It's the 100th issue! Here are 100 great things that happened in Canadian running since Run the North launched
Thank you to everyone who has been reading these past two years!
Hello!
This is the 100th issue of Run the North! Thank you to everyone who has been reading these past two years. This newsletter launched on Jan. 21, 2019, so the 100th issue is almost also our second anniversary.
To celebrate, I decided to look back at 100 good things that happened in Canadian running since Run the North began. More than 100 good things happened, and it was hard to narrow down this list. I enjoyed putting it together and I hope you enjoy it too.
We really need some good things right now. I hope you are all staying safe, and doing what you can to protect your family, your community, your mental and physical health and, apparently, democracy.
Here’s to another year of running. Let’s hope it’s better than 2020.
Let’s get to it!
The Olympic marathon trials returned to Canada in 2019, for the first time in several Olympics.
Trevor Hofbauer broke through and became Canada’s second 2:09 guy, when he ran 2:09:51 to book his ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.
And Dayna Pidhoresky also broke through in Toronto in 2019, running 2:29:03 to earn her spot on Canada’s Olympic team.
The 2019 Toronto Waterfront Marathon got attention across the border, proving that Canada puts on world class events: the broadcast was praised by Americans tuning in and Toronto itself was praised was Rory Linkletter’s American coach Ben Rosario, who made the trip with him.
And we can’t forget the banana runner! Melvin Nyairo set a Guinness World Record for fastest half-marathon while wearing a banana costume. Because of his pace, he spent much of the race on camera with the elite Canadian women marathoners, to the delight of Twitter.
Rory Linkletter made a bold move in 2019, jumping straight into the marathon after graduating from Brigham Young University. He debuted in Toronto in 2019, running 2:16.
Rory also launched a fun podcast called Running Rivals with two of his NAZ teammates, Nick Hauger and Matthew Baxter.
And he finally got dual American-Canadian citizenship so he could vote in the 2020 American election.
Canada won an impressive five medals at the 2019 world championships in Doha!
Moh Ahmed won bronze in the 5,000m becoming the first Canadian to win an international distance running medal.
Evan Dunfee racewalked his way to 50K bronze, getting redemption after just missing out on Olympic bronze three years prior.
Andre De Grasse returned to world-class form after years of battling injuries, winning a silver in the 200m and bronze in the 100m.
And we can’t forget Lyndsay Tessier’s impressive 9th place finish in the marathon in brutally hot and humid conditions.
Or that Andrea Seccafien broke 15 minutes in the 5,000m for the first time, running 14:59 in the world championship final.
Gabriella deBues-Stafford ran a stunning 3:56:12 to place 6th in the fastest 1,500m race of all time.
That world championship race wasn’t the only great race of Gabriela’s year in 2019. She broke nine Canadian records in total that year.
She kicked off 2019 by breaking the indoor mile and indoor 5,000m records.
She broke Lynn Kaunka’s longstanding 1,500m record, running 4:00.26.
Before becoming the first Canadian woman to break 4 minutes in the 1,500m, running 3:59.59.
She broke the outdoor 5,000m record twice: first by running 14:51.59, then by running 14:44.12.
And she broke the outdoor mile record, running 4:17.87.
Andre De Grasse continues to set an example off the track as well, being one of the few male athletes out there that openly discusses balancing being an elite athlete with having a family.
Malindi Elmore returned to elite running in 2019, dropping at 2:32:11 in Houston in her marathon debut to immediately out herself in the conversation about elite Canadian marathoners. She finished seventh overall, and didn’t even start in the elite corral.
And then Malindi become the national marathon record holder one year later, in her second attempt at the distance in Houston again. She ran 2:24:50 and placing third overall.
That day was a great day for Canadian running: Rory Linkletter debuted in the half-marathon, running the second fastest all-time Canadian men’s time.
And Natasha Wodak broke the women’s half-marathon record in Houston, becoming the first Canadian woman to break 70 minutes at the distance, running 1:09:41.
Natasha’s record didn’t last: Andrea Seccafien broke it two weeks later, running two seconds faster at a half-marathon in Japan, running 1:09:39.
Let’s not forget Rachel Cliff: she held the marathon record, which she broke in March 2019, when she ran 2:26:56 at the Nagoya Women’s Marathon in Nagoya, Japan.
Rachel also held the half-marathon record, which she set in December 2019. She ran 1:10:06, lowering her own record by two seconds, at the Sanyo Ladies' Half-Marathon in Japan.
Malindi Elmore finished 2020 getting a shoe sponsorship with Saucony, which she approached with scientific rigour.
But my favourite sponsorship announcement of 2020 was hurdler Sage Watson, who is known for wearing red lipstick on the track, partnering with Loreal cosmetics.
Sage also has been running well: at the 2019 world championships she broke the long-standing 400m Canadian hurdles record in the semi-finals.
Damian Warner ran the fastest 100m ever by a decathlete when he ran 10.12 at a meet in in May 2019.
The 2019 Canadian national championships had many great storylines.
Such as the photo finish in the 100m between Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse.
And Madeleine Kelly taking the surprise victory in the 800m.
Brandon McBride decided to give back to his hometown of Windsor, Ont. when the pandemic started, first by donating grocery money to families in need.
Then he levelled up by launching an entire charity, McBride Youth United.
We saw several athletes bravely speaking out this year. Many Canadian shared what it was like to be Black in athletics.
After years of not having enough diversity on its cover, Canadian Running put three Black men and an Asian man on their cover in 2020: Andre De Grasse, Moh Ahmed, David Joseph and Nate Tsang.
Megan Brown shared her story about being sexually abused while training at the University of Guelph, which launched many conversations about sexual abuse in the sport.
And Corey Bellemore spoke out about being a man struggling with disordered eating, a topic we don’t hear much about.
Canadian researchers are working on a diagnostic framework for RED-S, which isn’t well understood yet despite being a common issue in runners, both male and female.
Moh Ahmed also shared his poetry publicly, when he published a poem in the Toronto Star.
Speaking of Moh, he had the performance of 2020 when he ran a 12:47 5,000m in an intrasquad meet this summer.
He wasn’t the only Canadian to make the best of things. When Canada withdrew from the world half-marathon championships, Justin Kent time trialled the event on the Vancouver sea wall to raise money for KidSport BC.
Justin also won the 10K Canadian 2020 championships, which went virtual this year, alongside Natasha Wodak, who successfully defended her title.
The 2019 Canadian 10K championships were fun too. Dylan Wykes won the men’s race, proving he still has what it takes to mix it up with Canada’s fastest runners.
Elites across the country had fun with the Athletics Canada marathon relay, which was held the weekend the Toronto Waterfront Marathon was supposed to happen.
And Rob Watson set Seawheeze course record in Vancouver, running solo after the race went virtual.
Terri Biloski became the first finisher of the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1000K, which had more than 18,000 participants worldwide.
Canadian racing organizations got creative with races and challenges in the pandemic. Canada Running Series did the TTC challenge in Toronto and Camp KM in Vancouver and Toronto Women’s Run series launched the 416K challenge.
And Gary Robbins launched a popular scavenger hunt running event in support of his trail races.
Lanni Marchant ran her first competitive race since 2016, when she entered the Michigan pro half-marathon this summer.
Krista DuChene used the pandemic to tackle a new distance, running her first ultramarathon: a 54K trail race.
The PanAm Cross-Country Cup was held in B.C. pre-pandemic, showing that Canada can put on a world-class cross-country event.
And Genevieve Lalonde won the event, and Canada won the team event.
Genevieve was also one of the many Canadians who had an amazing PanAm performance last summer, in Peru. She won gold in the steeplechase, setting a meet record in the process.
Marco Arop won gold in the 800m, setting a PanAm Games record.
Which prompted him to turn pro at the end of 2019.
Natasha Wodak won gold and set the meet record in the 10,000 at the PanAm Games.
And she got to share the podium with Rachel Cliff, who won bronze in the same event.
We got a double podium celebration in the decathlon too, when Damian Warner took gold and Pierce LaPage took bronze.
Sage Watson won two medals: gold in the 400m hurdles and silver in the 4x400m relay, alongside Natassha McDonald, Aiyanna Stiverne and Kyra Constantine.
And I can’t forget that Jessica O’Connell won silver in the 5,000m.
Or that William Paulson won bronze in the 1,500m.
Natasha Wodak returned to the marathon in 2020, running the second-fastest Canadian marathon, in 2:26:19 at the Marathon Project in December.
Ben Preisner made his marathon debut at the Marathon Project, running the fourth-fastest Canadian marathon, in 2:10:17.
Ben technically did run a marathon previously, when he time trialled a 2:15:24, running solo on a bike path, after London got postponed
Canadian Calum Neff made Marathon Project headlines of his own, with his pacing of Sara Hall to 2:20:32 at the Marathon Project.
We can’t forget about the elite-only London Marathon, where Tristan Woodfine ran 2:10:51 in cold and difficult conditions to become the second Canadian man to qualify for the Olympic marathon.
Brent Lakatos won the men’s wheelchair race in London, with a dramatic mass sprint to the finish.
Perdita Felicien, who had been open about her infertility struggles, had a baby in April 2019.
Brianne Thiesen-Eaton and her American husband Ashton Eaton, had a baby boy — on Ashton’s birthday!
The U.S. Olympic trials were the last big event pre-pandemic and two Canadians qualified and ran: dual citizen Kyle Wyatt and an American who was living in Canada at the time, Tony Tomisch.
2020 marked the 40th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run, which had lots to celebrate despite being virtual this year.
And a book featuring several prominent Canadian names, Forever Terry: A Legacy in Letters, was released.
That wasn’t the only book celebrating Canadian running history that has been published recently. In Search of Al Howie, which tells the story of little known ultrarunner Al Howie, came out this year.
So did The Greatest Athlete You’ve Never Heard Of, which tells the story of George Orton, who won Canada’s firs tOlympic gold medal, were both published in 2019.
And so did Reclaiming Tom Longboat, which explores Indigenous sports history and the role sport can play in reconciliation.
Fauja Singh Keeps Going, a picture book picture book celebrating Fauja Singh’s record breaking marathon in Toronto in 2012, also came out this year.
Harry Jerome got a Google Doodle on Sept. 30, 2019, prompting some deep dives into his life and legacy.
There’s been a running podcast explosion the past two years. So many good podcasts have launched…
But I’m highlighting Women Run Canada specifically because it’s focused on sharing the stories of elite Canadian women runners.
Canadian running pioneer Diane Clement was named to the Order of Canada, for her accomplishments as an athlete and her contributions to sport as an organizer, activist and community leader.
Melanie Myrand put her running on the backburner to work the frontlines of the Covid pandemic as a nurse.
And was one of the first Canadians to get vaccinated over the holidays.
When the pandemic began and uncertainty around the Olympics started swirling, Canada took the lead and was the first country to refuse to participate unless they were postponed.
2018 Boston Marathon champ Yuki Kawasaki came to Canada for the first time, when he participated in (and won!) the 2019 Vancouver marathon.
His wife, Yuko Mizuguchi, won the women’s race.
Yuki wasn’t the only celebrity participants. Retired NHL Vancouver Canuck stars and twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin ran the marathon too, wearing their jersey numbers as their bib numbers.
Reid Coolsaet launched a run crew and coaching business in Guelph and Hamilton, Coolsaet Go.
Justyn Knight broke the 32-year-old 1,500m indoor record at the Boston University Last Chance Meet in February, running 3:36.13.
Sprinter Sam Effah and hurdler Sarah Wells teamed up to compete on Amazing Race Canada — they finished in second place.
The Sporting Life 10K, which is held annually in Toronto and Calgary, added a non-binary and prefer not to disclose category to their gender categories.
Scott Matheson is a recreational runner who had a heart attack at the Chilly half-marathon finish line in 2019. He survived, and returned to the race in 2020, where the primary charity partner was the Joseph Brant Hospital, the hospital that saved his life.
The pandemic meant universities couldn’t hold graduations in 2020. The president of Mount Allison University delivered diplomas to all the local students by running to their homes.
That’s it for this week!
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I’ll return to the regular news and links and podcasts next week!
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