Yesterday was an exciting day to be in Toronto. At the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the male and female winners ran the fastest marathons ever in Canada: Kenneth Mungara of Kenya finished first with a time of 2:07:58, beating the previous fastest marathon in Canada by 33 seconds. Sharon Cherop, also of Kenya, led the women with a time of 2:22:43 in a very close finish and beating the previous fastest time in Canada by over three minutes. In fact, the top seven women all beat the previous course record for this marathon. Full coverage of the marathon and half-marathon races can be found on the race website.
Reid Coolsaet had an awesome day with a time of 2:11:23, beating Athletics Canada's tough qualifying standard for the Olympics and the 2011 World Championships with just six seconds to spare. This does not automatically secure him a spot in the London 2012 Olympics, but he will be there as long as three other people do not beat his time. (That would be quite surprising, considering Canada sent no one to the Bejing Olympics for the marathon.) He wrote a very descriptive and inspiring race report in his blog. Eric Gillis of Canada came in just one place behind Coolsaet with a time of 2:12:08.
I also have many running friends who had great races in Toronto yesterday in the marathon, half-marathon, and 5k distances. Congratulations to all of you. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is one of the country's best, and I hope to be able to participate some day.
I think the cool temps and ideal conditions played a significant role. I was cheering, not running, but it was a gorgeous day for a race.
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