Toronto’s Andrew Alexander crushes course record at Georgina Marathon
It's not often you see a runner successfully pull off an impromptu 42.2K race
Graham Baird
Sunday morning’s Georgina Marathon in Georgina, Ont., started out as just any routine pacing gig for Toronto’s Andrew Alexander. But unlike most pacers, Alexander didn’t peel off the course when the job was done–he continued on to complete the full 42.2K, clocking two hours, 21 minutes and 56 seconds and smashing the event’s course record by nearly nine minutes.
The former record of 2:30:28, belonging to Jason Faber of Toronto, has stood since the race’s first year in 2021.
Alexander, 26, was pacing another Toronto runner, Brandon Raftis (brother of one of Canada’s up-and-coming women’s marathon stars, Kylee Raftis) for his marathon debut. The plan was for Alexander to run just 25 km as a workout–but after coming through halfway in 75 minutes, he dropped a 66-minute half-marathon on the back half to take an unanticipated win.
Toronto’s own Andrew Alexander aims to be Canada’s next great marathoner
Raftis just clinched his race-day goal of dipping under two and a half hours, clocking 2:29:40 for second place. Parker Mills of New Tecumseth, Ont., took third in 2:31:00.
Georgina marked Alexander’s third marathon; he made his debut last October at the 2024 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon (2:14:13), and lowered his time to 2:12:55 at January’s Houston Marathon. He’ll be bouncing back quickly in time to tackle the 42.2K distance for his fourth time at next month’s 2025 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which doubles as the Canadian Marathon Championships.
Top 3 marathon results
Women
- Joanna Fear (Kitchener, Ont.) – 2:50:25
- Kathleen Lawrence (Toronto) – 2:58:45
- Alyssa Culp (Kenilworth, Ont.) – 3:09:47
Non-Binary
- Nat Hocking (Calgary) – 4:33:00
- Sergio García Ureta (Zapopan, Mexico) – 5:52:33
Top 3 half-marathon results
Men
- Ben Savill (Brighton and Hove, England) – 1:08:40
- Marcel Scheele (St. Marys, Ont.) – 1:08:52
- Tristan Markov (Oro-Medonte, Ont.) – 1:11:20
Women
- Shannen Murray (London, Ont.) – 1:18:14
- Alyse Gilliver (Brockville, Ont.) – 1:19:42
- Meghan Tait (Toronto) – 1:19:47
Non-Binary
- Karen Scottie (Toronto) – 2:09:50
- Pedro Giorgana (Bowmanville, Ont.) – 2:30:08
See here for full results.
