By Angela, James & Kari

The 2026 Royal Victoria Marathon took place over the Thanksgiving weekend (5 km took place on the Saturday, with the full and half marathon taking place on Sunday).

STARR has three runners on the race this year – two in the half and one in the full marathon. Our Karla Sache participated in the full marathon and had a chip time of 3:56:11!

James Balchin did the half and his chip time was 1:46:53, while Angela Puszka had a time of 1:50:45!

Angela said “Over thanksgiving weekend I participated in the Royal Victoria Marathon weekend, a tradition I’ve been part of since 2000! Over the years, I’ve completed the 8K six times, the half marathon 15 times (including this year!), and the full marathon three times. This year, I was back tackling the half marathon, and I was reminded just how much I love the atmosphere, the incredible crowd support, and the energy everyone brings to the course. There’s something pretty special about being surrounded by people of all ages and abilities, each working toward their own goals. I felt strong for most of the race and was happy to see a time of 1:49:39 on strava and 1:50:45 chip time. I placed 73/490 in the F3539 division”.

James provided the following comments “The 2026 Victoria Half Marathon was a great experience! The best parts were the beautiful weather and having family there to cheer me on. It was great seeing Angela and her family cheer her on too – she crushed it! The only minor drawback was just how popular the race was this year. The first 5 km felt noticeably more crowded than I remember from running it about eight years ago, making it a little harder to find my rhythm early on. Overall, though, it was a fantastic event, and I’m glad I got to be part of it”.

Way to go everyone! Apologies if any STARRs were missed – let us know if that was the case.