boulevard East Niagara-bound entry ramp to the QEW, closed 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• York Boulevard westbound traffic detoured onto Hwy 403, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Hwy 403 York Boulevard on-ramp closed, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Plains Road West at York Boulevard, closed 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Detour via Hwy 6 and Hwy 403)

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