Toronto Marathon
Toronto, Canada
- Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
A Toronto tradition since 1977, 14,000 runners from 50+ countries come to beautiful Toronto to run! The Toronto Marathon course is fast, downhill, and scenic. Starting at Mel Lastman Square in North York and finishing at Ontario Place, the Marathon winds through many of the City’s great neighbourhoods. This Toronto … MORE
Local Historical Weather (May 03):
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| H (°C) | 13 | 10 | 15 | 9 | 12 |
| L (°C) | 3 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 9 |
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Poorly managed event!! May, 2026
I have participated in the Toronto Marathon in previous years and recently as a spectator. Unfortunately, the event has some big areas of improvement. The concerns at the beginning of … MORE
I have participated in the Toronto Marathon in previous years and recently as a spectator. Unfortunately, the event has some big areas of improvement. The concerns at the beginning of the event were disappointing to say the least. Rather than creating an organized/welcoming atmosphere, it felt chaotic and claustrophobic and runners were corralled within the fencing perimeter. The porta johns also, awful conditions, no toilet paper, runners were urinating outside the Porta Johns. Definitely lacking in many ways.
Crowd flow/space/ better washroom facilities for the runners would greatly improve the beginning of the experience. During the race, the lack of stations and water thru out the race was unacceptable. Cars driving thru intersections id definitely a safety concern.
The end of the race was complete chaos, unable to find your family members or follow them online due to lack of cell phone reception, the runners were then corralled into another fencing area. After running for hours, they again had to stand in line to receive the medals and food. This event has been great in the past, but improvements in logistics and participant comfort and runner safety and basic event planning would make this a more positive experience for runners and spectators.
Local Half Marathon
My first International Race. Small Expo. Bus ride to start. Unclear where pot-a-potties were. Found them outside on side street next to start. Many runners thought they were inside the … MORE
My first International Race. Small Expo. Bus ride to start. Unclear where pot-a-potties were. Found them outside on side street next to start. Many runners thought they were inside the mall. Nice start. Long streets. A little confusing toward the end, as there was no one to direct you on the course. Finish line area was fine. A nice Medal and extra shirt. I could never find the buses to go back to the hotel, so I ended up on the train lines, which was easy, but luckily, someone showed me where to go and how to pay my fare. This would be a locals race, perhaps training run, but still fun.
This is a great race!
-Loved the big city feel of the route -Great crowds for most of it -Scenic for a city -Lots of declines early on, making it easy to start strong -I … MORE
-Loved the big city feel of the route
-Great crowds for most of it
-Scenic for a city
-Lots of declines early on, making it easy to start strong
-I was hesitant about the organization of this race based on what I read, but I thought everything was fine. It was a fairly straightforward operation, bib pickup was small, didn’t really have an expo, and they don’t bombard you with emails beforehand. But I felt like I had all the info and more that I needed leading up to the race.
-Lots of photographers throughout which was fun
-About 3000 marathon runners so it was easy to feel together with other runners
-Finisher medals was huge lol
-Would recommend!
Pretty 1st half, but there's a few bugs
Medal is so cool. Could use a bit more work on the production at the other end. Last half mile is a relatively steep uphill, but honestly the first half … MORE
Medal is so cool. Could use a bit more work on the production at the other end. Last half mile is a relatively steep uphill, but honestly the first half ease builds so much confidence!
First Time Marathon
I never understand why when someone decided to walk that they don’t look behind them first or just move to the right. As a first time marathoner (I’ve done several … MORE
I never understand why when someone decided to walk that they don’t look behind them first or just move to the right.
As a first time marathoner (I’ve done several 1/2s) as I was definitely not fast, however I finished within the allotted time and there were still several 100 behind me, I was disappointed that everything was being packed up before 1:00pm. There was no banner to take a photo, food and drinks were being packed up and I heard they ran out of 1/2 marathons medals. I’ll do a different city next year.
Very Poor Organization
The spring Toronto Marathon (not the fall Toronto Waterfront Marathon) attracts a lot of complaints from participants about poor organization. Pre-race problems with shipped bibs not arriving to people and … MORE
The spring Toronto Marathon (not the fall Toronto Waterfront Marathon) attracts a lot of complaints from participants about poor organization. Pre-race problems with shipped bibs not arriving to people and a complete lack of attention in answering questions on the race’s official social media. Toilet facilities were inadequate causing very long lines and people urinating in alleys and behind shrubs. The 2023 race started late. Again in 2023, Nuun sports drink was missing at the majority of the aid stations. The participant tracking website is of poor quality compared to other urban marathons. Full marathon chip times were not published within 24 hours after the race. Worst of all was finish line organization with no water or medals at the finish line. Instead, exhausted runners are funneled into an over-crowded building and have to hunt down a medal for themselves. Tons of sports drink samples but no water to be found. Directional signage at the finish line was absent. This appears to be a multi-year problem with similar complaints from 2022.
Bring your own water!
This marathon has so much potential to be a good one but the lack of aid stations, lack of water/Gatorade/gels and volunteers at the ones they had really affected my … MORE
This marathon has so much potential to be a good one but the lack of aid stations, lack of water/Gatorade/gels and volunteers at the ones they had really affected my race and my overall view of it.
Toronto is where I grew up as a child so I was looking forward to running the Goodlife marathon. The course itself is very scenic in parts and not a tough course. I actually felt great in the first half of it. But approaching the latter part of the marathon, especially the last 15km or 9 miles, it was getting very hot and the route was going around a park near the lake and there were bicyclists and people riding and walking as you ran the race. The worst was the lack of fluid stations! Even the ones that were there were poorly managed and the cups contained a small amount of water. I also didn’t receive a single gel from any volunteer even though it was advertised as having three stations with gels. The quarter piece of banana a volunteer handed me was hard and green and inedible. This is definitely a marathon where you need to bring all of your own fuel. After getting out of the crowded park/lake area, the last 10K or so is run on the highway and it was hot. Making it worse was that there was no aid station for about 4 1/2 miles! After 33km, about mile 20.5, you won’t get another drop of water until 40km or almost til mile 25! That’s insane in the heat, especially at the home stretch. I was so dehydrated and my legs were cramping so badly. A cyclist actually stopped and rode his bike to the aid station and got me a cup of water and with that bit of fuel, I managed to get to the next aid station and make it to the finish line. Though I was so disoriented that a medic came to check up on after the race. Now I knew why so many people had hydration vests for this marathon. This is one where you need to bring your own fuel!
Post-race: I got a nice massage and there was plenty of food/beverages. I would have enjoyed the post-race festivities if I weren’t feeling so awful. Though, the recovery was fine. It was just feeling like crap for a few hours because of dehydration.
Sidenote, the medal was the biggest one ever and it will make you chuckle. The expo and swag were uneventful.
To conclude, this could be such a good race, with better organization, more fluid stations, and volunteers. Come on, Goodlife Toronto, step up!
Tightness in my hip did me in on 29Km
This is a very smooth and fast course with limited number of hills. However, there are several stretches that are extremely windy, especially the last 15Km or so by the … MORE
This is a very smooth and fast course with limited number of hills. However, there are several stretches that are extremely windy, especially the last 15Km or so by the Lake shore. Post race food could be better than just morning rounds and apples. A hearty soup would be nice. Bags are left on the ground, so if it is raining, be sure to put your change of clothes in a plastic bag before putting into your knapsack or bag.