Natasha Wodak lining up with fellow Olympians for Toronto Waterfront 10K

Though the spring marathon season is wrapping up, events on the horizon for summer 2017 are bound to bring a lot of excitement to the running scene.

The IAAF World Championships are looming but before that, the Toronto Waterfront 10K will bring a load of hype to Canada’s largest city. The June 17 race, now sponsored by Lululemon, has turned into quite the dance with four Rio Olympians ready to show up at the start line. 

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It’s hard to choose a favourite athlete for this one. Gracing the streets of Toronto will be Eric Gillis, Krista DuChene, Natasha Wodak and Reid Coolsaet. 

Gillis and DuChene’s names have both been making headlines a lot lately. The two athletes are healthy and fit. Gillis just won the Canadian 10K Championships in Ottawa at the end of the month. Both Gillis and DuChene were the champions of last year inaugural Waterfront 10K race having run 29:23 and 33:50 respectively.  

DuChene has raced three marathons in eight months with the most recent one being the London Marathon. Three marathons in eight months is a lot– the athlete has said she’s looking forward to putting the short 10K distance on the docket. Both 2016 and 2017 have been rather packed. Having covered the 42.2K this frequently during a short time period was reason enough for DuChene to decline to compete in the event at the World Championships in August. 

Eyes will be on Wodak and Coolsaet though. Both athletes have had rough starts to 2017 as they have also both been dealing with foot issues. Coolsaet took time off until May of this year as he dealt with his injury. His race in Toronto will mainly serve mainly as a test of fitness.  

Wodak who placed 22nd in the legendary women’s 10,000m is one of Canada’s favourite distance runners. The athlete from Vancouver had a foot surgery in December and had to let running take the back seat to her recovery. She too showed up in the nation’s capital looking to get her racing legs back and ready. She placed second in the Canadian 10K championships. Rachel Cliff took that title with a 33:34 run.