Weekend recap: UTMB and world champs wrap up
Canada finished best world championships ever
Team Canada finished its best performance ever at the world championships with eight medals during the competition, three more than the team’s previous best performance from 2013, where five medals were won by Canadians.
For middle-distance fans, the top performance was Melissa Bishop’s Canadian record in her semi-final and silver medal in the final. Bishop had a slow start to the season, nagged by injury, but rounded into form just in time for the championships. Other medals were won in men’s 100m, 4x100m relay, the pole vault, high jump, 20km racewalk and the women’s heptathlon.
Xavier Thevenard wins Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc
One of the world’s most iconic and beautiful ultramarathons, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, which runs through France, Switzerland and Italy, was held over the weekend.
Xavier Thevenard and Nathalie Mauclair won the men’s and women’s races in 21:09:15 and 25:15:33, respectively. The race attracts some of the most successful ultrarunners in the world and runners must qualify for the event.
Marathon SSQ Lévis-Québec runs first large Canadian marathon of fall season
Though most still consider summer here for at least a few more weeks, in Quebec City the fall marathon season kicked off over the weekend. Christopher Zablocki won the men’s race in 2:25:34 and Joanne Normand took the women’s title in 3:01:56.