By Paul Gains
Once again the chance of winning a national championship has lured top Canadians to the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon which is both a World Athletics Elite Label race and the Athletics Canada National Marathon Championship.
The latest addition is Tristan Woodfine, 33, for whom a podium finish would highlight a stellar running career.
Two years ago Woodfine ran a personal best 2:10:39 to finish 6th in the Houston Marathon which puts him 11th on the list of all-time Canadian performers. But he feels he has a personal best in his near future. Whether that comes in Toronto on October 18 or not remains to be seen but after some setbacks the past couple of years he believes he is finally on track for a strong performance.
“[Training] has been going well. It was little hit and miss in early August,” he reveals. “We just welcomed our daughter, Wren, into the world August 3rd, so those first couple of weeks after she was born were a little crazy. But once we got used to a routine things picked up. The last couple of weeks I have had some strong workouts and I am feeling comfortable going into Toronto.
“I am confident I can go out and compete with the other Canadian guys who will be on the start line and kind of make that my goal. I am not too concerned with time. Mostly, I want to get out there and race some people!”
Woodfine and his wife Madeline also bought their first house a year ago in a rural area roughly twenty minutes outside Eganville, Ontario. But life has a way of keeping one honest. Along with a series of injuries, which prevented him from getting fully fit, in the summer of 2025 he suddenly developed fever and aches and pains.
“I had that a couple of days then my wife was like ‘you have this weird rash on the back of your knee.’ It had that circular bullseye shape to it,” he remembers of what turned out to be Lyme disease caused by a tick bite. “So I went to the doctor and got antibiotics. It took a while to get over it.”
That illness was followed by a diagnosis of an inguinal hernia which a doctor said would require surgery. He was told to limit exercise. Obviously concerned, he decided to book a consultation with the renowned Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario just north of Toronto. Their diagnosis was that it was not a hernia after all. Woodfine laughs as he recounts his bad luck before adding “I have had a stretch now where nothing has gone wrong and I am really looking forward to Toronto!”
Although he completed his paramedic studies at the Ontario Health and Technology College he has put the brakes on a career in that field to focus on his running. Perhaps, he will choose to do that in the future but for now he wants to explore every part of his running potential.
“I haven’t thought about it too much yet but training with night shifts are pretty hard to make work if you want to run fast,” he concedes with a laugh. “So it’s on hold for now. I guess when I am done with my competitive running career that is something I will potentially look at.”
Besides sharing parenting duties with Madeline and training for the marathon he earns an income as a personal trainer.
“That has been growing steadily over the years that has been the main thing and then some odd jobs stuff here and there I have maybe 15 or so (clients) now,” says Woodfine.
“I don’t know if I would use the term lucrative. But I love it and enjoy it. Helping other people achieve their goals, it’s kind of nice to pass along some of the wisdom and help people to not make the mistakes I have made.”
Living in a rural area of Eastern Ontario means he does all his training on his own. He estimates he is covering roughly 170km a week. Despite his knowledge and experience, since the summer of 2025, he has been coached by John Davis an American coach with a PhD in Human Performance. Woodfine defines him as being ‘very Renato Canova inspired’ in reference to the famous Italian who coached many athletes to Olympic medal podiums.
Woodfine made his marathon ‘debut’ at the 2015 Rotterdam Marathon as three of his Speed River Track Club training partners were competing. Two-time Olympian, Reid Coolsaet, was one of them. It was not a serious attempt and he finished in 2:27:55. He waited three years to do another one.
Since then Woodfine has run London twice – he was 14th in 2020 with a time of 2:10:51 – though he prefers the comforts of racing nearer to home. For that reason Toronto Waterfront Marathon remains a favourite event.
Woodfine faces a strong Canadian field at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon which includes both Thomas Broatch, who is ranked just ahead of him on the all-time Canadian list with a best of 2:10:35, and Olympic steeplechaser turned marathoner John Gay. The battle for the gold promises to be fierce and a potential highlight of this year’s event.
