Krista DuChene to return to Waterfront Marathon

A little over a year has passed since Krista DuChene struggled across the finish line of the Banque Scotia 21K de Montreal with what would be diagnosed as a broken femur, a potentially career-ending injury.

This 38-year-old mother of three is now poised to represent Canada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

On April 12 of this year, DuChene finished third at the Rotterdam Marathon with a time of 2:29:38, besting the Olympic standard by twelve seconds.

The Brantford, Ontario native has chosen to run the 2015 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 18.

“You know it’s an absolute wonderful feeling to have that standard so early in the qualifying period,” she declares, “and just to be able to sit back and reflect, and let it soak in, and make wise decisions moving forward, as opposed to panicking and thinking ‘Oh, what race am I going to do now to get the standard?’”

“You know it all comes down to my faith, everyday,” DuChene explains. “I knew it was part of a bigger plan. I had peace in the hospital. I had my share of crying. That was difficult but not once did I have this fear or panic that something better wouldn’t come of it. I didn’t know what it would be.

“I said, the day after surgery, it would take two years to run my next marathon. Two days after surgery I knew I could do it in one year. I didn’t think I would get the standard on my first try; I was fully mentally prepared for three tries. I think that is why my recovery from Rotterdam was longer this time. Physically I was fine but emotionally, just understanding and reflecting on the significance of the previous year, was pretty hard to grasp. So I really needed to take the time to emotionally recover from it in a good year.”

The decision to run Toronto and forego an opportunity to represent Canada at either the Pan American Games or the world championships in Beijing was a difficult one for the athlete and her coach, Rick Mannen. They decided that she should completely recover from Rotterdam and build up gradually for a fall marathon. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon was a natural choice.

The Toronto race has been good to her. It was the scene of her assault on Sylvia Ruegger’s then 28-year-old Canadian record of 2:28:36 in 2013. Though she did dip under the time with her 2:28:32 personal best she was beaten to the line by Lanni Marchant’s 2:28:00.

“I call it my home marathon because it is close in distance; I don’t need to travel. Family and friends are close, the crowd is fun. The comfort and the familiarity of the race, the international field, it’s our national championship and it’s an IAAF Gold Label event.”

With the luxury of building up for Toronto ever so gradually DuChene could well be in a position to beat her personal best and challenge Marchant’s national record. The Rotterdam performance was inhibited somewhat by windy conditions and the lack of a pacemaker for the latter stages of the race. She’s proven she can beat the odds time and time again. Maybe a record is in the cards October 18.

Edited from a press release by Paul Gains.