73-year-old finishes 100th marathon as air quality holds for 2018 Servus Edmonton Marathon

And that would be ? marathons in the books for Ken Davison- congratulations! #RunYEG #YEGMarathon pic.twitter.com/xpJ9XYaCDl

— Servus Edm Marathon (@Edm_Marathon) August 19, 2018

Seventy-three-year-old Ken Davison of Edmonton finished his 100th marathon yesterday at the Servus Edmonton Marathon. John Stanton of the Running Room stood in for premier Rachel Notley to present Davison with a plaque from the province of Alberta recognizing his achievement. A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Davison went back home for his 99th marathon in May of this year. And for the past few years he has run multiple marathons per year in the race to make it to 100.

There was some concern earlier in the week about the air quality in the northern Alberta city, which has been significantly affected by the hundreds of forest fires burning in B.C. But all systems were go on race day.

RELATED: Alberta man runs 100th marathon ahead of 80th birthday

It was the second year in a row that Edmonton has seen someone of advanced years running their 100th marathon. Last year it was Roger Macmillan, who turned 80 a couple of months later. 

Very pleased with my 1/2 at @Edm_Marathon. Just wanted a good effort and came away with a season's best and my 2nd fastest time ever. Wish it could've gotten me better than 3rd overall but no complaints with a 1:12:38 in the midst of #marathon training — onwards to @ChiMarathon

— Dayna Pidhoresky (@DaynaPidhoresky) August 19, 2018

Overall, Lucas McAneney and Leanne Klassen were named champions of the marathon. It was McAneney’s second win, in a time of 2:26:14. Klassen’s time was 3:00:03. She is a 31-year-old mother of two, and this was only her fifth marathon. 

Second female was Kayla Baker in 3:08:15, and third was Lynsey Romano in 3:12:34. Arturs Bareikis was second male, in 2:28:14, and Daniel Habteyes was third, in 2:32:53.

The elite field for the half-marathon was stacked with some top names in Canadian running. Emebet Anteneh of Ethiopia took top honours in the women’s race, finishing her first half-marathon with a time of 1:11:23. Canadian record-holder Rachel Cliff was second, with a time of 1:12:20, just 28 seconds off her personal best, set in January at the Houston Half-Marathon. Dayna Pidhoresky was third, in 1:12:38, a season’s best and second-fastest time ever for Pidhoresky. 

Emily Moore, Rachel Hannah and Krista DuChene also ran the half yesterday. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmqn-Tqj7Vv/?taken-by=edmontonmarathon

Evan Esselink was the winner of the men’s race, in a time of 1:05:43. Wendimu Adamu was second, in 1:05:52, and Anthony Tomsich third, in 1:05:59. This was the second time Tomsich has set a new PB this year, after running 1:06:47 at the Vancouver Half in May.