Runners hope to inspire the next pack
Two Canadian women run race for the first time in two decades
A Canadian flag draped over her left shoulder and an ice pack slopped over her right, Lanni Marchant soaked up the scene just beyond the Olympic marathon finish line.
Medics rushed by with empty stretchers to carry those with nothing left in their legs. There were tears of joy, of exhaustion, of victory, and defeat in the Sambadrome, home to the world famous Carnivale parades every February.
The marathon is a universal metaphor for a reason. Anything that takes immense effort over an extended period is compared to the 42.2-kilometre endurance test.
For the first time in 20 years Sunday, two Canadian women took part in the Olympic marathon. Marchant, a dogged criminal lawyer from London, Ont., crossed the line in two hours 33 minutes eight seconds to place 24th. Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ont., placed 35th with a time of 2:35:29.
For Canada, the undeniable theme of these Olympics is girl power. Up until Sunday afternoon, all of Canada’s 12 medals — two gold, two silver and eight bronze — had belonged to female athletes.
DuChene and Marchant failed to add to that total but they hope to inspire girls and women back home.
“In 2012, I missed the Olympic team and the last four years, this has been really my goal,” Marchant, 32, said. “I was a figure skater and then I was a lawyer. So you don’t have to set a dream when you’re little. If it doesn’t happen when you’re young, be patient. And just don’t ever let people limit you.”
In June, Marchant feared Athletics Canada planned to limit her to one event in Rio after she reached the qualifying standard in both the 10,000 metres and the marathon. That didn’t happen, and she ran Sunday’s race 48 hours after finishing 25th in the 10,000 metres.
Duchene, a first-time Olympian at 39, hopes she took a stand for all those moms who feel too busy, too old and too tired to go for a run and shoot for their own athletic goals.
“I wanted to come here and not just be that old mom with three kids that, ‘Ooh, she made it to the Olympics,’” DuChene said. “It just gives a lot of encouragement to moms out there who have kids, who work.”
Crossing the line strong is an achievement in itself. At the 2014 Canadian half-marathon championships, DuChene limped over the finish on a broken leg.
With less than a kilometre to go that day in Montreal, an undiagnosed stress fracture spiralled like an unfilled rock chip on a windshield into a broken femur. She had surgery that night and the damaged was mended with a plate and three screws.
The scar remains, but the experience only made her stronger.
“Maybe this is my only Olympics,” she said. “Maybe this is the race of my life. But at the same time, I’m not ready to retire even though I’m 39. Who says I have to stop?”