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Niagara Falls International Marathon
Date	October
Location	Buffalo, US–Niagara Falls, Canada
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Established	1974 (50 years ago) (1974)
Official site	Niagara Falls International Marathon

The Niagara Falls International Marathon is an annual marathon running competition from Buffalo, New York, United States to Niagara Falls, Ontario, 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 and the 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.^[1]

History

The marathon was first held on October 26, 1974, as the Skylon International Marathon, with Jesse Kregal as founder and race director.^[2]^[3]^[4] The race was named the Buffalo Niagara Falls International Marathon from 1983 to 1986.^[2]

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.^[2]

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.^[2]

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.^[2]

The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[5]^[6]

Course

External image
Course map of full marathon in 2018^[7]

The marathon begins in Buffalo, New York at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The first 6.5 kilometers (4.0 mi) are along the historic parkways of Buffalo before crossing the Peace Bridge into Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. The remainder of the route is in Canada. After a very brief segment following the Queen Elizabeth Way, the route curves south and then north again along the Niagara Parkway, a landscaped road which winds along the Niagara River. Kilometer 42, the end of the race, faces the Niagara Falls on the U.S.-Canada international border in the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Winners

Key: Course record

Ed.	Year	Men's winner	Time^[a]	Women's winner	Time^[a]	Rf.
1	1974	Russell Pate (USA)	2:22:53	Ellen Turkel (USA)	2:58:16	^[2]
2	1975	Marty Sudzina (USA)	2:23:16	Eleanor Thomas (CAN)	3:16:18	^[2]
3	1976	Bill Stewart (USA)	2:24:01	Patricia Hall	2:58:49	^[2]
4	1977	Richard Hughson (CAN)	2:20:31	Susan Kahler (USA)	3:00:11	^[2]
5	1978	Carl Hatfield (USA)	2:17:21	Jacqueline Gareau (CAN)	2:57:01	^[2]
6	1979	David Smith (USA)	2:17:30.1	Virginia Kraft (USA)	2:52:18	^[2]
7	1980	Peter Pfitzinger (USA)	2:17:10	Leslie Watson (GBR)	2:54:57	^[2]
8	1981	Terry Stanley (USA)	2:18:50	Nancy Mieszczak (USA)	2:40:48	^[2]
9	1982	Terry Stanley (USA)	2:22:18	Heather Clemenson (CAN)	2:58:49	^[2]
10	1983	Bernie Prabucki (USA)	2:21:28	Vicki Scanlon (CAN)	2:56:38	^[2]
11	1984	Rick Mannen (CAN)	2:19:40	Deborah Dye (USA)	2:55:18	^[2]
12	1985	Mark Coleman (USA)	2:30:29	Charlene MacDonald (CAN)	3:07:20	^[2]
13	1986	Kazuya Nishimoto (JPN)	2:17:35	Maria Grazia Navacchia (ITA)	2:50:49	^[2]
—	—	not held from 1987 to 1996				^[2]
14	1997	Glen Marttila (CAN)	2:37:53	Katie Dosser (CAN)	2:55:41	^[2]
15	1998	Brett Forgesson (BER)	2:39:59	Glenda Morris (CAN)	3:06:31	^[2]^[8]
16	1999	Smartex Tambala (MAW)	2:29:13	Eriko Asai (JPN)	2:50:48	^[2]
17	2000	Joseph Maina (KEN)	2:21:45.2	Danuta Bartoszek (CAN)	2:38:29.8	^[2]
18	2001	Jean-Paul Niyonsaba (BDI)	2:24:28.5	Danuta Bartoszek (CAN)	2:46:42.4	^[2]
19	2002	Shingirai Badza (ZIM)	2:27:53.5	Cindy Keeler (USA)	2:50:18.3	^[2]
20	2003	Wilson Komen (KEN)	2:23:13.8	Leslie Carson (CAN)	2:54:25.5	^[2]
21	2004	Moses Cheserek (KEN)	2:22:22.0	Nicole Stevenson (CAN)	2:37:08.6	^[2]^[9]
22	2005	Matthew McInnes (CAN)	2:21:46.4	Nicole Stevenson (CAN)	2:46:41.7	^[2]
23	2006	Simon Njoroge (KEN)	2:18:12.9	Elena Rozhko (UKR)	2:43:16.1	^[2]
24	2007	Thomas Omwenga (KEN)	2:33:12.5	Louise Voghel (CAN)	3:02:36.3	^[2]
25	2008	Matt Loiselle (CAN)	2:27:33.2	Elizabeth Primrose (CAN)	2:55:26.6	^[2]
26	2009	Andrew Smith (CAN)	2:27:53.9	Tara Quinn (CAN)	2:46:40.9	^[2]
27	2010	Steve Bohan (CAN)	2:27:48.1	Jill Gamble (CAN)	2:56:10.8	^[2]
28	2011	Brendan Kenny (CAN)	2:28:47.7	Meggan Franks (CAN)	2:52:17.8	^[2]
29	2012	Bernard Arasa (KEN)	2:26:04.1	Paula Wiltse (CAN)	2:51:57.5	^[2]
30	2013	Lucas McAneney (CAN)	2:22:41.6	Paula Wiltse (CAN)	2:48:54.1	^[2]
31	2014	Lucas McAneney (CAN)	2:27:58.0	Stephanie Strittmatter (USA)	2:58:02.8	^[2]
32	2015	Taylor Kraayenbrink (CAN)	2:30:55	Paulina Golic (POL)	2:53:11	^[2]
33	2016	David Savard-Gagnon (CAN)	2:30:32	Lindsay Moreau (CAN)	3:17:28	^[2]^[10]
34	2017	Stuart Galloway (CAN)	2:51:07	Al Tufano (USA)	3:29:14	^[2]^[11]
35	2018	Kyle Greig (GBR)	2:28:45	Courtney Laderer (USA)	2:59:08	^[12]^[13]
36	2019	Tom Anderson (USA)	2:44:12	Cassandra Tomas (CAN)	3:18:20	^[14]^[15]^[16]
—	2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic				^[5]
—	2021	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic
37	2022	Alex Yu (CAN)	2:35:13	Tiffany Newell (CAN)	2:52:24	^[17]
38	2023	Alex Yu (CAN)	2:37:08	Wendy Rading (CAN)	3:10:09	^[18]