2024 Toronto Waterfront Marathon takes over downtown

When race director Alan Brookes helped start the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 1990, a decade before the event even featured a full marathon, he says there were barely enough organizers to put it on, let alone runners.

"It was me and one other full-time person, and then a bunch of folks from different running clubs," he said. Organizers sifted through mailed-in registration then and did their best to figure out how to hold a race, Brookes told CBC News on Thursday.

"You knew every year something would go sideways."

But the race slowly grew through word of mouth, Brookes said, and the 42-kilometre full marathon was added in 2000 with about 600 runners making the finish line.

This year, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon is celebrating its 35th year with a record-breaking turnout and, for the first time ever, two days of races.

This weekend's event features over 30,000 runners from 70 countries, Brookes said, with 18 full-time staff and 3,000 volunteers making sure everything goes off without a hitch. Brookes says this year's turnout sets an attendance record, as well as a record for the most nationalities registered.

"We could have definitely taken more," Brookes said, adding that registration sold out in August. "It's become a professional race."

Races split over two days, new non-binary category

The Toronto Waterfront Marathon has some changes this year.

In addition to the men's and women's categories, a non-binary category has been introduced with its own prize money. Races will take place over two days instead of just Sunday, with the 5-kilometre race happening on Saturday. 

Runners have raised over $3 million for over 150 local charities this year, Brookes said Thursday, and expected Saturday to be a celebration of the money collected for good causes. 

For runners like Arthur Qiu, who started running as a hobby during the pandemic, the charitable side of the event is the main driver behind signing up. To support cancer patients like his father, he says he's raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society, and matching each donation himself.

"I was never really much of an athletic guy in high school," he told CBC News. "So getting out there to support these charities has been hugely beneficial for me, for my father, for my family, and of course for these charities."

Sunday morning will put the focus back on the long-distance runners, Brookes said, with the half- and full marathons taking place around 8 a.m.

The marathon run will start on University Avenue near city hall. Runners will head north past Queen's Park up to Bloor Street, then head east for a few blocks before heading south on Bathurst Street. Runners will take Lakeshore Boulevard west past High Park, before looping back east until they reach the Beaches. The race will then head back downtown and finish next to City Hall.

There will be some professional-level runners out this weekend, including two-time Olympian and Canadian record-holder Natasha Wodak.

But there will also be plenty of amateur runners out just to see what they can do, including 40-year-old Emily Casey, who's running her first half-marathon Sunday.

"I had always thought that was a distance I would never be able to do," said Casey, who has multiple sclerosis.

But she says she saw people in her running group do just fine in last year's event, and she took that as inspiration to challenge herself. She says she started training well in advance and knows the 21-kilometre run is doable for her, but she's excited to celebrate with friends after.

"I just want it to be done and be able to say that I've done it," she said.

For anyone in Toronto who isn't running, organizers have set up cheer stations along the route for people to set up and support this year's participants.

CBC Sports is streaming this year's Toronto Waterfront Marathon live online, starting at 8 a.m. Sunday.

Road closures

The waterfront runs will close down a number of roads downtown this weekend. Toronto police have compiled a list of closures:

Friday after 6 p.m. (reopening Sunday 9 p.m.):

• Bay Street; from Dundas Street West to Queen Street West

• Hagerman Street; from Elizabeth Street to Bay Street

• Elizabeth Street; from Dundas Street West to Hagerman Street

• Albert Street; from Bay Street to James

Saturday, 5 a.m. to noon:

• University Avenue; from Dundas Street West to Wellington Street West

• Armoury Street; from Chestnut Street to University Avenue

• Wellington Street West; from University Avenue to Bay Street

• Bay Street; from Queen Street West to Lake Shore Boulevard West

• Lake Shore Boulevard West; from Bay Street to Spadina Avenue

Sunday, 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.:

• University Avenue; from Bloor Street West to Wellington Street West

• Bloor Street West; from Bathurst Street to Avenue Road

• Bathurst Street; from Bloor Street West to Lake Shore Boulevard West

• Lake Shore Boulevard West; from Windermere Avenue to Bay Street

• Lake Shore Blvd West; from Bay Street to Spadina Avenue

• Bay Street; from Dundas Street West to Lake Shore Boulevard West

• Wellington Street West; from Bay Street to Front Street East

• Front Street East; from Church Street to Bayview Avenue

• Eastern Avenue; from Front Street East to Carlaw Avenue

• Bayview Avenue; from Front Street East to River Street

• Lake Shore Blvd East; from Carlaw Avenue to Queen Street East

• Queen Street East; from Woodbine Avenue to Beech Avenue

A detailed list of closures, including access on and off the Gardiner Expressway, is also available online.