We’re simply 10 days away from Canada’s largest race weekend: the 2024 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Since 2015, this occasion has additionally served because the annual Canadian Marathon Championships. This yr’s race will function all the pieces from former champions and nationwide document holders to rising stars trying to make their mark on the 42.2 km distance.
Right here’s your cheat sheet for the boys’s and ladies’s elite fields in Toronto.
Canadian males’s subject
Andrew Alexander (Toronto): The 25-year-old former NCAA standout gained the 2023 Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon in 62:44. He’s coached by Matt Hughes, the Canadian document holder within the males’s 3,000m steeplechase, and former Canadian marathoner Dave Reid. Alexander is aiming for a sub-2:10 end at his hometown marathon.
Thomas Broatch (Vancouver): The reigning Canadian marathon champion. He was the primary Canadian throughout the road final yr in his marathon debut (2:16:25). 4 months later, Broatch took one other shot on the distance, reducing his private greatest by greater than 4 minutes on the 2024 Houston Marathon (2:11:54).
Justin Kent (Surrey, B.C.): This shall be Kent’s first time competing on the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. He ran his PB of two:13:07 on the 2023 Prague Marathon, incomes him a spot on Group Canada’s males’s marathon crew for the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Maxime Leboeuf (Gatineau, Que.): Leboeuf completed third on the 2022 Montreal Marathon in 2:24:25. He’s a former graduate of Queen’s College XC program and an avid cross-country skier.
Kieran McDonald (Halifax): McDonald shall be making his marathon debut in Toronto. He ran his half-marathon better of 65:45 on the 2024 Houston Half Marathon in January.
Alex Neuffer (Stratford, P.E.I.): Neuffer ran his PB of two:21:34 on the 2022 Boston Marathon, ending as one of many prime Canadians. He’s a graduate of St. Francis Xavier College’s XC program and a coaching associate of Kieran McDonald (see above).
Thomas Nobbs (Vancouver): The 25-year-old shall be working his second-career marathon in Toronto. He made his debut in Philadelphia final fall, working 2:19:13. Nobbs completed simply off the rostrum on the 2024 Canadian 10K Championships, in 29:31. He additionally completed second on the Canadian Half Marathon Championships in Winnipeg in June.
Sergio Ráez Villanueva (Mississauga, Ont.): Ráez Villanueva has competed on the Toronto Waterfront Marathon for the final two years. He set his greatest of two:18:04 right here in 2022 (his marathon debut). Ráez Villanueva is self-coached and likewise coaches youth athletes in his hometown of Mississauga.
Tristan Woodfine (Cobden, Ont.): Coached by former Canadian Olympic marathoner Reid Coolsaet. Woodfine gained the half marathon right here in 2022. He has the quickest time amongst Canadian males within the subject, with a PB of two:10:39 from Houston earlier this yr.
Worldwide males’s subject
Elvis Cheboi (Kenya): Cheboi ran his private greatest of two:09:20 to win the 2023 Toronto Waterfront Marathon. (Reigning champion)
Mulugeta Uma (Ethiopia): Uma ran 2:05:33 to win the 2024 Paris Marathon in April. He has the quickest private greatest within the males’s subject.
Abdi Fufa (Ethiopia): Fufa completed simply off the rostrum on the 2024 Dubai Marathon in January (2:06:23). He ran his PB of two:05:57 on the Siena Marathon in 2021 (the place he was second). The 29-year-old is searching for his first marathon win.
Hailu Zewdu (Ethiopia): The 29-year-old ran his PB of two:06:31 on the Dubai Marathon in 2020. He has not damaged 2:09:00 in his six marathons since.
Gizealew Ayana (Ethiopia): Ayana is the youngest elite athlete within the subject–he’s solely 21. He ran his PB of two:07:15 to win the 2023 Paris Marathon in his debut on the distance.
Domenic Ngeno (Kenya): The 26-year-old is the quickest Kenyan marathoner within the Toronto subject. He gained the 2024 L.A. Marathon in March in 2:11:01. Ngeno’s PB of two:07:26 was from a podium end on the 2023 Eindhoven Marathon within the Netherlands.
Noah Kipkemboi (Kenya): A veteran of the marathon distance. The 31-year-old has competed at greater than 10 marathons in his profession. He podiumed on the Enschede Marathon earlier this yr, with a time of two:09:06.
Brian Kipsang (Kenya): Kipsang arrives in Toronto contemporary off a private greatest on the 2024 Milan Marathon in March, the place he positioned second in 2:07:56. The 30-year-old has completed within the prime 5 at three of his final 4 races.
Abe Gashahun (Ethiopia): Gashahun has the quickest half-marathon private greatest within the subject of 59:46. He’s had success at shorter distances and cross nation, however it hasn’t but translated to the marathon. The 26-year-old ran 2:08:51 earlier this yr in Saudi Arabia.
Sydney Gidabuday (U.S.A.): Former member of Adidas Tinman Elite Observe Membership in Colorado. Gidabuday made his marathon debut on Canadian soil on the 2023 Ottawa Marathon, the place he completed ninth. His PB of two:14:34 was run on the hilly NYC Marathon in 2023.
Yusuf Nadir (U.S.A.): Private greatest of two:15:27 from the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. He completed twenty fifth on the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February.
Aidan Reed (U.S.A.): Additionally made his marathon debut on the 2023 Ottawa Marathon–2:20:23. Reed ran collegiately at Southern Utah College, following within the footsteps of Canadian marathon document holder Cam Levins.
Canadian girls’s subject
Kate Bazeley (St. John’s, N.L.): The 40-year-old ran her PB of two:36:35 in Toronto in 2019. Earlier this yr, Bazeley represented Group Canada on the World XC Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Anne-Marie Comeau (Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que.): The 2018 Canadian (winter) Olympian ran her marathon greatest of two:34:51 in Toronto final yr, crossing the road because the second Canadian girl.
Asia Dwyer (Toronto): Dwyer ran her private greatest of two:42:45 on the 2023 Toronto Waterfront Marathon final fall. She instructed Canadian Working in an interview for the November/December 2024 situation of the print journal that she is trying to smash her earlier greatest.
Rachel Hannah (Port Elgin, Ont.): Hannah was the prime Canadian finisher on the 2024 Ottawa Marathon in Might. She gained a bronze medal for Canada on the 2015 Pan-American Video games in Toronto. She ran her private better of 2:32:09 was on the 2016 Houston Marathon.
Liza Howard (Toronto): Howard instructed Canadian Working in an interview that her purpose is to succeed in the rostrum and run a private greatest. Howard ran her present private greatest of two:35:29 on the 2022 Chicago Marathon. She has unofficially damaged the Canadian girls’s 50K document, twice, in her marathon construct for this race.
Erin Mawhinney (Hamilton): The 28-year-old runner shall be making her marathon debut in Toronto. She is coached by two-time Canadian Olympian Reid Coolsaet. She broke the tape on the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon final yr, working a PB of 1:13:50.
Melissa Paauwe (Calgary). Paauwe is carrying the pleasure of Calgary into Toronto. She ran her PB of two:41:12 on the 2023 Chicago marathon, and completed as the highest Canadian.
Leslie Sexton (Markham, Ont.): Sexton returns to Toronto to run her hometown marathon. She mentioned she shall be making an attempt to qualify for Worlds in Tokyo subsequent yr. She set her PB of two:28:14 on the 2024 Houston Marathon this yr, however missed the Olympic commonplace by two minutes.
Natasha Wodak: (Vancouver) began her marathon profession right here in 2013 however has not returned till this yr; has by no means gained the championship. Her PB of two:23:12 from the 2022 Berlin Marathon stands as the present Canadian document.
Worldwide girls’s subject
Waganesh Mekasha (Ethiopia): Has a private greatest of two:22:45 from the 2019 Dubai Marathon. The 32-year-old Ethiopian gained the 2023 Ottawa Marathon and completed second in Toronto final fall, with a time of two:23:12.
Afera Godfay (Ethiopia): Godfay completed third behind compatriots Buze Diriba and Mekasha (see above) final yr. She has a private greatest of two:22:41 and has completed within the prime 5 in 4 of her final 5 marathons.
Roza Dejere (Ethiopia): The 27-year-old Ethiopian has the quickest private greatest within the girls’s subject (2:18:30). She completed fourth within the girls’s marathon on the Tokyo Olympic Video games. She involves Toronto as a risk to the course document of two:22:16, which was set in 2019.
Meseret Gebre (Ethiopia): Gebre hasn’t raced since Toronto final fall, the place she completed seventh in 2:29:54. She set her PB of two:23:11 to win the Barcelona Marathon in 2022.
Valentina Matieko (Kenya): Certainly one of two Kenyan girls within the worldwide elite subject. Matieko involves Toronto contemporary off a private greatest earlier this yr on the Paris Marathon in April (2:24:21).
Lydia Simiyu (Kenya): Simiyu ran her PB of two:25:10 earlier this yr on the Rome Marathon. She served a six-month doping suspension in 2022 after she examined constructive for chlorthalidone after the Poznan Half Marathon in Poland.
Rediet Daniel (Ethiopia): Two top-five finishes in her three skilled marathon begins. The 24-year-old Ethiopian ran her private better of 2:26:25 on the 2024 Doha Marathon in February.
The TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, to be held on Oct. 20, is Canada’s premier working occasion and the grand finale of the Canada Working Collection (CRS). Since 2017, the race has additionally served because the Athletics Canada marathon championship and Olympic trials.
