The story behind your 2020 GMS Queen City Marathon medals.

With 2020 being such an unusual year for our event - and in our 20th anniversary year, too - we worked with the great people at The Pin People/Laurie Artiss Ltd. to develop a set of medals that would be something out of the ordinary.

First, with the COVID-19 virus being with us, we incorporated the virus (albeit in a much cuter anthropomorphic form) into the medal art, using the virus to keep the runners on our medals at a social distance.

Second, as the virus is going to be  with us in one way or another throughout the year, the colours of our 5 different medals and ribbons represent four seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter) as well as night.

Third, our medals have been designed to “link,” symbolising that we’re all in this together and it’s our support of each other that will see us all through.

We know that many individual participants are doing multiple events, so afterwards, those participants can “link” their medals for display.

Further to that point, for relay teams or families doing the same event, we are providing them with different colours of medals, so that, as a group, they receive a collection of the “seasons,” so to speak.

NOTE: participants doing the 42.2K events will also receive a custom GMS Queen City Marathon sling bag. Participants in the 21.1K events receive a custom cooling towel and water bottle.

Participants doing the Scribbly Challenge, Scribbly Cubed, and Scribbly Beast will each receive a custom “masked Scribbly” medal, complete with a spinning COVID-19 virus. If only the real virus was this cute and friendly.

And so, with great thanks to our friends at The Pin People/Laurie Artiss, that’s the story behind your 2020 GMS Queen City Marathon medals. Next year, fingers crossed, we’ll all be healthy, happy, and back to a more normal routine.

And remember, like it says on the back of your medals: Running/Walking is not cancelled!