World standards for Canadians at Houston half-marathon
A handful of Canadians ran the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships standard today at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in Texas.
And…they're off! The race has begun. Good luck today, runners! #HouMarathon pic.twitter.com/nLfHQ2yXFp
— Houston Marathon (@HoustonMarathon) January 17, 2016
Canadians wreaked havoc for the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championship rankings by producing several sub-1:06 and sub-1:16 performances on Sunday morning at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in Texas.
Rob Watson (top Canadian), Brandon Lord, Thomas Toth and Sami Jibril, ran the world half standard of 1:06 while a pair of women, Krista Duchene (top Canadian) and Erin Burrett, bested the 1:16 mark for the women.
The world half-marathon championships are in late March in Cardiff, Wales with the top three athletes from both genders expected to make the Athletics Canada team.
And that is what we call "fade from the front" holy hell that last 5km was rough! 63:58, I'll take that! #fftf
— Rob Watson (@robbiedxc) January 17, 2016
RELATED: Canadian takeover in Texas for the Houston Marathon.
Canadian results
MEN
21. Rob Watson 1:03:58 (Splits: 14:48, 14:50, 15:21, 15:39, 3:20)
24. Brandon Lord 01:04:03 (Splits: 14:53, 15:04,15:15,15:30, 3:21)
30. Thomas Toth 01:04:26 (Splits: 15:26, 15:07, 15:12, 15:26, 3:15)
32. Sami Jibril 01:04:30 (Splits: 15:13, 15:15, 15:19, 15:24, 3:19)
WOMEN
17. Krista Duchene 1:14:26 (Splits: 17:42, 17:31, 17:44, 17:48, 03:41)
20. Erin Burrett 1:14:45 (Splits: 17:38, 17:32, 17:43, 18:06, 3:46)
Out of nowhere (but not for him — he declared for the world champs previously), Toth finished in the top-30 and was one of just three male non-elites to do so on Sunday morning. A Lakefield, Ont. native who attended Cameron University in Oklahoma, Toth vaulted himself into the conversation for the half-marathon world championships. Lelisa Desisa won the men’s race in 1:00:37.
Very pleased with a solid race against a deep field @HoustonMarathon So fun to be back racing. #RoadtoRio #TeamDuChene 1:14:26
— Krista DuChene (@kristaduchene) January 17, 2016
RELATED: Dayna Pidhoresky with Olympic standard in sight for Houston.
This is what the rankings for the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships looked like heading into Sunday morning:
In the women’s half, Duchene, who already has the Olympic qualifying standard for Canada in the marathon, finished strong to overtake Burrett in the latter stages of the race to finish as the top Canadian.
New pb 1:14:45 today. Faded in the last 5k due to some near GI issues causing me to slow. Came back strong but ran out of time. #HouMarathon
— Erin Burrett (@track_star1500) January 17, 2016
Mary Wacera won the Houston Half-Marathon in 1:06:29.