On the Run with Alan Brookes

By Ron Johnson

Alan Brookes has a lot to celebrate. The founder of the Canada Running Series, which includes eight races from April to October in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the largest running series in the country.

Instead of being satisfied with a slew of accomplishments, Brookes continues to evolve each race in the series including what he has dubbed "his baby," the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The event has grown into one of the pre-eminent running events on the Canadian calendar, and one of only 29 races to achieve an IAAF silver label. But Brookes has a little unfinished business. 

"In the next five years we'd like to take it to 30,000 runners (from 15,000 in 2008), and get to $3 million (from $1.4 million in 2008) raised for local charities," says Brookes. "And have it recognized, as it increasingly is, but firmly recognized among the highest rank of international marathons."

A pipe dream? Toronto could never be on par with Boston or London, or could it?

"It's my last task before I hang up my boots," says a confident Brookes.

The facts seem to support his positive outlook. The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon was named one of the top 100 festivals in Ontario. Not running events, festivals. It was awarded Best Marathon in Canada by the readers of a fine publication by the name of Get Out There Magazine. In 2007, the marathon finally had a sub 2:10 runner when Kenyan John Kelai posted a 2:09:30, the fastest on Canadian soil - smashing a 31-year-old record dating back to the Montreal Olympic Games. The winners’ circle in Toronto is on par with those found in the world's great races from Boston to Paris.

This year, a new wrinkle sees the marathon cut out the dreary Leslie Street Spit portion of the competition in favour of extending the race in the Beach neighbourhood.

"This is huge," says Brookes. "We are well on our way, but we have more work to do before we truly make it to the big leagues."

Brookes envisions more community involvement in the race, more runners, and an increased excitement level city-wide on race day. He looks to places like New York, where marathons have come to define their cities, and thinks there is nothing standing in Toronto's way.

"The only day of the year New Yorkers are pleasant is marathon day," Brookes jokes. "It has come to define the city and the city has embraced it. The LondonMarathon? It is London."

Born near Manchester in the United Kingdom, Brookes was a soccer player through and through. But in the early 80s, Brookes was finishing up a graduate degree in history and not doing much of anything else, well until "Participaction" came to be.

"I read something about how they were comparing 60-year-old Swedes to 30-year-old Canadians," Brookes explains. "We were definitely coming off badly in the comparison."

So, he ran.

He took up the sport in 1980, ran his first of 10 marathons in 1981, and directed his first race in 1984, the Billy Taylor in Guelph, where he was putting his graduate degree to use as an associate professor of history at the University of Guelph.

Once bitten, running changed Brookes' life and he started to direct more races, including the Toronto Marathon with John Craig. He also opened a Runner's Choice store in College Park, Toronto in 1986. The following year, Brookes stopped teaching and dedicated his career to running: shoes, races, you name it.

Starting in 1990, Brookes put together a package of races for the Coors Light race series, and although the names and sponsors have changed, the series is stronger than ever after a whopping two decades.

"We went from one person in 1997 (yes, him) to having a full-time staff of eight and three part-timers," says Brookes. Last year, we had eight races and 44,000 participants raising $2.6 million for small, local charities."

Get Out There Magazine would like to congratulate Alan and the entire Canada Running Series team on 20 years! Join CRS at this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this September.

For more information on the Canada Running Series visit www.canadarunningseries.com