If you’re like us and can’t sleep – on the eve of the marathon – we here with some reading/sleeping material. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers that have been published this week.

First is a conspicuous absence: Maureen, 10x finisher, was absent this year. But don’t fret – she’s already signed up for 2024 and we can’t wait!

We’re looking at an impressive week from Rebecca Kruisselbrink, who has won every Stage, including a new Stage 5 record. Rebecca joined an exclusive club last year and has the pole position to add “ENDURrun Champion” to her bio on Sunday.

We have a closer race in the men’s field, with Aidan Rutherford winning 4 of 6 Stages so far and entering Stage 7 with a lead of 8:30. This is Aidan’s third Ultimate and fastest so far. The flip side to this coin is that while Rob has been chasing his own goals, ghosts of past times, and a few challengers over the years, Aidan is the most formidable yet! 2023 is the first time Rob has not been leading into Stage 7 since he first joined the field in 2015.

Some of the closer battles we see in the table are Vicki and Val for second overall and first master (4:54 gap), and the 8-10th place men (Merlin, Holger, Mark M) separated by 4:38. These gaps work out to just over 2 seconds per kilometre so far.

Speaking of Mark M, we don’t know the secret but this has consistently been one of his fastest years, currently only 14 seconds behind his cumulative best ever result out of 10 previous Ultimate finishes! Wow! (Vicki and Jack are also sitting on the record of 10 finishes going into this year’s final Stage).

Other notable cumulative finishes in 2023 are Sara (9th), Denis (8th), Rob (7th), Holger and Dee (6th), Val, Merlin, Ian, Rebecca, and Ron (5th)!

We’ve seen lots of Holger over the years, but this 6th Ultimate is his first since 2014! So great having you back in the field Holgi!

Third time’s the charm!? Derek has started the Ultimate twice before, but in 2023 he’s looking strong and poised to finally claim the One Tough Runner title!

Shoutout to Jonah, Diane, Mark R, Tammy, and Katelin, who have consistently bettered their Rookie times (from 2022, 2019, 2022, 2016, and 2023 respectively)!

Bruce is the top Rookie and while we don’t publish this age group, after Stage 6 he is over 2.5 hours better than the current 60+ record (Andrew Moizer, 2019). Sarah H has led Rookie wire-to-wire.

We’re running out of time so let’s speed up. Ian and Mitch are having great weeks – coincidence they trained at ENDURrun Sport? Wayne has raised over $2000 for Terry Fox! John signed up way back in 2019…did ENDURrun exist back then? Amanda has participated in some form or another since 2011! Sonja’s first two Ultimates were 8 years apart, then her second and third are six years apart. See you again in 2027!?

Last but least, we can point to three Ultimates who started the week with the intention of finishing, but were left unable to continue due to a variety of injuries and illnesses. It’s been nice seeing you out later this week and we hope to see you back Tyler (2022 alumnus) and Rookies Kristen and Tim!

What is in store for tomorrow? Check back with live results as we expect runners to finish by noon Sunday. Now get some sleep!

Stage 3 is done, with no changes to overall, rookie, or masters leaders over the past few days.

With Wednesday being a morning off from the grueling week, we want to take a moment to highlight the media we create and the people who make it possible.

We have two primary photographers covering all Stages, Julie Schmidt and Ryan McGovern. All of our photos are posted ASAP to our Flickr page where they are free to download.

Julie and Ryan are pictured on the far left and right of this photo.

For video, we have a team of people working to get a finish line video to Will Spaetzel each day, who edits the video and posts it to our RunWaterloo YouTube channel (not ENDURrun YouTube). Some days the video is tagged in the results, but for example, the Stage 2 Time Trial video is not in an order easily compatible with the results, so it is posted without clock just for entertainment purposes.

And then the wildcard in our media team is Mike with lonedrone. He has been taking drone photos and video from many of our races in 2023, but we haven’t actually posted it yet!

Here’s just a tiny sneak peek that doesn’t scratch the surface of what Mike is capturing from the air.

The last piece you need to know, if you aren’t familiar with Run Waterloo and it’s results page, is that photos and videos are linked directly in the results. Once the media is ready, you can find it by clicking the icons at the top of the page (for the complete album/video), and next to your name in the results (for photos tagged to you, and your finish, as available).

Note that not all photos are tagged immediately, so browsing the album is still a good idea 🙂 Give it a try!

Anyway, those are some of main visual storytellers that you will see at various Stages this week. If you appreciate all this free content, don’t be shy to smile, view and share it, or even just say thanks during or after the race! We appreciate all of our volunteers and wanted to shine a light on this team today.

See you tonight at Stage 4 – hills!

Runners descended on Conestogo, Ontario on Saturday, August 12 for “Stage 0.”

It’s a chance to see old friends, welcome new faces, calm nerves, spot the competition, and take a dip in the race director’s pool… This year, there was a new swag item. Check out the gallery below.

The 19th annual ENDURrun kicks off Sunday, August 13.

We’re back!

It might not be a big surprise, but we’re coming back for 2023. Sign up here with the Earlybird promo code of ER2023.

This was a big year of transition for us, with so much changing, including venues courses, swag and food, and lots of volunteer turnover. But the response has been what we’ve always been looking for: happy people and a strong support for the event. So here we go!

The race capacity is currently listed at 75, and sold out in 2019.

With no results to report on Wednesday morning, we want to shine a quick light on some of the key groups you will see all week.

First let’s look at some corporate partners of Run Waterloo generally who are here this week. Runners’ Choice Waterloo and Shoppers’ Drug Mart Elmira & Elora are both at the Stages with direct support and staff participation. We have also had Domino’s Pizza and Waterloo Brewing available because we love these companies! Quick shout-out to the rest of the Run Waterloo sponsors whose year-round support is critical to our ongoing operations:

Next, a quick fist bump to Running Rarebits and Health + Performance, two local running groups who are out all week with participants and volunteers. Running groups are the life blood of our community and we’re so glad to be working together again!

What can you say about WR React? This amazing group has worked literally hundreds of RW events over the years, and we are more appreciative of their expertise every passing event.

Huge thanks to our hosts, whether the GRCA and the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, or Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, and Wilmot. Unless you are running on a treadmill or your own private property, the use of public spaces is absolutely essential to active lifestyles and even through all the changes to ENDURrun this year we are thankful to be able to host these events.

And just a general note of thanks to everyone in neon this week. There are thousands of hours of work that goes into these events and it’s almost impossible to properly appreciate all the volunteer efforts in one quick blog post. Thank you!