The Around the Bay Road Race (ATB) is a long distance road race annually in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. The event currently features a 30 kilometer race, a 5 kilometer race,

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

s, and virtual races. First held in 1894, it is the oldest long distance road race in North America. Since it began, the race has been held every year except for 1917 to 1919 (due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

), 1925 to 1935, 1962 (due to construction), and 2020 and 2021 (due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

History

The Hamilton Herald Newspaper and cigar store owner "Billy" Carroll, originated and sponsored the "Herald Road Race", the first Around the Bay Road Race, run on Christmas Day, 1894. Thirteen racers ran the 19 mile and 168 yard course around

Hamilton Harbour Hamilton Harbour, formerly known as Burlington Bay, lies on the western tip of Lake Ontario, bounded on the northwest by the City of Burlington, on the south by the City of Hamilton, and on the east by Hamilton Beach (south of the Burlington ...

. Billy Marshall won the race and was awarded a $25 silver cup and some boxes of cigars. In the early 20th century, Jack Caffery and William Sherring battled it out and won two "Bay" races each. Famed

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

- Onondaga runner Tom Longboat also took the first major victory of his career here, in 1906. Scotty Rankine won a record seven races in the 1930s and 1940s, while Peter Maher won his fifth Bay race in 1996, tying the record of local Gord Dickson, who had five wins in the late 1950s. Women were first allowed to enter in 1979. In 2005, the ATB partnered with St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation and, for the first time, became a fundraising event.

Race

All races start on

York Boulevard York Boulevard is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Formerly known as Highway 2 and Highway 6, it starts in Burlington, Ontario at Plains Road West as a two-way arterial road that wraps around and over Hamilton Harbour, ...

, one block west of the

FirstOntario Centre FirstOntario Centre (originally Copps Coliseum) is a sports and entertainment arena at the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1985, it has a capacity of up to 19,000. History Hamilton was lef ...

. All races finish inside FirstOntario Centre. On Sunday, March 29, 2007, over 9,000 participants crossed the finish line. The 30 kilometre race is also known as the ''

Billy Sherring William John Sherring (September 18, 1877 – September 5, 1964) was a Canadian athlete of English and Irish descent, winner of the marathon race at the 1906 Intercalated Games (or 1906 Olympic Games, as they were at the time considered to be). ...

Memorial Road Race.'' It is also called the ''30K Around The Bay.''

Top fundraisers

Winners

Key:

30k

The 30 kilometre course was certified in 1982. Prior to then, the race was contested over a few different distances.

References

External links

Official Website

Results, Photos, and Videos

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton
{{Hamilton Sport in Hamilton, Ontario History of Hamilton, Ontario Recurring sporting events established in 1894 Long-distance running competitions Road running competitions 1894 establishments in Ontario Annual sporting events in Canada