Toronto Marathon runners were so fast over the weekend that cars on the westbound Gardiner Expressway couldn’t even compete!
Thousands of Torontonians hit the streets to run in the big event on Sunday, causing over 20 road closures in the city for drivers and TTC riders.
On Monday, a Toronto woman posted a TikTok video of runners appearing to move faster than the cars on the Gardiner.
Toronto runners and non-runners alike are reacting to the video, and joking about how bad traffic in Toronto can get.
“Walking downtown is faster than driving,” one person commented on TikTok.
“Perfect representation of driving downtown,” another person said.
The city says there were multiple factors that contributed to the traffic on the Gardiner over the weekend.
“While paid duty officers were deployed along the marathon route to manage traffic, the weekend lane closures, coupled with scheduled closures for the Expressway rehabilitation work may have contributed to traffic during the day,” a City of Toronto Spokesperson told Now Toronto on Tuesday.
The Gardiner Expressway is currently undergoing a six-part project series to rehabilitate the expressway. Last month, a stretch of the Gardiner, from Dufferin Street to Strachan Avenue, was reduced to two lanes for the next three years for construction.
Construction on Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue will be completed in mid-2027, but will open during the FIFA World Cup 26 from May to the end of July 2026.
The Marathon had some issues of its own this year too.
Last year, the Toronto Marathon apologized to its participants about not having enough road closures, water stations, difficulty collecting medals, and the “pandemonium” at the finish line.
“Rest assured we are taking these concerns very seriously and will be creating a plan to ensure that these issues don’t happen again,” organizers said in a letter.
However, Torontonians on social media are disappointed about similar issues this year.
“These Toronto marathons and the organizers have been doing this for the better part of 20+ years. There’s no excuse for poor management at this stage,” one person on Reddit said.
“Bayview from RVR (Rosedale Valley Road) to front is a mess. Hundreds of gels on the ground. Why do runners think it is okay to treat the city like garbage,” another Reddit user said.
Meanwhile, the Ottawa Marathon on May 25 plans to include more zones with garbage cans so
runners can throw their empty water cups and used gel packets to keep the course clean.
Perfect representation of driving downtown,’ Torontonians react to video of Marathon runners outpacing Gardiner Expressway drivers
