Half-marathon in Montreal goes ahead, with COVID-19 safety measures in place

Sporting life is slowly finding some semblance of normalcy. For the time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, a half-marathon took place in Montreal on Saturday.

The race of five, 10 and 21 kilometres was organized by We Run Montreal. It made some changes to comply with physical distancing measures, including staggering start times and dividing runners into small groups.

A total of 430 runners participated at the races held in Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Louise Desmaraiswas one of them. She spent the last month or so preparing to run the five-kilometre race. After recovering from a surgery she had to undergothis winter, she said it felt good toslip back into her running shoes.

"I was excited this morning when I got up," Desmarais said. "It's the just atmosphere and it's always a great joy to participate in a race."

Runners had to maintain a two-metre distance and were given amaximum amount oftime to complete their race,depending on the distance.

When runners crossed the finish line, they also had to leave the site immediatelyto avoid gatherings from forming.

"We're not having podiums or awardceremonies. We're giving them a bagel and cream cheese and they're invited to leave the site," said Paul Brunet, the president of We Run Montreal.

"But there's still that camaraderieyou find at races."

Brunetsays he hopes to organize another race in October and says he intends on submitting his candidacy to organize the annual Montreal Marathon for next year. This year's race was cancelled because of COVID-19.

Olympic runner Charles Philibert-Thiboutot also participated in Saturday's race, running the 10-kilometre.He said he used the event to train. The 1,500-metre specialist won, finishingin 31 minutes.

He said the race helped him regain a sense of normalcy, too.

"You find some of the sensations you might usually have in a race,"Philibert-Thiboutotsaid.

"You might get butterflies in your stomach like in a normal race, butwithout the crowds and the big pack of runners. It was a fun, short run."