An article from the Vancouver Sun, written by Karen Gram and published today.

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It’s official! As of 2:48 p.m. Thursday, the 2008 Sun Run registered 54,320 runners. And that’s, with more than a week to go before the April 20 road race, already a record number, beating last year’s final count by three. The number of Sun Run registrants has been climbing all week. On Monday, there were 53,277 people registered. By Tuesday that had jumped to 53,519. Early Thursday, the number crossed into 54,026. The breaking point is 54,317. That’s how many registered last year, and more than 5,000 of them signed up in the last two days before the run.

We watch from the edges of our seats as the numbers climb. Every five or 10 minutes, Dawne Potis, the Sun Run’s race administrator, pulls the most up-to-date numbers.

I call Diane Clement, Vancouver’s Chef on the Run, who co-founded the Sun Run in 1985 with her husband Doug.

“Oh my God,” she says. “That’s unbelievable.”

The first Sun Run took place in 1985 and it took some convincing to get The Sun on board, Clement recalls. “They said it wasn’t in the paper’s mandate.”

But in the end, the partnership was formed and by race day they had 4,700 participants. It rose steadily for a few years, then plateaued around 12,000 for the early 90s, Clement says.

Then in 1996, the year corporate teams took off, the numbers almost doubled. In 2006, the Sun Run broke the 50,000 mark. Last year broke new records. Now, in its 24th year, we just can’t stop.

Clement calls it an epidemic - an epidemic in obesity prevention.

Down in the Sun Run office on the main floor, the staff are speed-typing. Potis points out something I’d heard rumours about. The number of First Nations runners has nearly quadrupled from last year. Fantastic.

At 1:30 p.m., I get an e-mail from Jamie Pitblado, Pacific Newspaper Group’s vice president of promotions and community investment. “26 short,” is all it says. He’s too excited to say more.
At 2:45 p.m. he calls. “Nine to tie, 10 to beat,” he reports with glee. As we speak, another one comes in.

“Usually we are not breaking records until the Saturday night before,” he says. “To be sitting here looking at these numbers this early just blows me away. Hopefully, finally the messaging to be active is starting to set in.”

If it keeps up, we could reach 57,000 and claim the title of the largest 10-kilometre race in North America, he says.

You can still register for the Sun Run right up until April 19. Register online until April 16 at Sunrun.com. On April 18 and 19, register in person at BC Place Stadium at the Sun Run Fair.

But you won’t be the one to break the record. That honour went to Michael McDonald, whose form came in at 2:48 p.m.