Running News Daily

Pamela Rotich headlines Los Angeles Marathon

Kenya’s Pamela Rotich will be the lady to watch at the 39th edition of the Los Angeles Marathon slated for Sunday (17) in Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Rotich who is the oldest and fastest athlete on the entry list, comes to this race with a life time best of 2:22.43 that she got two years ago at Daegu International Marathon, where she took the silver medal.

The 40 year-old will not have an easy time as she will face-off with Olga Mazuronak of Belarus who is the second fastest athlete on paper with a time of 2:23.54 that she got at the 2016 London Marathon where she finished in fourth place and the former Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medallist, Stacy Ndiwa of Kenya who holds a personal best of 2:31.00 that she got last year at the Chicago Marathon.

Another title contender is Olympian Silvia Paredes from Ecuador of personal best 2:40.58 and the 2015 Pan American Games marathon bronze medalist, Rachel Hannah from Canada who holds a personal best of 2:32.09 that she got at the 2016 Houston Marathon, where she finished in sixth place.

LEADING TIME

42KM WOMEN

Pamela Rotich       (KEN) 2:22.43

Olga Mazuronak   (BEL) 2:23.54

Stacy Ndiwa          (KEN) 2:31.00

Rachel Hannah      (CAN) 2:32.09

Silvia Paredes        (CAN) 2:40.58

Blair Morgan and Sasha Gollish take wins at Around the Bay Road Race

The 2023 edition of the Around the Bay Road Race (ATB) was held on Sunday, and thousands of runners took to the streets of Hamilton to race the 5K, 30K and relays. Ottawa runner Blair Morgan and Toronto’s Sasha Gollish were the top men’s and women’s finishers in the 30K, both grabbing the first ATB wins of their careers. Morgan finished in a winning time of 1:37:46, and Gollish crossed the line in 1:48:03 for the women’s win and eighth overall. 

ATB 30K 

Morgan took control of the race early on in the run, and by the time he recorded his opening 10K split of 31:40, he had already built a lead of one minute over the next-closest runner. By 15K, the gap had grown even bigger, and Toronto’s Romain Carette sat in second place more than two minutes back.

Morgan passed through the 20K checkpoint in 1:04:07. Two and a half minutes behind him were Carette and fellow Torontonian Eric Bang, who were separated by just a few seconds. Morgan’s lead got up to three minutes before the finish, and he stopped the clock in 1:37:46. Bang put a lot of time into Carette in the closing 10K, finishing a minute ahead of him in 1:40:40 to secure second place. Carette held on for third in 1:41:42. 

The women’s race was much tighter than the men’s, with Gollish battling alongside Rachel Hannah of Port Elgin, Ont., for more than half of the run. The two women covered the first 10K in identical splits of 35:39, and they passed through 15K a couple of seconds apart, both hovering just under 54 minutes. Over the following 5K, however, Gollish managed to pull away from Hannah, and by 20K she had a lead of about 40 seconds. 

Gollish’s lead only continued to grow in the final 10K, and by the time she made it to the finish, she was close to three minutes ahead of Hannah. She won the race in 1:48:03, followed by Hannah in second in 1:50:41. Third place went to Kingston, Ont., runner Teagan Robertson in 1:58:11. 

The 5K 

Aaron De Jong of Mississauga, Ont., won the 5K race in 15:56. He was followed closely by Sam Richter of Port Sydney, Ont., who finished in second in 15:59. A few seconds back in third place was Caleb Beland of Sudbury, Ont., who crossed the line in 16:02. 

In the women’s 5K, Etobicoke, Ont., athlete Brittany Moran won in 17:33, close to a minute ahead of second-place Carley Somerset of Guelph, Ont., who stopped the clock in 18:26. Not far behind Somerset was Mississauga’s Jessica Kellar, who rounded out the podum in 18:49.

Chris Balestrini and Krista DuChene break Canadian 50K records

On a hot, sunny morning in Hamilton, Ont., Chris Balestrini and Krista DuChene ran a blazing-fast 50K, both setting new Canadian records of 2:48:32 and 3:22:22, respectively. Both athletes took several minutes off the previous Canadian records, proving that a little early summer heat wasn’t going to get in their way.

Balestrini’s run improves on Cal Neff’s 50K record by nearly three minutes, which he set earlier this year in Texas in 2:51:27.

Prior to the run, Balestrini told us he was confident he could outdo Neff’s record-setting pace of 3:26 per kilometer, which he did handily, holding an average pace of 3:25 per kilometer. Balestrini is a 2:17 marathoner, but this was his first official ultramarathon.

On the women’s side, DuChene shattered the previous Canadian record set by Catrin Jones in 2015 at the IAU 50K World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where she ran 3:28:20. Duchene’s 3:22 lowers that record by an incredible six minutes, making her average pace per kilometer 4:02 for the win.

This was DuChene’s second ultra of her career, having run a 54 kilometer trail race last fall. That run, she told us, gave her confidence knowing that she’d already completed the distance once before.

There have been no official results posted yet, so currently there is no news of how Phil Parrot-Migas or Rachel Hannah finished.

Super foods for runners to maintain a healthy immune system

Every winter, immunity becomes an important topic of conversation as the temperatures drop and we enter cold and flu season. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, having a strong immune system has become even more crucial to maintaining health. While this will not guarantee that you won’t get sick (or get the coronavirus), it is still worth doing whatever you can to keep your body healthy.

We spoke with elite Canadian runner and registered dietitian Rachel Hannah to get her top food recommendations for runners who are looking to boost their immune systems and stay healthy this winter.

Plenty of brightly-colored fruits and vegetables

you´ve heard it before but it´s worth mentioning again: eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is a key component to maintaining a strong immune system, thanks to their antioxidant content. These nutrients improve the health of your gut microbiome, which plays a role in training your immune system and avoiding an excess inflammatory response to pathogens. 

Hannah recommends eating as many colours as possible, especially leafy greens, because that will ensure you get all the antioxidants and phytochemicals necessary for proper immune function. When it comes to fruit, berries are at the top of her list thanks to their high density of antioxidants. During the winter, fresh berries may not always be available, but frozen berries are just as beneficial, and can often provide more nutrients than the fresh variety in the off-season.

Probiotics

Runners will have to eat plenty of probiotic-rich foods because they help maintain a balanced composition of gut bacteria. Prolonged or intense training can disturb the gut and increase your risk for gastrointestinal (GI) problems, which will in turn affect your immune system. 

Hannah´s favorite food sources  of probiotics are yogurt and kefir, and she says that miso soup is a great choice for runners as well. Other probiotic-rich foods include buttermilk, tempeh, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha.

Whole Grains

Wholes grains including brown rice, wild rice, teff, barley and quinoa cannot be digested the same way other foods can. Instead, we rely on the microbiota in our digestive tract to break the fibre down into fatty acids.

These fatty acids help maintain our gut mucus barrier, which keeps pathogens out of our system. Hannah says that whole grains also contain important nutrients for immune health, and she recommends that all runners include them as a regular part of their diet.

Vitamin D

Hannah also points out the importance of vitamin D when it comes to immune health. While there are some food sources of vitamin D (such as fatty fish, fortified dairy products and fortified cereals), she explains that it is difficult to meet your daily requirement through food. For this reason, Hannah recommends runners take a supplement, since not only does it benefit your immune system, but vitamin D can help prevent other issues like fatigue, muscle pain, and stress fractures. Most health experts will recommend that adults 14 to 50 years old take 600 IU per day, however you should talk to your doctor to determine your specific needs, especially if you fall outside this age bracket.

Eating these foods will not guarantee that you won’t get sick, but they will reduce your risk of illness and improve your body’s ability to fight infections when they happen.

A group of Canadian sport specialists are developing a tool to predict risk and prevent RED-S and overtraining

In 2014, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) first introduced the term Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), which refers to low energy availability resulting from a mismatch between energy intake (i.e. fuel in the form of food) and energy expenditure from training.

While the term is now widely recognized by the endurance sport community, there remains a gap in its assessment and treatment. A group of Canadian researchers is trying to close this gap by developing a diagnostic tool for athletes. 

Rachel Hannah is on the development team, alongside Austen Forbes and Alex Coates who both have a background in elite triathlon. As a marathoner and registered dietitian, who has had personal experience with RED-S, Hannah says she is excited about the project. “RED-S is a condition that can prevent athletes from competing due to its negative health and performance issues, even forcing some into early retirement,” she says.

“There is currently no solution to the problem, because it is a relatively new area of study that reveals the difficulty in capturing all of the components that go into an athlete’s health and performance. We are collaborating with AI Endurance, which was founded by Markus Rummel in 2020, to create a diagnostic tool.”

In order to develop this tool, Hannah is asking runners to help. “This software would provide a predictive and diagnostic tool that could enable an athlete to understand their risk levels for developing RED-S or overtraining.

We are currently looking for athletes to fill out a diagnostic questionnaire in order for us to collect data. We are particularly looking for athletes who are currently diagnosed with RED-S or overtraining or have experienced RED-S or overtraining in the past.”

To take the survey, or for more information go to oneathlete.ca.

Rachel Hannah and Reid Coolsaet are Canadian headliners for Ottawa Marathon this weekend

Last year’s Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon saw a new female Canadian All-Comers record set at 2:22:17 and the field for the 2019 event could rival that of 2018.

Shuko Gemeno, Abeba-Tekula Gebremeskel and Tigist Girma all have personal bests under 2:27:00 and all have recent wins under their belts. The three Ethiopian women could work together to being each other to new personal bests and challenge the Canadian All-Comers and course record.

The Canadian women’s contingent includes 2:32 marathoner Rachel Hannah, Dayna Pidhoresky and Anne-Marie Comeau. Hannah and Pidhoresky are no strangers to the distance, but Sunday will be Comeau’s debut. The 22-year-old winter Olympian has been dominant on the roads for several years and we’re excited to see what she can do over 42.2K.

In the men’s field, Abera Kuma of Ethiopia has run under 2:06 twice, most recently 2:05:50 at the 2018 Rotterdam Marathon. Joining Kuma is Adugna Takele who was third in Ottawa a year ago, and ran a huge personal best in February at 2:06:32. The fastest man in the field is Getu Feleke at 2:04:50. Kenyan Martin Kosgey is also racing with an incoming time of 2:06:41.

The dark horse in the field is 23-year-old Ayana Tsede who comes in with a recent win at the 2019 Seville Marathon and a new personal best of 2:06:36.

Reid Coolsaet leads the Canadian men on his 10 year anniversary since his debut marathon. “I’m going to try to run as fast as I can on the Ottawa course, which will hopefully give me a solid placing and some points to help with my world ranking.

I’m realistically aiming for a 2:13 on the weekend.” The world championships in Doha this fall are also on Coolsaet’s radar. “Worlds would actually be a great setup for the Olympics. If you finish well at worlds the points could qualify you for Tokyo. It will be very hot in Doha, which will be good training for Tokyo as well.”

Coolsaet is coming off his longest altitude stint yet. “Boulder was really great. I got good training in and I had great people to train with. My son liked it too–any time we did some technical mountain climbing he got really into it.”