Canadians compete at fastest Canadian Boston Qualifier, woman sets new backwards running record
For Canadian runners hoping to whittle down their marathon PBs or qualify to go to Boston, The Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon is the best Canadian race to get it done.
The marathon (which also offers a half-marathon, 5K and 10K option) ran over the weekend along rural countryside with lake Ontario views. Over 4,000 show up to enjoy this famously fast course and its generous downhill section. Because it’s Canada’s fastest Boston Qualifier, it draws quite the crowd every year.
The champion of the men’s marathon in Hamilton on Sunday was Terence Attema running a 2:23:55. In second was Robert Brouillette with a time of 2:38:18. Mitch Free took third place with his time of 2:40:53. As for the women’s race, the top two runners ran quite close together but Tanya Porcellato took the win with her 3:02:30 race. Wendy Schlottke came 10 seconds behind her in second place. Darlene Hall ran a 3:05:15 for a third-place finish.
Champions of the half were Berhann Degefa with a 1:06:42 and Erin McClure in the women’s race. She clocked a 1:17:39. For full results, see here.
Backwards runner sets world record
One notable record that came out of race weekend in Hamilton is a new backwards running record. Kat Clewley had announced that she would be running the marathon in Hamilton with her back towards the finish in effort to break the Guinness World Record for fastest backwards marathon run by a woman. She hit her target on Sunday when she backed into the finish line in 4:48:42.
Clewley is a former Pan Am goalkeeper for team Canada’s soccer team and is an experienced endurance athlete. She has competed at Boston and has run several marathon and obstacle course races and well as having triathlons under her belt. She started backwards running when out with her dog, Vanilla. That running buddy of hers often goes off playing or chasing after a ball. When that happens, Clewley runs backwards to keep an eye. That’s when she came up with the idea. Now that the Burlington, Ont. runner has reached this goal, we’ll have to stay tuned to see which athletic endeavor she tackles next.
@UltraFitKat has earned herself a Guiness World Record for running a marathon backwards in 4:48:42! pic.twitter.com/4f35A5A7sv
— Red Bull Adventure (@RBAdventure) November 2, 2015
For a view of the course, check out this nice video that the race organizers put together.
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