As announced by Athletics Canada in March 2026, starting in 2027, all events that are sanctioned by provincial sport organizations (including Athletics Ontario) will be subject to a new participant licensing system. Run Waterloo believes in the value that Athletics Ontario provides to our events and our sport in general, and so this is going to affect you.
What you need to know
- When signing up for a sanctioned race (like basically all of Run Waterloo’s calendar, plus most other events in Ontario that you are familiar with**), you will be required to purchase a 1-Day Participant License to provide consistent insurance coverage for $5.
- AC Road & Trail Members through Athletics Ontario will then have that $5 offset as a discount during registration in Race Roster.
- These memberships are $15 plus tax per year (register and learn about other benefits here).
- Many of you have been AO Road & Trail members in the past, and so this is not a change for you. This announcement is for any participant who is not.
- There are some exceptions: several specific event types such as our 200m fun runs will not be subject to the 1-Day fee, and some Run Waterloo races such as Tails on Trails aren’t sanctioned by Athletics Ontario.
Our take
You don’t have to do too many events for this to pay off, but more than that, your memberships are investing in the sport in Ontario in a meaningful way. Run Waterloo is going to continue to run high quality sanctioned events.
**You may not know much about AO and the races that are sanctioned, but the list is way larger than you might think. Canada Running Series, Sulphur Springs, Ottawa Race Weekend, Chilly Half, Around The Bay, Happy Trails, and of course Run Waterloo are all among the hundreds of sanctioned events that this will apply to.
There are dozens of provincial sport organizations (PSOs) in Ontario and we understand that most of them charge membership fees that are much higher than $15 per year. Follow this link to learn more about what PSOs do. For example, if you play one time in any Ontario Hockey Federation league, you would be required to join OHF via any member partner (eg. OMHA) and this would involve a fee of $47.77: Hockey Canada Portion: $43.32 (Covers $10.00 base assessment, $4.50 Safe Sport/Integrity fee, $3.12 Registry fee, and $23.79 general liability insurance). OHF Provincial Portion: $4.45.
Why we are posting this now
We have conspicuously delayed launching our 2027 calendar until we had enough information to launch this with confidence. We are opening our first 2027 event now: the 50th Waterloo 10 KM Classic, and so the time was right to be very clear about what to expect. Expect lots of other 2027 events to follow 🙂
One other thing – when you buy the AO membership, it takes up to 24 hours for your membership to be recognized in the Race Roster system. We recommend subscribing now such as to be ready for any 2027 registrations you might want to make. There are no refunds for 1-Day Participant License fees; get the membership first to save.
To be specific
For RW registrations where this is in effect, you will see this discount available at the bottom of the form in Race Roster:
When you click it and validate your previously purchased AO membership, it does this:
And then it itemizes it at checkout:
Discounts includes other things like club promo codes or membership discounts, but in this simple example, you can clearly see the offsetting $5 fee and $5 discount.
