| Marathon | |
| Official Name: | Town of Marathon |
| Settlement Type: | Town (single-tier) |
| Motto: | Built On Paper - Laced With Gold! |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Ontario |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 200 |
| Pushpin Label Position: | top |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ontario |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Thunder Bay |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Rick Dumas |
| Leader Title1: | CAO |
| Leader Name1: | Darryl Skworchinski |
| Leader Title2: | Councillors |
| Leader Title3: | Federal riding |
| Leader Name3: | Thunder Bay—Superior North |
| Leader Title4: | Prov. riding |
| Leader Name4: | Thunder Bay—Superior North |
| Area Land Km2: | 170.54 |
| Population As Of: | 2016 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 3273 |
| Population Density Km2: | 19.2 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Coordinates: | 48.75°N -108°W |
| Elevation M: | 220 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal Code |
| Postal Code: | P0T 2E0 |
| Area Code: | 807 |
| Website: | www.marathon.ca |
Marathon is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Thunder Bay District, on the north shore of Lake Superior north of Pukaskwa National Park.
Personal residences encompass an area starting from Lake Superior, and stretch out to a new subdivision near Penn Lake, an in-town campsite and beach in the eastern portion of the town. The Pic River is outside of the town's eastern limits.
The town is adjacent to Peninsula Harbour and has several coves including Carden Cove, Sturdee Cove and Craddock Cove; all three are west-northwest of Marathon. Penn Lake is a local lake within the town where tourists can enjoy camping and water sports.
Heron Bay is a town located to the south of Marathon and shares the post office and phone prefix. The Pic River First Nation is on the outskirts of Pukaskwa National Park.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Marathon had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 167.03km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[2]
Marathon's resource economy was built on pulp, most recently managed by Marathon Pulp Inc. On February 12, 2009, Marathon Pulp Inc. announced an indefinite shutdown that eliminated hundreds of jobs from the region, and negatively impacted Marathon's tax base and its local economy.
Starting in the mid-1980s Marathon's economy expanded to include gold mining. The Hemlo Operations included three gold mining operations: Williams, David Bell and Golden Giant mines. In 2009, Vancouver-based Teck Cominco mining company sold its 50% share of Williams and David Bell to its investing partner, Barrick Gold Corporation, while Golden Giant was decommissioned in 2005. Golden Giant mine is now owned by Barrick Gold Corporation and is now part of David Bell mine.
Marathon is the centre of commerce for the rural region in which it is situated. It boasts the largest indoor shopping mall between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, and one of only three Canadian Tire department stores in the region.
Marathon is located 2km (01miles) west of Trans Canada Highway 17, to which it is connected via Peninsula Road (formerly Highway 626). The town is served by the Canadian Pacific Railway and a geographically important airport (Marathon Aerodrome) just north of the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately 4km (02miles) northeast of the town. It has Ontario Northland motor coach service on its Sault Ste. MarieThunder Bay route.[3]
Marathon is served by five schools. Three of these are public schools: Margaret Twomey Public School, Marathon High School, and École Secondaire Cité-Supérieure. Two are Roman Catholic separate schools: Holy Saviour School and École Val-des-Bois.
Marathon has a children's park named after Del Earle, one of the town's founders.
Marathon has a challenging 9 hole golf course, cross-country skiing trails and downhill skiing (now closed), a 4-sheet curling venue (now closed), and the only indoor swimming pool between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie (now closed).
Recent developments in the town include a new skatepark, basketball courts and the refinishing of the tennis courts.
Marathon's art and culture community has varied over time.
Marathon has been home to a community entertainment series, a community choir, coffee houses & culture jams, a writer's group, an art gallery, house concerts, frequent dinner theatres, art and photography displays, quilting groups and shows, a ceramics club, annual craft shows, and numerous art classes.
A summer music series, known as "Concerts in the Parking Lot", was inaugurated in July 2006 and is held in the town centre on Wednesday evenings in summer. This casual series encompasses a variety of musical genres and showcases talent both local and from "away".
In 2010, Marathon was one of the many Canadian communities that the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Torch Relay passed through.
Marathon is served by numerous organizations and services. These include, among many others, the Cub Scouts, Salvation Army, Girl Guides, Victim Services, and the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.
Marathon has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb), with its position north of Lake Superior the climate is attenuated, mainly the southern heatwaves, due to the hot air masses already have crossing the entire lake. It is noted differences with Thunder Bay, for example, keeping winters still rigorous but warm summers and sometimes cool.[4] [5]
A weather station was run in the town from 1950 to 1983. Data is sparse. The data presented below is from a short-lived station at nearby Terrace Bay.