Saed Griffith came to Windsor to prepare for his first marathon. He left with a first-place finish.
The 32-year-old Toronto runner won Sunday’s Windsor Waterfront Half Marathon after approaching the race as a training opportunity ahead of the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October.
“I was kind of treating it as a workout,” Griffith told CTV News. “This was just like a dress rehearsal, to say the least.”
Griffith said he had not expected to win, but chose Windsor because the course suited his preparations.
“I wanted something flat, fast, and this one was perfect for me,” he said.
Sunday marked a second straight sellout for the Windsor Waterfront Half Marathon and 5K, with organizers filling 2,500 registration spots across the two races.
Race director Ryan Allison says that is up from a cap of 2,000 in the inaugural year, with room for 3,000 planned for 2027.
“We plan to steadily grow by 20 per cent as long as we can,” Allison said.
He sees the event as an opportunity to introduce visitors to the city.
“We have a lot to offer, and it’s good to get people from out of town to come into Windsor, stay in our hotels and see what the city’s all about,” he said.
For Vancouver-based runner and former University of Windsor athlete Dayna Pidhoresky, Sunday brought a breakthrough years in the making.
“That was a personal best for me. And I haven’t had a personal best in the half-marathon since 2011, so it’s been a long time,” she said.
Pidhoresky said she began to feel confident after the opening five kilometres, though the humidity made the closing stretch difficult.
“I sort of felt like I was running on Sandpoint Beach for the rest of the way,” she said.
Pidhoresky and her husband moved to Vancouver in 2013. They heard about the waterfront race while back in the area for a five-kilometre event last year.
“I think it’s like a huge opportunity for this area and a much-needed half-marathon ahead of the fall marathon,” she said.
For Patrick Aliverti, crossing the finish line did not mean his morning was over. After completing the event’s shorter five-kilometre race, held before the 21.1-kilometre half-marathon, he stayed to volunteer for the longer race.
“Honestly, the running community in Windsor has been amazing,” Aliverti said. “Some of the most supportive people I’ve ever met in my life.”
Aliverti, who said he started running in 2022, wanted to offer that same encouragement to others.
“I’m by no means a fast runner, and I’m here to encourage everyone to be active in their life, to live a healthy life,” he said.
The event also raised money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windsor Essex and the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation. By Sunday, its online fundraising page showed more than $43,000 combined for the two organizations.
Allison said organizers changed the start and finish lines this year and brought in a local production company to help stage the event.
“Last year we were doing a lot of stuff on our own,” he said. “We like to use the saying that if it was a 100-storey building, we took the stairs instead of the elevator.”
Ground Effects served as the lead sponsor for Sunday’s half-marathon.
Planning for next year is expected to begin this fall, with registration for the 2027 event opening in late December.
