ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — For the second straight year, the Tely 10 will not be run on its usual last Sunday in July.
But unlike last year, when there was no race at all because of the pandemic, the Newfoundland and Labrador Athletics Association (NLAA)— which stages the annual 10-mile race in St. John’s — is hopeful of holding the 93rd annual event later in the calendar year, on the last Sunday of October, the 31st.
So, expect to see plenty of ghosts and goblins dashing along the streets of Paradise, Mount Pearl and St. John’s in the fall on Halloween.
The decision to move the race from July 25 to the last of October was actually made prior to Newfoundland and Labrador being virtually locked down last week with Alert Level 5.
“My understanding at the time was that hopefully, Canada would have vaccinated mostly everybody by September," said NLAA executive director George Stanoev.
“Our participants and volunteers are first and foremost. We don’t want to expose them to anything that will impact their health.
“It’s going to be challenging for us. We wanted to push it back as far as we can, and we are hoping by that time, Public Health will allow travel between regions to compete. Right now, we’re not allowed to have provincial championships, and we expect that to be the case in the summer.”
“It’s going to be challenging for us. We wanted to push it back as far as we can, and we are hoping by that time, Public Health will allow travel between regions." — George Stanoev
By pushing the race back three months, the NLAA hopes by then there will be free movement within the province, and travel restrictions will be eased for the rest of Canada.
An average of 200-300 participants from outside the province usually take part in the Tely 10.
Stanoev said the NLAA moved the race as far back as it could.
“We couldn’t go into November because of the temperature fluctuation,” he said. “We could probably have snow in November at some point. November wasn’t feasible for a mass event.”
