Blue Nose Marathon 2016 weekend to finish Sunday

The Blue Nose Marathon 2016 weekend continued in Halifax on Sunday afternoon as participants started crossing the finish line of the half and full marathons, as well as the 10 kilometre race.

This year's event is one of the biggest yet, with around 12,500 people participating over the weekend — a five per cent jump from 2015.

The Blue Nose Marathon may now be over for those participating and volunteering, but the weekend's events aren't finished. After the finish line officially closes at 2 p.m., a celebratory party will kick off Sunday evening at the World Trade and Convention Centre.

'It feels great!'

Heather O'Donnell, 35, has run the last 12 Blue Nose events. She was the first woman to complete the full marathon this year with a time of three hours and 11 minutes.

"It feels great!" she said after crossing the finish line. "Lots of fans here. The volunteers were awesome. … It takes all those fans at the bottom to get up that last hill — and the finish line in sight."

Bryan Hipson from Yarmouth, N.S. was the first person to finish the full marathon, with a time of two hours and 46 minutes. He also finished first last year.

"I'm feeling a lot better right now. I just want to say something to all the runners," he said. "Congratulations to all the runners doing whatever you set out to do. If you finished, you worked just as hard as I did."

Paula James and Matt McNeil were the first to complete the half marathon.

Sunday's events

The annual marathon weekend hit the ground running on Saturday, including the Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Run and a wheelchair division event.

At 7 a.m. on Sunday, walkers took their first steps of the full marathon. An hour later, runners participating in both the Marathon Team relay event and the Scotiabank full marathon got started.

At 8:05 a.m., the Goodlife Fitness 10 kilometre race began, then the half marathon 15 minutes later.

​A number of streets in the downtown core were closed completely for race weekend. Rolling street closures are also planned through the weekend.