• Defending champion Benson Kipruto finishes fourth
• Magdalyne Masai wins women's category
Philemon Rono bagged the Toronto Waterfront marathon for a third time on Sunday.
Rono smashed his own Canadian all-comers’ record with a time of 2:05:00 at the IAAF Gold Label road race.
Behind him, Lemi Bernahu of Ethiopia, who had been leading until the final kilometre, took second in 2:05:09, Uganda’s Felix Chemonges third in 2:05:12 and defending champion Benson Kipruto of Kenya fourth in 2:05:13.
While Rono achieved an incredible record, earning Sh2.4m for the victory along with Sh4m for the all-comers’ record.
For the first time in its 30-year history, conditions were near perfect (8C and 5km/hr wind at the start).
A trio of pacemakers took a pack of six men through the halfway point in 1:03:08 and 30 kilometres in 1:29:24 before Lemi Berhanu hinted that the tightness in his legs, which had bothered him in the days immediately preceding the race, had vanished. By 38 kilometres he had surged to a lead of more than 15 seconds. But incredibly Rono closed the gap in the final two kilometres to snatch victory.
“I was running at my own pace,” Rono explained. “The pace at the front was really moving so I maintained my own pace. At 38km when he ran away I said ‘let me maintain my pace’. And I knew I could catch him.”
In the women's category, Magdalyne Masai Robertson carried the day with an enormous personal best of 2:22:16. That beat the course record set by Mimi Belete last year by 13 seconds and improved the Canadian all-comers' record by one second.
Ethiopia's Biruktayit Eshetu was placed second in 2:22:40. Betsy Saina finished completed the podium positions in 2:22:43 as Birka Debele of Ethiopia came fourth in 2:23:19 as Rachel Mutgaa finished fifth in 2:23:30
This year’s Toronto Marathon served as the Canadian Championships and Olympic trials race and both the men’s and women’s champions achieved the qualifying standards with performances that were totally unexpected.
Trevor Hofbauer of Calgary won the men’s national title with 2:09:51, knocking almost seven minutes off his best, while Vancouver’s Dayna Pidhoresky recorded 2:29:03, a six-minute personal best to win the women’s title. Cam Levins, who smashed Jerome Drayton’s 43-year-old Canadian record with his debut of 2:09:25 a year ago, was unable to stay with Hofbauer and eventually finished as the third Canadian in 2:15:01.