Scott Arnald, Ailsa MacDonald the top Canadians at Boston Marathon
Scott Arnald and Ailsa MacDonald finished as the top Canadians at Monday's Boston Marathon, the world's oldest continually run marathon.
Top Canadians at today's #BostonMarathon: Ailsa MacDonald 2:49:59; 22nd overall. Scott Arnald 2:33:46; 46th.
— CanadianRunning (@CanadianRunning) April 18, 2016
Topping the more than 2,000 Canadians at Monday’s 120th Boston Marathon were St. Albert, Alta resident Ailsa MacDonald and Guelph, Ont.’s Scott Arnald. Runners experienced warm conditions, temperature as high as 20C, and minimal wind along the point-to-point route from Hopkinton, Mass. to Boylston Street in downtown Boston.
Arnald is a coach with the Speed River track and field club, a high-performance group which features the likes of Olympians Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis, while MacDonald is a power engineer in northern Alberta. The Boston Marathon featured more than 30,000 runners in 2016 with approximately 2,500 Canadians.
Scenes from the finish line at the #BostonMarathon:
RECAP: https://t.co/qGqj68MHe8 pic.twitter.com/H677oNZoNb
— CanadianRunning (@CanadianRunning) April 18, 2016
MacDonald, who was looking to run 2:43-2:44 at today’s race briefly led the race in the early-going, clocking back-to-back sub-19 5K splits, before slowing in the latter stages of the race. She finished 22nd overall.
Ailsa MacDonald, St. Albert, Alta.
Splits (5K): 18:35, 18:58, 19:28, 19:42, 4:21 (1.1K), 15:37 (3.9K), 20:22, 21:44, 21:06, 10:08 (2.2K).
Finish: 2:49:59
Arnald’s pacing was spot on for much of the race as he split sub-19 for each 5K split, with his fastest portion of the race being the opening, downhill section. He went through the halfway point in 1:16:12 and finished 46th overall among men.
Scott Arnald, Guelph, Ont.
Splits (5K): 17:58, 18:02, 18:05, 18:09, 3:58 (1.1K), 14:08 (3.9K), 18:42, 18:45, 18:10, 07:49 (2.2K)
Finish: 2:33:46
Huge congrats to coach @scottyarnald top Canadian at today's @bostonmarathon
— Speed River NB TFC (@Speedriver) April 18, 2016
Ethiopians Lemi Berhanu Hayle and Atsede Baysa won the men’s and women’s open division titles at Monday’s Boston Marathon, which was the 50th anniversary of female participation. Bobbi Gibb was the first-ever woman to finish the race in 1966.
There were three Canadians on the men’s and women’s elite start list including MacDonald, Christian Mercier and Denise Robson. Mercier, a 41-year-old Quebec city resident, finished just behind Arnald in 56th spot running 2:34:30.
Robson, 47 and a resident of Dartmouth, N.S., ran 2:59:25 and was 76th overall.
RELATED: Ethiopians sweep Boston Marathon crowns in two incredible finishes.
Canadians had some added motivation as a number of flags were spotted near the finish line, including one in a roadside apartment window.
Videos of the two winners of the Boston Marathon can be found below:
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