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Which races actually sell out?

Selling out is real — and rare, and specific. Of the 563 Canadian races currently publishing per-distance entry status, 47 (8%) have at least one sold-out distance, and only 14 are gone entirely. Another 55 are flagging limited spots. Everything below is read from each race's own registration listing and recomputed nightly — a live list, not folklore.

The pattern

Three kinds of races fill. The big marathon weekends — 9 of the 47 sold-out races are marathon events (Canmore Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, 10km & 5km; Lighthouse to Lighthouse Half Marathon & 5K; Niagara Falls 10k, Half & Marathon 2026). Permit-capped trail races — 10 more, where the land manager sets the field size and no amount of demand changes it. And special formats: night runs, obstacle weekends, and the small capped distances inside bigger events — kids' 1Ks and relays are often the first thing gone at a race whose main field never fills. What almost never appears on this list is an open-course community 5K or 10K.

Down to the last spots right now

These races publish a live remaining-spots count on at least one distance, and it's under 30:

Counts as published on our most recent check — the tightest ones move fastest, so the race's own listing is the word of record.

Sold out entirely

Sold out on some distances

The rest of the event is still open — which is most of the story: even on the sold-out list, 70% of races have another way in.

What “sold out” actually means

Usually one distance, not the event — and sometimes less than that. Big races sell in waves and tiers, so a “sold out” early-bird tier can sit beside an open regular tier. Several races on the list above run official bib-transfer programs or waitlists after the field fills, and small races often take race-weekend entries in person even after online registration closes.

The practical read: if your goal race is on the fully-sold list, look for its transfer program. If it's a capped trail race that isn't sold yet, register now — that cap is a permit condition, and waiting costs you money anyway. For everything else, the fee tier is the real deadline, not the field.

How this was counted

Entry-status labels — sold out, épuisé, limited, live spots-remaining counts — are read from each race's own listing on its registration platform, per distance; every upcoming listing is re-checked at least every two weeks and the totals here recompute nightly. The 563-race denominator is every upcoming race whose platform publishes that status; races on platforms that don't show per-distance status aren't counted either way. One caveat cuts in this list's favour: the races most likely to publish caps and counts are exactly the ones organized enough to sell out, so if anything the true share of Canadian races that fill is lower than the 8% here.

Act on it

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