Running Beside Your Olympians: Reid Coolsaet & Eric Gillis

Welcome to back to Running Beside Your Olympians – an exclusive look into your Olympians to honour the 28 Olympic sports.

With the 2016 summer Olympic games are fast approaching! Hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5^th and 21^st, more than 10,500 will compete for the whopping 306 sets of medals up for grabs.

Keep checking in with iRun and we’ll fill you in on the latest, juiciest and impressive facts about the Canadian athletes that will be proudly representing Canada this summer.

With the Olympic Games around the corner, Team Canada recently released a commercial to show they have ice in their veins. The stake are high and Canada and is ready – let’s celebrate and honour that!

Today, we’re highlighting two running legends – each shaking the running scene in their own right! Reid and Eric will be running alongside one another at the 2016 Rio Olympics, proudly representing Canada. Congratulations from the entire iRun community!!

Reid Coolsaet, Marathon 

Reid is a celebrated long-distance runner, known for his background and successes in the 5,000 meter. In 2009, Reid took the marathon scene by storm. Notably, in 2011, he ran the second-fastest marathon by a Canadian athlete, finishing third in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, with an impressive time of 2:10:55. He went on to represent Canada in the 2012 London Olympics and will taking the international stage one again in a few weeks in Rio.

Eric Gillis, Marathon

An internationally renowned athlete, Eric is celebrated for dedicated athleticism and impressive running career – thus far! Eris is well-known for representing Canada in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 10,000 meter and competing in the Marathon distance at the 2012 at the London Olympics.

Keeping his momentum, Eric will be competing in his 3^rd consecutive summer Olympics in Rio. We will undoubtedly be seeing great things from Eric in the upcoming weeks.