TORONTO - Toronto will be keeping its two marathons after all.
The marathons' organizers and the city agreed Friday that there will be one marathon in the spring and one in the fall, starting in 2011.
The move comes after last year's events brought complaints about too many weekend road closures at the same time of year.
Earlier this month, the city said if the two groups could not agree on how to solve the problem, only a single marathon would be held and other groups would be allowed to bid on running it.
With today's compromise, both marathons will take place in the fall again this year.
But next year, the GoodLife Toronto Marathon will move to the spring and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon will continue to operate in the fall.
"Having these two races at different times of the year will provide the city with a better opportunity to minimize the disruption to residents that occurred when the events were held just weeks apart," said Gary Welsh, who manages the city's transportation services.
Jay Glassman, head of the GoodLife Toronto Marathon, said he was pleased with the deal, saying it would "maximize the economic impact for Toronto, our charitable partners and the entire community."
"We ... look forward to continuing to build a world class marathon that showcases our great city to local, national and international runners," said Alan Brookes of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
