Sole Sisters is a community of women, and during this scary time in history, we want to be remembered as having coming together to support one another. So many local businesses have already had to close their doors. 
Safety has been our number one concern since the start of this crisis. And we appreciate your patience as our team worked overtime to determine the best race options for our participants, volunteers, charities, first responders, and fellow Canadians. We do not know the long term effect Covid-19 will have on running races or large scale events in general. Assuming our participants are the first to want to return to racing, how long will it take for the volunteers to be comfortable handing the masses water, fruit, and chocolate, giving a high five or a hug?
There is so much anxiety right now that even if we believe someone’s physical health is good we are additionally concerned about their mental health. So many events have been cancelled. We have repeatedly seen on social media that walkers and runners are desperate for a race, any race, something to connect them to their larger community. It is hard to not have anything on the calendar that feels normal, familiar or fun. This is why we have made the decision to try to add some joy to everyone’s new normal. Rather than cancel our event, we are changing the shape of it, the 2020 Sole Sisters 5K will now become a VIRTUAL RACE for all participants. If you do not want to participate virtually you have the option to defer to next year with the same 2020 swag. Please email us at [email protected] if you would like that option, otherwise the virtual kit will automatically be mailed to you.
Prior to June 6th, all registered participants will be sent a Virtual Sole Sisters Race Kit which will include your personalized bib, unicorn themed race wrap and finisher’s medal. The kits will be sent the last week of May but individual timelines for participation will vary so the suggested virtual race date is anytime from June 6 – December 31, 2020.
We expect many Sole Sisters will decide to do their VIRTUAL 5K on Saturday, June 6th but you can decide what works best for you. A virtual race is one that you determine all the details. You decide the day, location, distance, pace. You can do your 5K all at once or over a period of time. You can walk it, you can run it, you can do it outside, and you can do it inside. However you do it, be safe and maintain the proper distance from others. If our situation gets more extreme you can even count your steps indoors; Google tells us on average you take 6,000 steps running a 5K and 7,500 steps if walking it.
For many this announcement will be great news as Sole Sisters Virtual Race may be their only event this year. However, for some Sole Sisters it will be terribly disappointing. We understand that as we are disappointed also. However, we feel it is the best possible outcome from a terrible situation. This is our unicorn lemonade made from the Covid-19 lemons. We hope you will participate in the SPREAD CHEER video and upload your results to add to the virtual experience.
You may think of Sole Sisters Women’s Race as simply one day in June. But for us it is a full time job to insure the success of our annual fundraiser. Our not-for-profit is fully funded by this race and 100% of the net proceeds fund these community programs. So in addition to being sad that our fun, super empowering event won’t happen in its normal fashion; we are also scared our not-for-profit will not survive the economic fall out of this pandemic. That is why we felt it was important to explain to you how your current and future support of Sole Sisters Women’s Race matters so much.
- Girls Gone Gazelle Run Club is offered for no cost to participants and recently expanding to include Halifax and Cape Breton
- Girls Gone Gazelle currently has a virtual training challenge while we socially distanced
- Sole Sisters participants in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are able to attend 40+ free SOCIALS for training, education and parties throughout the year
- Additionally, the race makes donations to local run clubs, and our charity partners
Sole Sisters Women’s Race policy has never included refunds because we incur significant race expenses long before race day. Pausing registration three months before the race meant we hadn’t achieved our financial break-even point for this year. To help with that, there are a limited number of additional VIRTUAL RACE registrations available here: http://bit.ly/2nagoUp
In looking to the future, and hopeful that you will return to our event when it is safe to do so, we will have a Sole Sisters 2020 category of registration that insures any returning 2020 Sole Sister receives in her future race kit at no charge, the items she did not receive this year.
So…
- If you are a PREMIUM REGISTRANT this year, register for BASIC REGISTRATION in 2021, and you will receive a shirt and tutu at no charge.
- If you are a PLUS REGISTRANT this year, register for BASIC REGISTRATION in 2021, and you will receive a race shirt at no charge.
*We will be making a SPREAD CHEER video to recap the Virtual Race experience (remember this is a historic time and we want to record how we adapted). We want your pictures and videos to create the content. You can do your Virtual 5K anytime before the end of the year, but for the sake of creating our video we are asking that you make your submission before July 31st. This is the link to upload those files:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/qqr60wp74yYx45CzsLRJ
**You will have options to upload your race results manually with or without a photo. There is no requirement to upload a time or photos but for some it will be an important part of their virtual experience.
