Watson wins 2018 BMO Vancouver Marathon

Robin Watson is your new BMO Vancouver Marathon champion! Find full results and pics online: https://t.co/rwTtDiyG9A #bmovm #runvan pic.twitter.com/5KpOtyY6Um

— Vancouver Marathon (@BMOVanMarathon) May 6, 2018

Robin Watson of Vancouver won the BMO Vancouver Marathon today. The fastest Canadian in the field, Watson won in 2:27:38. 

Watson achieved his personal best in 2013, amazingly in the fourth marathon he ran that year. (First was Boston, where he placed 11th, second was the Canadian marathon championships, which he won, and third was the world championships in Moscow). Watson’s first marathon was at Houston in 2011.

Mike Trites was second in Vancouver today, and Robert Brouillette third. Trites was the fastest Canadian finisher here in 2017.

On the women’s side, favourite Zhiling Zheng of China came through with the win this morning, and she is the first Chinese runner to win this event. Zheng is an Olympian (she ran the 3,000m steeplechase in 2016 in Rio) and was the runner-up at the Los Angeles Marathon last year. At only 21 years old, her PB is an impressive 2:33:50.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BihU1BNF5QE/?taken-by=bmovanmarathon

Margarita Quintero of Mexico was second, and Canada’s Catrin Jones third.

Jones is a multiple top-five finisher at the Vancouver Marathon, and returns this year after giving birth to her first child last summer. This time last year she was 23 weeks pregnant, and settled for the 8K.