The Setlacks: Alberta’s running power couple

They may not be Yuki and Yuko (who won the men’s and women’s BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 5) but northern Alberta has a running couple who both stood on podiums last weekend. Emily Setlack finished third at the Canadian 10K Championships on Saturday, and her husband, Matt Setlack, finished second at the Saskatchewan Marathon on Sunday in a new personal best of 2:34:40.

Matt shared the podium in Saskatoon with winner David Mutai of Etobicoke, Ont. in a new course record of 2:22:07 (Mutai also won this year’s Mississauga Marathon) and third-place finisher Adam Buzinsky of Victoria 2:37:26.

RELATED: Wodak and Wykes win Canadian 10K championships

The women’s marathon was won by Celeste Cross Child of Saskatoon in 3:18:58, followed by Jordin Wilyman of Regina in second (3:28:47) and Felicia Brewster of Saskatoon in third (3:34:46).

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Matt is a student pilot and aerospace engineer in the Canadian Armed Forces at CFB Cold Lake, Alta. who regularly run-commutes about 7K to his job, even in winter, when it’s often -30 C. He wrote a story about it for us a couple of years ago.

Emily is an extremely versatile runner who has clocked a lot of success on both the roads and the trails over the last couple of years. She ran an astonishing 11-minute personal best to finish in 2:35 (as well as being second Canadian woman across the line) at this year’s Rotterdam Marathon on April 7, and she won last year’s Canadian Mountain Running Championships in Golden BC. Then she went on to lead the Canadian team results at the World Mountain Running Championships in Andorra, Spain, finishing 11th overall. Matt, who Emily credits with introducing her to trail running, was also on the team.

RELATED: Canadian Mountain Running Champion Emily Setlack on falling in love with the trail

We’re excited to see where the Setlacks take their running next.