Two up-and-coming Canadian distance runners, Thomas Nobbs of Vancouver and Erin Mawhinney of Hamilton, took the wins at Sunday’s Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon. For Mawhinney, this was her second win at this race in the last three years, and she broke the tape in 1:13:30.
“I’m super happy to win,” Mawhinney said to Canadian Running. “It was something I wasn’t expecting, going in.”
Erin Mawhinney takes the women’s half-marathon title at the 2025 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a time of 1:13:30 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/2jPuQdttP6
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) October 19, 2025
The women’s half-marathon field was loaded with Canadian talent, including Canadian Olympian Julie-Anne Staehli and national team marathoner Élissa Legault. Mawhinney said her goal was to run under an hour and 13 minutes today, but with the warmer conditions and eastern Toronto waterfront winds, she said she was happy to come away with the win and time.
Mawhinney says she is building for the Marathon Project elite race in Chandler, Ariz., in late December, which happens to be the same goal race for Nobbs (the men’s champion).
The Vancouver-based distance runner went out hard with the elite men in the marathon race (they start simultaneously) and held on to break the tape in 63:28.
Thomas Nobbs wins the men’s 2025 Toronto Waterfront half-marathon, clocking 1:03:28🔥 pic.twitter.com/7hcWkEQXdE
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) October 19, 2025
Nobbs’s winning time was just 20 seconds shy of his personal best of 63:06 from earlier this year.
“I didn’t totally expect the win–there’s a lot of really great guys showing up today, like Jeremy Coughler and Ehab El Sandali–guys I’ve seen a lot,” says Nobbs. “Two years ago, I was young, stupid and not prepared, and I tried to go with them and blew up really bad for, like, 66, 67 [minutes]. So for the half, it was just coming back here for some redemption.”
Toronto’s El-Sandali finished second in 65:18, while Coughler of London, Ont., rounded out the podium for third in 66:08.
Nobbs told Canadian Running this was the most fun he’s had at a race, and is hoping to continue the momentum into the rest of his build for the Marathon Project. “We are just going to keep building on this,” says Nobbs.
For full results from the 2025 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, see here.
