.svg){kind=small}
Register Now
You are registered to take part in the Saskatchewan Marathon, one of the longest running marathons in Canada.
The first event was run, with only the marathon distance offered, on May 12, 1979. In August, 1979, Saskatoon would be hosting the Western Canada Summer Games. The Saskatoon Road Runners Association (established in 1975) was asked by the organizers of the 1979 Western Canada Summer Games to organize an event with two purposes. First, the event would be a test run of the marathon event of the Games. Secondly, the event would act as a qualifier for three Saskatchewan residents, making them eligible to run the WCSG event on August 15.
The first event had 66 registrants and 53 finishers and was won by Ted Hawes (2:33:02). The fastest female was Sandra LeClaire (3:18:03).
The Saskatchewan Marathon has been run over a variety of courses through Saskatoon in two different seasons. In the early years, the event was held in the late spring. A switch was made to the fall and the event was held then for many years. In 2004, organizers went back to a late spring date and we anticipate it staying there for the foreseeable future. The course has made extensive use of our beautiful South Saskatchewan River valley and the trail, roadway and park system of the Meewasin Valley Authority. As well, portions of the course have run through our historic University of Saskatchewan campus and old established residential neighbourhoods. The race committee and course designers will continue to modify and expand the course as the city grows and more river crossings become available. We hope you enjoy this year’s return to Prairieland and Diefenbaker Parks and your journey across the rebuilt Traffic Bridge in the heart of Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Marathon started with just the 26.2 mile distance. Now there are six distances: Kids’ MaraFun, 2.2K, 5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon. It’s a first-class event: it’s been a Boston qualifier for years and participants enjoy the accuracy and convenience of race chip timing.
The women’s record for the Sask Marathon is held by Eriko Soma – 2024 – 2:49:54.
The men’s Sask Marathon record is held by David Mutai – 2019 – 2:22:09.
A more thorough, illustrated history of the Saskatchewan Marathon can be seen online at www.saskatoonroadrunners.ca.
The graph shows two interesting things:
1) record times are obviously decreasing; and
2) men’s and women’s records are obviously approaching each other (graph from Marathon Guide)
by Dan Graetzer (Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Montana at Missoula)
The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides, from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run, thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the marathon.
When the Olympic games were inaugurated in 1896 in Greece, the legend of Pheidippides was revived by a 24.85 mile (40,000 meters) run from Marathon Bridge to Olympic stadium in Athens. Traditionally the final event in the Olympics, the first organized marathon on April 10, 1896 was especially important to the Greeks. Greece was hosting the first Olympics, had yet to win a medal, and had one final chance to bring glory to their nation. Twenty-five runners assembled on Marathon Bridge, the starter mumbled a few words and fired the gun, and the race was on. “The excitement of the crowd waiting at the finish line at the ancient but refurbished Panathenaic Stadium was beyond description” writes the Greek historian Quercetani. Spiridon Louis, a Greek postal worker from the village of Marusi and veteran of several long military marches, crossed the finish line a full seven minutes ahead of the pack. His time was 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds for the 40 kilometer distance (average pace of 7:11 minutes per mile). When it was all over – nine runners finished (eight of them Greeks), the host nation was ecstatic, and the marathon was born.
The United States was one of nine nations at the 1896 Athens Olympics, thanks to sponsorship of athletes by the Boston Athletic Association. Middle distance runner Arthur Blake was the only American to enter the first marathon. Blake won a silver medal in the 1500 meters 3 days before the marathon but unfortunately this left him exhausted and he dropped out after about 14.5 miles. The seed was planted, however, and organization for North America’s first marathon began on the boat back to the United States.
The first annual Boston Athletic Association marathon was conducted on April 19, 1897, the date chosen to commemorate the famous ride of Paul Revere in 1775. The topography of the 24.7 mile course (Metcalfe’s Mill in Ashland, to Boston’s Irvington Street Oval) was remarkably similar to the Athens course, although about 250 meters shorter. Fifteen runners started the original Boston marathon race (eight finished) with John J. McDermott winning the 39,751 meter distance in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds (average pace of 7:05 minutes per mile).
At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance was changed to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castle to White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race could finish in front of King Edward VII’s royal box. After 16 years of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was established at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon distance. Boston Athletic Association officials, attempting to comply with Olympic standards, also adjusted their course distance in 1924 but were devastated when it was discovered a few years later that the Boston course was 161 meters short. This situation was immediately corrected, but records for a full 42,195 meter marathon can officially only be taken from Boston marathons after 1927.
Modern ultra-events such as Hawaii’s Iron Man Triathalon (2 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile marathon) have shown that athletes are no longer satisfied with simply running a “mere” marathon. If a “simple” marathon is conducted, events such as Colorado’s Pikes Peak marathon (which climbs 7,700 feet to the summit of 14,110 foot Pikes Peak) have been designed to present more of a challenge. An interesting recent trend is that more and more people you never thought even knew how to run are lining up at marathon starting lines. Because elite marathoners generally run their best times at age 32 to 34, more and more “thirtysomething” weekend warriors are now giving it a try. This craze probably began in 1984 when Steve Jones of Whales broke Alberto Salazar’s world record while running his first marathon. During the monumental 1984 America’s marathon in Chicago, Steve Jones ran the 26.2 mile distance for first time during either training or competition in 2 hours 8 minutes, and 5 seconds (average pace of 4:55 per mile). This eclipsed Salazar’s record of 2:08.13 which most experts thought would stand for several years
Editor’s Note: Dan Graetzer is the Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Montana in Missoula, a major testing center for competitive marathoners in the Northwest.
The above material is copyright 1994 by Dan Graetzer. Used here by kind permission of the author. May not be reproduced further without the expressed permission of the author.
