I went and ran the Toronto Marathon last year. I already did my race report, but coming across another person’s report just brought back all the negativities about this race.
It was one of worst marathon experiences I had due to it being “disorganized” and we runners were blamed of causing it to go out of control (being mob ruled). I only had couple bad ones but none was at this level of failure as the Toronto Marathon. I guess that was one improvement that no one was being trampled and there’s no more stealing of supplies. Everything else though was still the same.
The organizer vowed to do better. And guess what? This year is as chaotic as last year or maybe even worse, with many similar problems, such as traffic, the course crossing over on itself, several events mixing in, finish line mayhem, post race chaos (of not water or food given, the illogical setup of making runners enter a “small” building for food).
And again, the organizer came out to apologize. Luckily, I am not running it again.
Lack of bathrooms – was not a new issue. We went into the mall too to use the facility.
Buses – what. I didn’t know they had buses. Oh yeah, I did not ride them. I was lucky to be dropped off
Traffic arriving at the start. Not a new issue. But many running it first time might need a bit of guidance to arrive early. This could have communicated better to tell runners the time they needed to get to the start. When 10-20 thousand cars showing up at a place at a given time, there’s bound to be heavy traffic.
My year when I ran it was not the first year they had issues. I read reviews prior doing the race, and heard about them. I ignored it at the time thinking there always will be complaints. But when it is year after year, and the community at large is frustrated by it, something needs to change. Toronto is not the only big city that has a marathon. This stuff can be solved.
When are they gonna learned. And why the city continues to issue them the permits to host such a race just baffled me.
a race report (not mine) [https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/the-toronto-marathon-a-series-of-unfortunate-events/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1pV3DM6dIAZfLMHNhFaO0NfTBvShpGUjcv_q-2Fm8y4gLAQ3LMquJP3lg_aem_AfpjT0YwcI8t2_5uHpDEgneQW6hvtGffOTMROpTUTMUXaJGNLfwD6mw0WExS3FA5a1w96OFSQ1nVnGxcUron2vZ7]
In awe 