Sprinting for the finish, Jennifer Copley
(By Jennifer Copley, Last Updated 29 September 2017)
Where: Kelowna, BC, Canada
Description: A 21 km/13 mile race through gorgeous Kelowna wine country and waterfront, with scenic lake and mountain views.
Cost: $135 (individual), $125 team member, $189 two-person relay
Time: Completion times for the 2017 half marathon ranged from 1:10 to 4:06 (they say 3.5 hours is the cut-off, but there were times registered beyond this).
Kelowna Waterfront View, Stuart Madden, Creative Commons 2.0
Difficulty: The course is rated easy to medium difficulty. It’s all run on pavement or easy wide trail, but there is a steady uphill climb in the first half.
Required Equipment: Good running shoes, comfortable clothing for running on a warm day (Kelowna tends to be hot in the summer, but the race is run early in the morning, so racers miss the worst of the heat and the temperature is usually pleasant for this event)
Finisher Medals with Wine Glass Holders, Jennifer Copley
Pros:
- Gorgeous scenery
- Lots of aid stations with friendly volunteers
- Wide selection of free packaged snacks at the finish
- Music and wine festival at the end (with free wine glass)
- Finisher medal
- If you can’t make the race, you can transfer your registration (no refunds)
- Gear check and transport to the finish line provided
Beautiful Kelowna, Jennifer Copley
Cons:
- No parking near the start, so you’ll have a bit of a walk to get there
- Not enough portapotties for such a big event, so many people lost time due to long lineups
- Massive lineups to get the free wine glass (we didn’t bother standing around for an hour in the hot sun for that) – they should have handed the glasses to racers at the finish line.
For more information about this race, see the Kelowna Wine Country Half Marathon webpage.
For information about more great running events and hikes in BC, see the main Activities page.
*Conditions, routes, and prices may have changed since the time of this writing.
