The Fredericton Fall Classic 2026: Race Weekend, and the Rest of Fall Running Season

What the Fall Classic is

The Fall Classic is the Capital City Road Runners' big weekend, forty-three years old this September, and the race most Fredericton runners have run at least once because it is flat, it is fast, and it is at home. It is sponsored by Canadian Tire Fredericton North, starts and finishes on the lawn of Government House on Woodstock Road, and runs on the city's riverfront trail network, which is the closest thing to a track that a road race can be. Run NB lists it as a certified course, a SuperSeries and Youth Series race, and the New Brunswick championship for 2026, which means the front of the field is quick. In 2019 it drew 664 runners on the Sunday and 135 children on the Saturday, and walkers are welcome in every distance.

The schedule

Saturday, September 26, 3:15 p.m.: the free kids runs (in past years 500 metres or one kilometre by age) and a 3K fun run. On-site registration only; no pre-entry.

Sunday, September 27: half marathon (21.1 km) at 8:30 a.m., 10K at 8:45, 5K at 9:00. All from 51 Woodstock Road. The staggered starts mean the 5K field is warming up while the half marathoners are already a kilometre down the trail, so arrive by 8 whatever you are running.

Package pickup: Thursday, September 24 from 5 p.m. at the Running Room in Fredericton; Saturday, September 26 from 1 p.m. (location not stated on the registration page; check your confirmation email); and Sunday from 7 a.m. at the start for out-of-town runners.

Fees, deadlines and the fine print

Registration is on Race Roster. The current fees, in effect from August 10 to race week: half marathon $89.68, 10K $78.76, 5K $67.83. Early-bird pricing ended August 9 ($78.76, $67.83 and $56.91), and a shirt is guaranteed only for those who signed up by then. No refunds; you may transfer to another runner or defer to next year for $13.21. Registration was showing as closing around September 25 when we checked, so do not plan on race-day entry for the Sunday distances. Contacts: race director Sara Young, registrar Sheryl Johnstone, [email protected].

The course, and how to run it

The organizers describe every distance as running along Fredericton's flat and fast trail network, leaving Government House and heading out on the waterfront trail toward Lincoln. That is the crushed-stone and paved path along the south bank, the one you walk on Sunday afternoons, with the river on one side and the maples on the other, and at the end of September the maples are starting to go. There are no hills worth the name; the challenge is holding pace on a straight, quiet trail with nobody to chase. Wind off the river is the variable: a westerly means a headwind coming home. Wear a layer you can shed; late September mornings on the water are often single digits at the start and fifteen degrees by the finish. Exact turnaround points, any bridge crossing, road closures and spectator spots are not published on the registration page; the practical answer is that spectators can stand almost anywhere on the trail between the Green and Lincoln, and the finish on the Government House lawn is the place to be at about 9:50 for the half-marathon leaders.

Who wins it

For calibration, last year's 5K: Alex McAllister won in 17:27, with Sebastian Pacey-Smith (18:16) and Charlie Cooper (18:29) behind him; on the women's side Julia Reid-Howell ran 17:45, followed by Penelope Locas (20:22) and Emma Seymour (20:51). Half-marathon and 10K results from 2025 were not cleanly available on Run NB when we checked. The age-group prizes are, in the tourism office's words, unbeatable, which is a polite way of saying that if you are over fifty and reasonably fit, this is the race where you finally get hardware.

The rest of the fall race calendar

Sunday, September 20: Terry Fox Run, Fredericton, 5 km, the non-competitive one everybody's family does; location and time are on the Terry Fox Foundation's local page.

Sunday, October 4: CIBC Run for the Cure, from Government House again, 1K and 5K starting at 11 a.m. Fundraising, not timed, pink everywhere.

Sunday, November 1: Run for KidSport, Fredericton, listed by Run NB as non-competitive. It is also the morning the clocks fall back, so you get an extra hour of sleep before it.

We could not find 2026 dates for a fall trail race at Mactaquac, a Great Pumpkin Run, or a fall gran fondo; if a club posts one, it will land on Run NB's calendar first.

Running with the club, and the runs that never end

The Capital City Road Runners host group runs twice a week from the UNB Currie Center: Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8:30 a.m., about ten kilometres with pace groups, and the Saturday run finishes with brunch at the Fredericton Inn around 10:30, which is the actual reason half the club shows up. Newcomers are expected and looked after. The trails themselves need no club: the riverfront loop over the Walking Bridge and back across Westmorland is roughly five kilometres and lit; the Nashwaak trail north from the bridge is the flat long run; Odell Park has the only real hills in town and a soft surface for the day after a race. See our full running guide for the routes. The one thing fall adds is the light: from mid-October the Thursday club run finishes in the dark, and a headlamp on the trail is not optional.