Jim Finlayson sets Canadian age group record at Victoria Marathon

what do two master's running legends do at the finish line of successful races? – have a beer of course! @1fastdiva and Jim Finlayson (new CDN age group record for Jim in 2:25:31!). pic.twitter.com/800CdQhw5I

— Trent Stellingwerff (@TStellingwerff) October 7, 2018

Jim Finlayson set a new age group record in the marathon at the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon in 2:25:31. Finlayson is a former Michigan Wolverine who has represented Canada at the senior level and is a two-time Canadian marathon champion. The runner competed in the 45-49 age group and finished fifth overall. This was Finlayson’s first marathon in 10 years. 

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First place overall went to Daniel Kipkoech in 2:22:39 who won his fifth consecutive Victoria marathon title. Second place to Mizael Carrera in 2:24:01, and third to Ryan Smith in 2:24:41. 

In the women’s results, Emily Setlack was the winner in 2:46:20. Setlack competed earlier this year at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Valenica, Spain. Second place went to Karissa Lepage in 2:48:46, and third place to Andrea Lee in 2:48:48. 

RELATED: Canadian Mountain Running Champion Emily Setlack on falling in love with the trail

Natasha Wodak won the women’s half-marathon in 1:11:45. Wodak is coming off of a win at the Canadian 5K Championships several weeks ago. Wodak broke her own course record, her time on Sunday is just off her personal best of 1:11:20 set in New York in 2015. 

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Second place went to Robyn Mildren in 1:15:00, and third place to Meg Lewis-Schneider in 1:15:31. 

RELATED: Trevor Hofbauer on training alone and loving it

In the men’s race, Trevor Hofbauer took the win in 1:05:18. Hofbauer told us several weeks ago that he planned on using the Victoria half as a workout to hopefully set himself up for a new personal best in Monterey Bay later this year. There, Hofbauer will run the half-marathon in hopes of coming out with a 1:02 or 1:03. 

There isn’t a marathon on the horizon for the defending Canadian champion in 2018. “Coming back to Calgary I’m trying to find my groove again. I love the half-marathon, and not running a PB in the past three years has been bugging me, so I want to take care of that first. I’m looking to do two marathons next year, and I’m still planning that out.”

Second place in the men’s race went to Jared Carson in 1:06:39, and third place to Julian Florez in 1:07:20. 

In the 8K Justin Kent came out on top in 23:46, the first female across the line was Sarah Inglis in 27:31.