A HARD AND FAST RULE
Philemon Rono ran the fastest marathon on Canadian soil while winning the Toronto Waterfront Marathon,
Ask Leslie Sexton what’s the best Star Wars movie to watch the night before a race and that’s something she has to think seriously about. She’s such a science fiction fan that she’s often spoken about drawing inspiration from Star Wars characters Rey and Leia and, on occasion, Wonder Woman.
But, on Sunday, she found her inspiration from within while becoming the Canadian women’s marathon champion at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
“When it got hard, I was just like, ‘Pretend you’re back in Springbank Park and doing a long run with some pace at the end’,” Sexton said, referring to where she trains in London, Ont. “It hurts and it sucks but you’ve got to keep going.”
In hot, far from ideal conditions, the 30-year-old ran her way to fifth overall in the women’s race and was the first Canadian across the line with a time of two hours, 25 minutes and 47 seconds.
“The last three or four (kilometres) got a little rough, I’m sure I slowed down and lost some time there but I did what I had to do and ran as hard as I could,” she said.
In the men’s race, Canadian Trevor Hofbauer was told he was the Canadian champion when he crossed the line ninth overall at 2:18.06. “I think I’m the Trevor Hofbauer champion,” he replied with a grin.
“Canadian champion is cool and all but I just want to be the best version of me. I laid everything out there, I just wanted to be the best version of me and that’s what you got,” said the 25-year-old from Calgary who recently moved to Guelph to train fulltime with Speed River.
This was his debut marathon and, in fact, a kilometre more than he’d ever run in training.
“Today was a good starting point,” he said. “The time is decent and there will be more to come.”
2:06.52
Philemon Rono was knocked unconscious when a barrier fell on him just before last year’s marathon and he still managed to win that race. This Sunday, he did one better running the fastest marathon ever on Canadian soil, 2:06.52.
“I’m very happy, this is an achievement,” said the 26-year-old from Kenya.
When he moved ahead of fellow Kenya Dickson Chumba around 35K he told himself the race was his. “There is no need to look back, just focus, when you focus you know what you can achieve at the end,” he said.
The win may have looked certain but breaking the record — worth a $50,000 bonus — came down to the line. He crossed with just two seconds to spare.
2:49.32
Catherine Watkins was hoping to break the Canadian masters marathon record for women 45 to 50 but faded in the heat to miss the 2:40 mark.
“We went out a little too fast but I wanted to stick with the pacer, we had a great little pack going but as soon was we got into the sun the pace felt a little rich,” said Watkins, a mother of two from Vancouver. “The marathon is such a beast. You can train so hard and know you’re fit and then on the day anything can happen.”
3:16.21
For Olympic race walker Evan Dunfee a marathon is really a training event more than a race.
“I passed 50 people in the last 3K. That’s the beauty of doing only 42K —- I know I have the wheels, I know that I can accelerate over that last little bit,” said Dunfee, who finished fourth at the Rio Olympics in the 50K race walk.
“For me it’s just fun. I’m not going at a pace that’s so intense that I can’t hold a conversation, so I’m chatting and pulling people along, I really love that.
“It’s great exposure for me and my event. This is my full-time job, it’s easy for me to justify being good at it but seeing all these people around here who fit two runs into a day, around full-time work and their kids, that inspires me as well.”
3:56.24
Ben Kaplan crossed the finish line proudly thrusting his pacer sign into the air. He ran the late Ed Whitlock’s final marathon record, which he set here a year ago when he was 85 years old.
“It was a tremendous honour,” said Kaplan, recalling the people who surrounded him during the race and wanted to share their stories of the legendary masters runner from Milton, Ont. “It means something to a lot of people and it means something to me. I’m happy to be here and cele- brate with Ed’s sons and just to make running popular and let people believe in themselves and let them find inspiration.”
Kaplan, who has plenty of Whitlock stories of his own, was concentrating on making sure he hit the splits. “There was a pressure to do it right. I know he wouldn’t want any lallygagging out there.”
4:59.33
If one marathon is good, half a dozen in a row must be better, right?
It is if your name is Jean-Paul Bedard who was running to raise awareness and funds for survivors of sexual violence.
He ran two marathons on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, with his sixth starting with the rest of the waterfront marathon runners.
“The sixth one was amazing because I didn’t go 10 feet without somebody shouting my name or coming over to say something. I felt a lot of love on the course. My legs were just dead when I was on the sixth one but emotionally I never felt stronger in such a long race,” said the 52-year-old. His six marathons add up to 253.2 kilometres and is the equivalent of running from downtown Toronto to downtown Kingston.
“Sounds crazy when you hear it like that,” said Bedard, who ran four last year but went up to “6 in the Six” this year to raise more awareness and funds. “I really wish that help had been there for me as a kid and that really motivates me . . . When I was on the sixth one and digging deep, thinking of those kids and families reaching out and looking for support that kept me going. I don’t really love running right now but I love what running brings out in me.”
5:39.57
“I said before hand it was probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done and it turned out I was correct,” Michal Kapral said.
He had hoped to set the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon while juggling five balls to go along with the record he already holds for joggling, as it’s called, with three balls. He didn’t even come close. “I used up a ton of energy trying to stay clear of people, constantly worried about hitting people and bumping into to people so, even after 2K, I felt like I just ran a marathon already,” Kapral said.
Just 15K in, his time was already approaching what it took him to finish the full marathon with three balls in Chicago last year. But that he did without a single drop. Five balls is a whole different game with drops every 100 metres or so.
“I was actually in last place for a lot of it, there were flashing police cars … I won a marathon while joggling three balls so I’ve now won a marathon and lost a marathon joggling,” he said.
6:14.51
Dora Sanchez Malo jumped in the air triumphantly as she crossed the finish line in the final minutes before the timing mats were taken down.
“I didn’t practise or anything, I just decided to come,” said the runner from Mexico.
This race, she decided, would be her celebration. “I got divorced and every step is one step forward to independence, to be free.”