It is with great excitement that we announce this year’s Canby Dahlia Run! This beloved community event celebrates health, wellness and, of course, being immersed in “The Garden Spot’s” stunning natural beauty, farmlands, and scenic rural areas. This year will be a 5K / 10K run and walk. We will …
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It is with great excitement that we announce this year’s Canby Dahlia Run! This beloved community event celebrates health, wellness and, of course, being immersed in “The Garden Spot’s” stunning natural beauty, farmlands, and scenic rural areas.
This year will be a 5K / 10K run and walk. We will work back up to having a 1/2 marathon in the coming years as this event grows, but we want to make sure we do this with great care to ensure you have the most positive experience possible!
The Canby Dahlia Run is being organized by the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce and we are excited that the run’s founder, Paul Carlson, is helping us bring the run back to fruition!
Beneficiary: This run will help us fund the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce’s brand new 501(c)3 Non-Profit – The Canby Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation (EIN # 99-2267273) .
The Canby Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation has been organized to support the general welfare and prosperity of the Canby area business community and through collaboration and support of workforce education in our schools, including readiness, and development activities with a goal of ensuring a qualified pool of candidates exists to fulfill local area workforce vacancies and to support new and existing entrepreneurs through education and financial funding where possible while keeping local businesses stable and resilient. A portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to our local School District to support activities which are in keeping with our mission.
Registration: Your entry fee includes parking, sponsor provided “swag”, a Canby Dahlia Run official race t-shirt (depending on registration date), finishers medal (depending on registration date), parking, post-run nutrient boosting snacks, and and entry to the Swan Island Dahlia Festival. We highly encourage early registration. The closer you get to race day, the higher the fees!
Course: The start and finish of this run takes place at Swan Island Dahlias, the largest and leading grower of Dahlias in the United States! Both the 5k and 10k courses are on public roads and contain a small stretch of gravel roads. The course closes at 11:00 am. Any participants still out on the course are encouraged to continue, however the water station will be removed, and the finish line area dismantled.
The course is relatively flat with paved roadways for the majority of the course with the exception of one stretch of road that is a gravel and a grass path leading up to the finish line. There is one section of gravel road along the course along Holly Street, and in the final stretch, you will run to the finish line across a grass pathway through the Dahlia fields.
The Finish Line: Medals will be awarded at the finish line after the race and each participant will receive a fresh cut Dahlia when they cross the finish line! You will also receive free entry to the Annual Swan Island Dahlia Festival!
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Solid local fun run
The dahlia fields were near peak bloom, so it was a beautiful sight for the first and last portions of the race, and a great backdrop for photos afterward. Parking … MORE
The dahlia fields were near peak bloom, so it was a beautiful sight for the first and last portions of the race, and a great backdrop for photos afterward. Parking for the event and race day bib pickup were super easy. There was a quarter-mile stretch on gravel that felt pretty treacherous, but maybe that is just my personal aversion to non-paved surfaces. There was a nice medal and a dahlia given to each runner. Nothing fancy for refreshment (water, oranges, bananas), but there were food trucks on site if you wanted to purchase something more. The organizers were pretty confused about who won the race, and if there were awards for top three male and female or just top three runners. Overall, I enjoyed the morning and would do this race again because the flowers were just that awesome.
Pandemic half. Gorgeous flowers
The race proceeds go to charity so I hesitate to be too harsh. Plus, it was during a pandemic so that brings struggles too. The course was overall pretty great. … MORE
The race proceeds go to charity so I hesitate to be too harsh. Plus, it was during a pandemic so that brings struggles too.
The course was overall pretty great. The first couple miles aren’t anything great, but then the Dahlia fields are pretty incredible. After you leave the Dahlia fields you run on a nice trail and through some nice Oregon country area. It is relatively flat.
The biggest complaint about the race was that I spent a great amount of time not knowing whether or not I was on the course! There was no volunteers on the course, which makes no sense! How does it create a COVID risk to have someone stand on a corner and tell runners which way to turn? It was made worse that the race is relatively small so I often didn’t have runners within 100s of yards in front or behind me. I wasted a lot of mental energy concerned I had missed a turn somewhere.
I wasn’t alone in my frustration. The race sent an email the day after apologizing for the confusion and lack of direction on the course. I would imagine that would mean in future years it will be taken care of.