Weekend recap: May 16-18:14.32

Man who signed up day before wins Blue Nose Marathon

Matthew White, a Dartmouth, N.S., runner, wasn’t intending to race the Blue Nose Marathon but singed up on a whim Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the race. He told the Chronicle Herald he was motivated after watching the kid’s run and ended up winning the Halifax event in 2:36:56.

The women’s race was won in 3:18:09 by Marlena Dlutek. It was her first time racing the Blue Nose Marathon.

Abel Kirui, a two-time world marathon champion won the men’s half-marathon. The Kenyan was in Halifax to attend an event remembering Cliff Matthews, a coach from the city, who died in Kenya earlier this year. He had befriended Kirui while there.

Andre De Grasse breaks Canadian 200m record, runs country’s first sub-10 since 1999

Andre De Grasse, a Markham, Ont., native, attending university in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, broke the Canadian 200m record over the weekend, racing to a 20.03 clocking in the Pac-12 track and field championships. The sprinter led his school to a podium sweep in the event. He shared the previous record of 20.16 with contemporary Aaron Brown, a recent USC graduate.

De Grasse went on to also win the 100m in a time of 9.97, the fastest time by a Canadian since 1999.

Both wins set the sprinter up as a favourite to challenge for the titles in coming weeks at the NCAA champioships.

Diamond League gets started

The first two Diamond League events were held Friday and Sunday in Doha and Shanghai, respectively. We did a quick wrap-up of the Doha event last Friday, where Mo Farah suffered a defeat in the 3,000m.

Sunday in Shanghai Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia won the women’s 5,000m in 14:14.32 while world championships silver medallist and Commonwealth Games champion Silas Kiplagat won the men’s 1,500m among a sprints and field-heavy schedule.