The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is a road-running race held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, every year in the second or third Sunday of October. Aside from the actual marathon, the race also includes a half-marathon. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is considered Canada's most prestigious road race, also acting as the nation's time-trial event during Olympic cycles.
The race is one of the elite label marathons in the World Athletics Label Road Races.[1] At the 2013 edition of the race, race winner Deressa Chimsa broke the men's course record with the fastest marathon ever recorded on Canadian soil.[2] In the 2011 edition of the race, race winner Koren Jelela Yal broke the women's course record with the fastest marathon ever recorded on Canadian soil. Canadian runner Ed Whitlock set multiple age group world records at the Waterfront Marathon, including a record in the 75 to 79 age group with a time of 3:08:35 in 2006,[3] and a record in the 85 to 89 age group with a time of 3:56:33 in 2016.[4]
The 2020 in-person race was cancelled due to concerns surrounding the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (as was the case for the May 2020 Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon event), although virtual races were to be held instead from October 1 to 31, 2020 instead.[6]
In 2024, organizers announced that the marathon and half-marathon would occur on Sunday, and the 5K race will be held on the Saturday.[7]
The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has successfully raised millions of dollars for charity since its inception. The largest charity attending the marathon for the past three years has been the Engineers Without Borders organization, which uses donations from the marathon for its Run to End Poverty initiative.[11]
