Reid Coolsaet thrills hometown fans with Around the Bay win

It was an excellent start to the season for Canada’s top marathoner Reid Coolsaet, who won the historic Around the Bay 30K in 1:33:20, Sunday in Hamilton.

Coolsaet, who became the first Hamiltonian to win the race since Gord Dickson in 1964, said it’s been a lifelong goal to enter Copps Colliseum with the race in hand. “Running down York street in the lead has been something I’ve wanted to do for years,” Coolsaet wrote on his blog.

Krista Duchesne of Brantford, Ont., won the women’s race in 1:47:03. Duchesne and Coolsaet earned $4,000 each for the win. Duchesne, a 35-year-old former Canadian marathon champion with three children, said she didn’t expect to be in the lead, but everything seemed to click.

“I’ve kind of been rotating between marathons and kids from year to year,” Duchesne told the Hamilton Spectator. “Every time I come back from a baby I seem to be stronger. I think taking that nine-month break is beneficial physically and mentally.”

Athletics Canada will name its marathon team for the London Olympics at the end of April, and it’s almost certain Coolsaet will top that list. His qualifying mark of 2:10:55 from the 2011 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon is the second-fastest time ever run by a Canadian.

His Speed River training partner, Eric Gillis, is the only other marathoner to have met the Canadian standard. Gillis ran 2:11:28, also at the Toronto race.

With near-perfect conditions on Sunday — 10C and no wind — Coolsaet tried to break the Around the Bay record of 1:32:22. A tough last 5K alone kept Coolsaet about a minute off that mark.

Still, with a 20K split of 60:58 (about a 64:20-ish half-marathon), Coolsaet is demonstrating good form early in the Olympic year.

The Around the Bay course features a significant hill in the final few kilometres, which undoubtedly contributed to the decline in the pace towards the end, along with the expected fatigue. For comparison sake, Coolsaet’s 30K split from the Toronto Waterfront Marathon was 1:31:38, nearly two minutes faster than his time on Sunday. The Toronto course, although much flatter, was particularly windy on the day that Coolsaet achieved the Olympic Standard.

About 9,200 people ran in the Around the Bay 30K and another 2,000 participated in the 5K. The event raised $260,000 for the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation.

Related Links:
Sport Stats Around the Bay Results
Coolsaet on track for Olympics (from Monday’s Hamilton Spectator)