Ben Flanagan, Leslie Sexton seize their 1st Canadian 10K highway race titles

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Ben Flanagan loved the “ultimate” race temperature a lot, he determined to run an eight-kilometre calm down after capturing the elite males’s race at Sunday’s Canadian 10K Championships in Toronto.

Really, the post-race exercise is a part of his routine now that Flanagan has opened a brand new coaching season, waiting for the observe and area world championships subsequent July in Oregon and Commonwealth Video games later within the month in Birmingham, England.

“I really feel motivated, and that tends to occur if you fall in need of your aim,” Flanagan informed CBC Sports activities by telephone after his debut 10K highway race. “I simply need to make that [Olympic] group for Paris [in 2024].”

The 26-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., missed out on his Summer season Video games debut two months in the past in Tokyo after developing brief in qualifying.

Flanagan was finally named an alternate on the Canadian group within the males’s 5,000 metres behind Moh Ahmed, Justyn Knight and Luc Bruchet, who dipped beneath the automated entry commonplace in 13:12.56 six weeks earlier than the Olympics.

WATCH | Flanagan holds off Bruchet to win 10K highway race debut:

Ben Flanagan captures his 1st Canadian 10K highway race title

Ben Flanagan of Kitchener, Ont., gained Sunday’s Canadian 10km Championships in a time of 28 minutes 41 seconds on the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. 0:28

Flanagan, who left his residence and coaching base in Charlottesville, Va., to quarantine in Kitchener forward of the Canadian trials, selected to return to the US to try the Olympic commonplace, however fell brief regardless of a 13:33.90 profitable time in Oregon.

In too good of form to name it a season, he returned to the Falmouth Street Race within the coastal city on Cape Cod, Mass., the place Flanagan clocked a profitable time of 32 minutes 16 seconds over the 11.4 km (7.1-mile) competitors. In 2018, he grew to become the primary Canadian — male or feminine — to win within the occasion’s then-46-year historical past.

On a breezy Sunday with the temperature hovering round 9 C, Flanagan let Bruchet lead him up a sloped portion of the out-and-back course on Lakeshore Rd. about two kilometres from the end and held off the Vancouver resident to win the Toronto Waterfront Marathon 10K in 28:41.

“It was very windy, particularly on the way in which out,” Flanagan mentioned. “The primary 5K I attempted to preserve some power and caught behind some guys to interrupt the wind and feed off their power.”

The race doubled because the Canadian 10K Championships after that occasion, initially deliberate as a part of the Ottawa Race Weekend in late Could, was cancelled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. It’s scheduled to return to the nation’s capital in Could.

Winners take residence $5,500

“I felt I had good momentum and took the lead,” mentioned Flanagan, who had a cheering part of 15 to twenty household and mates on the end line. “The final 2K was all about making an attempt to [hold off] Luc as a result of he got here with me.

“Luc’s a man I at all times count on to see within the later phases [of a race]. It was a superb battle and thankfully I got here out on prime.”

The victory paid $5,500 whereas runner-up Bruchet took $3,000 residence to Vancouver for his 28:49 efficiency after profitable the digital Canadian 5K Championships final month in 13:49. Ben Preisner, who just lately moved west from Kingston, Ont., to coach with the B.C. Endurance Mission group, was third with a 28:53 private finest and picked up $1,500 in prize cash.

I really feel comfy on the highway and have had extra pure success on the highway, and that is one thing I am taking into account.— Canadian runner Ben Flanagan, hinting at a attainable shift to the marathon for a 2024 Olympic bid

The highest Canadian in forty sixth within the males’s Olympic marathon in Sapporo, Japan, Preisner is gearing up for the Valencia Marathon on Dec. 5 in Spain.

Justin Kent, first in final yr’s digital males’s Canadian 10K Championship in 28:52, was fifth on Sunday in 29:03.

In June, Flanagan mentioned the 5K could be an possibility for the Paris Olympics and was open to operating the marathon, one thing he hinted at once more Sunday.

“I really feel comfy on the highway and have had extra pure success on the highway, and that is undoubtedly one thing I am taking into account,” mentioned the Reebok Boston Monitor Membership athlete who gained the ten,000 on the observe on the 2018 NCAA Division 1 championships. 

“I am unsure what the massive aim going ahead is but. It is one thing I am going to attempt to decide over the following few weeks.”

Scottish runner Sarah Inglis gained the elite ladies’s race on Sunday in 31:59 to decrease her PB of 32:24 from April 2019. However the Langley, B.C. resident is not a Canadian citizen and was ineligible for the nationwide title and $5,500 prime prize.

“I form of deliberate to go exhausting,” mentioned Inglis. “I knew I used to be in PB form and even with the wind I used to be like, ‘I’m going to exit exhausting and if they arrive with me nice.’ Leslie [Sexton] and I had an awesome battle. It helped me get to a quicker time.”

Inglis ‘had extra to offer’

Sexton stayed near Inglis from the outset of the race and was alone together with her over the ultimate three kilometres en path to setting a 32:04 PB for the Canadian title.

“I did what I may. Sarah is tremendous match, and I used to be fortunate to have her dragging me,” mentioned Sexton, a local of Markham, Ont., who now lives in Vancouver.

WATCH | Sexton provides 10K victory to nationwide 5K title:

Leslie Sexton wins her first Canadian 10k highway race title

Leslie Sexton of Markham, Ont., claimed Sunday’s Canadian 10k highway race title with a time of 32:04, six seconds behind race winner Sarah Inglis of Scotland, who crossed the road first, however was ineligible for the Canadian title as a global competitor. 0:29

“I made slightly transfer on the hill round 7km and tried to catch Sarah, nevertheless it seems she had extra to offer and he or she surged once more.”

Sunday marked Sexton’s fourth Canadian 10K Championship race together with her earlier finest in Toronto on Sept. 21, 2013 when she was fifth in 35:24. In September, she stopped the clock in 15:37 to win the digital ladies’s 5K.

The latest shorter runs have been a part of the 34-year-old’s coaching forward of the Philadelphia Marathon on Nov. 21.

Following Sexton throughout the road on Sunday have been Cleo Boyd (33:21) and Natasha Wodak (33:33). Wodak gained the nationwide 10K in 32:31 in 2019 and final yr’s digital ladies’s race in 32:41.

The Vancouver resident anticipated a troublesome race in opposition to Inglis and Sexton after taking a month to relaxation following her Thirteenth-place end within the Tokyo Olympic marathon on Aug. 7 in Sapporo, Japan.

“That was a battle,” Wodak mentioned. “I am undoubtedly upset. I did not have the battle. I believe I used all of it within the Olympics.”

Evan Dunfee, who earned Canada’s first Olympic race strolling medal in 29 years this previous summer season in Tokyo with bronze within the males’s 50 km occasion, grabbed bragging rights from his brother, Adam, on Sunday of their first head-to-head race since 2017.

Evan walked the course in 41:34 and Adam ran in 38:27.

“We thought could be evenly matched,” Evan mentioned. “He has been operating recurrently to get in form, however I do not assume he has placed on a race bib in 20 years. He kicked my butt at the moment. It was actually superior.

“Coping with a little bit of [a] hamstring [injury] and to stroll 41 and a half coming off Tokyo with a torn hamstring I’ll take that.”

Ottawa-born Josh Cassidy took off from the beginning forward of the elite ladies because the lone wheelchair racer on Sunday and accomplished the course in 21:50 six days after his fifth-place end (1:28:56) on the Boston Marathon.

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