Hamilton’s Around the Bay Race has been cancelled amid COVID-19

Not that it will come as much of a surprise, but Hamilton’s world famous Around the Bay Race has formally announced that it is cancelling the 2020 event amid the ongoing safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Around the Bay Race, which would have been entering its 126th year, is notable for being the oldest long-distance road race in all of North America. It is a massively attended affair, attracting as many as 10,000 participants each year from Hamilton and even around the world.

Due to the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the provincial safety measures in place limiting outdoor gatherings, we are unable to host the Around the Bay Road Race in 2020. We hope you keep active and safe and we look forward to seeing you in 2021.#bayrace2021 #BeWell pic.twitter.com/iSGTQp8JTR

— Bay Race 30k (@bayracerun) September 22, 2020

The 2020 event was previously scheduled for spring, but was later pushed to the fall in hopes that the race would be safer to host later in the year.

However, as cases of COVID-19 are showing startling upward trends, with new daily case numbers spiking considerably and alarmingly in recent weeks, the Around the Bay Race was formally cancelled for this year with plans of returning on March 28th, 2021.

With the cancellation happening at the last minute and expenses for the race already paid, runners who registered will not be eligible for refunds of their registration fees.

Instead, registrants are able to defer their participation to the March 2021 or March 2022 race, or simply request a shirt and medal for the cancelled 2020 event.

Read more about the Around the Bay Race on their website.

Lead image courtesy of @bayracerun

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• Around the Bay Race
• cancelled
• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• Hamilton
• HamOnt
• hamont events
• Health
• pandemic
• Public Health
• race
• running