Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe finishes Berlin Marathon in under 4 hours

Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe ran in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. (Mark Sutcliffe/X, formerly Twitter)

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe fulfilled a "longtime goal" Sunday when he ran in the Berlin Marathon.

"I was originally planning to run in 2019, but it was put off because of work conflicts, COVID, and last year's election," he said in a post on social media. "I'm very excited to be running on Sunday, along with thousands of runners from around the world."

Sutcliffe said he left for Berlin late last week and will return to Ottawa on Tuesday.

He finished with a time of 3:51:42, beating his time at the Ottawa Marathon at Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend this spring of 4:08:13.

The 55-year-old mayor is an avid runner. He has completed 40 marathons since 2004.

More than 47,000 runners took part in the marathon in Germany this year.

Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge won the marathon, his fifth victory at the race, with a time of 2:02:42.