Footstock 2021 will look a little different this year. 

Organizers of one of Cochrane's biggest annual events have made the decision to move the race to a virtual event.

In a letter sent out to participants it states "We write to you today to let you know that we have reached the difficult decision to move to a virtual event. While we are disappointed to move away from an in-person race, we have planned a fantastic race week complete with race swag, a marked course and posted finisher times."

Meredith McMorran, race director says they started preparing for several possible outcomes months ago. 

"We started planning the event back in September and we really hoped that we'd be able to have a live event but at the same time, keeping our eye on the news and what was happening not only in the province but in our town, so we had a plan B all along."

Last year's event was cancelled. The hope was to have the event go ahead in-person but with the latest COVID-19 restrictions announced by the province that is not feasible. 

The race will go June 6-13. 

"I think I can speak for our entire board to say we're kind of excited about our virtual event. Virtual events are kind of new to running races but we still plan to have race package pick up." says McMorran. 

Participants will still have the opportunity to pick up their race packages through a drive-thru style event with assigned time slots.

The race courses will be marked throughout town and maintained between June 6-13.

Each racer will receive a leaderboard link that they'll be able to post their time on once they complete their race.

There will still be draw prizes provided by Garmin. 

Registration is still open until May 14 if you want to get a race t-shirt. There is still an opportunity to register after that date as well by emailing footstockrwc@gmail.com.

McMorran says "Footstock is a Cochrane event that has been around for over 20 years and it's very near and dear to our hearts."

You can find more information about Footstock here.

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