Yesterday, Sunday October 18th, twenty-six thousand runners toed the start line at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The marathon was a huge success, bringing together the city of Toronto to celebrate the great sport of running.
Let’s wrap up the ups, downs and everything in between of yesterday’s Toronto Waterfront Marathon!
Women’s Champion: Shure Demise
Ethiopian running superstar Shure Demise ran away with the win at 2:23.37. Behind her came the course record holder, Kenya’s Sharon Cherop (TIME) and Ethiopian’s Fatuma Sago, who battled it out to finish with the exact same time of 2:24.16. Officials took several hours to study the finish line video before deciding they had tied and would each receive $12,000 in prize money.
Men’s Champion: Isshmael Chemtan
Kenya’s Isshmael Chemtan’s second visit to Canada was met with a huge win! Chemtan’s has been crowned this year’s winner of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon with the finishing time of 2:09.00. Chemtan’s narrowly outran his fellow countryman Gilbert Kirwa who finished one second behind.
Defending Champion’s Upset
Last year’s champion, Laban Korir, struggled this year with a stitch at 35 kilometres and unfortunately faded badly before recovering to eventually battle his way back into near contention. Korir finished in third place with a time of 2:09.20.
Canadian Marathon Champions
Canadian runner, 31-year-old Lanni Marchant from London, Ontario successfully achieved the marathon qualifying standard for the Rio Olympics. Marchant ran two hours and 28 minutes nine seconds to fifth overall – just shy of breaking her Canadian record of 2:28:00 at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Antigonish, Nova Scotia native, Eric Gillis also hit the Olympic qualifying standard, finishing seventh overall in 2:11.31 – well under the qualifying mark of 2:12.50.
Running for a Cause
No stranger to the iRun community, Jean Paul Bedard ran three consecutive marathons in just over 18 hours – crossing the finish line just before 4pm. Jean Paul is a high profile endurance athlete and was running to raise funds and awareness for survivors of sexual abuse. Jean Paul has become the guiding force behind the “Superior2Circumstance” movement and ran the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon for the #BeenRapedNeverReported campaign. For more information and/or to find Jean Paul, you can find him @RunjpRun and BreatheThroughThis.com
Unfortunate News
It is with great sadness to report that two runners are currently in critical condition after collapsing near the finish line yesterday. One man, in his 40s, was rushed by Toronto paramedics to a local trauma centre in critical condition. At 11am, the man collapsed at the intersection of Bay and Albert Street and while initially without vital signs, paramedics were able to bring back his pulse. Shortly after, at 12:57pm, a man in his 20s collapsed near the finish line. He also was found without a pulse, however, after paramedics shocked him once with a defibrillator, he regained vital signs. He too was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.
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