Around the Bay 30K Road Race

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.