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28 AprParis to Ancaster Bicycle Race Hamilton, Ontario
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14 SepThe Famous Canadian Beer Run Toronto, Ontario
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“It’s the best field we've ever assembled in Ottawa,” Manny Rodrigues declares proudly surveying his handiwork.
The elite athlete coordinator for the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon has found his IAAF Silver Label race increasingly appealing to athletes and managers around the world, with the improvement in the quality of fields, and finishing times, naturally following.
A year ago, the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon produced course records in both the men’s and women’s races as the Ethiopian pair of Tariku Jufar (2:08:05) and Yeshi Esayias (2:25:31) won their respective races. Consequently, this year, Rodrigues’s pacemakers will be aiming to lead the men’s field to a 2:06 or 2:07 finishing time, and a new Canadian soil record.
The fastest time ever run on Canadian soil is 2:07:05 by Ethiopia’s Derissa Chimsa, achieved a year ago in Toronto. As added incentive to eclipse that mark, the organization has put up a bonus of $10,000 US as well as a 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe sports utility vehicle to whoever can beat the standard in Ottawa. This is in addition to the $20,000 US first place prize money.
Because of his impressive marathon record Kenya’s Wesley Korir is the man to watch. The tactically smart graduate of the University of Louisville is most famous for his ‘come from behind’ victory at the 2012 Boston Marathon. But he is also a two-time winner of the Los Angeles Marathon (2010, 2009), finished second in Chicago in 2011, and owns a personal best of 2:06:13, recorded at the 2012 Chicago Marathon.
Korir’s intelligence is not limited to road racing. Last year, he was elected to the Kenyan parliament representing the district of Cherangany, which has also meant balancing a heavy parliamentary workload. Still, Korir has a reputation for producing on the day and will certainly be the man to watch.
“My training has been going well, not the best, but good,” he admits. “I think coming to Canada for the two months before the race will allow me to push it to the next level. My work in parliament has been very busy.”
“I have been doing about 70 to 80 miles a week (112km - 130km) and am now starting to push it up there. I train by myself but I have a bodyguard, a policeman, who runs with me sometimes. He is a 2:06 guy.”
Korir, 31, is naturally cautious about predicting the outcome of the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon but believes he will be fully prepared.
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Running Skirts Compression Socks
Everyone will know you are Canadian when you wear your maple lead compression socks