Canadian dad wins Buffalo Marathon while pushing his child in stroller

Canadian marathoner and dad from Waterdown, Ont., Lucas McAneney not only won Sunday’s Buffalo Marathon in Buffalo, N.Y. but did it with his two-year-old son Sutton along for the ride. McAneney pushed a stroller for the entire race in an attempt to break Calum Neff’s Guinness world record for the fastest marathon while pushing a stroller.

McAneney, 35,  finished the race shy of the record in 2:33:29, missing Neff’s world record of 2:31:21 set at the 2016 Toronto Waterfront Marathon while pushing his 4-year-old daughter Alessandra.

When McAneney’s son was born, the 2:18 marathoner briefly stepped away from the sport he’d been doing since he was young. A few months later, he was given a running stroller from his wife, which helped McAneney get more mileage while taking Sutton for a stroll.

McAneney split 1:13:21 through the halfway point, ahead of record pace. “I was on pace for the record until five kilometres to go, then my legs turned off,” he said. He covered the final few kilometres at a four-minute per kilometre pace, only missing out on the record by two minutes.

Dave Cook of Syracuse, N.Y., finished second, without a stroller, in 2:33.48.

The Buffalo Marathon returned for the first time since 2019 after the pandemic cancelled the 2020 and 2021 races. The Buffalo Marathon is a popular destination race for many Canadian runners as a certified flat and fast Boston qualifier course. This year’s race hosted over 5,800 runners from 43 states and 13 countries.