Marathon operating is alive and neatly in Canada, because the fiftieth yr of the Tartan Ottawa World Marathon on the 2024 Ottawa Race Weekend noticed over 5 thousand runners end—the most important quantity in tournament historical past.
There have been a complete of five,033 finishers (3,386 of them males), which doubled remaining yr’s numbers of two,485. The whole lot of the race weekend (around the 5 races) noticed 33,000 overall finishers, with the marathon making up 15 % of the full entries.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary, race organizers additionally deliberate a brand new path. The 42.2 km direction began in entrance of its conventional Ottawa Town Corridor, taking runners alongside the Rideau Canal, round Dow’s Lake, throughout the Experimental Farm, up via 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 Power with its Rideau Canal end.
The brand new direction proved to be very difficult for all competition, with profitable occasions being considerably slower than they have been the yr earlier than. Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Anbesa accomplished the proper strikes in the proper puts to win the boys’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 2d 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 chief director of Ottawa Race Weekend. “It’s the largest multi-day racing tournament in Canada. We’re tremendous happy with its legacy, no longer only for the Ottawa house but in addition for Canada.”
The race to be the highest Canadian male got here right down to the general two kilometres with Daniel Zewdu of Victoria, B.C., main the way in which till he stepped off the direction at 40K because of fatigue. Simply in the back of him used to be Arnaud Francioni of Montreal, preserving his 2:26 marathon tempo from the get-go. Francioni held directly to run a adverse cut up and a brand new private absolute best of two:25:48. 2024 Vancouver Marathon champion Sergio Raez Villanueva used to be the second one Canadian guy around the line in 2:28:59, and Toronto’s Daniel Fournier used to be 3rd (2:31:03).
Rachel Hannah of Port Elgin, Ont., used to be the highest Canadian feminine finisher in 2:48:03 (which used to be additionally 3rd general), only a minute and a part forward of Ottawa’s Alexandra Hynes (2:49:30). “It used to be a psychological combat from the beginning,” says Hannah. “I had abdomen cramps and again spasms from early on, but it surely used to be the improbable crowd beef up in Ottawa that saved 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 used to be a psychological combat, however the crowd beef up saved her going.” @runottawa @OttawaRaceWknd %.twitter.com/Ri4Xd3JAsz
— Canadian Working (@CanadianRunning) Might 26, 2024
The elements at the starting point of this yr’s race used to be cooler than it has usually been in years previous. It used to be a fab 15°C with subsequent to no wind. To view the total effects from the 2024 Tartan Ottawa World Marathon at Ottawa Race Weekend, take a look at right here.