After the changing of Athletics Canada’s track coach, Peter Ericsson, a new standard has been announced today for marathon qualifying times for the Canadian national team to compete at 2017 IAAF World Championships in Athletics this summer in London.
The new qualifying times for marathoners are the top 3 under 2:19 for men; 2:45 for women, and each team member must run the half marathon either at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the Calgary Half Marathon or participate in the Ottawa 10K national championships.
The previous standards were 2:12:50 for the men and 2:29:50 for the women, then 2:14:10 and 2:31:20 if nobody hit the A goals, which still greatly limited the number of athletes that Canada could send to compete in the high-profile event.
By lowering the times, this will lead to better exposure of our highest profile athletes and more opportunities for greater purses for running athletes operating outside of the sporting world mainstream (the Toronto Raptors and such).
Rejoices from the Canadian running world have percolated online, perhaps best articulated by Canada Running Series director Alan Brookes, who summarized his response in a word: Hallelujah.
The World Championships will be held in London between August 5-August 13, 2017.
Good luck to everyone who runs.
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