Canadian elites lining up in Boston

Some of Canada’s top elites will be racing this weekend in Boston at the New Balance Grand Prix.

Fresh off his national indoor 5000m record last month, Cam Levins will be racing the 3000m in a strong field of Americans and East Africans, but he won’t be the only Canadian on the line. Lucas Bruchet, the 2013 national cross-country champion who trains in Vancouver, will line up with Levins on Saturday. Bruchet has been having a breakout indoor season and is coming off two wins in Seattle, Wash., over strong fields. Levins is a multiple-time national champion and Olympian in the 5000m and 10,000m.

Nate Brannen will face off against Levins’ training partner in the men’s mile. Brannen, a two-time Olympian, will race in a stacked mile field against Galen Rupp, who has been breaking American records left and right for a few seasons. The mile start list is littered with Olympic and world championship medalists, including Brannen’s old teammate Nick Willis from University of Michigan who won silver at the 2008 Olympics in the 1500m.

Melissa Bishop and Brianne Theisen-Eaton will race the 1000m. Both represented Canada at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 world championships, Bishop in the 800m and Theisen-Eaton in the heptathlon. Theisen-Eaton finished second at the 2013 world championships. Other big names on the start list include high school star Mary Cain of the United States, who made the world championship final last summer at age 17. Treniere Moser, Cain’s teammate under Alberto Salazar and 2013 U.S. 1500m champ, is also racing the 1000m

Levins and Bruchet race at 4:18 p.m. EST on Saturday, with Brannen, Bishop and Theisen-Eaton racing about 40 minutes later at 4:55 and 5:07.