Calgarians share some of their favorites
Now that the sun’s out, forget taking to a treadmill to run.
We live in a beautiful city with many trails waiting to be trampled on.
In fact, Calgary boasts one of the most extensive urban pathway and bikeway networks in North America. The City of Calgary maintains roughly 700 km of pathways throughout the city. That’s the distance from here to Montana.
“No matter where you are in the city, you can make it to one of the city pathways and get to some amazing views,” says Kyra Petrie, manager of the Running Room at Eau Claire Market. “For example, the one little hidden waterfall in the Pearce Estate Park.” Petrie’s been a runner for seven years and has completed a half marathon.
“Up in Beaumont Park there’s a ton of different little off-the-beaten-path kind of trails and again, there’s another hidden waterfall you can run by.”
Whether you walk with weights strapped to your ankles, jog at a steady pace or run like you’ve just robbed a bank, here are a couple running routes courtesy of several Calgarians.
Former University of Calgary Dino track and fielder Lauren Wyrostok recommends Glenmore Reservoir. “On the southwest side you can dip into the woods,” says Wyrostok. The dirt path has “ups and downs and tree stumps to jump over,” and is nearly 15 to 20 km long if you run the whole reservoir. The City of Calgary maintains roughly 700 km of pathways throughout the city.
Photo courtesy of Angela MacIsaac / flickr
The Douglas Fir Trail is another favourite. Littered with impressive Douglas Fir trees and dirt paths, the trail is on the south side of the Bow River, just east of the Edworthy Bridge. “It’s nice to run one way on the trail and then head back along the flight on the north side,” says Andrew Zakluzny, a former U of C soccer player. “It’s about 7.5 kilometres.”
Another one of Zakluzny’s favorite routes is, “The Campus Loop.” The route is nine to 10 km, starting and ending at the U of C campus. It goes up and down Hospital Hill and Home Road, “In between those two massive hills you run along the river,” says Zakluzny.
Running from Edworthy Park to Prince’s Island Park (and back) is Adam Onulov’s route of choice. Another ex-soccer player, he favours the route because you can incorporate the Douglas Fir Trail and “run along the river, cross the new Peace Bridge, and run the stairs by the Calgary Curling Club.” That’s 17 km in total.
Those are just a few. For more, check out the City of Calgary’s website which provides maps of all our lovely city’s bike and pathways. Get moving.