Windsor’s Loiselle 55th at World half marathon championships; Tadese makes history

Matt Loiselle of Windsor finished in the middle of the pack, in 55th place, at the World half marathon championships in Birmingham, England, in a time of 1:04:59, on Sunday.

The winner, Eriteria’s Zersenay Tadese, capped off a spectacular season, in a time of 59:35.

Tadese became the second athlete in history to win a world championship medal on all three surfaces (cross country, track and road) in the same season. He won a bronze at the World cross country championships, and a silver in the 10,000m at the World track and field championships. The legendary Paul Tergat of Kenya accomplished the feat in 1999.

Loiselle, who now trains with the Brooks Marathon project in Toronto, was competing at the world half marathon championships for the first time. He split 10K in a speedy 30:20, but faded over the second half of the race.

The course was challenging with rolling hills over the final 11K.

“I was very focused,” he said, “and determined to run as well as possible on that day. I feel that I didn’t have anything else left to give out there.”

There were spectators at almost every point of the 21.1K race, Loiselle said, which is something you don’t see in North America.

In the women’s race, Mary Jepkosgei Keitany of Kenya won handily, clocking 1:06:36, more than a minute clear of second place. There were no Canadians entered in the women’s event.

For full results visit http://www.iaaf.org/whm09/index.html