Ottawa Race Weekend 2017 sees fewer runners raise more for charity

This year's Ottawa Race Weekend ended on a hot and sunny note Sunday, with fewer runners than normal raising more money for charity than in previous years.

"It was really difficult because of the heat. But the atmosphere was great, a lot of people [came out]. That made up for it," said half-marathonerYannGermonfrom Montreal, one of the43,148 runners who took part.

• Slow start for Ottawa Race Weekend
• 'Fantastic' 2016 Ottawa Race Weekend despite withering temperatures, organizers say

The 2016 races brought nearly 47,000 people to the capitalfor a scorching weekendthat saw organizers muse aboutcancellingsome of the events because of the heat.

While it wasn't nearly as hot this year, runners still struggled to deal with the temperatures.

"It was really tough, a lot hotter than I expected," saidDayna Pidhoresky, the top Canadian woman in Sunday morning's marathon.

"The sun was a lot higher in the sky early in the morning than I thought [it would be]."

Fee relief

The race's 64 charities will divide up the roughly $826,000 that runners raised in 2017, up more than $50,000 from last year's total and a "new milestone" for race fundraising,according to a press release.

Organizers said just before the weekend started that their goal was to drawaround 45,000 runners this year. Theypointed to an industry-wide trend of declining run registration, while noting how expensive it's getting for people to stay in Ottawa hotels during the weekend.

On Sunday, race director John Halvorsensaid they'll be very close to the break-even mark this year, because they leave some wiggle room in their budget.

He said the non-profit organization has been paying higher fees in recent years to the city and National Capital Commissionfor things such as policing and closing roads, spending about 10 per cent of their budget or around $200,000 on those sorts of items for 2017's race.

"There's no official program as far as I know that funds sporting events," he said.

"PersonallyIthink there should be something for reoccuring sporting events that have a community impact and by community impact, Ilook at the economic side more than anything else. Ifan event is selling out hotels, it certainly is a tourism event."

Halvorsensaid getting a break from those fees would let them invest more money into the event itself and fight the trend of declining registration with more appealing races.

This year's marathon winners

Top three women:

• Guteni Imanafrom Ethiopia,2:30:18
• Hiwot Gebrekidanfrom Ethiopia,2:30:53
• Aberash Fayesafrom Ethiopia,2:31:27

Top threemen:

• Elius Kiptanuifrom Kenya, 2:10:14
• Seboka Didabafrom Ethiopia,2:10:31
• Levy Matebofrom Kenya,2:10:48

Top three Canadian women:

• Dayna Pidhoreskyfrom Vancouver,2:36:08
• Arianne Rabyfrom Montreal,2:41:58
• Megan Kuikmanfrom Brantford, Ont.,2:48:02

Top threeCanadian men:

• Nicholas Berrouardfrom Shawinigan,Que., 2:24:41
• Kimba Djado Abdoul Aziz from Longeuil,Que., 2:33:07
• Hugh Langleyfrom Ottawa,2:33:07