Color Me Rad

So this race was every bit as Rad as it sounds. With 14, 000 other runners I ventured up to Downsview Park for the inugeral Colour Me Rad event here in Toronto. I had been aware of these colour races through participation of my friends in other areas of Canada and around the world (my cousins in Australia participated in their local event this year), and had been longing for the day that I too could have a Rad run.

The day the registration opened I was online and set up my team “Nice, Colour Eh!“. We were a big crew of 13 and it was awesome having so many friends to run with on race day (including my husband who was completing his first race ever). It took only hours before the event was sold out – luckily for 7,000 others they added a second day.

So on June 22nd, the team and I met downtown and we ventured up the Downsview on the Subway. When we arrived it had started to rain, but we were quickly put on shuttle buses and taken into the park. The rain scattered on and off for most of the day, but by the time we had finished it was on and pouring and we all thought, let’s get outta here… But first the race…

How it Works:

So to call it a “race” isn’t totally accurate – it’s really just a super fun run, and according to one of our GPS’s the 5km was more of a 4.3km, but since we didn’t have time chips anyways, there was no need to worry about speed and the focus truly was on having fun and the real challenge, which was who could get the most colour. And since I still have pink in my hair, I think I win 😉

Every kilometer you run through a colour station and run through either liquid or powdered corn starch. Each station is a different colour, so the goal again is not to be the fastest, but to see who could be the most colourful.

What I loved about this race was that it got runners of all levels out. There were kids, strollers, people in costumes, those running their first race, and experienced people like my crew of marathoners – people from all levels showed up to be “colour bombed” and we were.

The bottom line of the race is that it’s a blast (… of colour, hee hee) for runners/walkers of all levels. The music is pumping, the atmosphere is electric, dress in white, and great ready to laugh a lot and have a great day.