Looking at our statistics over the past few years, we see declining interest in the Sunday marathon distance. This is especially true in years that we have light international participation, such as in 2007. Our sister event, the Victoria Walking Festival, offers the 42K marathon distance only on Saturday. We have decided to go that route for 2008 and only offer the 42K marathon on Saturday.
On Sunday, we will still have a 32K, 21K, 10K, and 6K route. Walkers can earn an IML Walking Association stamp for walking at least 21K on both Saturday and Sunday.
At this time, we plan on busing the 32K and 21K walkers to their starting points and using the current Sunday routes. As the Registration/Start coordinator, I am lobbying that we take all of the 32K walkers out on the bus at 7 am. We are also discussing shortening the start time for the 21K walkers to 8-9 am both days.
If we have enough inspiration over the course of this year, we might be able to offer a loop route instead. Our difficulty is that most loop routes would duplicate too much of the Saturday 42K route. The option we used our first few years, out west to Vancouver Lake and beyond, is a route used by many long distance events in Vancouver. However, our IML Walking Association judges told us repeatedly that they did not like that route and preferred we did not offer it. We got no complaints from them with the current route.
Walking route design is an art. Walkers prefer to have scenic, interesting routes. Running routes for marathons and half marathons tend instead to be routes that can be closed to traffic and have few turns. The Vancouver Lake route is a good running route - you can put your brain on autopilot and concentrate on speed. But for walkers, you are walking a long straight line with nothing to distract you from how you don't seem to be getting any closer to your destination.
It takes a long time to mark a walking route - 3 to 5 hours per 10 kilometers, with a team of 2-4 people. You have to go back the next day, check the route, remark anything that is unclear, and then after the walkers have passed by, take down the markings.