The Badlands Dinosaur Half is growing up to become a full marathon to mark five years.
The grassroots effort to introduce a road race to the valley has been a homegrown success story, and has contributed $53,000 to the Badlands Community Facility. This year they have added a full half marathon to the event.
“There is a lot more on the plate,” said one of the organizers Colin Kloot of the event expansion.
Registration opened on April 1 for the race on September 14.
Recently organizers released the new marathon route. Kloot explains the full marathon starts out following the route of last year’s 10k race, beginning at the Badlands Community Facility and heading through downtown and Midland and back.When racers reach Highway 9 the route heads up the Verdant Valley Road and near Dekeyser’s Bison farm it jogs and descends into Rosedale.
From there, it heads out to Wayne and back and then along Highway 10 back to Drumheller.
“We think the route is demonstrative of the full bouquet of what we have to offer. You run along the riverfront, and through residential areas, the coulees and then you go up top to the Verdant Valley area and then the wonderful area of Wayne,” said Kloot. “You get a little bit of everything.”
Kloot explains organizers can only speculate when it comes to hosting an inaugural event, however he is confident they will have a great race.
“I think if we get 50 entries for the first year, I’ll be happy,” said Kloot. “It will be worth running and it will grow from there.”
“We’ll gauge it from there as to whether we want to keep it or not, but for our fifth year, this is what we want to do.”
Along with the full marathon, they are continuing with the family 5K, 10K and half marathon. This year Community Futures is the naming sponsor of all the races; with the exception of the Encana 10K race.
To learn more about the events, contact organizers, learn about volunteer opportunities or to register go to www.dinosaurhalf.com.
