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COVID-conscious Montreal event attracts more than 400 runners

Participants competed in the 5K, 10K and 21K We Run Montreal races on Saturday at the city's Parc Jean-Drapeau

Mass participation road racing made its return to Canadian soil on Saturday when more than 400 runners competed in the in-person We Run Montreal event at Parc Jean-Drapeau. The event included a 5K, a 10K (which was won by 2016 Olympian Charles Philibert-Thiboutot) and a half-marathon, all of which featured staggered starts in an attempt to help athletes social distance as much as possible before and during the race. A few hundred runners in three events might not compare to the thousands of athletes who traditionally run in some of Montreal‘s other events, but after months without any races, the We Run Montreal fields are a welcome change, and hopefully a sign that more mass participation events are on the way. 

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COVID-friendly racing 

According to the event website, runners were sent their start times two days before the race, with seeding times dictating who started when. Groups of four to six runners started running every 30 seconds, giving the fields plenty of opportunity to spread out over the course of each race and avoid big clusters of athletes.

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Runners were of course allowed to pass their competitors on the course, but they were told to give each other wide berths of at least two metres whenever doing so. Participants were also asked to leave the race venue after finishing their runs, and while wearing a mask before and after the races was not mandatory, it was highly recommended by the event staff. 

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Top results 

5K men:

  1. Guillaume Dupire — 14:43
  2. Patrice Labonte — 14:55
  3. Leo Roy — 15:10

5K women:

  1. Emy Legault — 17:16
  2. Elisabeth Boutin — 17:28
  3. Maira Carreau — 18:09

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10K men:

  1. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot — 31:24
  2. Francois Jarry — 31:53
  3. Ryan Schafbuch — 32:11

10K women:

  1. Maude Raymond — 40:29
  2. Alexandra Gervais-Cartier — 43:15
  3. Morgane Soustre — 43:33

Half-marathon men:

  1. Amine Rehioui — 1:22:35
  2. Patrice Tremblay — 1:22:43
  3. Tristan Garcia — 1:24:27

Half-marathon women:

  1. Marie-Anne Michel — 1:28:29
  2. Joelle Bellemare — 1:35:33
  3. Annie Lemieux — 1:48:28

For full event results, click here.

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