All you commuters and would-be travellers should be aware that the BMO Vancouver Marathon is happening this weekend with road closures ahead. As usual, traffic will be heavily impacted as the runners take to the streets in the thousands.
Get ready to plan accordingly so your weekend won’t be turned upside-down by the marathon!
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The BMO Vancouver Marathon
This year, the BMO Vancouver Marathon hit its capacity limits in record time. At full capacity, 2026 is set to be another record-breaking year just as 2025 hit record numbers for their registered runners with a massive 25,000+ participants.
The race will take place on Sunday, May 3, 2026, although road closures will begin on Saturday, May 2, 2026 and onward until the event is complete. Both the Marathon and Half-Marathon will begin near Queen Elizabeth Park and finish in Downtown Vancouver. The 8KM will start in Stanley Park on Lagoon drive. The Half Marathon runners have a 7am start while the Marathon runners will set off at 8:30am. The 8KM runners will start at 9:30am.
Basically, expect a ton of runners in the morning and well throughout the day on Sunday.
Road Closures
There are a fair number of affected roads that will see closures. The BMO Vancouver Marathon has listed all closure and detour maps on their website. You can check here for the full list with times, but you can expect some closures in the following areas:
- Queen Elizabeth Park (start area)
- Coal Harbour (finish area)
- South Cambie/ Oakridge/ Fairview
- UBC/ Endowment Lands/ Dunbar/ Southlands/ Kerrisdale
- Point Grey/Kitsilano
- Downtown Vancouver
- False Creek / Chinatown
- Yaletown
- West End
- Stanley Park
“Your safety is taken seriously and we respect the neighbourhoods through which BMO Marathon Vancouver courses run,” notes the BMO Vancouver Marathon website. “Please travel safely.”
To all you runners, good luck out there! And if you’ve got somewhere to be on the weekend, then good luck to you, too! The roads are sure to be packed with onlookers and participants alike, as well as plenty of vehicles making those annual detours for the road closures all throughout Vancouver during the marathon.
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