Olympic marathon unites runners across Canada

Long runs got pushed back an hour or two. Former runners found themselves waking up as they used to at dawn on this Sunday morning. Those on the west coast just opted to burn the candle at both ends, as not to miss anything.

On this Sunday morning — Olympic marathon morning — thousands of Canadians from coast to coast set their alarms to 11 a.m. GMT Sunday in order to see three Canadians run in the grandest event of these Games.

Whether it was a 3 a.m. wake up call in Vancouver or precursor to Sunday’s long run in Halifax, an unprecedented amount of attention was on Dylan Wykes, Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis.

Residents of Coolsaet’s hometown of Dundas, Ont., came out to Cafe Domestique to cheer on their hometown star. “There was some initial excitement and now everyone settling into coffee,” said owner Chris Hines as the race got underway. “It’s very Canadian to see all the support for the runners.”

“Reid is our hometown marathoner,” said Ron Lariviere, one of the people gathered to watch in Dundas, and one of Coolsaet’s former high school coaches. “I think for runners it’s very special. For some people, this is a once in a lifetime chance to watch Canadians at the Olympic marathon.”

For Vancouverites, the late night/early morning proved to be worth it, as the Kingston, Ont. transplant, who now trains out west, delivered a tenacious 20th place run, first among his fellow Canadians. Peter Butler, a former great Canadian marathoner owner of Forerunners in Vancouver, organized a viewing party in Vancouver, despite the fact that the race started at 3:00 a.m. PDT.

Mill St. Pub in Ottawa hosted an event attended by over 200 people, many clad in Canadian gear cheering on the Canadian trio. “It’s great, everybody right from opening gun was cheering,” said Phil Marsh, a local coach and organizer of a gathering. “It’s great to see a million people watching a marathon. We used to see them for the 100m back with Ben Johnson and Donovan Bailey.  I think it really helped when 3 Canadians made the team.”

In Toronto, thousands gathered for the Toronto 10 Miler, which started just after the Olympic marathon ended, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. News of the Canadians’ finishing times and places rippled through the starting corrals just before the gun went off for a hot and humid 16K race.

Olympic hopefuls for 2016, Matt Loiselle and Rob Watson, placed first and third respectively. Alan Brookes of the Canada Running Series honoured the three current Canadian Olympic marathoners, announcing their achievement as well as the overall marathon winners in advance of handing out awards for the 10 miler.

Many running the Toronto 10 Miler opted to PVR the race and tried to avoid spoiler announcements. This included a large group of runners from Toronto’s Longboat Roadrunners, who gathered at a member’s house after the race for a marathon viewing party. Many of the runners at the 10 miler had watched the first third of the marathon at home over a pre-race breakfast, and their was much speculation as to how things would shake out over the difficult Olympic course.

Dylan Wykes, Eric Gillis and Reid Coolsaet did something special on Sunday: all three finished and placed well on a tough course and in difficult conditions. They should be proud of that. But of equal, if not greater significance, these three runners brought a nation together to celebrate Canadian marathoning once again.