Whitfield, Stellingwerff speakers at Victoria Marathon

Olympians Simon Whitfield, Tara Whitten and Hilary Stellingwerff will all be speaking at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon speaker series.

Whitfield is a three time Olympian triathlete, winning gold in Sydney and silver in Beijing. He is also a ten time Canadian champion. Whitfield is considered a strong runner both within the world of the triathlon and in competitive running circles. He was the flag bearer for the Canadian Olympic team this year in London, but crashed his bike during the triathlon.

Stellingwerff is among Canada’s best track athletes, specializing in the 1500m. The native of London,Ont. ran a personal best earlier this in a time of 4:06.08, and was second place at the Canadian trials.

Whitten is an internationally decorated track cyclist, winning several medals at the track world championships in recent years.

All three will be speaking during the marathon expo on Saturday, Oct. 6. The series runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Victoria Conference Centre, level 1, in the auditorium.

All three will be discussing their experience at the Olympics with race announcer Steve King.

The CBC’s Paul Kennedy will also speak with race director Rob Reid and runner/humanitarian John Carson about their joint project, staging the Rift Valley Marathon in the spring of 2013. The trio will discuss the legendary training trials in the region of Kenya, which has become known to have produced some of the greatest distance runners on earth.

Greg Marchand, who collapsed during the Pioneer 8K in 1998 and suffered a heart attack and brain damage, will talk about his struggle and recovery.

Ultra-runner Niobe Thompson will present his film, The Perfect Runner.

Exercise physiologist and sports nutritionist Trent Stellingwerff will discuss optimal post-race recovery methods.

“Our Speaker Series continues to grow, and we continue to offer participants high quality sessions from internationally renowned presenters,” say Race Director Rob Reid.