Top Canadians to Tussle at Acura Toronto Ten Miler

Kingston, Ont.’s Dylan Wykes and Toronto’s Andrew Smith will be at the core of a competitive men’s race at the Acura Toronto Ten Miler on July 19, which will also include Matt Loiselle, Smith’s teammate from the Brooks Canada Marathon Project, and Josephat Ongeri, a Kenyan now living in Burlington, Ont., along with other Kenyans Moses Macharia and David Karanja, plus Montreal’s Bagdad Rachem. Ongeri won last year’s Ten Miler in 48:49, and then nipped Smith by three seconds at the Canadian Half-Marathon Championships at Banque Scotia 21K de Montreal in April – 65:05 to 65:08. But Loiselle soundly defeated them both, clocking a 64:10 in Montreal to book his place at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Birmingham, U.K. in October.

The women’s battle at the Acura Ten promises to be equally absorbing, with a good battle expected between Torontonians Lioudmila Kortchaguina and Tara Quinn-Smith, Canada’s top-two-ranked women marathoners. Milton, Ont.’s Josiane Aboungono, Mississauga Marathon winner Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ont. and St-Bruno, Que.’s Nathalie Goyer will also be in the mix. After a injury-riddled 2008, Kortchaguina stormed back with a 2:30:43 in Houst on in January, and a 2:32:10 in Ottawa in May that made her Canadian Champion for 2009. Unfortunately, she has had to turn down a place at the World Championships in Berlin for financial reasons – she’s planning instead to run a big-paying marathon this fall. Quinn-Smith, who had a marathon debut of 2:33:58 in Ottawa 2008 that gave her the required standard, is still hoping to join her husband Andrew at the World Championships when Athletics Canada makes the final, official team announcements on July 27.