Ottawa mayor runs into trouble with London Marathon entry

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When he takes the stage later this month at the SportsPro Live conference in London, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe will be rubbing elbows with executives from juggernauts like the Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs, premier soccer clubs Manchester United and AC Milan, organizations like the National Hockey League, National Football League and the Women’s Rugby World Cup, plus executives from powerful media platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

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Sutcliffe will speak on the first day of the SportsPro Live 2024 conference at The Oval, 1.5 kilometres across the Thames River from the United Kingdom’s Houses of Parliament, on the topic of “How Ottawa Became a Major Sports Hub.”

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Sutcliffe will be there at the invitation of Ottawa Tourism and according to the SportPro agenda will talk about the city’s approach to hosting major events and “why sports event must leave a cultural and sporting legacy.”

But it’s not Sutcliffe’s trip to the April 23-24 conference that has drawn flak from critics, but what he plans to do two days before that: run in the London Marathon.

Since announcing the London trip on the social media platform X on Tuesday, Sutcliffe has been roasted online, accused of attending the conference just so he can take part in the race or make Ottawa taxpayers pick up the tab for his personal hobby.

Neither accusation is true, Sutcliffe says.

Sutcliffe told reporters Wednesday that the entire trip was “at no cost whatsoever to taxpayers” and that he was paying the race entry fee and any personal costs associated with the marathon.

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“I don’t need someone else to pay for my marathons,” Sutcliffe told this newspaper. “I’ve run 40 marathons and I’m fortunate enough that I’ve always been able to pay my own way. I didn’t take this job to get a bunch of free trips.”

Sutcliffe says he accepted Ottawa Tourism’s invitation to SportsPro Live before he knew it coincided with the April 21 London marathon. When he realized he could do both, he secured an entry, which he paid for himself.

Ottawa Tourism is paying for Sutcliffe’s airfare and accommodations while he’s on the organization’s business.

Ottawa Tourism no longer receives money directly from the city, although it has previously. According to its 2022 annual report, the most recent figures available, the organization received $11.2 million from the Municipal Accommodation Tax — a levy tacked on hotel bills of visitors to the city — along with $4.4 million from the federal government, $4.1 million from Ontario and $872,000 from the city.

In this year’s budget, the MAT levy increased by one per cent and the city’s funding to Ottawa Tourism ended. The hotel levy makes up the bulk of Ottawa Tourism’s revenue, said Jérôme Miousse, its director of corporate communications.

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“We do not receive regular revenue from the federal and provincial governments. However, we do apply for — and sometimes receive — funding from them for specific project-based programs and grants,” he said.

Sutcliffe travelled to Paris last summer with Ottawa Tourism, partly to promote new direct Ottawa-Paris flights with Air France.

Speaking on Wednesday, Sutcliffe said: “At that time Ottawa Tourism said, ‘We should do more of this.’ And they indicated that they intended to go to a very specific event that takes place every April and that they’ve been to before. They invited me to join them on that mission and I said yes.”

Ottawa Tourism has attended SportPro Live for the past two years, Miousse said. Deals signed at SportsPro brought the CP Women’s Open golf championship to the city in 2022 , the Masters Indigenous Games in 2023 and the 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship, which begins in late December.

“For us being able to bring the mayor with us is similar to what we did in Paris last year,” Miousse said. “Just having the mayor there helped us attract a bigger audience. People wanted to come. They understood the event was serious to the point that mayor wanted to be there.”

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Miousse wouldn’t say how big the Ottawa delegation to London would be, but “It includes a big chunk of our leadership team as well as sales people and marketing people. It’s important.”

Also on the trip are delegates from Invest Ottawa, the economic development agency of which Sutcliffe is co-chair.

“Trips like this are routine for us,” Miousse said. “These are the kind of trips we take to develop business opportunities. SportsPro is one of the world’s greatest sport tourism and sales opportunities. It draws sports event planners and rights holder together to work on business developments. And that allows us at Ottawa Tourism opportunities to network and discover opportunities for Ottawa.”

Ottawa Tourism and Wonderful Copenhagen are the only civic organizations on a list of nearly 250 confirmed registrants on SportsPro Live’s webpage. Ottawa Tourism will host a networking session at the end of the first day when participants can “choose from a selection of Canadian-themed cocktails (and mocktails) and tuck into some delicious poutine!”

Sutcliffe said he did not ask the city’s integrity commissioner about the trip. Nor will this be the first time an Ottawa mayor has made an overseas trip to boost the city, he said.

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“Previous mayors have gone to places like Beijing and the Netherlands. There’s a great return for the city if we’re able to secure some deals and land some events,” Sutcliffe said. “This is happening at no cost whatsoever to taxpayers and Ottawa Tourism sees it as a priority within their budget to have a mission of this nature and there’s value in having the mayor of Ottawa on this trip.”

Sutcliffe runs every day, logging 80 to 90 kilometres a week. He ran his 40th marathon in Berlin in September on a trip he paid for himself.

“On this trip to London, I’m going to run every single day. There happens to be a marathon going on when I’m there, so, instead of running from my hotel and running around the streets of London, I entered the London Marathon and I’ll be participating in the London Marathon at my own expense. I’ll be running either way,” he said.

Miousse said he was disappointed at the backlash to the mayor’s trip.

“It’s disappointing that some people are not able to see the big picture,” he said. “These trips help us attract investment to Ottawa, attract major sports events to Ottawa, which bring money from outside our city into our economy. The benefits are huge for our economy, and we’re super happy to have a mayor who understands our mission, understands what we’re trying to do, and is willing to help us do it.”

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