It’s not day-after-day {that a} runner born, raised and at present coaching in Toronto will get to make his marathon debut at his hometown race. However that’s precisely the case for 25-year-old Andrew Alexander, who grew up in Toronto’s Seashores neighborhood within the metropolis’s east finish. Alexander isn’t solely aiming for a quick 2:10 end, but additionally has his sights set on the Canadian nationwide title.
Alexander is aware of his targets are bold, and it’s loads of strain for somebody who’s by no means raced past the half-marathon distance. “I really feel like I’m going into the unknown,” Alexander advised Canadian Operating. “In a 5K, I do know the final two kilometres are going to be onerous; with the marathon, I do not know what’s coming or what it seems like. I’m excited for that.”
Alexander started coaching beneath former Canadian Olympic steeplechaser Matt Hughes and distance runner Dave Reid two years in the past, after graduating from Notre Dame College in South Bend, Ind. He says the plan was all the time to maneuver as much as the 42.2-km distance. He sat down along with his coaches to determine the place he needed to make his debut, and the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon made excellent sense. He arrived on the elite press convention on Friday morning in downtown Toronto, taking the streetcar from town’s east finish.
“It’s going to be superior to see so many household and mates cheering me on,” Alexander says about operating in Toronto. “I received’t be missing any assist on the market.”
When Alexander’s household requested him the place he needed them to cheer, he advised them to remain put within the Seashores, a spot on the marathon course that runners attain across the 35-km mark—usually the hardest stretch of the race. “Any assist I can get on the market will imply the world to me,” he says.
Alexander comes into Sunday’s marathon because the defending TCS Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon champion, profitable final 12 months in 62:42. No matter Sunday’s end result, he is aware of he’s in for a brand new expertise. “I wish to reside within the second and take all of it in,” he says. “Till you run a marathon, you don’t have any thought the place you’re going to be.”
He’ll face sturdy Canadian rivals, together with defending nationwide champion Thomas Broatch of Vancouver, the highest Canadian finisher finally 12 months’s race (which was additionally his marathon debut). Broatch has since run two extra marathons, together with a top-10 end on the 2024 Houston Marathon, the place he set a private finest of two:11:51. A key adjustment in his coaching was transferring his lengthy runs from dust trails to paved roads, a method he maintained for his Toronto construct.
Additionally aiming for his first nationwide marathon title is Justin Kent, who additionally hails from the Vancouver space. Kent advised Canadian Operating that operating the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon had all the time been a part of his plans, and he revealed he had dedicated to the race to his coach, Richard Lee, in March. “As a Canadian marathoner, given how historic the occasion is, you all the time wish to have a very good day right here,” says Kent. “I’m stoked. I do know loads of guys are match, however I’m excited to try it out and see what I can do.”
Kent, 32, is a veteran on this younger Canadian area; Sunday’s marathon shall be his seventh. He has run 2:13 twice, however feels he’s able to make a leap towards a 2:10 efficiency. “The two:10 has been there in my legs; I simply haven’t had a possibility to benefit from it,” he says.
He’ll have a brand new supporter on the end line—his new child daughter, Willa, who will flip 5 months outdated subsequent week. “Figuring out that Willa and my spouse [Canadian Olympian Lindsey Butterworth] shall be on the end line is sort of a secret weapon for the ultimate 8K,” Kent says. “Any ache I’m in can’t examine to what my spouse went by means of.”
The quickest Canadian man within the males’s elite area, Tristan Woodfine of Cobden, Ont., was confirmed as a scratch for Sunday’s marathon; he’s been coping with illness and damage within the closing few weeks main as much as the race.
Kenya’s Cheboi seems to defend title
Kenya’s Elvis Cheboi has returned to Toronto to attempt to defend his title, after profitable final 12 months’s race in 2:09:20. He advised media at Friday’s press convention that he hadn’t anticipated to win the race final 12 months, however was glad he did.
Regardless of the arrogance that comes with being the defending champion, Cheboi was reserved when requested what it might take for him to retain his title. “I’m very completely satisfied to be right here and to have the chance to win once more,” says Cheboi. “I do know it’s very tough to defend.” Cheboi hopes to observe within the footsteps of his Kenyan compatriot, course document holder Philemon Rono, aiming to grow to be solely the third athlete to win back-to-back Toronto Waterfront Marathon titles.
The Kenyan will face harder competitors on this 12 months’s males’s elite area in comparison with final 12 months, together with 2:05 marathoner Mulugeta Uma of Ethiopia. Uma arrives in Toronto recent off his finest efficiency, having received the 2024 Paris Marathon in April. He’s the quickest man within the 2024 Toronto Waterfront Marathon area. “I’ve ready properly, and I wish to go for the course document [of 2:05:00],” says Uma.
For the primary time within the race weekend’s historical past, the 5K race has been moved to Saturday; the 5K has already raised greater than $3,000,000 for the TCS Charity Program.
TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon elite area introduced for 2024
The way to watch
The 2024 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon and Canadian Marathon Championships could be streamed on Sunday, Oct. 20, on World Athletics Inside Observe, CBC Sports activities, or the CBC Gem app. The TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon is likely one of the first North American marathons to be featured on the WA Inside Observe worldwide feed. This 12 months, 30,000 contributors from 70 international locations will participate in Toronto’s race weekend (a document). All runners could be tracked utilizing the official TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon app, out there for obtain on the App Retailer and Google Play.
