© Copyright – 2017 – Athletics Illustrated
Vancouver’s Dayna Pidhoresky is taking on the TC10K road race in Victoria Sunday, April 30th in an attempt to go four-for-four in consecutive road races in Canada this spring.
Last Sunday she won the Banque Scotia 21K de Montreal (Scotiabank Montreal Half Marathon) in the time of 1:13:43. On March 26th she won the oldest long-distance race in North America, the Around the Bay 30K, for the third time in her career. She ran a new personal best of 1:47:27 and on March 18 she won the St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Vancouver in the time of 16:27.
That’s three-for-three.
“As for how Sunday goes, I will be trying my best to keep my streak alive and make it 4/4,” shared Pidhoresky. “My goal is to win, which might also mean I have to run a personal best in the process (sub-33:35). I’ll certainly be running on tired legs, but my competitors don’t need to know that.”
At the end of the day, Pidhoresky probably wants to go 5/5, as the big goal for the season is the Ottawa Marathon on May 28th.
Pidhoresky has every chance of hitting the podium Sunday, but she will be up against some good competition for the win.
American Lindsey Scherf will toe-the-line, although she is calling the TC10K a rust buster, she said that depending on how the body feels, she could finish anywhere from 32:50 to 35:00.
Asked about her racing Victoria, she said, “Yes, last minute, I had some vacation time to visit friends in the area.”
She adds intrigue to the race, which already has at least three other very competitive runners in the field including three-time champion Jane Murage. The Kenyan dropped out of the Vancouver Sun Run on April 23rd and lost by six minutes to Pidhoresky in the ATB30K. She will want to redeem herself.
There is also Cold Lake, Alberta’s Emily Setlack, she ran the Sun Run in the time of 33:44 for second among Canadians and fourth overall. Setlack is also the 2016 NACAC 10K champion; she is fit.
And there is Victoria’s own two-time Olympian (London 2012 and Rio 2016 – 1500m), Hilary Stellingwerff. She has retired from the track, however, wants to continue to run well on the roads. She continues to work through the adjustment to road racing, but could be a factor, especially if the race comes down to a sprint.
As for Scherf’s fitness, she may also have to work for the win.
“I’m fit but running for fun at a solid tempo effort is the objective and that may or may not produce a speedy result. It just depends on how my body feels with the many hours of travelling back from being abroad has had on me. TheTC10k is going to be my rust buster effort for the following weekend’s Bloomsday 12k. I’ll call it anywhere from 32:50-35:00.”
Bloomsday takes place in Spokane, WA and is one of the biggest participation races in North America with over 50,000 runners and walkers expected.
The TC10K record is 32:56 and is held by Polish runner Karolina Jarzynska-Nadolska, who won the Sun Run in the time of 32:39.
Shoestrings: Natasha Wodak, the Canadian record holder in the 10,000-metre event (31:41:59) is not racing Sunday in the TC10K, she will be busy moving.
In the men’s field, it will be a trio of Kenyans including defending champion Daniel Kipkoech, Solomon Rotich and Paul Kimugul as well as Nick Walker of Victoria and Matt Setlack of Cold Lake, AB.
The men’s event record is in no danger of being broken at 28:47 by Simon Chemwoiya of Kenya from 1995. It was run on a different course.
