Toronto Waterfront Marathon Course Improvements
Why a Toronto press release on a Houston-based blog site?
Because the Toronto Waterfront Marathon is organized by our good friend, Alan Brookes, who spoke at the Houston Running Bloggers 1st annual Marathon Pasta Party in January.
More Historic Downtown, Less Leslie St. Spit
Important course improvements for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2006
TORONTO -- Organizers are delighted to report that approval has been received for some minor, yet highly significant course adjustments for this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, to be run on the flat, fast, lakeshore course on Sunday, September 24th.
Now, there will be more of the scenic, Historic Downtown, St.Lawrence Market neighbourhood for the first few kilometers, and only half the previous distance on the Leslie St. Spit [Tommy Thompson Park] in the second-half of the marathon.
New for 2006, the marathon [42km] and half marathon [21km] will start together at 7am, at the usual location, Metro Hall, at Wellington & Simcoe Streets. This is expected to put close to 10,000 runners on the Start Line, and instantly elevate the sense of occasion and ‘Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon experience’ to that of other, top flight international, mass marathons.
“This year, marathoners and half-marathoners from 30+ countries, every Canadian province and more than 40 American states will line up together. It will be a tremendous atmosphere,” says Race Director, Alan Brookes. This is a strategy that has been highly-successful in other major events like the Houston and Miami Marathons.
From Simcoe Street, the runners will now go due east on Wellington and Front, past the historic Flatiron Building and the St.Lawrence Market all the way to Parliament, south on Parliament, then right onto Lakeshore Boulevard and all the way west to the turn-around at Windermere.
This will add 3 more, totally-flat kilometres to the previous marathon course; 3km that will be subtracted from the Leslie St. Spit section of the old route.
“This is of huge significance,” said Brookes.
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has more than doubled in size over the past 2 years, largely because of its super-flat course that has been popular amongst all levels of runners, from seasoned veterans looking for a PR or a Boston-qualifying time, to first-timers searching for the line of least resistance to the Finish. The 2:11:57 winning time last year made it the 6th fastest marathon in North America.
“The Spit was the only controversial part of our course,” said Brookes. “Just like Haines Point at Marine Corps, it is scenic parkland right along the water—some people loved the scenery, others found it a bit lonely. Now, marathoners will only go out 2.5 kilometres onto the Spit, rather than the 4km they’ve run previously. We think this will be a perfect solution,” says Brookes. “It retains some of the scenery, but not too much!”
Of further significance, with the marathon and half now running together, all the kilometre markers in the fist half of the new course will now be identical. Previously, the two events ran on slightly different courses, which meant that the 5km mark in the marathon was close to 8km in the half. Feedback indicated that there was some confusion among participants.
“This makes it very clear and easy”, said Brookes. “We have also invested a significant amount of money in state-of-the art new kilometre signs. They’re 5m high, and we’ll have them at every kilometre mark, on both sides of the road.”
Also new this year, there will be markers on both sides of the road at the 1 mile, 5, 10, 15 20 and 25 mile points, for the benefit of the rapidly growing numbers on American and British runners.
Another important adjustment is the elimination of the “bottleneck” at “the eye”—the section of the course on Lakeshore Boulevard between the west end of the CNE at British Columbia Drive, and the Boulevard Club. For the past 6 years, runners heading westbound on the Lakeshore were diverted onto the eastbound lanes of Lakeshore Boulevard at this point, creating two-way traffic, with only one lane in each direction for the runners. Now, runners will go west in the full, three Westbound lanes all the way to Windermere, returning in the eastbound 2 lanes, providing lots of room to run.
Marathoners and half-marathoners will continue to run together until just east of the Princes Gates at the CNE [17.5 km], where they will be divided by inflatable archways. Marathoners will turn right, as in previous years, along the picturesque Queen’s Quay and the rest of the usual marathon route [minus the reduction on the Spit]; half marathoners will continue east on Lakeshore Boulevard, to Bay Street, then left on Bay, and left again onto Wellington and the Finish, as usual.
The west end of the course will remain open until 11 a.m., giving half-marathoners 4 hours to complete their run, and really opening up the event to power walkers for the first time; the east end will stay open until 2 p.m., preserving the 7 hour time limit for marathoners.
“We are so pleased that we’ve been able to make these changes for this Fall”, said Brookes. “This is something the runners have asked for, and we’ve been able to deliver. We think these tweaks make our good course great, and will help further sustain the great momentum Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon & Half has, as we grow more and more in international stature”.
Runners interested in trying out the exciting, improved course can register today for either the full or half marathon at http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/ [new course map also available].
Because the Toronto Waterfront Marathon is organized by our good friend, Alan Brookes, who spoke at the Houston Running Bloggers 1st annual Marathon Pasta Party in January.
More Historic Downtown, Less Leslie St. Spit
Important course improvements for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2006
TORONTO -- Organizers are delighted to report that approval has been received for some minor, yet highly significant course adjustments for this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, to be run on the flat, fast, lakeshore course on Sunday, September 24th.
Now, there will be more of the scenic, Historic Downtown, St.Lawrence Market neighbourhood for the first few kilometers, and only half the previous distance on the Leslie St. Spit [Tommy Thompson Park] in the second-half of the marathon.
New for 2006, the marathon [42km] and half marathon [21km] will start together at 7am, at the usual location, Metro Hall, at Wellington & Simcoe Streets. This is expected to put close to 10,000 runners on the Start Line, and instantly elevate the sense of occasion and ‘Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon experience’ to that of other, top flight international, mass marathons.
“This year, marathoners and half-marathoners from 30+ countries, every Canadian province and more than 40 American states will line up together. It will be a tremendous atmosphere,” says Race Director, Alan Brookes. This is a strategy that has been highly-successful in other major events like the Houston and Miami Marathons.
From Simcoe Street, the runners will now go due east on Wellington and Front, past the historic Flatiron Building and the St.Lawrence Market all the way to Parliament, south on Parliament, then right onto Lakeshore Boulevard and all the way west to the turn-around at Windermere.
This will add 3 more, totally-flat kilometres to the previous marathon course; 3km that will be subtracted from the Leslie St. Spit section of the old route.
“This is of huge significance,” said Brookes.
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has more than doubled in size over the past 2 years, largely because of its super-flat course that has been popular amongst all levels of runners, from seasoned veterans looking for a PR or a Boston-qualifying time, to first-timers searching for the line of least resistance to the Finish. The 2:11:57 winning time last year made it the 6th fastest marathon in North America.
“The Spit was the only controversial part of our course,” said Brookes. “Just like Haines Point at Marine Corps, it is scenic parkland right along the water—some people loved the scenery, others found it a bit lonely. Now, marathoners will only go out 2.5 kilometres onto the Spit, rather than the 4km they’ve run previously. We think this will be a perfect solution,” says Brookes. “It retains some of the scenery, but not too much!”
Of further significance, with the marathon and half now running together, all the kilometre markers in the fist half of the new course will now be identical. Previously, the two events ran on slightly different courses, which meant that the 5km mark in the marathon was close to 8km in the half. Feedback indicated that there was some confusion among participants.
“This makes it very clear and easy”, said Brookes. “We have also invested a significant amount of money in state-of-the art new kilometre signs. They’re 5m high, and we’ll have them at every kilometre mark, on both sides of the road.”
Also new this year, there will be markers on both sides of the road at the 1 mile, 5, 10, 15 20 and 25 mile points, for the benefit of the rapidly growing numbers on American and British runners.
Another important adjustment is the elimination of the “bottleneck” at “the eye”—the section of the course on Lakeshore Boulevard between the west end of the CNE at British Columbia Drive, and the Boulevard Club. For the past 6 years, runners heading westbound on the Lakeshore were diverted onto the eastbound lanes of Lakeshore Boulevard at this point, creating two-way traffic, with only one lane in each direction for the runners. Now, runners will go west in the full, three Westbound lanes all the way to Windermere, returning in the eastbound 2 lanes, providing lots of room to run.
Marathoners and half-marathoners will continue to run together until just east of the Princes Gates at the CNE [17.5 km], where they will be divided by inflatable archways. Marathoners will turn right, as in previous years, along the picturesque Queen’s Quay and the rest of the usual marathon route [minus the reduction on the Spit]; half marathoners will continue east on Lakeshore Boulevard, to Bay Street, then left on Bay, and left again onto Wellington and the Finish, as usual.
The west end of the course will remain open until 11 a.m., giving half-marathoners 4 hours to complete their run, and really opening up the event to power walkers for the first time; the east end will stay open until 2 p.m., preserving the 7 hour time limit for marathoners.
“We are so pleased that we’ve been able to make these changes for this Fall”, said Brookes. “This is something the runners have asked for, and we’ve been able to deliver. We think these tweaks make our good course great, and will help further sustain the great momentum Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon & Half has, as we grow more and more in international stature”.
Runners interested in trying out the exciting, improved course can register today for either the full or half marathon at http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/ [new course map also available].
posted by WalkSports.com | 6:03 PM
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