Niagara Falls Marathon disqualifies winners after leading them the wrong way

The 2025 Niagara Falls International Marathon race weekend turned into what one participant called “an absolute nightmare”–and judging by reactions from other runners, they’re not alone in that assessment.

On Sunday, the top three runners in both the 10K and half-marathon races unknowingly followed the lead cyclist in the wrong direction, cutting more than a kilometre off of their race distance and earning disqualifications on the results page.

This story has been updated.

The mishap occurred just 2K into the race, when the 10K and half-marathon groups were still running together. While approaching the designated out-and-back turnaround point, the lead cyclist turned roughly 500 metres early, shaving approximately 1.1 km off the half-marathon course, and 1.25 km off the 10K.

At the point where he was told to turn, Matt King, the initial 10K winner, told Canadian Running there was no turn-around sign, but pylons lining the centre of the road seemed to come to an abrupt end. “I asked the lead cyclist twice if he was confident this was the right thing to do,” King recalled. “He said yes and that he’d tell me if it wasn’t.”

Removed from the results

According to the official results, the runners who followed the cyclist in the wrong direction have been removed. Their names appear in the official race app, with “no finish time.” Consequently, the initial fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishers were bumped up to first, second and third.

King later noticed he seemed to be one kilometre ahead of the markers lining the course. “I wasn’t sure what other option I had other than to continue,” King said. “Stopping to try and figure it out felt like I’d just be giving up and then watching many runners close in and pass me.”

He knew something was up when the top three 10K runners finished 10 minutes ahead of fourth place, and went to find someone to talk to before finding out he had been disqualified.

Sportstats later told Canadian Running it had notified race organizers of issues at 8:49 am, after leaders passed the 8-km mat but did not register at the 3-km turnaround, but no adjustments were made to the leaders’ route in response. Immediately after the run, Sportstats put these results under review.

Jay Jang, a runner who originally placed fifth in the half-marathon and was later bumped up to second, said the rest of the pack still had a frustrating race experience. “There was so much confusion on the course,” he told Canadian Running. “We asked the biker and volunteer [where to go] many times–the volunteer was standing at the wrong place and made us turn in the wrong direction. It was an absolute nightmare.”

A refund and an apology

King and the five other affected runners were instructed to email the race director, Dave Mucyk, the following week to see if the race could do something. The race responded by offering the runners a refund and free entry into next year’s race. “Obviously, it’s a huge disappointment for all runners involved,” King said. “The time and money spent to travel to races like these and then to perform well and have such a big error occur is such a disappointment.”

King’s comments echoed those of one of the three disqualified half-marathoners, who said he had travelled from the U.K. to run, only to learn he’d been DQ’d due to a race official’s mistake.

“The volunteer coordinating and leading the bikes has supported this event for over ten years and has always been deeply committed to helping make race day run smoothly,” an apology from Mucyk read. “Unfortunately, he made an honest mistake and panicked when the coned lane in that section of the course ended. We know he spoke with some of you yesterday as well and feels terrible about what happened. ”

Canadian Running reached out to the race director for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Elite women go the wrong way at Toronto Waterfront Marathon

The Niagara Falls Marathon incident follows a similar mishap at last weekend’s Toronto Waterfront Marathon, where three elite Ethiopian women mistakenly followed the half-marathoners to the finish line, instead of continuing on the marathon course–cutting their race short by roughly 22 km.