Around the Bay 30K Road Race
The Lowdown
Around the Bay is the oldest road race in North America, first run on Christmas Day 1894 by the Hamilton Herald newspaper, three years before the first Boston Marathon. The signature event is the 30K (18.6 mile) road race, not a marathon: the course loops around Hamilton Harbour, following a fast, scenic first 20K along the Beach Strip and Eastport Drive before a hillier final 10K through North Shore Blvd. The race starts on Simcoe St E near LIUNA Station and finishes into FirstOntario Centre at York Blvd and Bay St, with post-race food, water and medal pickup staged inside LIUNA Station. Alongside the 30K, the event offers 15K, 10K and 5K road races. Steeped in more than 130 years of tradition, the race has drawn Boston Marathon champions and Olympic medalists, including 1907 Boston Marathon winner Tom Longboat, and counts elite Canadian record-holders Alene Reta (men's 30K, 1:32:22, 2010) and Lanni Marchant (women's 30K, 1:44:40, 2013) among its champions.
Race Day
Weather Forecast
Elevation
Terrain Profile
Relatively flat course
Participants
Field Size
Medium-sized race
Crowd Rating
Spectator Support
Excellent spectator turnout
FirstOntario Centre (finish line)
LIUNA Station (start area, post-race staging)
Hamilton Harbour / Beach Strip
Eastport Drive
North Shore Blvd
Other distances available during the event weekend:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
CA
Average rate for 3-star accommodations near the start line
Eligibility
- No race-day registration; all entries must be completed in advance
- Bib transfers only accepted through official RaceRoster transfer process before the published deadline
Required Documents
- Government-issued photo ID for packet pickup
- RaceRoster confirmation / bib number
Entry Methods
- Online registration via RaceRoster (bayrace.com/register)
- Virtual race entry (2K, 5K, 10K, 15K, 30K) for remote participants
Cancellation & Refund Policy
All race packages are non-refundable
Deferral to the following year's race may be offered by email request before a published deadline (2026 deferral to 2027 required emailing info@bayrace.com by April 6, 2026)
Primary/signature distance: 30K (18.6 miles / 30 km) — this is not a marathon.
Also offers a 15K road race (not in the standard distance enum).
First run in 1894 as the 'Herald Road Race' on Christmas Day, organized by the Hamilton Herald newspaper and Billy Carroll, 13 competitors over a 19-mile course around Hamilton Harbour.
Predates the Boston Marathon (first run in 1897) by three years — widely cited as the oldest continuously contested road race in North America.
The 30K distance was officially certified in 1982.
1907 Boston Marathon champion Tom Longboat won Around the Bay in 1906.
2026 edition (April 12, 2026) sold out in all in-person categories; virtual entries remained available.
2027 official race date not yet announced as of July 2026 (site lists '2027 TBA').
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