Floodwaters swept away several sporting events over the past week, however the Canmore Canada Day Run received the green light for Monday (July 1) and the Canmore Gran Fondo on July 6 will still go ahead as a fundraiser for relief efforts.
The inaugural Banff Marathon, Lady Mac’s Roller Derby first home game, Rundle’s Revenge and Banff Bear’s rugby’s first home game were all wiped out due to the flood damage, and The Kananaskiker mountain bike race has been rescheduled to Aug. 10 and 11.
Canada Day organizer Alain Parent said he wanted to make sure the run went ahead this year.
“It’s a good opportunity to have a gathering of people. It’s Canada Day and we want to make an extra effort this year. It will be an important event and helps people move on to their regular lives,” Parent said.
The route will be altered this year, and will travel up towards Three Sisters.
The first ever Canmore Gran Fondo will also go ahead this year as a fundraiser for Alberta Flood Relief. All of the profits from registration will go to flood victims.
Grizzly Events Organizer Tony Smith is assisting with the Gran Fondo ride. Smith was evacuated from his home in the Cougar Creek neighbourhood, but is eager to help.
“It’s a great opportunity to give back,” Smith said. “We may have to modify the route, but we’re confident it will be passable in two weeks.”
The original route was scheduled to leave downtown Canmore, travel through Exshaw and move onto Highway 40. A shorter route that stays in Canmore may be drawn up, he said.
Thus far, the event has received a great deal of positive feedback from the local cycling community.
Some other facilities didn’t fair as well. The Kananaskis Country Golf Course is in ruins and closed for the remainder of the year, however much of the region’s sports infrastructure is in good shape following the flood. The golf course issued a statement on their website, but were unavailable for comment.
Canmore Golf and Country Club, the Brewster Kananaskis Golf Course and the Banff Springs Golf Course are open while the Stewart Creek Golf Course still has nine holes open. Silvertip golf course did suffer damage, and will remain closed until July 3 at the earliest.
Flooding did submerge the Banff Recreation Grounds, cancelling Banff rugby, Bow Valley Soccer League and slo-pitch baseball for the weekend. The Banff Springs Golf Course is still open.
The Legacy Trail is still closed due to wash-outs, and cyclists still aren’t allowed on the Trans-Canada. Banff National Park Spokesperson Michelle Macullo said safety is their top priority.
“We’re asking everyone to be patient. Our priority is to ensure people stay safe. We don’t want to cause another problem,” Macullo said.
The Canmore Nordic Centre said it’s had minimal damage. Most trails opened on Sunday (June 23), and Events director Jamie Carpenter said it should take between two and three weeks until it’s fully operational. Alpine Helicopters was moved to the Nordic Centre during the flooding.
“Up here, it was similar to last year’s flooding. The drainage was running off of Mount Rundle and flowing at full tilt. It washed out an assortment of trails. Some of the damaged areas will take longer to fix than others. We should be able to repair it in two to three weeks,” Carpenter said.
Friends of Kananaskis led a volunteer trail repair day on Wednesday (June 26), and more are planned in the future. Contact The Nordic Centre for more details.
Only a small section of the roller ski loop was affected by the flooding and Canadian National Teams haven’t been affected adversely. The Canadian National Cross-Country Ski team is at a training camp in Bend, Oregon, while the ParaNordic ski team stayed put in Arizona. The National Biathlon Team is still in Canmore.
