Paul Kimugul makes it three straight at chilly Around the Bay 30K
With all the pre-race hype surrounding the weather forecast for Sunday morning's Around the Bay race, snow was mostly a non-factor during the event.
Forecast was initially calling for snow during Sunday morning’s Around the Bay 5K and 30K, the oldest road race in North America, in Hamilton but instead participants were treated to mostly clear skies at one of Ontario’s most popular road races.
Kenyan Paul Kimugul, a regular on the Canadian running circuit, won the event for the third consecutive year with Risper Gesabwa taking the women’s race just ahead of Brantford, Ont. resident Krista DuChene. The Canadian mother of three, already with the Olympic marathon standard, ran the race to prove her fitness.
The 39-year-old ran the Canadian Olympic women’s marathon standard last year at the Rotterdam Marathon.
Around the Bay was founded in 1894, three years before the Boston Marathon, though there have been years when the race was not run.
Around the Bay 30K
Kimugul, the winner of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Vancouver half-marathon in October and a two-time winner of the Sun Run, took the Around the Bay 30K title for the third time in a row running 1:35:16. Daniel Kipkoech was second and Trevor Zimak was third.
On the women’s side Gesabwa edged DuChene by 10 seconds to win in 1:47:38. It was a two-woman race from 20K onwards as the two battled for the win. The finish line is located within FirstOntario Centre with spectators packing the stands to watch friends and family finish.
Around the Bay 5K
In the 5K, Josh Bolton, who was recently featured on Canadian Running‘s website for proposing after a race, ran to victory in 15:03. Former Queens University and McMaster athlete Victoria Coates won the women’s 5K in 17:08.
Coates has represented Canada on the international stage at the world university cross-country championships and has won multiple medals at the university level during her time at Queens and McMaster.
Results and photos can be found below:
This year’s course was fully certified by Athletics Canada after there was controversy surrounding the accuracy of the route in 2015.
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