Medal 'magic' comes together just hours before Sunday's Calgary Marathon - Action News
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Calgary

Medal 'magic' comes together just hours before Sunday's Calgary Marathon

Hundreds of people worked together this past weekend to ensure Servus Calgary Marathon participants received a medal at the finish line this year.

The hardware had been stuck in Vancouver for weeks, with organizers told they likely wouldnt make it

A runner receives his medal from the 2022 Calgary Marathon at Stampede Park on Sunday. (Dave Holland/Run Calgary)

In the days leading up the Servus Calgary Marathon, organizers were resigned to the conclusion there would be no medals for participants at the finish line at Sunday's race.

In fact, marathon organizers sent an email to that effect early last week, telling runners not to get their hopes up.

But with the hard work of hundreds of people at five organizationsin two countries and in three time zones, a medal miracle occurred, organizers said.

"Honestly, it's like magic that they were here in time," saidKirsten-Ellen Fleming, executive director of the marathon and of Run Calgary.

"I think people were just so excited. It was such a great day, and then to have that surprise at the finish line was extra special."

Early last week, race organizers heard they had about a one per cent chance of receiving the 7,140 medals on time.

They'd ordered the medals early this year in January worried about global shipping challenges, but the vessel carrying them couldn't dock when it arrived inVancouver on April 8, organizers said in a news release.

'WestJet, WestJet Cargo and airport teams sprung into action to ensure this very important shipment made its arrival to Calgary just in time for race day,' said WestJet spokesperson Morgan Bell. (Submitted by WestJet)

Due to backlogs, the ship had to wait an additional six weeks after reaching port before being added to the queue to be unloaded.

Behind the scenes, workers at Global Container Terminal Canada,which operates GCT Deltaport,hadn't given up on digging out the shipment.

"Once we knew what was happening and where the container was, we did everything in our control to make it happen," said Chris Ng, vice-president of marketing and sales from GCT Canada.

"The vessel ops group strategically planned the unloading of this ship in a way to ensure it was prioritized and everyone from the terminal VP to the team worked to get the container off early Saturday morning."

From there, U.S.-based brokerLeslie Jordanand a Vancouver-based trucking company, CTC, managed to get the medals through customs and to a sorting facility, which isn't typically open on Saturdays.

A closer look at some of the medals handed out at the 2022 Calgary Marathon. (Dave Holland/Run Calgary)

While at Stampede Park on Saturday setting up for the race, Fleming continued to receive the updates.

"It's 12 hours from Vancouver to Calgary, you know, if you're a straight shot in a vehicle, let alone a big truck with 700 kilograms on it, and so we knew it was going to take wings to get us the medals overnight," she said.

Enter WestJet. One of the Calgary-based airline's employees, Sarah Barton, is also a longtime marathon volunteer. She helped to co-ordinate getting the medals onto a late-night flight.

Even the cargo workers who were needed to unload the plane stayed late to help after the flight was delayed.

Some WestJet workers stayed late to help unload the medals from their flight, said Kirsten-Ellen Fleming, executive director of the marathon. (Submitted by WestJet)

"When the opportunity presented itself to help expedite the arrival of the Calgary Marathon medals, we wanted to do anything possible to ensure participants had medals to celebrate with at the finish line," said Morgan Bell, WestJet spokesperson, in a statement.

From there, Fleming and operations directorJon Birddrove the medals in two trucks to the race venue at Stampede Park just hours before the runners were set to arrive.

Surprised volunteers arrived to find the boxes at 5 a.m., then started unpacking and sorting the medals, the final step in a whirlwind journey.

It was ahappy surprise for both them and the racers, Fleming said, asmedal selfies filled up social media by Sunday afternoon.

Calgary Marathon volunteers sorted the surprise medals after arriving early in the morning on race day. (Dave Holland/Run Calgary)

"Medals for the marathon, there's obviously greater problems in the world so I just wasn't expecting it. It was really, really amazing to see how many people went above and beyond to help us make race day extra special," Fleming said.

"It was a literal race to the finish line."

Corrections

  • A previous version of this story said Fleming and her husband took the medals from the airport to Stampede Park. In fact, it was Fleming and operations director Jon Bird.
    May 30, 2022 7:54 PM MT

With files from Rick Donkers