5K Races in Canada 2026-2027
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The 5K race calendar for Canada: 688 races in 2026 and 2027, with dates, start locations and registration links. In Canada the 5K is where the running habit begins: the graduation run after a learn-to-run clinic, the distance the kids run while a parent does the half, and the Saturday opener of nearly every race weekend. The front of the field runs it in under 16 minutes; most people cross the line between half an hour and 40 minutes, walk breaks included. Search by date or by place below, or browse the calendar month by month.
5K races by province and territory
Look up the 5Ks in your part of the country: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
What is in this calendar
Listed here is every Canadian event with a 5K among its distances, mostly on the road or a waterfront path, sometimes on park trails. The 5K is seldom the only race of the day: at the big race weekends it goes off on the Saturday before the longer distances, and the race page lists the whole lineup with start times and a registration link. Charity 5Ks, Canada Day runs, resolution runs on New Year's Day, school and family fun runs and the colour runs of late summer are all in the calendar. Want a 3K, a 4K or a 6K instead? Push the distance slider at the top of the page a notch either way and the list adjusts.
Well-known 5Ks
Ottawa Race Weekend in late May sends its 5K off from City Hall on the Saturday afternoon, past Parliament Hill on closed streets, and it draws a big field of first-timers and families. Calgary Marathon weekend, usually the same weekend, opens with a 5K on the Saturday morning, and the Toronto Waterfront Marathon puts its 5K through downtown on the Saturday of its October weekend.
The 5K through the seasons
The calendar wakes up in April once the roads are clear and stays busy until Thanksgiving in October, with the biggest weekends in May and in the crisp weeks of early fall. Summer belongs to the evening 5Ks, the small-town festival runs and the Canada Day races that start early to avoid the heat. Winter thins the list but never empties it: the Salvation Army's Santa Shuffle on the first Saturday of December, resolution runs on January 1st and the odd snowshoe 5K keep hardy runners busy. There is also parkrun, the free Saturday morning 5K now held in more than 50 Canadian parks; this calendar is for the races that take an entry and hand out a bib.
From 5K to the marathon
Stepping up? The 10K calendar is next in line, the running calendar has every distance in Canada, and the half marathon calendar, the marathon calendar and the trail running calendar cover the longer stuff. Organizing a 5K that has not made it onto the list? The + Event button at the top of the page is there for exactly that.
Get new running races (and updates) in your inbox every month.