While I was hunting around on the weekend trying to find out who Canada’s fastest ever marathoners were, I stumbled across the site of the Association of Road Racing Statisticians which has lists showing the progression of hundreds of national records from around the world, including the progression of the Canadian men’s and women’s marathon record.
Canadian Men
| Cam Levins | 2:05:36 | Tokyo | Mar 23 |
| Cam Levins | 2:07:09 | Eugene | Jul 22 |
| Cam Levins | 2:09:25 | Toronto | Oct 18 |
| Jerome Drayton | 2:10:08 | Fukuoka | Dec 75 |
| Jerome Drayton | 2:11:12 | Fukuoka | Dec 69 |
| Jerome Drayton | 2:12:00 | Detroit | Oct 69 |
| Robert Moore | 2:18:55 | Toronto | Sep 69 |
| Ron Wallingford | 2:19:24 | St Hyacinthe | Sep 66 |
| Ron Wallingford | 2:21:27 | Detroit | Nov 65 |
| Gordon Dickson | 2:21:50 | Hamilton | May 58 |
| Walter Fedorick | 2:28:04 | Hamilton | Jul 51 |
| Gerard Coté | 2:33:42 | Salisbury Beach, MA | May 41 |
| Gerard Coté | 2:34:06 | Yonkers | Nov 40 |
| Walter Young | 2:34:47 | Verdun | Oct 38 |
| James Bartlett | 2:36:35 | Hamilton | Sep 38 |
| Harold Webster | 2:37:36 | Hamilton | Sep 31 |
| Cliff Bricker | 2:39:24 | Amsterdam | Aug 28 |
| Cliff Bricker | 2:40:05 | Buffalo NY | May 27 |
| Percy Wyer | 2:51:10 | Montreal | Sep 26 |
Canadian Women
| Natasha Wodak | 2:23:12 | Berlin | Sep 22 |
| Malindi Elmore | 2:24:50 | Houston | Jan 20 |
| Rachel Cliff | 2:26:56 | Nagoya | Mar 19 |
| Lanni Marchant | 2:28:00 | Toronto Waterfront | Oct 13 |
| Silvia Ruegger | 2:28:36 | Houston | Jan 85 |
| Silvia Ruegger | 2:30:37 | Ottawa | May 84 |
| Jacqueline Gareau | 2:30:58 | Tokyo | Nov 80 |
| Jacqueline Gareau | 2:31:41 | Montreal | Sep 80 |
| Linda Staudt | 2:37:39 | London | Aug 80 |
| Christine Lavalee | 2:42:50 | Ottawa | May 80 |
| Gayle Olinekova | 2:44:04 | Waldniel, Germany | Sep 79 |
| Gail McKean | 2:44:53 | Vancouver | May 79 |
| Christine Lavalee | 2:47:39 | Ottawa | May 78 |
| JoAnn McKinty | 2:57:40 | Kitchener | Oct 75 |
| Maria Brzezinska | 3:03:15 | Vancouver | May 74 |
| Maureen Wilton | 3:15:22 | Toronto | May 67 |
* originally posted September 30, 2010
Amazing that no one has been able to beat Drayton’s record for 35 years.
It certainly is, Jen, but I have a feeling that will change just before noon on November 7 in Central Park.
The women’s progression is incorrect. JoAnn Heale ran 2:57:40 in 1975. I will see what I can do about fixing this list.
Thanks Louise! The ARRS list appears to have been updated to include JoAnn Heale (née McKinty), as well as the two previous recordholders.
Why isn’t Nicole Stevenson on this list? Didn’t she run a 2:32?
Yes, she did. Nicole ran a 2:32:56 at the Houston Marathon in 2006, but this list is the progression of the Canadian record which was 2:28 by Sylvia Ruegger at the time of Nicole’s 2:32.
On August 18, 1968, Jerome Drayton ran 2:16:11 to set a new Canadian marathon record. So from that date until today Dec. 10, 2016 he has been the only Canadian record holder. His best time 2:10:09 in 1975 still stands. Amazing. He should be listed in your research starting in 1968 and he is not. Here is the reference.
“On August 18, 1968, Drayton partcipated in the Guelph to Dundas marathon on the regional roads of Ontario. By winning this event in a new national record of 2Hr 16min 11sec, the selectors had no other choice but to send him to the Olympic games. At the Mexico Olympics he was blighted by dysentery and registered a DNF .(did not finish).”
Walter Fedorick’s 2:28 at Hamilton in 1950 is dubious. The ARRS has it listed as a short course. He was not known to have run any times remotely similar to this (his best appear to be two 2:40’s also run in 1950), and if it had been a valid mark the time would have been a world leader for that year.
If we scratch this mark, Gordon Dickson’s 2:31:50.5 on 24 May 1955 at Hamilton would have qualified as a Canadian record.