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Elite Q&A – Chiasson Trades Combat Boots for Racing Flats

Unlike most of his elite competitors, Rejean Chiasson didn't dominate the running scene in high school and university.

Rejean Chiasson

Age: 28

Hometown: Tilley-Road, N.B.

Club: Athletics Toronto

Personal Bests:

10K                             30:05

Half-marathon             1:06:13

Marathon                    2:17:47

Unlike most of his elite competitors, Rejean Chiasson didn’t dominate the running scene in high school and university. He only started running about seven years ago while he was in the military, and he didn’t get serious about the sport until 2008. Now, he’s one of Canada’s brightest hopes in the marathon, part of a strong trio of Athletics Toronto distance runners. He spoke to Canadian Running shortly after running his first marathon in 2:17:47 in Toronto.

Canadian Running: How did you get into running in the first place?

Rejean Chiasson: In 2004, I got injured nine days before I was supposed to head out for a tour to Haiti. For the next while, I was on light duties and couldn’t play hockey. I went for a run with the Battalions running team and they suggested that I should get in touch with the military’s running coach. Since I still couldn’t play contact sports, I decided to give it a try. For a few years, I was training on and off and didn’t really take it seriously. In 2008, I started getting coached by (Queen’s University coach) Steve Boyd, at which point I began to train on a consistent basis and living a healthy lifestyle.

CR: What was your first race like?

RC: My first race was the 5.2K Army Trail Run in 19:52. I don’t remember much about it other than going out way too fast.

CR: When did you feel like you had the potential to be an elite runner?

RC: At some point in 2008. I improved my 10K time by more than two minutes, and Steve, my coach at the time, made me believe than I could be a good runner if I kept on training hard.

CR: Despite tough conditions and being alone for most of the race, you still ran a 2:17 for your marathon debut in Toronto. How did you feel about it?

RC: I’m very happy. My training went great going into it and I felt confident about having a good debut. But nobody knows how their body and mind is going to handle such a long race before actually doing it. And knowing that I can run a good race on my own under hard conditions is going to help in future races.

CR:Your training partners Matt Loiselle (2:16) and Lucas McAneny (2:19) both ran PBs this year too. How much do they push you?

RC: I see how hard they and the rest of the Brooks/Athletics Toronto team trains. It helps me make sure that I do my best every workout, and that I do all the small things every day. We are also lucky to have some great supporters, and the least I can do is give it my full effort to make sure they are not wasting their time and money.

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