Running in a Formula 1 Circuit: the 21K of Montréal

21K de Montréal. Montréal, Canada. 20th April 2024.

On a sunny but cold morning in Montréal, we ran a flat course in the Parc Jean Drapeau, in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River. A cool course which allows you to run on the asphaft of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and gives you a good reason to run very fast!

TLDR; “too long, didn’t read”

• I just want to run! Take me to RACE.
• I have 1 minute. Take me to USEFUL INFORMATION.
• Running is my excuse for travelling. Take me to TRIP.
• Running is my excuse for eating. Take me to CARBOLOADING.
• I want to know what to read in the plane. Take me to ONE BOOK.

Build up 💪

When I was preparing my trip to the US to run the Boston Marathon (read the post here), I decided to visit the Niagara Falls. Because I am a big fan of waterfalls 😉!

And, of course, I also decided to run in Canada 🇨🇦, as part of the “Around the world in 80 runs” challenge.

So I started researching if there were half marathons in Canada the week after Boston.

I found a couple, and finally I settled for the “Montreal 21k” in Quebec, a part of the “Canada Running Series” and which looked like a iconic race 🍁

In fact, it is defined as such in the web: “The 21K de Montréal is Canada Running Series’ flagship event in Québec. This iconic race for Montréal’s vibrant running community is welcoming participants back to the scenic routes of Parc Jean-Drapeau”.

To start with, the website is super complete and available in French 🇫🇷 and English 🇬🇧. I had never seen a more comprehensive and detailed website when signing up: Man, the Canadians know how to organise a race!

You can do everything online: decide the amount to give to charity, select your merchandising, change distances, etc.

Then you get newsletters from “Canada Running Series” with information, in both French and English, aimed to motivate you, and that suggest you download the official app, sponsored by Asics RunKeeper:

🏅Medal Reveal 🥇

Two months before, I received another newsletter which containted the “Medal Reveal”. I admit it was the first time I read about this being “a thing”, but I loved it!

Starting times

Closer to the date, we received more details regarding the race, including the starting times. Contrary to many races, the start times were quite far apart, so the races were going to be run independently:

• 8:00am – 21K start
• 10:45am – Kids Race start
• 11:30am – 5K and 10K start

📅 The Race Kit Pickup 🎽

There was no “Expo” per se: the Race Kit Pickup was scheduled in an Sport Equipment Shop, which also offered discounts (10% OFF selected items.)

Boutique Courir Montreal (4452 R. Saint-Denis, Montréal) 

One thing I didn’t particulary like was that, “in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of this race”, we were asked to bring our own bag to Race Kit Pickup; for us travelling from abroad, this wasn’t very useful.

On Friday we walked to store, realising it was close to Mile End, a super “cool” neighbourhood.

So in our walk along Rue Saint-Denis we enjoyed the atmosphere of The Plateau, defined in Montreal’s tourist website like this:

“This is quintessential Montréal. Spiral staircases, bagels, Arcade Fire – it all started here in this rich and vast neighbourhood north of downtown. Hip, trendy and artsy, the Plateau – especially its famed enclave of Mile End – is known as much for its residential quaintness as its festive nighttime antics“

In the store, several people were collecting the BIBs but there was no queue.

There was a drawing for a medal hanger and I wrote down my name and Roger’s. A friendly guy at the stand asked me if we were from Montreal, and as I told him we were from Barcelona, he attempted speaking Spanish with a shaky “Felicidades”. Kudos for the effort!

We collected the BIBs with the names “The running ginger” and “The running Roger”: nice!

The t-shirts were cotton, the type to wear on the street. For us this was better than getting the standard running ones, because we have hundreds of running ones!

🌍 The trip 📷: What to see in Montreal in two days

Montreal is a melting pot of cultures, with influences from French, English, Italian, Chinese, Jewish, and many other communities, which we clearly saw when walking around.

With its cobblestone streets, historic architecture, and European ambiance, Montreal offers a unique blend of old-world charm and modern amenities. A truly unique city that surprised me.

Plateau Mont-Royal and Mile End

As I have written before, we explored this trendy neighborhood known for its colorful murals, hip cafes, and quirky boutiques, when walking to pick up our BIBs: strolling down Rue Saint-Denis.

We also ate there after the race: it was a Saturday early afternoon and the cafés, microbrasseries and vegetarian restaurants were full of people.

Old Montreal

Vieux-Montréal in French, this area of the city is a beauty. The cobblestone streets, historic buildings, and charming cafes of this picturesque neighborhood captured my imagination, despite being a grey and rainy day 🌧️.

We sat down in the Place d’Armes square, with a monument of Paul de Chomedey, founder of Montreal.  The square is beautiful, old-style, and it has buildings that make you think you are in Paris or in Brussels… or in the “Ghostbusters” movie (one building really looked like the one in New York! 🤭)

There we admired the famous Notre-Dame Basilica, mainly built between 1824 and 1829. Sadly for us, there were some renovation works in their Gothic towers.

Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Mount Royal

From Place d’Armes we took the orange line to visit Saint. Joseph’s Oratory. And this turned out to be my favourite place in Montréal!

Saint. Joseph’s Oratory (Oratoire Saint-Joseph) is one of the world’s largest basilicas, which can host almost 2,000 worshippers and has a dome that reaches 97 meters. I was super surprised to see its stunning architecture and most specially its sober and elegant interior:

I also learnt about Brother André. He was a simple porter renowned for his miracle cures, which he attributed to God through Saint Joseph. In 1904, he set out to construct a small wooden chapel… which would ultimately become one of the city’s most impressive religious buildings!

We bought a medal with Frère André and the Basilica engraved in it and we decided to give the change as almony, as we had seen a statue of a cute angel with a box and the word “Merci” 👼🏻. When I left the money in there… the angel moved the head while making a very robotic noise! It was quite funny:

Bonus Trip: Toronto and Niagara Falls 🤙

At only one hour by plane there is the biggest city in Canada, Toronto, and close to it, Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is located on the border between the United States and Canada, straddling the border between the state of New York and the province of Ontario.

It is worth travelling to see the beautify of the Niagara Falls and go up the famous CN Tower in downtown Toronto: that is what we did:

Toronto

We spent a couple of days in Toronto discovering Chinatown, the Harbour Front, Dundas Square and the many skyscrappers that make its downtown a “steel jungle”.

And of course, we went up CN Tower. Standing at a staggering height of 553.3 meters (1,815 feet, 5 inches), the CN Tower held the title of the world’s tallest freestanding structure and tallest tower for over three decades after its completion in 1976. It was built by the Canadian National Railway (hence the name “CN”) to serve as a communications and observation tower.

The tower has a glass floor which is not suitable if you suffer from vertigo, because it lets you see how high you actually are! When we visisted there were a bunch of school kids stampering their feet as hard as they could 🥳

Niagara Falls

But it was Niagara Falls which we will remember the most. Although somehow its charm is dilluted due to the “show” that the place turns out to be: there are casinos, shops, fast food restaurants blasting super loud music just meters away from the natural beauty of the Falls…

Yes, it is not as authentic as Iguazú or Victoria Falls, which we had visited in the past, but it is still worth a visit. Niagara Falls is actually composed of three separate waterfalls: the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and the Horseshoe Falls (also known as the Canadian Falls). The Horseshoe Falls is the largest and most famous of the three and we took millions of pictures of it.

Why are Niagara Falls so important? asked our guide: Because of volume and speed, he said. The combined flow rate of Niagara Falls is the highest of any waterfall in North America, with more than six million cubic feet of water cascading over the falls every minute during peak flow.

We particulary enjoyed taking the boat and getting wet when it approached the falls. Super cool!

🏃‍♀️ The race🏃‍♂️

The 21K started at 8am, while the 10K and 5K started at 11:30am. So, since we were running the 10K, we were able to have breakfast at the hotel with no rush, unlike in most races.

The location

The race took place in the Parc Jean Drapeau (previously called Parc des Iles) which is located in the heart of the Saint Lawrence River. The park is made up of two islands, the île Sainte-Hélène and the île Notre-Dame. The latter hosts the Canadian Grand Prix every year at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which we were going to race in!

To get there, we took the yellow line of the Metro: it was just one stop. Some 21K runners were already returning at 10:30 when we took the Metro.

When we came out in the Parc… it was sunny! Something for which we were very, very grateful, because the temperature was not high: 9 degrees.

It was still 10:30am so we even had time to visit a local museum called “la Biosphère”, decidated to the environment and which is a dome that had acrylic panels that burned in 1976 and were not replaced.

The atmosphere was pleasant, and we saw the last runners of the 21K arriving amongst cheers from the public. A techno version of Shakira’s “Hips don’t lie” was playing and the 10K runners waited to start on a day that was a glimpse of next spring.

The course

There weren’t many of us, which was nice, and at 11:30 we started very punctually.

The circuit is very fast and is very good, because it is a park, although you do not have the opportunity to run and do “tourism” through the streets of Montreal.

There were few spectators, mostly there were friends and family of the runners; one of them, a woman wearing the 2024 Boston Marathon jacket, recognized our t-shirts and shouted “Boston!”

We ran on the asphalt of the Formula 1 circuit, which is super cool! After that, we ran around the Olympic Basin. It is also flat and surrounded by nature. Only at kilometer 7, when leaving the Olympic Basin, there is a slight climb.

There were two stations where they gave you a drink with electrolytes and water in cardboard cups (“De l’eau”, they shouted at us!), one at kilometer 4 and another at kilometer 8.

At kilometer 8 you join the last two kilometers of the 5K, and in fact we overtook some of the 5K that were walking. One kilometer later, we passed a band playing Gloria Gaynor’s “I love you baby” dressed with what seemed the unofficial uniform of Canada: a lumberjack shirt! (In fact, we saw them being sold in the Souvenirs shop at the airport and they are called… well, “Canada shirt”…)

The Finish / L’arrivé

Finishing was a “high” moment for us: we crossed the bridge connecting the two islands at a very good pace, with the “Arrivé” sign next to the Biosphére and many people shouting “Allez allez” or “Come on”!

Upon arrival we got the small but beautifully designed medal which we had seen in the newsletter, we also got more water and isotonic drinks.

We were so happy and festive that we took a funny picture with a mascot, a cocodrile:

And afterwards, in front of the beautiful view of Montreal that can be seen from the Parc. We had finished in 52 minutes: what a perfect recovery run!

🍜 Carboloading and Protein Recovery 🍝: What to eat

In Quebec, Canada, you can find a variety of foods high in carbohydrates that are typical of the region and will fuel you up for the race!!!

Poutine is a Quebecois dish which consists of French fries topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy. We saw many restaurants in Mile End bragging about the quality of their Poutine. Warning: eat in moderation!

Montreal-style bagels are famous for their slightly sweet, chewy texture. And if you are in Mile End, you need to try them!!! They’re typically made with high-gluten flour and boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked, resulting in a carbohydrate-rich treat.

And, of course… Mapple Syrup! The super iconic product from Canada that it is used in a variety of dishes and desserts. In our Niagara Falls tour, there was a “Mapple Syrup” tasting, even!

For protein recovery, I recommend Creton, which is a type of pork spread made with ground pork, onions, and spices, and Tourtière, a traditional meat pie.

Although, after the race, we opted for a more “classical” protein recovery with… a barbacue!!

Roger found, in the heart of Mile End, the “Diablos” restaurant that advertised itself as “The best Barbecue restaurant in Montreal”, and there we went. The place is a classic Southern Restaurant & Bar that serves a mean smokehouse BBQ. Specializing in Pork, Beef Ribs an Beef Brisket.

We ordered a dish for two, “Le dixie”, and we stuffed ourselves with protein. What a feast!

🏆 21K de Montrèal. 21k, 10K and 5K races.

🌐 Website: https://canadarunningseries.com/21k-de-montreal/

🗓️ Late April in Montreal, Canada, in North America.

🏃‍♀️ Number of runners: 2300 in the Half Marathon, 1000 in the 10K.

👟 Urban: bring shoes for asphalt. You will run in a Formula 1 circuit!

✅ Flat, fast course. surrounded by nature in the super cool Formula 1 circuit.

✅ It’s Canada, so it can get cold. We were lucky as it was a sunny day, but the previous days were rainy and miserable.

“Alias Grace”, Margaret Atwood

I selected a superb novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood.