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Canadian Natasha Wodak achieves fifth place finish in women’s 10,000m at Commonwealth Games

36-year-old B.C. runner holds her own until the very end in a field dominated by Uganda and Kenya

April 9, 2018
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Canada’s Natasha Wodak ran a valiant race at the women’s 10,000m final at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday, staying in contention to the very end and achieving a fifth place finish and a season’s best. Her time was 31:50.18. 

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The 36-year-old from Surrey, B.C. holds the Canadian record in this distance, as well as in the 8K. She was part of a pack of eight runners leading into the final third of the race, with Uganda’s Stella Chesang finally pulling ahead and Kenya’s Stacy Ndiwa close behind. Uganda’s Mercyline Chelangat moved into third position and Kenya’s Beatrice Mutai into fourth, with Wodak battling Australia’s Celia Sullohern for fifth place. Chesang took gold with a time of 31:45.30.

Chesang is an accomplished mountain runner from Uganda, an emerging powerhouse in distance running. Uganda, which shares a border with Kenya, has wisely sent many of its athletes into the Rift Valley, which straddles Kenya and Ethiopia, to train at altitude with the best in the world.

Canada’s Rachel Cliff, a highly accomplished half-marathoner who broke Lanni Marchant’s Canadian record in that distance in March, finished in ninth place.

 

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