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Malindi Elmore chats about her first Boston experience

The Canadian marathon record holder posted the fastest Canadian women's time ever at the Boston Marathon

Malindi Elmore Photo by: Kevin Morris

The Canadian marathon record holder, Malindi Elmore, not only ran to an impressive 11th-place finish at the Boston Marathon on Monday morning, but her time of 2:27:58 was also the fastest-ever by a Canadian woman at the event and the second-fastest of her young marathon career.

126th Boston Marathon. Photo: Kevin Morris

“Boston exceeded my expectations,” Elmore says. “It was a blast to run the crowd-lined streets of Boston, and whenever things felt tough, there was always someone there to shout my name.”

One thing that surprised the 42-year-old runner and coach from Kelowna, B.C., was the number of enthusiastic and committed runners she met.

Her goal going into Boston was to finish in the top-10 to secure a spot on Team Canada for World Championships this summer.

Malindi Elmore surges toward the finish line at the 126th Boston Marathon. Photo: Kevin Morris

Elmore stuck with the chase group early and worked together with fellow Canadian Natasha Wodak. “The pace was pushed early by Peres Jepchirchir and I felt the toll of Boston’s rolling hills early on,” says Elmore. “I was happy I stuck to my race plan and finished strong to dip under 2:28.”

Although Elmore’s time was under the World Athletics Championship standard of 2:29:30, the Boston Marathon does not count as a “race legal” course according to the List of World Athletics Certified Courses, it is both a net downhill (-3.27 m/km) and having a separation between start and finish of greater than 50 per cent of the course length. 

However, her performance is still eligible for inclusion in the World Athletics rankings, as they have a “Downhill Modification System” which has been developed to include results achieved on a downhill course and therefore can still help her gain entry into the world championships based upon world ranking at selection time in late May.

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