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Rio-bound Canadians tune up for sport’s biggest stage at Toronto Waterfront 10K

Krista DuChene and Eric Gillis, two of Canada's top distance runners, won the Toronto Waterfront 10K on Saturday morning (photo: Todd Fraser/Canada Running Series).

Waterfront 10K

Six weeks out from the Olympics, Canada’s top distance runners took to the streets of Toronto for the Waterfront 10K on Saturday morning. Krista DuChene (33:49) and Eric Gillis (29:22), two of Canada’s marathon runners expected to run at the Rio Games in August, took home to wins at the event previously known as the Toronto Yonge Street 10K.

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Gillis, 36, is expected to race again this evening in nearby Guelph, Ont. at the Canadian 10,000m championships. His club, Speed River, took the top three spots in the men’s race including second-place finisher Reid Coolsaet, Canada’s second fastest all-time marathoner, and third-place finisher Tristan Woodfine. Coolsaet got married last weekend.

Waterfront 10K.
Eric Gillis and Reid Coolsaet at the 9K mark.

Vancouver’s Dayna Pidhoresky, who finished second on the women’s side, tweeted out that the Waterfront 10K would be her final race before building up for a fall marathon. The University of Virginia’s Cleo Boyd, who is fresh off a run at the American collegiate championships, was third on Saturday.

There were more than 6,000 runners who took part in the single-race event that began on University Avenue before finishing along Lakeshore Boulevard adjacent to Lake Ontario. Conditions were warm and calm on Saturday morning.

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Race Guide editor Dan Way also helped out on Saturday morning with some pacing for the 40-minute 10K group.

Toronto mayor John Tory was on hand for the awards presentation as the race honoured Coolsaet, Gillis and DuChene as part of a “Rio send-off” celebration. Though Athletics Canada has not yet announced the team officially, the three are likely to be named to the Olympic team as all have standard and have been putting up competitive race times of late.

RELATED: Marathon mom Krista DuChene shares her monster workouts ahead of Rio.

Waterfront 10K
Conditions were near-perfect on Saturday for the Waterfront 10K in Toronto.

Top-three results

Men

1. Eric Gillis – 29:22
2. Reid Coolsaet – 29:24
3. Tristan Woodfine – 29:53

Women

1. Krista Duchene – 33:49
2. Dayna Pidhoresky – 34:00
3. Cleo Boyd – 34:18

Full results can be found here.

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