Old Quebec is one of my favourite places, and the Beneva Quebec City half marathon didn’t disappoint. It’s a beautiful, difficult, memorable course. I’d definitely recommend it, but be sure to overprepare for the hills.
More than 20,000 runners registered across all the events, and close to a third of them were in the half marathon (6,487). I was surprised at the spacing between the wave starts – some were 3 minutes apart but mine started 15 minutes after the previous one. I suspect it was at least in part given the size of my wave (I’m guessing close to 1000 people tried to finish around 2 hours – the corral was a serious mass of people) and the difficulty of squeezing everyone onto the pathway for the 2nd and 3rd kilometres.
Navigating the crowded pathway
After the pathway, we ran through a tunnel under the water (ear-piercingly loud on the way out, much quieter on the way back), up a series of hills (roads) and through the well-known Porte St-Louis into Old Quebec. My hill training on Corkstown Road, at Achray Provincial Park, and in Gatineau Park paid off – I had no urge to walk, I just kept on going. The park on the Plains of Abraham was beautiful and hillier than I remembered.
Feeling good in the Old City
A highlight was running on a little over a kilometre on a series of switchback paths DOWN the cliff, a place I’d never been in all my trips to Quebec City. Signage reminded you that this was the cliffs that the English had to climb up during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. (American forces also tried to invade in 1775.) Watch out for fallen leaves underfoot, because they could be slippery, especially on a wet day. Inspired by Heather at the Berlin Marathon, I snapped a couple of photos.
Running the switchback paths down the cliff
The next 6 km mostly border the St. Lawrence River and the Vieux-Port. What a surprise to see the Queen Mary 2 docked! We knew we were close to done when we again made our way through the tunnel, back onto the path, and then only 1 km left!
A scenic half marathon focused on Old Quebec. Same big hill climb as the marathon, but a steeper descent.
Around the 17 km point (for the half marathon), the SportStats tracker told me Randy was probably only 5 minutes or so in front of me, so I kept a lookout for him. I finally caught up to him about 800 metres from the finish. I had only seen the first part of the alert on my watch (“Randy a terminé …”), so I was surprised to see him—I thought he was finished and came back to cheer me on! (Note to readers: Don’t tell a marathoner with 800 meters to go that you thought they were already finished.) I waited for him in the finishing chute and gave him a big congratulatory hug. A moment later, one of the marathoners I’d encouraged in the final kilometres finished, too, and thanked me for the encouragement.
Finished!
Because my main focus is the Athens Marathon, I went into this race with no expectations. And no race-day pressure. My plan was simply to run within my means and enjoy the course, so I was thrilled to finish in 1:57:55, just 23 seconds off my age group PB from a much easier course (St. Lawrence in Cornwall) in 2023 and about a minute slower than my lifetime PB 10 years ago.
The finish line area
Every race has its strengths and weaknesses. This one excelled in its historical setting, fall beauty, and the organization at the finish line. Runners were given a bag and then moved along through a U-shaped chute, gathering treats along the away. It felt like trick-or-treating for marathoners! It was a very effective way to collect snacks without creating a bottleneck.
Happy finishers! Right after this photo was taken,
Randy got another bad leg cramp. C’est la vie!
You can find Randy’s full marathon report here
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