Marathon working is alive and effectively in Canada, because the fiftieth 12 months of the Tartan Ottawa Worldwide Marathon on the 2024 Ottawa Race Weekend noticed over 5 thousand runners end—the biggest quantity in occasion historical past.
There have been a complete of 5,033 finishers (3,386 of them males), which doubled final 12 months’s numbers of two,485. Everything of the race weekend (throughout the 5 races) noticed 33,000 complete finishers, with the marathon making up 15 p.c of the overall entries.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary, race organizers additionally deliberate a brand new route. The 42.2 km course began in entrance of its conventional Ottawa Metropolis Corridor, taking runners alongside the Rideau Canal, round Dow’s Lake, by the Experimental Farm, up by Hintonburg, and alongside the Ottawa River (as an alternative of crossing the bridge into Gatineau, Que.), earlier than circling again to the end line on Queen Elizabeth Drive with its Rideau Canal end.
The brand new course proved to be very robust for all opponents, with profitable instances being considerably slower than they have been the 12 months earlier than. Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Anbesa executed the suitable strikes in the suitable locations to win the lads’s race in a time of two:12:41. The ladies’s marathon additionally noticed an Ethiopian winner, with Maregu Hayelom breaking the tape in 2:32:20, which ended up being a close to 10-minute hole on her compatriot Tinebeb Nebiyu, who got here second in 2:41:40.
“It began 50 years in the past with 146 runners, and now we’re as much as 33,000 racers,” stated Mike Vieira, the manager director of Ottawa Race Weekend. “It’s the most important multi-day racing occasion in Canada. We’re tremendous happy with its legacy, not only for the Ottawa space but additionally for Canada.”
The race to be the highest Canadian male got here right down to the ultimate two kilometres with Daniel Zewdu of Victoria, B.C., main the best way till he stepped off the course at 40K because of fatigue. Simply behind him was Arnaud Francioni of Montreal, holding his 2:26 marathon tempo from the get-go. Francioni held on to run a unfavourable cut up and a brand new private finest of two:25:48. 2024 Vancouver Marathon champion Sergio Raez Villanueva was the second Canadian man throughout the road in 2:28:59, and Toronto’s Daniel Fournier was third (2:31:03).
Rachel Hannah of Port Elgin, Ont., was the highest Canadian feminine finisher in 2:48:03 (which was additionally third general), only a minute and a half forward of Ottawa’s Alexandra Hynes (2:49:30). “It was a psychological battle from the beginning,” says Hannah. “I had abdomen cramps and again spasms from early on, however it was the unbelievable crowd assist in Ottawa that stored me going.”
Rachel Hannah on being the highest Canadian on the 2024 Ottawa Marathon.
Hannah stated she had abdomen cramps and again spasms from the beginning. “It was a psychological battle, however the crowd assist stored her going.” @runottawa @OttawaRaceWknd pic.twitter.com/Ri4Xd3JAsz
— Canadian Working (@CanadianRunning) Could 26, 2024
The climate at the beginning line of this 12 months’s race was cooler than it has sometimes been in years previous. It was a cool 15°C with subsequent to no wind. To view the complete outcomes from the 2024 Tartan Ottawa Worldwide Marathon at Ottawa Race Weekend, test right here.
