City demands marathons change dates
Seeks longer gap between Scotiabank and Goodlife Toronto races after frustrated motorists complain to City Hall about traffic tie-ups
Brodie Fenlon
Toronto — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 12:23AM EDT
Last updated on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 2:31AM EDT
City Hall has warned the organizers of Toronto's duelling marathons to figure out how to run their events months apart, or it will come up with its own solution.
At issue were the significant street closings required just three weeks apart to stage Sunday's Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon and the earlier Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Peter Noehammer, director of the city's transportation services, said frustrated motorists had called or e-mailed complaints to the mayor's office and the media.
“Our goal is to try and minimize the impact to the motoring public in having closures that are so close together,†he said.
Mr. Noehammer said the city wants organizers to separate the events by up to six months, with one race in the fall and one in spring, or to merge them.
But there's little common ground between the pair in a dispute that dates back years.
Jay Glassman, who took over the Toronto Marathon from the Ontario Track and Field Association in 1995, said he warned city council against allowing a second marathon in Toronto when the waterfront event expanded in 2000.
He said his race has always been held on the first weekend after Thanksgiving and he has no intention of changing it.
“It's not fair. They were the ones that came after us," he said, adding that his race gets the brunt of motorists' anger because it happens to be second on the calendar.
“The city created this and they should fix it. But if it goes to council and council has been lobbied by Scotiabank…It scares me what might happen to me and this event.â€
Alan Brookes, race director of the Waterfront Marathon, said his event attracts elite athletes and is firmly established on the world calendar of premier marathons. He said training clinics the Running Room has programmed before his marathon, and a new three-year promotion with Acura, make a spring event impossible.
“We've created this enormously successful race with all this infrastructure and all these sponsorships, that's really impossible to move,†he said.
“It would be enormously damaging.â€
About 20,000 runners took part in this year's Waterfront Marathon, while the Toronto Marathon attracted a record 13,000 participants.
Mr. Noehammer said if the two races can't reach a compromise, his staff will draft a report with recommendations for council to consider early next year.