2018 WMA Marathon Championships, Toronto

The World Masters Athletics Marathon was held on October 21 in the City of Toronto, as part of a large city marathon totalling 25,000 athletes in three distances (5K, ½ Marathon, Marathon). Up to 6000 athletes started by “Gun Start” in the marathon. This is the first time the WMA has had a marathon as part of a large city marathon and not part of a WMA World Track and Field Championship. Our WMA athletes were just behind the Elite Athletes at the start. In fact, some of our racers were the elite. The start was at 8:45 am sharp.

There were several waves after the initial start assisted by local dignitaries like John Tory, the mayor of Toronto. These were “Net Start”. The focus was Toronto City Hall as part of one large loop. The square in front of it called Nathan Phillips Square was at the end of the finish chute. Food, medical, washrooms, awards, and other activities were in the square. See the photo of the square filled with athletes.

For two days before the race, athletes picked up their bid numbers, shirt, goodies bag and had their bib number checked by scanner at the Enercare Centre of Exhibition Place. The media had the chance to interview world ranked athletes as well as highly ranked masters. See the photos. Sandy Pashkin of WMA Competition Committee, Mary Rosado, who is the chair of USATF Masters Road Running, and Brian Keaveney, VP Competition for WMA, were present to give out bib numbers.

There were two finish chutes, one for elite and one for all others. Finishing athletes received a commemorative medal at the finish line from the organization. All athletes in a Masters age were eligible for Toronto Waterfront Masters age group awards as part of the Organization awards. This was separate from WMA awards. If the athlete was a Canadian of Masters age they were eligible for a Canadian Masters Athletics medal. When the results came out many athletes thought they should get a WMA award. This was not the case because they had not registered and paid for the WMA entry and therefore were not on the start list.

The course was properly certified, marked, manned and policed. All IAAF regulations were in place except the placement of personal drinks of non-elite athletes. WMA athletes did not have their age group on their backs. We had More than 60 athletes in our event. The start ran slightly uphill but turned to the west and down to the Lakeshore where much of the race was won or lost. This decade old race has seen top athletes from around the world. A group of doping control officers escorted athletes off to be tested. All bib numbers had a chip which recorded their passing at all antenna locations and were used to certify that an athlete had completed the course. Several were disqualified for not passing all stations. We had athletes representing 14 different countries start.

The top open athletes were:

1. 1 2:07:24 3:02 4 Kipruto, Benson
2. 2 2:07:46 3:02 10 Sulle, Augustino
3. 3 2:08:30 3:03 3 Kandie, Felix

Masters Results:

As athletes picked up their medals from us, they indicated that many of them had done their personal best which says a lot for the course and the conditions which were 4-6 degrees C. with a wind from the west. There were no complaints about the course, its setup or the people manning the drink stations.

Gene Dykes of the USA timed at 2:55:05, which nearly broke Ed Whitlock’s M70 World Masters Record of 2:54.48 set in Toronto in 2004.

Elizabeth Wayell of Canada with time of 3:07:56 came close to the WMA World Record of 3:02:50 set by Claudine Marchadier in W60 age group in 2007 in France.

Our fastest Masters finishers were:

Men

Group Place Name Country Time

• 40-44 1 Oliver Vrambout USA 2:34:28
• 35-39 1 Michal Orzel POL 2:35:15
• 40-44 2 Avit Levesque CAN 2:38:51

Women

• 40-44 1 Rosalind Smye Morton CAN 3:06:56
• 2 Karima Makrof SWE 3:07:34
• 60-64 1 Elizabeth Waywell CAN 3:07:56

Please see the photos and results posted with this article on the WMA website and the full results of all races with splits at the event website.

http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/the-weekend/results-and-photos/

I thank the Scotia Bank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Alan Brooks and his very large group of volunteers for having us as part of this marathon. In fact, I appreciated the event so much, I will volunteer next year at the 2019 event in Toronto, Canada.

 All Information provided by Brian Keaveney

Vice President World Masters Athletics -Competition

Results Below

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