Fredericton Marathon

The Fredericton Marathon is an annual marathon (42.195 km/26.219 mi) race held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The Fredericton Marathon is the oldest annual marathon race in the province of New Brunswick, starting with only a few hundred runners in 1979, it has grown into one of the most well known marathons in the province, with the 2012 edition being the provincial half marathon championships and featuring over 1,300 runners. The race is held in mid-May, always one week before the Blue Nose Marathon in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Currently, the race is sponsored by Scotiabank and hosted by The Capital City Road Runners, a running club in the city.The course uses the City’s vast partly paved and hard packed trail system while also highlighting some of the picturesque residential architecture in Fredericton. The marathon course is Boston certified, and continues to draw athletes who want to achieve a qualifying time on this very flat and fast course. In 2015, 27% of the marathon runners qualified.
“The route allows Fredericton to become one of the many cities who have embraced the marathon as a key event to showcase their city to a large number of people” noted Paul Lavoie, Race Director of the Scotiabank Fredericton Race Weekend. The route will see the first 4kms starting at Queen Square and showcasing the downtown core prior to utilizing the trail system and the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge.
“A Mother’s Day tradition in Fredericton, this marquee event has become a staple of our sport tourism focus” said City of Fredericton Mayor, Brad Woodside. “We know how beautiful and welcoming our city is, and now because of the growth of the marathon and strong partnership created between organizers and city staff, the word is out, the 38th edition of the Scotiabank Fredericton Marathon Race Weekend will solidify our place as a sport tourism destination.”
Course Highlights
All events will start on Aberdeen Street at 8 am and finish on Aberdeen St where they started. The route will proceed west along Aberdeen Street crossing Regent Street and continuing up Aberdeen turning right on Carleton Street extension to Needham Street. The route then continues on Needham crossing York, and connecting to Saunders. Participants will continue up Saunders crossing Westmorland, Northumberland, crossing Smythe and continuing on Saunders until turning right onto O’Dell Ave then right again onto the Woodstock Rd. Once onto Woodstock Road the route goes straight down Brunswick St. until reaching Church St. and then right on Church and left onto Charlotte St continuing to where the Trail crosses Charlotte St. At this juncture the 5k turns right and participants running the 10k, Half and Full Marathoners will turn left onto the trail. Having completed the same first 4 kilometers as all other runners, the Full Marathoners will turn left onto the Trail at Charlotte and proceed towards Marysville on the trail/path crossing Barker Street and Canada Street at Murray Avenue, then crossing Kane Street and Canada Street in Marysville, then Bridge Street and proceed along the path turning at the same point as the ½ Marathon and proceeding back along the path towards Queen Square and exit onto Aberdeen where they will have completed the first 21.1 kilometers as they cross the point where they started. The Second Half has marathoners ONLY continuing along Aberdeen (past the start point) and turningleft onto Saint John and then left onto McLeod, right towards Beaverbrook Street and left onto thetrail/path where it takes the first left on the trail and heads back out towards Marysville . The second half of the Marathon continues along the Trail and turns back just before the Penniac Road . After reversing direction, marathoners will continue straight back along the trail until exiting onto Aberdeen and finishing where they started near the Pool at Queen Square.