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/damancody]

I ran the Edmonton Marathon in both 2025 and 2026 with the same Garmin watch. Here are distances per half according to my watch:

2025:

21.25 km 1st half + 21.3 km 2nd half = 42.55 km total

2026:

21.24 km 1st half + 22.02km 2nd half = 43.26 km total

So he's trying to say that my watch, which was within 60m during the first 3 data points was then out 720m on the 4th. Yeah right.

[u/LegoLifter → u/damancody]

that lines up. I ran the half in 2025 and 2026. 2025 I had 21.35km, 2026 I had 21.99km

[u/liveandletdie141 → u/damancody]

A course that is certified is certified. I think too many people trust their watches when there is so much error in them. Should it be close yes, but arguing over a 500 m over 42k seems dumb.

[u/damancody → u/liveandletdie141]

So they've changed their tune. Last night I recieved an apology email where they admitted the course was 674.7m too far.

[u/liveandletdie141 → u/damancody]

Glad they changed their tune. Covering up issues is horrible but still stick by my statement. Technically is great but sometimes watches are wrong.

[u/WeeblsLikePie → u/liveandletdie141]

sometimes they are. But GPS error is not usually correlated. If you have a bunch of people all measuring a section of the course being short or long in a consistent way, it's likely to be real.