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The Lululemon Pacific Distance Carnival is a track meet in Vancouver, BC that was created to emulate some of the magic of the Night of 10,000m PBs in London, UK. The meet is now the first event in the National Track and Field Tour that takes place across Canada.

The flagship races were the 10,000m events. Two Vancouver area residents won in Lucas Bruchet and Leslie Sexton in the times of 28:01:30 and 32:31:89, respectively.

It was a strong performance for the 31-year-old school teacher, however, Bruchet’s best is a little faster. For the first time, he managed to break the 28-minute barrier by running 27:56.12 on March 6 in California at the Sound Running meet.

Finishing in second place was Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Quebec City, QC. The 1500m specialist seems to have found some strength in the longer races. Saturday night he clocked a 28:11.81 for a new personal best. Two weeks prior he clocked a new lifetime best in the 5000m event at Sound Running, clocking a 13:12.76 performance.

“CPT,” as he is nicknamed, broke the Canadian 5K road record at the B.A.A. Boston 5K, which runs prior to the Boston Marathon. The 31-year-old clocked a finish time of 13:35 for the win. It was a 28-second improvement on his own best and one second faster than Paul Williams’ record of 13:36 which was set in 1986 in Carlsbad, CA at the Carlsbad 5000.

Rory Linkletter finished in third place recording a 28:26.27 performance.

Nine men ran sub-30-minutes.

Women’s 10,000m

Leslie Sexton, a transplanted Vancouver runner by way of Kingston, ON has been running of her best performances lately. The Pacific Distance Carnival is no exception. Saturday’s 32:31.89 run was a new personal best.

In November, the 34-year-old clocked a new marathon best of 2:28:35 in Philadelphia. The month prior in Toronto achieved a lifetime road best in the 10K with a 32:04 running. She will be looking to defend her national road 10K title in Ottawa on May 28th. A month ago, Sexton (as did Bruchet) won the Vancouver Sun Run. She ran 32:37 (Bruchet 28:29).

Masters (40-plus) athlete Sasha Gollish from Toronto took second in the time of 32:56.89 for a new pb. Taking third was Ann-Marie Comeau in the time of 33:13.89. So, the Carnival lives up to its goal of emulating the Night of 10,000m PBs, as Comeau also set a new record for herself with that performance.

The meet also offered 800m, 1500m, and a mixed 5000m race.

Qualifying standards for upcoming international meets are:

Commonwealth Games standards: Men — (GB 28:00.00), 27:30.90 — Women — 31:00.00
European Athletics Championships standards: Men — 28:15 — Women — 32:20.00
World Athletics Championships standards: Men — 27:28.00 — Women — 31:25.00

Full results are available here>>