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Magic in “Cowtown” as two lesser known runners win national titles

Calgary marathon race weekend wrapped up on Sunday afternoon in Alberta and featured the Canadian half-marathon championships.

Calgary marathon

Giddy up! Ottawa wasn’t the only big city marathon in Canada on Sunday morning. Calgary, home to the famous stampede, hosted race weekend from May 28-29 with the half-marathon and marathon being the highlights on Sunday.

The event’s half-marathon doubled as the Canadian half-marathon championships, a day after Ottawa hosted the Canadian 10K championships, which attracted some of the country’s top distance runners.

Dave Proctor set the world treadmill 24-hour record at the event.

RELATED: Ultramarathoner Dave Proctor sets treadmill world record in 24-hour run.

Both national half-marathon titles went to a pair of lesser known names, Thomas Toth and Emily Setlack, though both fields were strong with Canadian marathon runner Krista DuChene and Sami Jibril in the race. Toth trains in New Hampshire and burst onto the scene with his sub-1:05 performance in Houston in the winter and Setlack is based in Cold Lake, Alta.

Editor’s note: This was not Setlack’s first national championship win; the title of the article has been updated.

Top-three half-marathon results (Canadian championships)

Men

TOTH, Thomas – 1:07:27
JIBRIL, Sami – 1:08:06
ATTEMA, Terence – 1:08:42

Women

SETLACK, Emily – 1:15:44
DUCHENE, Krista – 1:16:34
ZAMBRANO, Maria – 1:18:41

In the full 42.2K event, Jonathan Kipchirchir Chesoo crossed the line as the men’s winner (2:21:55) and Andrea Glover was the women’s race winner (3:02:10).

The event also featured a 50K, which was won by Jessica Mueller (3:55:15) and Jacob Puzey (3:06:20). The Calgary marathon is expected to host a 150K race next year to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.

RELATED: Runners not deterred by early morning heat at Sunday’s Ottawa marathon.

Chris Koch, who was born without arms or legs, also completed his first-ever marathon in Calgary. Canadian Running chatted with him earlier this week about the race.

The mascot for the Calgary Flames, a professional hockey team in the NHL, made an appearance at the race helping this youngster finish:

A replay of the race can be found below:

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