Toronto’s David Mutai breaks course record to win Hamilton Marathon

There were plenty of outstanding performances at the return of the sold-out Hamilton’s Road2Hope Marathon weekend, but Toronto runner David Mutai’s performance was hard to ignore. Mutai placed 13th in Saturday’s Endorphin Elite 5K in 14:41, then 24 hours later ran a solo effort to win the marathon in a course record 2:17:47.

Mutai led the marathon from start to finish, bettering his previous personal best by two minutes and 20 seconds. He came through the halfway mark in 69:30, a time which would have won the half marathon race outright. Mutai also won this year’s Quebec City Marathon (in 2:24:21).

Despite the high 20 kph crosswinds on Sunday, Mutai negative-split the second half in 68:17 to win the race by 13 minutes. Nicolas Paradis of St. Bruno, Que. was second in a personal best time of 2:30:36, and Toronto’s Brian Putre was third in 2:34:41. 

Brianna Cavan of Owen Sound, Ont. won the women’s marathon in a giant PB of 2:53:13, eleven months after giving birth child. Tiffany Newell of Welland, Ont. finished second behind Cavan in 2:55:40. Toronto’s Livia Coburn was third in 3:01:41.

The half marathon was full of drama, as the leader, Caleb Beland of Sudbury, Ont. was steered in the wrong direction by the lead biker at 5K, costing him roughly 45 seconds. Beland managed to get back into the lead by 10K and held it to the finish line in 1:10:38. There was a tight battle for second as Alex Cutulenco of Toronto closed the gap on Taylor Reid of Guelph, Ont. in the final few kilometres. The two sprinted to the line, with Cutulenco taking second in 1:13:18. Reid finished seven seconds behind Cutulenco for third (1:13:25).

2015 Pan-Am Games medallist Rachel Hannah threw down a speedy performance, winning the women’s race in 1:14:40. This was the third fastest time of Hannah’s career and her fastest half marathon in seven years. Jenna Charbonneau of Waterloo, Ont. was second in 1:22:58, and Martina Morton of Huntsville, Ont. was third (1:24:57).