Looking back at TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon’s incredible growth

On Sunday, Oct. 16, the prestigious Toronto Waterfront Marathon returns to the city for the first time in three years. Now, Canada’s premier marathon is back, with a new sponsor, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and is expecting one of the biggest turnouts in event history, with 23,000 runners from more than 50 countries racing in the marathon, half-marathon and 5K.

The Toronto Waterfront Marathon has always been a balance of sport and community in the city, raising over three million dollars for charity in 2019. “This year feels special with all the great storylines, building on belief,” says TWM race director, Alan Brookes. “Competition is the essence of sport, and this year we have Malindi Elmore chasing Natasha Wodak’s recent Canadian marathon record from Berlin.”

In its first year (2000), the race only had around 600 finishers. By 2015, when it was given the IAAF Gold Label, it had become only the fifth marathon in North America to achieve this status, drawing in some of the world’s top marathoners, like Philemon Rono (who won in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and now holds the Canadian soil record) and Benson Kipruto (who won in 2018 and who won the Chicago Marathon on Sunday).

The first edition of the marathon was on a slightly different course than what runners see today. The 1999 race began at Toronto’s College Park (on Yonge St. between College and Gerrard Streets) and ran north up to Eglinton Ave., before heading into Leaside and Toronto’s east end, then back downtown to the finish.

“When we started, we wanted to create all the big-city marathon excitement in Canada,” says Brookes. “We wanted Toronto to be and feel like Boston, having all the big-name Canadian athletes competing in Toronto.”

The race became the “waterfront” marathon after moving to Toronto’s Lakeshore Blvd. the following year. Masters world record holder Ed Whitlock put the race on the map in the early 2000s, becoming the first person over 70 years old to run a marathon in less than three hours, with a time of 2:59:10 in the 2003 race.

Fifteen years later, another Canadian athlete made history in Toronto, as Cam Levins broke Jerome Drayton’s 43-year-old Canadian marathon record, finishing fourth in 2:09:25, a 44-second improvement on the previous mark set by Drayton in 1975.

For Brookes, his ambition for the race has always been to be Canada’s premier marathon. “The attraction of big-city marathons became a thing in the 90s,” says Brookes. “Toronto had the unique running community I felt the world needed to see.”

The big-city marathon is often the pinnacle of road racing: the crowds, the athletes and the events all create a buzz around the city. According to Brookes, the 2019 Toronto Waterfront Marathon brought in more than $30 million for the city.

When the race was given the Canadian Marathon Championships delegation in 2015, Brookes knew this was another opportunity to grow the race. In 2019, the marathon hosted the Canadian Olympic Marathon Trials, where Trevor Hofbauer and Dayna Pidhoresky took the wins to earn their spots on the Canadian Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team.

In 2023, the race will once again attract Canada’s top marathoners, as it hosts the Canadian Marathon Trials for the Paris 2024 Games. 

This year, Brookes expects to see the biggest crowds to date to cheer on the thousands of runners. “Twenty-two cheering zones will be set up along the course, four more than we had in 2019,” he says.

The new sponsor, TCS, aims to help grow marathon running in Canada through a new official Toronto Waterfront Marathon race app, which will offer a carbon footprint calculator for attendees to track and offset their environmental impact. Innovation has always been at the forefront for Brookes, which has helped take the race to a higher level.