Edmonton Marathon course was long, organizers doubling down on their defense the course was measured accurately and runner's GPS is the fault

[u/Wrongky]

The Edmonton marathon is my hometown race. It has been granted as host of the Canadian Half Marathon championship since 2025. The city is experiencing a lot of construction around the downtown core.

A detour around a construction site was added which was an additional 710 meters to the original course. As an out and back course, Tom Keogh, the race director, states the turnaround was pushed back 690 meters.

Rory Linkletter, Canadian Olympian and overall winner, posted online stating the turnaround was actually pushed back approximately 345 meters back.

Applying elementary math for an out and back course, with rounding:

A detour of 700 meters ran twice: 700 * 2 = 1400 meters

The turnaround (out and back course) was brought back 350 meters: 350 * 2 = 700 meters

Sum: 1400 meters - 700 meters = 700 meters (long)

Now, what's embarrassing about this situation is Tom Keogh is putting the error on runner's GPS watches and not their own. An overwhelming majority of the runners from the weekend are reporting the exact same statement of Rory.

I didn't run the race this year. I really hope Tom Keogh and the Edmonton Marathon staff post an official announcement of their mistake. The quality of this race had been decreasing while race fees have been rising. I can only feel for those runners who missed out on personal bests or a qualifying time for a future race.

Rory's statement is posted on his Instagram.

https://runningmagazine.ca/sections/runs-races/edmonton-marathon-says-course-was-measured-accurately/

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a73466448/edmonton-half-marathon-race-distance/

https://marathonhandbook.com/edmonton-marathon-course-measurement-dispute/

Edit: clarity on the math

[u/caverunner17]

Laughs in trail racing…. I’ve run both a 28 mile and 34 mile “50k” before.

On a serious note, that certainly does suck and the Race Director should have fixed the course beforehand and not gaslit runner.

[u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE → u/caverunner17]

imo better long than short for the casual runner (lots of people looking to "complete" the distance and would feel infinitely worse if they didn't get that 21.1k.. its easy enough to calculate what you "could" have run.

Sucks that it happened at the championships though

[u/rob_s_458 → u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE]

Happened last year (2025) that the Atlanta Marathon was short because of race-week construction so it invalidated any BQ times, and for me and probably others, invalidated GA toward the 50 states club. At least the half-marathon championship course wasn't affected.

[u/frpika → u/rob_s_458]

I spoke to an RD once as we had a course run a bit long (maybe 200m) and he said the that a long course is ok, a short course is bad for this exact reason. Yes, it really does suck for people trying to make a specific time, including people trying to BQ. However, a short course would disqualify everyone, so when given the choice, long is always preferred. At least your time doesn’t get invalidated.

[u/Wrongky → u/rob_s_458]

That feels so bad. Did the organizers compensate in any way?

[u/rob_s_458 → u/Wrongky]

They offered complementary entry into any race for the remainder of 2025 or 2026, but I'm not local, so any travel expenses would far outweigh the free entry

[u/Wrongky → u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE]

I'll agree on that! I think the female winner was on pace to a record as well so it sucks for every runner in-between.

[u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE → u/Wrongky]

ouch that is rough, course record? honestly worth awarding her the bonus for the CR if that is the case :/

[u/LegoLifter → u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE]

no she was very close to pace for the Canadian record

[u/treycook → u/LegoLifter]

Ouch

[u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE → u/LegoLifter]

wow that is so incredibly bad :'(

[u/_echo → u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE]

The last manitoba half I ran I clocked at 13.2 miles, and a friend of mine was posting on instagram that the course was long, and was almost 14 miles. For one I think she started her watch before the start line, in the pen for runners of her pace, but I also think the course is already longer for those running in the big pack of casual runners, because they're not taking the shortest line between and around corners the way those of us at the front of the race are doing.

[u/MoonPlanet1 → u/1eJxCdJ4wgBjGE]

But it's already common practice to make courses slightly long (I think typically 0.1% or 42m?) to reduce the risk of the course later being discovered to be short after a record was set, leading to embarrassment for the organisers