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☰
Toronto Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Toronto Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.8 
Organization 3.8 
Spectators 3.1
Number of comments: 160 [displaying comments 31 to 41]
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J. C. from Buffalo, NY
(5/9/2012)
 "Beautiful Course - Very Diverse" (about: 2012)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Toronto Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The course is generally gorgeous with a nice mix of urban, neighborhood and park settings. There was one pretty ugly stretch, but it wasn't awful. The streets were not totally closed to traffic and I was concerned about this, but the police did a great job with the traffic so it really wasn't a problem. I've seen some comments about poor organization, but this was my 4th race and I found everything ran very smoothly (some people complain no matter what, I've found). I LOVED the fact that the half-marathon started an hour later, so the congestion that you get at some races with half and full marathons was not a factor. The crowds were typical Canadian - very, very nice, very supportive (honestly, very attractive, too) but just a bit reserved. I will probably do this race again - it was well run and gorgeous. | |
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J. H. from US
(5/7/2012)
"Great marathon!!" (about: 2012)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Toronto Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 The weather made the day this year. Temps getting up around 60, sunny, and a cool breeze. Past comments about crowd participation had me wondering what to expect. Wow, was I blown away! The people of Toronto were out in full force. My group's pacer Julian had us rolling through the 1/2 within 30 seconds of pace, and the finish within 60 seconds. My hat goes of to him for doing a fantastic job. Only two minor negatives on the day. First you pass the finish line with over 10 miles to go. This was somewhat demoralizing knowing you were getting farther away. However, the scenery along the shoreline made up for this part. And finally, there was not enough water at the finish. With all of the 1/2 and full marathon runners finishing together it was hard to find a drink. Overall I had a fantastic experience in Toronto, and would recommend this marathon to anyone. | |
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J. H. from Pickering
(5/7/2012)
 "All in all so-so" (about: 2012)
50+ previous marathons
| 6+ Toronto Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 Ran the half as preparing for Ottawa but here are my comments; 1. Loved the new route and the finishing location 2. Exiting the finish area was way too congested - one exit, narrow and right onto the marathon course 3. No water in finish area 4. Lack of water at water stations had to stop and wait to get water twice 5. Great finishers medals for the 1/2 6. No t-shirt specific for the 1/2 why not!!!??? 7. Spectators were sparse but those that were there were great especially at the finish line This has the opportinity to be a great race but needs to take care of everyone and iron out the kinks. | |
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K. O. from Barrie, Ontario
(5/7/2012)
 "Disgraceful" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Toronto Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 The good: a scenic tour through the streets of central Toronto, perfect weather. The bad: stunningly inept course measurement after 15km mark; very poor course markings after 28km mark (signs telling runners left or right would have helped); no water at finish!! How the heck does this happen? Wow, what a colossal mess. I have participated in over 30 marathons and this was by the far the worst experience I've had. Avoid this race. | |
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J. S. from Toronto
(5/6/2012)
 "Not an event to merit travelling to Toronto" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Toronto Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 I've run this marathon twice and supported friends mutiple times. Writing this today after getting home from the event frusatrated and spending the afternoon listening to dissapointment of others. The organizers of this event didn't get it in the past and though they have made changes, the marathon portion still doesn't work. I think this shows in that out of the '15,000' participants they brag of on their website, less than 1600 were marathoners and few - if any - professionals attended at the marathon level. Just local heroes. The Course: Much has been debated about it's undulations.Not worth repeating. What does need to be pointed out is that the logistics of the day will leave yourself, friends and family frustrated and in tears. My friends and I *live* here and our day was difficult, confusing and angering. The race starts in the far north end of the city which is difficult to get too and from the morning of. If you have friends or family with you, they will be stuck there until the subway opens, or forced to pay an expensive taxi ride to a more southern part of the course. If they choose to stay in the start area, there is nothing in the area at 8:00 other than closed Korean restaurants and dollar stores. They will also have a very difficult time catching up with you before the finish, because the weaving course layout is practically impossible to follow by public transit. Since all the streets are close, following by car is a nightmare. Start/Finish Area: Read all the negative comments about the Start. They are all true and haven't changed. The Finish this year was at Ontario Place. Still extremely difficult to get to and a long walk from the streetcars -especially with kids or elder parents in tow. You'll walk at least 1/2 hour to Finish from closest streetcar stop. Though there's the promise of parking at the Ex, don't even try taking your car. The Finish area is disorganized, with no signage and few volunteers. From there it is an excercise in 'follow the lost' and intuiting your way to where the shuttle busses are back to the city. Again, no volunteers, signage, announcements or other wayfinding direction to guide you to the bus and no indication of which bus to take once you are there. The walk from race Finish to bus and from bus to parking upon downtown arrival was ridiculously far and gruelling after running a marathon - and particularly torturous for those runners in our party who were cramping. After all that we faced another long public transit trip to get back north to the start area, where we were forced to leave our car in the morning. Just a ridiculous and contrived journey, all in all. Crowds: There are none. The number of the people at the Marathon start was literally a sprinkling. Like, I've never seen so few people. This is partially because there were so few marathoners. More likely because the logistics mean most suppporters choose to pick the race up elsewhere. Likewise, the difficulty of following the race throughout the city mean many supporters just give up. Crowds at the Finish were thicker, but my sense is that most were there for the huge 5K, which starts near the marathon finish, around the 4:00 hour mark. My point for this posting? Please come to our city, but don't come for this event. As a local, this was not worth participating in and turned what was supposed to be fun into a challenging, frustrating, fruitless day for my friends - and they *know* how to get around the city. I can't imagine what this would be like for a tourist. I'd be absolutely kicking and screaming... | |
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A. B. from New York
(5/6/2012)
 "NOT ENOUGH WATER!!" (about: 2012)
3 previous marathons
| 2 Toronto Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 I ran this year last year, the weather was brutal, rainy windy and cold but I had a really great time, and felt it was all done really really well. This year is was glorious, but very sunny and quite warm. There were just simply not enough water stops, AND when I got to the finish line they had RUN OUT OF WATER!!!! People were upset, very few of my friends were able to run as fast as they had hoped, and most of us were seriously dehydrated at the end. SO DISSAPOINTED! I loved this race last year!! | |
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L. P. from Toronto
(5/20/2011)
"Love this race" (about: 2011)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Toronto Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 What can I say? I got a BQ in less than ideal weather conditions. I think the weather may have caused a shortage of volunteers at times, but they always had water ready and an enthusiastic cheer. I LOVE the course - a true tour of some of the best parts of the city. I miss the fall colors on the course, though! | |
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J. L. from Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada
(5/18/2011)
 "It's not the races fault about the bad weather" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Toronto Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 Its been raining for a week nonstop in Toronto. The marathon was absolutely miserable and the worst one I've ever done, but that's on me. I could not get inspired to run this thing to save my life, I had to bargain with myself to keep going and I walked the last 8 miles. I just couldn't get into it. The people weren't very friendly, talkative or motivating and there were no crowds or anyone at the finish line. I didn't feel like I just did a marathon; I just wanted to get my medal and leave. This is the first time I felt nothing after crossing the finish line. | |
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A. T. from Keller, TX
(5/18/2011)
 "Diverse Course" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Toronto Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Still can't understand two marathons in the area on the same day. Weather wasn't good, but it was easily tolerable. Some folks may disagree with me. Pros: - Enthusiastic, well handled water stops. - Good, mixed course through neighborhoods, shopping districts, parkland, the waterfront, and the skyscrapers of the urban jungle. - Very good organization. - If you like large medals, this was a big-un! Cons: - Large sections of the course were on roadways, some very busy, shared with motorized traffic. - Not much in the way of freebies at the finish line, but I did like the chocolate milk. - Light on the spectators, but the weather wasn't exactly choice. Hats off to the volunteers and organizers! | |
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lisa sim from Winnipeg, MB
(1/16/2011)
"far superior course, but not as flashy as Scotia" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Toronto Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Waterfront runs a larger proportion of its course along the lake and has more sponsorship, which admittedly goes a long way; however, Goodlife's course is much more preferable!! Downhill ever so slightly until downtown (excluding a single sustained incline) and then you're almost home free from there. The course incorporates the best of the waterfront anyway. Exceedingly fast course. Fantastic experience with this race; I'm just regretful that I hadn't put it as a fixture into my race calendar sooner. |
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