Weekend recap: Canadian records!

It was a busy weekend of racing at the elite level in Canada and south of the border, including a Canadian 10,000m record.

Cam Levins breaks 10,000m record

Cam Levins finished fourth in the Prefontaine Classic 10,000m over the weekend to shatter the Canadian record at the distance. He raced to a 27:07.51 finish, bettering the previous mark of 27:23.63, which was set by the recently-retired Simon Bairu in 2010. Levins ran much of the race alone, strung between the lead pack which contained his training partner Mo Farah, and a chase pack, making the result all the more impressive.

Farah won the race in 26:50.97.

Also at the Eugene, Ore., meet, Mohammed Ahmed ran 13:20.67 in the 5,000m and Matt Hughes ran 8:20.34 in the 3,000m steeplechase. Christabel Nettey bettered her own national women’s long jump record by one centimetre to 6.99m.

Canadian half-marathon champions crowned in Calagay

The Canadian half-marathon championships were held in Calgary on Sunday, seeing Lanni Marchant and Kip Kangogo crowed as 2015 champions. Marchant won the women’s race in 1:12:17, winning by a fairly wide margin over Natasha Wodak, who finished in 1:13:29.

Kangogo, though having won many races in Canada, is now for the first time a national champion. He won the half-marathon in 1:06:39. The Kenyan-born athlete is a longtime resident of Lethbridge, Alta., and was granted Canadian citizenship in the spring of 2014. Reid Coolsaet was second in 1:06:50.

My first National title as a Canadian. A priceless gift to my wife & daughter @NewBalanceCan @Runnersoulleth pic.twitter.com/CluuTG28AP

— kip Kangogo (@KipKangogo) May 31, 2015

National Track League kicks off in Guelph
The first of five National Track League meets kicked off in Guelph over the weekend with strong performances at a number of distances.

Olympian Melissa Bishop was bested in the women’s 800m by local Speed River athlete Rachel Aubry who finished in 2:02.16. Another Speed River athlete, Anthony Romaniw, won the men’s 800m in 1:47.86.

The next National Track League meet, the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic, is scheduled for Tuesday evening in Halifax.

Brianne Theisen-Eaton sets Canadian heptathlon record

Brianne Theisen-Eaton broke the national heptathlon record in Gotzis, Austria, over the weekend at the annual Hypo Meeting there. The Saskatchewan native scored 6,808 to win the event for the second year in a row.

Teammate Damian Warner scored 7,893 in the decathlon, though the world championship bronze-medallist fouled out of the shot put, missing out on an entire event’s worth of points.

Canadian wins in Newport

Kate Gustafson of Vancouver won the Newport Marathon in Oregon in 2:50:06 over the weekend.