The Niagara Falls International Marathon is an annual marathon running competition from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, United States to

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

, Canada, first held in 1974. It is one of the few marathons in the world that starts in one country and finishes in another. Some other marathons cross international borders but return to the start, like the

Monaco Marathon The Monaco Marathon or the Monaco and the Riviera Marathon (French: ''Marathon de Monaco et des Riviera'') is a marathon run every year starting and finishing in Monaco. It crosses the border to France and Italy and goes along the coast to a turni ...

and th
Unionsmarathon
The Niagara Falls International Marathon passes a border control, while the mentioned European borders have no border control thanks to the Schengen Union. The participants of the Niagara Falls Marathon have to show passport or NEXUS card at the start, which will be given back at the finish line or kept by the racer during the race.

History

The marathon was first held in 1974 as the Skylon International Marathon, with Jesse Kregal as founder and race director. The race was named the Buffalo Niagara Falls International Marathon from 1983 to 1986. In 1985, runners were led off the course, and used multiple different routes to get back on the course, resulting in unusual times and placements. The marathon had a ten-year break from 1987 to 1996 before it was relaunched in 1997 as the Niagara Falls Marathon. From 1998 to 2008, it was known as the Casino Niagara International Marathon. The course records are held by Peter Pfitzinger, who ran 2:17:10 in 1980, and Nicole Stevenson of Canada, whose time of 2:37:09 in 2004 is the women's record.Niagara Falls International Marathon
Association of Road Racing Statisticians (October 23, 2011). Retrieved October 25, 2011. The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

Course

The marathon begins in

at the

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

. The first are along the historic parkways of Buffalo before crossing the

Peace Bridge The Peace Bridge is an international bridge between Canada and the United States at the east end of Lake Erie at the source of the Niagara River, about upriver of Niagara Falls. It connects Buffalo, New York, in the United States to Fort Er ...

into Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. The remainder of the route is in Canada. After a very brief segment following the

Queen Elizabeth Way The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...

, the route curves south and then north again along the

Niagara Parkway The Niagara Parkway, formerly known as Niagara Boulevard and historically as the Niagara Road, is a scenic road in the province of Ontario that travels on the Canadian side of the Niagara River from the town of Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake. ...

, a landscaped road which winds along the Niagara River. Kilometer 42, the end of the race, faces the

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

on the U.S.-Canada international border in the city of

Winners

Key:

Notes

References

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External links