lululemon has officially ended the Seawheeze Half Marathon, and I am devastated
Seawheeze is over! lululemon made the official announcement today that SeaWheeze is officially over. The lululemon running community is reeling from this news as it was an epic community event that brought us all together from all over the world. This Vancouver half marathon was the best racing event.
I’ve been to every Seawheeze, right from the beginning and it was my most favourite event. My kids where babies, being pushed in a double stroller at the very first seawheeze event. Last week they where telling me the great memories they had of coming to the Seawheeze expo and seeing all the fun entertainment, and meeting all of my international friends.
I had suspected this was going to happen as post covid prohibitions dragged on. There where no hints of Seawheeze coming back this year or next. I also wondered if this bike lane issue impacted SeaWheeze organizers as it has other local Vancouver events. Also, the convention centre which hosted the Seawheeze expo was commandeered as a medical facility, but that was taken down last year.
Why did lululemon cancel SeaWheeze Half Marathon?
It seems lululemon is moving to a different running event going forward, in an effort to be more inclusive to all customers. I really hope it’s not a digital event as I’m completely zoomed out. I do participate in some Strava run events sometimes when I need motivation, but they aren’t exciting to me. Events like SeaWheeze, or the NY Marathon, or Boston, are all destination events. People work hard to be able to participate in these events and the journey is part of the event and part of the destination. It makes a small goal of running a certain distance, even more audacious. And memorable!
After two and a half long years of event cancelations, this was the thing I was most looking forward to having come back. I miss seeing my online digital lululemon friends in person each year. Face to face, running in colorful groups and sharing memories.
Vancouver has lost another great event with the cancelation of SeaWheeze
Vancouver, my home, has gone through a lot of changes the past two and a half years. SeaWheeze was a major tourist event that greatly benefited our city. It was always a sold out event with the majority of participants travelling from across North America. It is truly a loss for the city of Vancouver to have these types of event cancelations. I hope that the City of Vancouver didn’t make this event untenable through logistics, or restrictions and that they can do something to entice organizers back. The new Vancouver bike lanes certainly created a costly barrier for other local races that have had to reroute. This is entirely speculation as I don’t know what caused the decision to end this event. I hope they reconsider bringing SeaWheeze back to Vancouver in the future. Or maybe a MountainWeeze in Whistler is in order!
I wanted to make sure you all got the sad news. Make sure to check back here for more, and let me know in the comments what your thoughts are. And what your favourite SeaWheeze memories are!
Thank you to lululemon for bringing the most epic running event to Vancouver for 10 years, and for inspiring so many of us to start running. I don’t know that I would have ever imagined training for a half marathon had lululemon not created SeaWheeze. In fact, I have only ever run half marathons. I went from not being a runner, to running half marathons with no 5kms or 10km races in between.
4 comments
Hi! I just found your page as I was scrolling the news about SeaWheeze being cancelled ?
So sad seeing all the old photos and videos. What a devastation.
Do you know anything about the gear for this year if there will maybe anything they’ll release still? As I’m thinking it would have been in the works for a while prior to being cancelled?
I’m also wondering if you have any advice on where to find the stripe Waldo’s from the first year? They are really my only remaining wishlist item and I’m scared now I’ll never find them.
Thank you for any advice you might have!
Hi! Thanks for your comment. I haven’t heard anything about gear but my guess is we won’t see any new seawheeze merch for 2022. Your best bet is to check eBay or Postmark. That’s where I usually hunt old pieces down.
I could not be happier the event has been cancelled in Vancouver. The City of Vancouver drops the ball every year with regards to traffic management at these events and although the city says they wont block residents and its illegal to block residents from leaving or entering their driveways I have been blocked from leaving my building for work every year with no help from City Hall or attending police. I am self employed and service accounts in the valley and sat is my busiest day and I wouldnt mind so much if this was for charity but its nothing more then the city accommodating yet another corporation and to promote over priced sports wear and blocking streets in a city that already has the worse traffic in north At least use this disruption to raise money for a cause lulu, shame on you and shame on Vancouver!
I have travelled from Toronto every year for SeaWheeze … so sad that it’s not coming back…