Reid Coolsaet runs under Canadian 5K masters record in solo time trial

Reid Coolsaet broke the Canadian M40 5K record on Thursday morning in a solo time trial as part of the Canada Running Series virtual Spring Run-Off. He hit 14:39, which comes in just under the current record of 14:42 held by Steve Boyd. Coolsaet, however, points out that the fastest 5K time run by a masters athlete is actually held Graeme Fell, who ran a 14:35 at the Carlsbad 5,000 in 2001. 

Though Coolsaet’s time isn’t ratifiable, he explains that it’s much easier to ratify a time now compared to 2001, when Fell ran his master’s best. “Back when Graeme ran his time, you wouldn’t have been able to get on the Internet and download a form. You would have had to call Athletics Canada and get them to mail you the form. All in all, you would have had to mail the form around three or four times. Now it’s super easy, all I have to do is download a form and send it in an email.”

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Despite the time not counting for anything, Coolsaet was just looking for a goal, and thought shooting for under the Canadian best was a good one. “I’m happy with the effort. Beating Graeme’s time was the goal, but even though I fell a little short, it was still the best 5K I’ve run in seven or eight years.”

Coolsaet isn’t sure what’s next for him when it comes to racing. He’s currently waiting to see if any of the races on the fall calendar will hold up, but admits that the prospects look a little grim. “Now that I’ve done a good 5K, it motivates me to do some more interval workouts and try to do another 5K or 10K. The Spring Run-Off was the goal I put on the calendar about two months ago when lockdown was most intense and races were becoming virtual.”

He hopes to find a real 10K start line this fall, but if it doesn’t work out, he’ll run some more time trials and try his luck over the shorter distances virtually. 

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