Weekend recap: Canadians at Stanford, Harry’s Spring Run-Off

There was plenty of action over the weekend for Canadian runners at home and south of the border.

The Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., was held on Friday and Saturday where some of Canada’s top runners made the jump from the road to the track in the hope of securing a qualification time for this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

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Harry’s Spring Run-Off in Pictures

Lucas Bruchet, the 2013 national cross-country champion, ran a 13:45 PB in the 5,000m to finish third, two seconds back from winner Eric Avila.

Bruchet’s teammate Natasha Wodak was scheduled to run the 10,000m at Stanford but missed the race because of a foot injury, but Lanni Marchant, the national women’s marathon record holder, made her 10,000m track debut for the season with a PB performance of 32:29 to finish third.

Rachel Cliff of Vancouver also ran a 5,000m PB of 15:49.

None of the runners hit the notoriously hard “A” or “B” standards for qualifying for international standards set by Athletics Canada. The women’s 10,000m “A” standard is 31:45 and the “B” standard is 32:10. By comparison, the Canadian women’s national record was set at Stanford by Cortney Babcock 11 years ago at 31:44.74 – 0.26 seconds under the “A” standard.

The men’s 5,000m “A” standard is 13:15 and the women’s is 15:24.

Back in Canada, Harry’s Spring Run-Off saw more of Canada’s top talent continue their road racing season.

Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ont., won by a large margin in 27:45 over St. Clements, Ont., native Tarah Korir. Korir ran 28:46.

On the men’s side, Kenyan Paul Kimugal narrowly defeated defending champion Sami Jibril of Brampton, Ont. Kimugal ran 24:08 over Jibril’s 24:10. Canadian marathoner Eric Gillis rounded out the podium with a 24:20 finish.

Both Kimugal and DuChene also won the Around The Bay 30K just a week ago.

The race raised $186,000 for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. In total, Harry’s Spring Run-Off has raised $2.6 million for the charity over nine years.

In a race that didn’t see any Canadians at the front, but may have provided the most excitement over the weekend, the Paris Marathon was host to 5000m and 10,000m track great Kenenisa Bekele who broke the course record in his highly anticipated marathon debut. His 2:05:02 performance is the fifth fastest debut marathon ever. The Ethiopian won by well over a minute.