New record: More than $1 million raised at the 2021 virtual Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend
Organizers planning for in-person event in 2022
June 30, 2021 – As the virtual edition of the 2021 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend comes to a close, organizers are ecstatic to announce that a record-breaking $1,064,163.58 was raised by participants in this year’s event.
“We are in awe of our community,” said Ian Fraser, Executive Director of Run Ottawa. “We could have never imagined such an outpouring of support for our Scotiabank Charity Challenge charities. We are so grateful to the thousands of participants who chose to support a charity through their virtual run.”
Last year, participants in the virtual event raised just over $400,000 for local charities. In 2019, the last pre-pandemic in-person event, participants raised over $800,000.
“We salute everyone who helped us reach this significant milestone in such an extraordinary year. We witnessed so many heroic fundraising efforts from our runners and walkers, who were wonderfully supported by our 51 charity leaders and inspired by their generous donors,” said Fraser.
Adding to this year’s total were funds generated through the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend Green Bib Program. Close to $10,000 was raised by participants donating the cost of their medal to the charity of their choice.
The winners of the 2021 Scotiabank Charity Challenge are:
Official charity with the largest total dollars raised: Canadians Sharing Locally and Globally with a total of $362,640.23
Official charity with the largest number of fundraisers: The Ottawa Hospital Foundation with 124 participants
Official Charity with the largest average dollars raised per fundraiser: Lung Cancer Canada with an average of $2,776.00
Running together again in 2022!
With the Canadian vaccination campaign well underway, and the return to in-person events throughout the world becoming a reality, Run Ottawa has started planning for a return to an in-person 2022 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend the weekend of May 28-29. Details will be shared later this summer, but organizers are optimistic.
“We are keeping an eye on the rest of the running world to see what works and what doesn’t for their return to in-person events,” says Fraser. “And of course, all of our decisions will be in line with public health guidelines in place at the time. But as of now, we are definitely planning for an in-person event next May. We just can’t wait to run together again in 2022!”
About the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend
The Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is Canada’s largest running and walking festival with six races, including the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon, the Scotiabank Half Marathon, the Ottawa 10K, the Ottawa 5K, the Ottawa 2K and Scotiabank Ottawa Kids Marathon, as well as a number of distance challenges. In 2021, runners and walkers in the virtual event raised a record-breaking $1,064,163.58 for local and national charities through the Scotiabank Charity Challenge. The 2022 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend will take place May 28-29.
The Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend was named Event of the Year at the 2019 Canadian Tourism Awards, and in 2020, its title sponsor Tamarack Homes won the Sport Tourism Canada’s Canadian Sport Event Sponsorship Initiative of the Year Award. The event is one of only two running events in Canada to host a World Athletics (formerly IAAF) Gold Label Marathon, and host to Athletic Canada’s Canadian 10K Championships. For more information or to register: www.runottawa.ca.