Stay to the right.
That's the message organizers with the Terry Fox Hometown Run want to emphasize for the new 35th annual route.
Port Coquitlam hometown organizer Dave Teixeira said the route will be slightly different than last year, when it went over the Coast Meridian viaduct for the first time rather than circling around the south PoCo neighbourhoods as in years past.
This year, walkers, runners and cyclists will leave the Hyde Creek recreation centre at 10 a.m. and funnel onto Coast Meridian Road to go south. Coast Meridian will be closed to all car traffic — in both directions — from Lincoln to Prairie avenues.
Near Prairie, participants will then go on the right side of the southbound lane to get to the overpass (traffic will be open in the northbound lanes).
For those taking the 3k route, they will return to Hyde Creek at the Riverwood Gate point — still staying in the southbound lane but on the right-hand side heading back.
For those taking the 5k route, they will return at the mid-way point of the overpass — still staying in the southbound lane but on the right-hand side heading back.
And for those taking the 7k route, they will return at the end of the overpass — still staying in the southbound lane but on the right-hand side heading back.
Kingsway Avenue will be closed to all car traffic to the Terry Fox library on Wilson Avenue (except at the McLean Avenue intersection, which will be controlled by RCMP).
This year, the route won't include a stop at Terry Fox secondary as Mayor Greg Moore said the run was too disruptive for the neighbourhood.
Still, he said the overpass route is entertaining. "I really enjoyed it last year," he said. "There was so much energy and it was great to see people running and walking in the opposite direction all the time."
