Justin Kent and Makenna Fitzgerald win 2026 Vancouver Sun Run in personal best times

© Copyright – 2026 – Athletics Illustrated

Justin Kent of nearby Surrey and Cochrane, Alberta’s Makenna Fitzgerald won the 2026 and 42nd edition of the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday.

Seeing the news about the Under Armour Toronto 10K from earlier in the day, three time zones to the east, the buzz around the start area was for Vancouver to beat Toronto. In Toronto, men’s winner Max Turek ran 29:13, and Regan Yee won the women’s race in 33:01.

Unlike the Canucks against the Maple Leafs this season, where Vancouver was 0-2, Vancouver runners showed up and won, decisively.

Men’s race

Justin Kent, the 2019 winner, took off fast. While there was some serious competition at the race, no one else was quite sure if Kent was going to hang onto the speedy effort. So, the likes of Olympic steeplechaser John Gay, the winner in 2023, from Kelowna, Richard Allen from Huddersfield, UK, and Canadian Andrew Davies hung out with Kent until 5km in, where he made his move, dropping the field and gaining approximately 50m on everyone else. Gay was in tow in second. The field was beginning to string out.

The leaders passed through 5km in approximately 14:10. Knowing the second half of the race is a little slower than the first half, it is not a bad strategy.

To borrow from a phrase, Gay said, “He called our bluff, and it worked.”

Gay was gaining on Kent in the latter stages of the race, but it was too little too late as Kent crossed the finish line with hands up, celebrating in 28:40. Gay finished in 28:44, and a surprise third-place finisher was Davies, who is coming back from injury. He clocked in at a new PB of 29:02.

Gay said that he was “ecstatic” with his run, which is his second straight strong performance, having run well at the St. Patrick’s Day 5K in nearby Stanley Park. Gay is moving to Flagstaff, AZ, to train with fellow Canadian marathon runner Rory Linkletter. He will be racing in Ottawa in his debut over the distance in May.

Kent is going to Gifu, Japan, next weekend to race the half-marathon.

“I haven’t quite got out of the half-marathon distance that I have at other distances,” shared Kent, who ran an 11-second Sun Run PB on Sunday. His personal best over 10km on the road is from Toronto, where he clocked a 29:03 in 2021. The 33-year-old has run the marathon in the time of 2:09:25 in New York in March 2025. Kent’s best half-marathon is officially 1:02:48 from San Jose in 2022.

Fourteen men ran under 30 minutes, 28 under 31 and 51 recorded finish times faster than 32 minutes.

Reuben Pienaar from North Vancouver clocked in at 32:20 as the first U19 junior. Former Kenyan and current Vancouver-area runner David Mutai won the masters over 40 division, clocking in at 30:08.

University of Victoria Vike Jaxon Kuchar had a surprise result, clocking a near-minute PB. His best was 30:13 from the 2025 TC10K. The 22-year-old ran 29:19 and finished in seventh position.

Women’s race

Makenna Fitzgerald ran a big new personal best, clocking 32:24. Taking second was Kelowna’s Malindi Elmore in 32:38, and third was Kenyan Joyline Chemutai, who finished in 32:44.

North Vancouver’s Natasha Wodak is credited as first master (over 40). She finished fourth. Because athletes cannot double down on awards, Elmore, also a master, having taken second overall, was not given the masters win.

Wodak asked for the microphone during the awards ceremony and said to the crowd watching, “I am not the masters winner, Malindi Elmore is,” and pointed to Elmore, who is a busy mother of two and coach of the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat.

Both athletes earned prize money on the day. Elmore, like Kent, is off to the Gifu Half Marathon. She will also be racing the Ottawa Marathon in May.

“I think my personal best is 34:10 (34:13) from the TC10K from last year,” said Fitzgerald, unsure. She was a surprise winner then and again on Sunday in downtown Vancouver.

Fitzgerald will be racing Grandma’s Marathon in five weeks in Duluth. She is looking to run under 2:30:00. Asked if her Sun Run performance changes her goals for the marathon, she wasn’t sure yet. The 26-year-old ran 2:37:56 in Ottawa last year and 2:36:54 in Sacramento five months before that. Sacramento is not a sanctioned race for records and standards as it offers a larger than 1m per km downhill, point-to-point course. Grandma’s and the Boston Marathon are both unsanctioned as well.

Asked about her expectations for the Sun Run, Elmore said, “I didn’t really have expectations other than to run a good race. I managed to pick off two competitors near the end, so that is always good.”

Then, as she did over the second half of the race, bolted for the airport to fly back to Kelowna—no doubt one of her kids has a sport to play.

Abbotsford, BC’s Adrianna Buitelaar was the first junior U19 to clock in a new personal best of 34:18.

Shoestrings…

57,518 happy runners enjoyed a beautiful spring day with start temperatures of 12C, and the day’s high went over 20C

The prize purse of $25,000 is allocated as follows:

• Top three Overall Male and Female: $3,000, $1,500 and $750.
• Top five Canadian Male and Female: $2,500, $1,500, $1,000, $500, and $250.
• Top three Male and Female Overall Masters: $750, $500 and $250.

“We were so thrilled to see everyone back for the 42nd edition of the Vancouver Sun Run,” said Tim Hopkins, Race Director. “Seeing all those happy faces at the start made me proud to be a part of such a historic Vancouver event.”

In a remarkable journey spanning over four decades, the Vancouver Sun Run has solidified its status as a staple event in British Columbia’s history. This annual road race stands as a testament to the power of community, health, and resilience. What began in 1985 as a vision to promote fitness and well-being among Vancouverites has grown into one of North America’s biggest road races, drawing participants from all walks of life.

“I wrote my first story for the Vancouver Sun in 1986, a year after Doug and Diane Clement, along with Dr. Jack Taunton, pitched the idea to the city. We had 3,200 runners for the very first race,” said Harold Munro, Vancouver Sun Editor-in-Chief. “The Vancouver Sun has been a proud partner for 41 years now. It’s so inspiring to see how far we’ve come.”

Special thanks to Sentinel Storage for supporting the Vancouver Sun Run Charity program. As the largest running event in the country, the Vancouver Sun Run draws tens of thousands of participants of all ages each year, and its charitable efforts have raised millions of dollars since its inception. Thanks to this year’s participants, several local organizations including the BC Cancer Foundation, Raise-a-Reader, and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, were all beneficiaries of the 2026 event. Total amount raised was $138,148

Overall 2026 Winners

Top Canadians

Full results can be found by visiting www.vancouversunrun.com

Top-200 results