Weekend recap: Pan Am Marathon record

The weekend saw athletics kick off in Toronto at the Pan Am Games as the second week of competition began.

Hannah fourth in Pan Am marathon; Watkins ninth

Rachel Hannah, in only her second try at the distance, finished fourth in the Pan Am Games marathon Saturday morning. She raced to a 2:41:06 finish in scorching heat and humidity which caused five of the 16 runners to drop out before finishing. Catherine Watkins, at 43 years old, finished ninth.

The race was won by Peru’s Gladys Tejeda in a Games record of 2:3303.

Medals in the racewalk

Canada took home two medals in the second athletics event of the Games on Sunday, the 20K racewalk. Evan Dunfee won the event while his training partner, Inaki Gomez, finished second. Their times were 1:23:06 and 1:24:25, respectively. Athletics continues at the new track and field venue at York University on Tuesday, finishing next weekend.

The North Face Endurance Challenge

The Endurance Challenge, a series of trail races across North America, continued over the weekend at the Blue Mountain ski resort in Collingwood. The event hosted 50-mile, 50K, marathon, half-marathon and 10K events.

The courses are tough. To give an idea, the women’s marathon was won by Deanna McDoom in 4:58:59. Raphael Payo won the men’s in 4:05:05.

Fast Canadian track results across Europe

Some of Canada’s top track runners continued their season in Europe, posting impressive results. Most notably, on Friday Charles Philibert-Thiboutot raced the 1,500m at the Monaco Diamond League meeting, regularly one of the fastest 1,500m of the year. The Canadian raced to a 3:34.23 finish behind Olympic and world champions. Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop won the event in 3:26.69, the fastest time since 2001, moving him to the spot as third-fastest man ever over the distance and within striking distance a world record.

On the women’s side, Ethiopian star Genezebe Dibaba narrowly broke the women’s world record in the 1,500m. She ran 3:50.07 to break a record which had stood since 1993.

In Belguim, Nate Brannen, who will compete this week in the 1,500m at the Pan Am Games alongside Philibert-Thiboutot, ran 3:35.42. Taylor Milne ran 8:19.90 in the 3,000m steeplechase, a PB. Milne will compete at the world championships later this summer.