A Message to our Edmonton Marathon community

We want to provide an important update as we continue to address the course measurement error that impacted this year's Edmonton’s Half and Full Marathon events. We understand the questions and concerns this has raised, and we owe it to all participants to keep you informed.

 

Course Certification Improvements

Courses are certified by Athletics Canada, and we are working together to review and strengthen the course certification process to ensure future Edmonton Marathon courses are accurate and meet the highest standards. Getting it right is a shared responsibility, and we are committed to working collaboratively to strengthen the process, improve oversight, and ensure confidence in our course accuracy moving forward.

 

Boston Marathon Qualifying

We are grateful to the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) and specifically the President and CEO, Jack Fleming, for having timely and supportive communications with us. The BAA has agreed to accept all times for the longer course of all non-adjusted times. This means 92 participants reached a Boston Qualifying (BQ) time. The non-adjusted times have affected 13 participants, and they will be contacted individually.

 

Being a Host to Canada's Best

We also want to acknowledge the two Marathon course records that were set and confirm that Athletics Canada have accepted the finishing placements for the elite participants for both Marathon and Half-Marathon. We wish the best to those elites that are traveling to the upcoming World Athletics Road Running Championships in September in Copenhagen.  

 

Looking Back and Ahead

While we cannot change what happened, we will do better - we are:

•  Actively listening to participant feedback. Providing updates and reaching out to participants as we earn back your trust.

• Committed to delivering a race experience in 2027 that meets the highest standards of accuracy, integrity, safety, and excellence.

• Continuing to invest with the running community to rebuild trust and confidence in our event and support more running, community, and wellbeing. For example, the Edmonton Marathon is sponsoring the CCAA Cross-Country Championships and the ACAC Cross Country Running Grand Prix in Edmonton. This $10,000 sponsorship will allow all participants free access.  For more information and free registration go to, Edmonton Marathon XC Series.

• The Edmonton Marathon raised $132,073 for charities, including approximately a $10,000 donation from the event to local charities. 

• We thank our 550 volunteers, and we are pleased to have donated almost $12,000 to these local clubs and groups.

• We are proud to have generated millions to the local economy and welcomed over 3,500 participants outside the Capital Region to Edmonton.  

• A post event survey will follow in the coming weeks. 

 

Thank you

From communications received, it is evident the community that gathers through this event is resilient, passionate, kind, and deserving of nothing less than our very best…we commit that this distance miscalculation does not happen again.  We have received countless emails and notes of support and thank-yous’…these mean a great deal to our team.  We understand the impact of the event to our downtown, supporting neighbourhoods, tourism, local charities, and the running community and we are looking ahead to 2027.  We are listening. And we are committed to being back next year, wiser, bigger and better.

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Thank you for giving us the opportunity to earn back your trust. Please always feel free to reach us at info@edmontonmarathon.ca