© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated

The TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, October 20 features strong men’s and women’s international and Canadian fields. Each is seeking the qualification standard for the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships and or the national championships. At the very least, to improve their global ranking.

The Canadian men

The Canadian men are led by Tristan Woodfine with his 2:10:39 personal best time from the 2024 Houston Marathon in January. Woodfine has been close to making the Olympic team in the past. For Tokyo, he was the third member, until he dropped one position by the 11th-hour performance by Cameron Levins in Austria.

Tristan Woodfine at Harriers Pioneer 8K in Victoria, BC. Photo credit: Christopher Kelsall / Athletics Illustrated

The standard for the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships is 2:06:30 for the men, this is down from 2:08:10 from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games standard. The time is so fast, that until Paris, this past summer, it is two seconds faster than the former Olympic record from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In that race, Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru won gold in what was considered a fast Olympic time.

Fortunately, athletes have another way into Worlds qualification. Like the Olympics, qualifying can also be achieved by being ranked globally in one’s respective event. For the marathon, 100 men and 100 women can be nominated for Tokyo.

Vancouver’s Thomas Broatch is looking to improve his prospects from his current best of 2:11:51 also achieved at the 2024 Houston Marathon. Seeded third is Just Kent of Surrey, BC with his 2:13:07.

For Thomas Nobbs of Vancouver who is now living in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s his debut. The former steeplechaser has consistently been running 10K and 10,000m in well under 30 minutes. Likewise for Keiran McDonald, who is also debuting. McDonald has run a half-marathon in 1:05:45 from Houston 2024. This, in theory, could translate to a sub-2:16 finish.

Another of the three elite Canadians running their marathon debut is Andrew Alexander. The 25-year-old has consistently been running through the distances from the 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m scoring nearly 1100 World Athletics performance points. If the training has been done and his race tactics are well executed Alexander may finish top Canadian — but debut marathons are often an adventure.

The Canadian women

The national record holder, Natasha Wodak, of North Vancouver owns a 2:23:12 from the 2022 Berlin Marathon. She is the former Canadian record holder in the 10,000m and the half-marathon. She currently holds the national best-known time for 8K at 25:28. During her career, she has consistently run fast and over the 1100-plus points level, however, her marathon is one better at 1201. Apparently the longer the race, the faster Wodak goes.

In January in Houston, she ran 2:28:42, which was disappointing as she wanted to qualify for her third Olympics. Wodak made another attempt in April in Hamburg, a last-chance, 11th-hour attempt. Unfortunately, she ran 2:30:24. Her Olympic dream was not to be for 2024. Toronto is fast, only three time zones away from home and where it all began for Wodak, who tested the marathon distance in 2013 clocking a 2:35:16. At the time, she had 10,000m goals on her radar.

The Tokyo World Athletics Championships qualification standard is 2:23:30.

Fellow Vancouver-area athlete Leslie Sexton is racing too. She carries a best of 2:28:14 from Houston 2024 — where the Canadian (and many other) athletes go to get in an early time on a fast course.

It has been a while for Rachel Hannah of Toronto, but she ran 2:32:09 back in 2016. The 38-year-old has run in the 2:30s at least five times. Hannah is seeded third.

Erin Mawhinney, in her debut, will be looking for a 2:30-something as well. And perhaps a strong start to her marathon career. The Hamilton native is coached by Reid Coolsaet. He is known for his consistency in clocking multiple 2:10s in Berlin, Toronto and Fukuoka before the advent of super shoes.

One other marathon of note…

Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, BC will soon announce an autumn race to go after the World’s standard and bolster her global ranking. In the meantime, she will run a marathon in preparation for that unannounced marathon. Sunday, Oct. 13 on the streets of Victoria, BC, Elmore will likely look to run 1:21 for the first half and 1:15 for the second half at the Royal Victoria Marathon. This would improve the course record by a minute.

Elmore finished ninth in the Tokyo Olympic Marathon and has run 2:23:30 — right on the current standard and the second-fastest time in Canadian history.

Canadian seeds

TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Elite Start List – Athletics Canada Marathon Championships

NameCountryPersonal Best (year)
Tristan WoodfineCanada2:10:39 (2024)
Thomas BroatchCanada2:11:51 (2024)
Justin KentCanada2:13:07 (2023)
Sergio Raez VillanuevaCanada2:18:04 (2019)
Max LeboeufCanada2:18:59 (2023)
Alex NeufferCanada2:21:34 (2022)
Andrew AlexanderCanadaDebut
Thomas NobbsCanadaDebut
Kieran McDonaldCanadaDebut

TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Elite Start List – Athletics Canada Marathon Championships

NameCountryPersonal Best (year)
Natasha WodakCanada2:23:12 (2022)
Leslie SextonCanada2:28:14 (2024)
Rachel HannahCanada2:32:09 (2016)
Anne-Marie ComeauCanada2:34:51 (2023)
Liza HowardCanada2:35:29 (2023)
Kate BazeleyCanada2:36:35 (2019)
Melissa PaauweCanada2:41:12 (2023)
Asia DwyerCanada2:42:45 (2023)
Erin MawhinneyCanadaDebut

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.