Canadian Mountain Running Championships crown new trail stars
Canadians climbed both podiums and mountains at last weekend's events, held at Défi des Couleurs in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec
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Canadian Mountain Running
This weekend, the fall colours weren’t the only breathtaking sights at Défi des Couleurs in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que. The Canadian Mountain Running Championships wowed both onlookers and participants as top athletes took on the challenging courses. Known as one of Canada’s largest trail running events, Défi des Couleurs hosted this year’s national competition, featuring a Vertical Ascent (4.5 km, 750m elevation gain) and Classic Up & Down event (10.4 km, 960m elevation gain)—and they’re set to do it again in 2025 and 2026.
Two new courses were unveiled for the championship events, held alongside the other trail races at Défi des Couleurs, which included 11K, 17K, 26K and 42K distance options, as well as a new 5K night race, and 1K (kid’s race), 6.5K and 10K gravel races.
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Elisa Morin dominates the women’s events
Morin, who is from France but has lived in Quebec since 2020, put on a stellar show, winning both the women’s Vertical and Classic Up-and-Down events—just a week after a first-place finish at the Quebec City Half Marathon, where she clocked one hour, 17 minutes. On Saturday, she took gold in the vertical climb in 33:35. B.C.’s Jade Belzberg was close behind, finishing four seconds later in 33: 39, with Anne-Marie Comeau of Quebec earning bronze in 33:48.
Morin returned Sunday to dominate the women’s Classic Up-and-Down race with a time of 1:00:03. Belzberg repeated her silver-medal performance, crossing in 1:02:27, while Quebec’s Claudine Soucie rounded out the podium at 1:03:41. Morin, who also won the Quebec Mega Trail 25K in July and earned a spot on the Canadian team for the 2025 World Trail Championships by placing second at the Canadian Trail Championship 50K in Squamish, celebrated her 27th birthday on Oct. 12 and said she couldn’t have imagined a better way to celebrate. “I will remember those first Canadian Mountain Running Championships,” she told Canadian Running.
Belzberg, who splits her time between California and B.C., also capped off a strong season, with highlights including second at the Chuckanut 50K in Washington, ninth at Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB and a first-place finish at Squamish 50K. “I think one thing that really came out of the event(s) for me was the idea of resolving not to count myself out at any part of each race,” she explained. “For the first third of each race, I was running in third to fifth place, a bit back from the leaders, and it would have been so easy to let my mind just have an ‘out.’ But instead, I kept focused, kept racing my best, and ended up right near the lead in both events. It’s been really incredible racing these shorter, faster events, and it was an honour to represent B.C. again this past weekend.”
Ricard, Leroux and Heschuk take on the mountains
The men’s races also saw fierce competition, particularly among B.C.’s Alexandre Ricard, Rémi Leroux of Quebec and Manitoba’s Daniel Heschuk, who took turns atop the podium across both events. Ricard led Saturday’s vertical race, earning gold in 27:47. Leroux followed closely, taking silver in 28:50, while Heschuk rounded out the podium with a 30:26 finish. American runner Daniel Curts clocked 29:37, powered by a blistering 2:31/km descent over the final 3.5 km, but was ineligible for a Canadian medal, leaving bronze for Heschuk.
On Sunday, the roles shifted as Leroux claimed the men’s Classic Up-and-Down race, finishing in 50:29 to secure the national title. Ricard followed with a silver-winning time of 51:08, and Heschuk earned bronze again with a time of 53:16. Curts finished first with a time of 50:01, but the Canadian medals stayed with the local athletes.
After the race, Leroux, who specializes in sub-ultra mountain running, praised the event. “Julien Lacasse, the race director, did an incredible job assembling super competitive fields—without a doubt, the most competitive trail/mountain races ever in Canada,” he noted. Leroux added that the event’s relatively short distances and non-technical terrain made it accessible for all kinds of runners, not just elites.
For full results of the Mountain Running Championship events at Défi des Couleurs, head here.
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