Chestnut Run Ottawa
One morning by the canal, Ukrainians and Canadians ran together for children waiting on heart surgery. The next start is May 30, 2027.
A thirty-year tradition, run in Ottawa for the first time
Chestnut Run has gathered people for more than thirty years to raise money for children who need cardiac care. It runs the same weekend in dozens of countries at once — the same cause, the same distance, thousands of separate starts.
On May 31, 2026, Ottawa joined it. The first Chestnut Run Ottawa was co-organized by the Ukrainian Community of Lanark County — the volunteers behind UAFest — together with LifeCapital Global, and carried by participants, partners and friends of Ukraine who simply showed up.
Eighty people at one start, ten thousand at the others
Across the whole 2026 campaign, Chestnut Run raised ₴2,980,000 worldwide. Ottawa's share is small against that — and it is the reason there will be a second year here.
Families ran it together
Parents with children, teenagers with their friends, neighbours who had never met before the start line. Some walked it. That was always allowed.
It is the same thing the festival does in September, on a different day of the year: give people a reason to stand next to each other and do something useful.
The Ukrainian Community of Lanark County and LifeCapital Global, with volunteers and partners from across the Ottawa Valley. The same two organizations behind UAFest.Capital.
No entry fee went to us. The money raised in Ottawa went to the run's charitable mission, alongside every other country running that weekend.
Registration for 2027 opens once the route is confirmed
Leave your name and we will write to you when it does — before it opens publicly. Tell us whether you want to run, volunteer, or bring a company team.