Minor hiccups as Toronto Marathon returns after two year hiatus

The Toronto Marathon made its return on Sunday after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic. Over 12,500 runners from over 63 countries registered to participate – an increase of almost 3,000 from the last time the event was held in 2019, according to race organizers.

The 42.2-kilometre event started at 7:30 a.m. under sunny skies near Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue before ending in the rain at Exhibition Place and included a half-marathon, a 10-kilometre and five-kilometre run.

Jay Glassman, the marathon’s race director, said overall he was pleased with the comeback while acknowledging there were some hiccups which were to be expected given the lengthy layoff.

“It was a good day and for so many runners, really grateful and thankful to be out in a live event again,” he tells CityNews. “There were some hiccups but we worked well with the city and got through them. But, many of the permits and things that we would of normally had weeks or months ago, we literally did not have until the final week.”

Toronto runner Cory Nagler appeared to have been a victim of some of those logistical lapses, encountering some uncertainty about the route soon after the starting the 10K event.

“Kind of found myself with a lead pretty early on and at one point the pacer bunny, if that’s what you can call them – the guy on the bike directing us – kind of pulled off and told me to keep going,” he explained. “Later on, a police officer was kind of on the course and told me to turn around and from that point on, I didn’t really know where I was going and was totally alone. It seemed looking at the map afterwards, that the turnaround point should have been after the officer.”

Glassman says he was made aware of the confusion, adding it would all be part of a post-mortem where everyone involved gets together and talks about “what went well and the things that need improvement.”

Another concern with many runners was the lack of transit service to help ferry participants to the starting point in North York. The 7:30 a.m. start was a half hour before TTC subway service starts running on Sundays.

“There was thousands, literally thousands of people, at Shepherd station today to start the full marathon or the half marathon, between the runners, their family and friends,” said Diego Moreno, who was one of those who said he would like to see the subway service expanded to better serve the large crowds, like they do in other cities.

“For example, last year when I ran Chicago. You could jump on the subway at four or five in the morning … and considering that today’s start was at Sheppard station, having the subway take you there as opposed to buses and cars just makes more sense.”

Glassman says he’s been asking for some sort of accommodation when it comes to transit for 25 years.

“Many cities have their public transit free and absolutely available to their runners the day of the marathon.”

CityNews reached out to the City of Toronto, who directed us to the TTC on the feasibility of offering extended transit. In a written response the agency said, “We are always willing to work with organizers for any large city event, like the Toronto Marathon, to help participants get to and from their event safely.” However, they did not elaborate beyond that.

Crossing the line first were Dennis Mbelenzi in the men’s group with a time of 2:29:58, and Marianne Hogan in the women’s group in a time of 2:47:59.