BY ROB THOMAS
This article was originally published in the May 2015 print edition of Ottawa Magazine
1975, courtesy of Run Ottawa
In 1975, 159 people laced up their sneakers and set off from the Carleton University campus on a gruelling 42-kilometre jog that eventually becomes the biggest sporting event in the city. It was then — and is now — the largest marathon in Canada. But it won’t hold the title during its entire 40-year history.
1975, Eleanor Thomas, courtesy of Run Ottawa
1972
SEATING PLAN
Bill Williams sits next to Don Johnson of Carleton University’s Sport Medicine Clinic, on a flight from Boston. Both men have run the marathon there. Both dream of a hometown marathon in Ottawa. Two years later, the city agrees to make a marathon part of the Tulip Festival.
1976
TRIAL RUN
500 runners
Ottawa is chosen as the Olympic trials location just weeks ahead of the Montreal Games.
1978, courtesy of Run Ottawa
1978
PHOTO FINISH
2,600 runners
Power Bar founder Brian Maxwell steals victory by a nose when he finishes 0.2 seconds ahead of race leader Paul Bannon. Maxwell finishes in 2:16:03. He says enthusiastic spectators prompted him to eat Bannon’s lead: “They shamed me into chasing him.”
1981
PARADISE CITY
3,478 runners
Ottawa is a “runner’s paradise” according to Hal Higdon, who raves about the marathon in Runner’s World magazine.
1983, Rick Hansen, courtesy of Run Ottawa
1983
MAN IN MOTION
4,658 runners
Rick Hansen is the first wheelchair athlete to compete. And when the category is added, he is the first official winner. The marathon won’t draw this many runners again until 2010.
1984
OLYMPIC JUGGERNAUT
3,740 runners
Silvia Ruegger wins the women’s race and the right to represent Canada at the first women’s Olympic marathon in Los Angeles, where she places eighth. She will hold the Canada women’s marathon record (2:28:36) from 1985 to 2013.
1986
DARK DAYS
1,398 runners
Unable to secure liability insurance or a sponsor, the marathon is cancelled — then, at the 11th hour, it is reinstated. A 10K race is added to bolster flagging registration.
1995, courtesy of Run Ottawa
1993
END OF AN ERA
965 runners
As the first running wave abates, marathon participation dips below 1,000 for the first time since 1977. It bottoms out in 1995, when only 571 runners lace up for the marathon.
1995
ROLLER DERBY
571 runners
An 8K inline skating race is added. It will grow to become a marathon-length event, and the need for a smooth surface will create some headaches for event organizers. While never as popular as running, inline skating remains part of the race weekend until 2005.
1996
SQUALLS
805 runners
Snow, single-digit temperatures, and 25 km/hr winds give runners extra bragging rights. New race director Jim Robinson promises to attract thousands of runners to Ottawa once again. The second running wave will help Robinson make good.
1998
CHIPS ARE IN
966 runners
Ottawa becomes the first marathon in Canada to use microchips to record individual times. Ottawa company Sportstats will become the biggest sport-timing company in North America. Malcolm Campbell achieves the dubious distinction of the marathon’s slowest men’s win (2:31:16).
2011, courtesy of Run Ottawa
2006
BARRICADE BLUNDER
4,217 runners
Amos Tirop of Kenya crosses the finish line first, but Abderrahime Bouramdane of Morocco wins after 14 runners are misdirected on a 400-metre shortcut.
2011
PICTURE PERFECT
5,087 runners
Runners enjoy dramatic photos of their run framed by a new archway in Ottawa’s Chinatown neighbourhood. It is part of a long-range plan to make the marathon route a showcase of Ottawa. But road closures and the need to balance elevation changes on the course mean the marathon won’t pass under the archway again.
Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia, courtesy of Run Ottawa
2014
FASTEST MARATHON
7,055 runners
Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia runs the fastest marathon on Canadian soil. He completes the Ottawa Marathon in record time of 2:06:54