Virtual Calgary Marathon supporting the Bill Ptacek Fund

This event has already taken place.

**Update – May 6, 2020: The 56th Scotiabank Calgary Marathon race weekend, originally scheduled for Sunday May 31, is now a virtual event that will kick off an entire virtual running season for Calgarians.

In honour of former Calgary Public Library CEO Bill Ptacek, who passed away in 2019, the Calgary Public Library and Calgary Public Library Foundation have created The Bill Ptacek Fund for Innovation. The Fund, created in consultation with the Ptacek Family, will support the growth of bold new ideas and initiatives at the Library in memory of this imaginative and passionate leader.

Those who wish to remember Bill and celebrate his legacy can choose to walk, run and raise funds for The Bill Ptacek Fund for Innovation as part of the 2020 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon Charity Challenge, which is now a virtual event taking place between May 31 and September 27, 2020.

You can choose to run/walk your event as expected by training and completing it in full on a particular day, or you can get creative. For example, you could run 1km per day for 10 days to complete a 10km race.

Learn more below.

Frequently Asked Questions

From Run Calgary:

Date: Between May 31 and September 27
Time: Anytime
Location: Your virtual run or walk can be completed anywhere, and on any surface (trail, road, treadmill, track, backyard, balcony).
Course Time Limit: None, take as little or as much time as you need.
Swag: If you purchase/have purchased a paid registration for any distance, you will receive a swag bag with your race shirt and bib and other goodies. If you have yet to register but want to join our team, you can also select Free Registration to participate without the added swag.
More details available through Run Calgary.

The Scotiabank Charity Challenge remains open until September 27, so you can still actively fundraise to support the Bill Ptacek Fund for Innovation as you train.

For more information and to register to join our Calgary Public Library team, please click here.

From Run Calgary:

If you registered for any of the Calgary Marathon distances prior to the COVID-19 crisis, you have three options:

Option 1: You can keep your registration and participate in the virtual race period. You will receive your medal and technical event shirt featuring the Peace Bridge, and a $20 credit to any future Run Calgary event that never expires, a 15% discount on ASICS gear, a free Jugo Juice smoothie, product from Nuun and Honey Stinger, as well as a few surprises including the chance to win a years worth of Nuun product, Garmin watches, gift certificates to local small business and more.

You can continue fundraising for your cause and run/walk your event at any point until September 27 and in any way that you choose (ex. on a treadmill, 1km/day etc.)

Option 2: You may choose to drop your registration from the virtual event. Run Calgary, who organizes the event and charity challenge, is a not-for-profit and has already incurred the costs for this year’s event and will not be offering refunds. They will send you a tax receipt and you can make a $20 donation to the Calgary Public Library Foundation to support Bill’s Fund.

Option 3: You can choose to defer your race registration to 2021, 2022 or 2023. If you choose this option, you will get an email on May 16th outlining how to claim your deferral.

From Run Calgary:

In order to find and select your option for the 2020 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon, you need to go to your Race Roster dashboard, ensure you are in our event (2020 Scotiabank Calgary Marathon), click on ‘Edit Registration‘ and the options can be found in the ‘Registration Questions‘ tab to the left of the ‘Personal Information’ tab. This is where you will be able to select your option from the dropdown to (1) Run Virtually, (2) Donate your registration fee or (3) 100% Defer. There are a few steps involved, IF you are having issues please look at this short document that explains the steps HERE.

Please make your selection by May 15.

Please visit the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon website, where the team has created a comprehensive FAQ page.

Thank you for your ongoing support for the Calgary Public Library Foundation.

Donate to the Bill Ptacek Fund for Innovation

The funds in The Bill Ptacek Fund for Innovation will be used to support remarkable ideas at the Library that honour Bill’s adventurous spirit and would have made him smile.

Throughout his life, Bill pushed libraries to evolve and respond to community needs. We believe that Bill would be incredibly proud of how the Calgary Public Library has responded to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis and of their ability to support Calgarians across the city during their time of need.