TORONTO - Ben Flanagan and Leslie Sexton won the Canadian 10K Championships on Sunday, signalling the return of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Flanagan, who narrowly missed a Tokyo 2020 Olympic berth, covered the out-and-back course along Toronto's lakeshore in 28.45 seconds, pocketing $5,500.
The Kitchener, Ont., native was pushed by Vancouver's Luc Bruchet, an Olympian in the 5,000 metres, who finished in 28:52.
"It feels great," Flanagan said. "I am a happy guy. I knew coming in it was going to be a pretty good race and with 10 or 12 guys at 6K it was a race all the way to the line. I kind of had a hunch it was going to be me, Luc, Ben (Preisner) and (Justin) Kent in the last few kilometres, and that is how it worked out. I just gave everything I had over the last 2K to bring it home."
Preisner, who ran the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, was third.
Sarah Inglis, a Scottish international, ran 31:59 to cross first in the women's race, but the Canadian title went to Sexton, who finished behind the Scot in 32:04, pumping a fist at the finish line.
"It was a happy fist bump," Sexton said. "I was hurting pretty bad but I couldn鈥檛 be any happier. It felt like it was Sarahsa国际传媒 race and there happened to be a Canadian Championship behind her, to be honest, but chasing her pulled me to a fast time."
Cleo Boyd won the Canadian championships silver, while Natasha Wodak, an Olympian in the marathon, was third.
The race featured 5,000 entrants, the largest in Canada since COVID-19. The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon is a fixture on the road racing calendar, but hadn't been held in two years. The event included only a 10K this year due to capacity numbers around health and safety protocols.
Evan Dunfee, Olympic bronze medallist in the 50K race walk, walked the course in 41:34 -- losing in a friendly competition to his brother Adam, who ran.
"We thought would be evenly matched. He has been running regularly to get in shape, but I don't think he has put on a race bib in 20 years," Dunfee said. "He kicked my butt today. It was really awesome."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2021.
