A man from Steinbach says it will probably be -20 degrees and feel more like -30 when he sets out to race on Sunday.

Through Athletes In Action, Albert Martens is organizing the 5th annual Polar Bear Marathon, Sunday in Churchill. As of Friday morning, 25 runners had registered, coming from places like Tadoule Lake, Northwest Territories, Toronto and even North Carolina. The only runner from the U.S. is a past participant of the North Pole Marathon.

According to Martens, it has been quite mild in Churchill but that is about to change for this weekend. However, the mild weather means Hudson Bay has not yet frozen and that means the polar bears are still wandering around town instead of venturing out on to the ice.

In fact, in a report from Manitoba Sustainable Development, Martens has been informed that last week there were 39 polar bear occurrence reports, four polar bears flown out, four polar bears placed in the Polar Bear Holding Facility (PBHF) and 15 polar bears in the PBHF at the end of the week.

Martens says there are many sets of eyes watching out for the bears. They record sightings and keep good track of the animals in order to help keep residents safe. Racers and organizers do not walk around town much and on race day, there are typically two to three runners per vehicle.

"They are supposed to stay together but some how competitive runners they don't want to listen," he says. "They are competitive and they don't want to stay together, they have their own pace, so that's a bit of a challenge because they do get spread out."

Martens says most years they do see polar bears while in Churchill, and he believes this and the very cold conditions is a drawing card for the runners.

As of Friday morning, Martens was not sure whether he would take part this year. Martens says if he is needed to rather drive one of the support vehicles, he will do that instead.

He notes weather conditions are expected to be very similar to last year when rain iced up the roads, making for treacherous conditions. Martens says it's not so much that it's problematic for the racers, but rather that vehicles have a difficult time driving in those conditions.