As 25,000 participants prepare to hit the road in Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, organizers trumpet the event’s growth from a race for the not-quite elite to a destination for world-class performers. Sunday’s deep Toronto Waterfront Marathon field will include Philemon Rono, who broke the course record last year. While the waterfront race has never splurged on appearance fees for super-elite performers, organizers say this year they were able to spend on depth. The course record in Toronto has improved by two minutes and 38 seconds — to 2:06:52 — over that span. But the Canadian record — Jerome Drayton’s 2:10:08 — has held up since 1975, even as Waterfront Marathon organizers offer ever-increasing bonuses to any runner who breaks it.

Source: thestar October 20, 2018 22:30 UTC