© Copyright – 2015 – Athletics Illustrated
Rachel Hannah finished fourth in the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games marathon, her first attempt at the distance. Fourth is a very good finish position in a debut marathon in international competition. There was also the heat. It was a warm day, which affected the finish times. She crossed the line in the time of 2:41:06.
Saturday, November 28th she will receive the bronze medal for that race, as first place finisher Gladys Tejeda of Peru tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Athletics Canada will present Hannah with the medal at the 2015 Canadian Cross Country Championships in Kingston, Ontario.
Hannah told Athletics Illustrated, “Aside from the challenging course and hot weather conditions in July at Pan Am’s, what I revered most that day was the Canadian crowd support that cheered the whole way start to finish. It feels great to get the Bronze.”
“It has been a huge honour to learn of the medal upgrade to Pan Am Bronze on Thursday morning,” said the Toronto native. “The support from Athletics Canada and the COC has been incredible.”
Tejeda had finished first place in the time of 2:33:03. Second was Adriana Da Silva of Brazil and American Lindsay Flanagan was third, who finished in 2:35.40 and 2:36:30, respectively.
On September 10th, Tejeda was stripped of her gold medal because she tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) banned list because it is used to mask other drugs. The press release said that Tejeda would be temporarily suspended from international competition.
“I have immense respect for our Canadian drug-testing protocol and the work Athletics Canada, COC, WADA and IAAF put into cleaning up our sport. Further, big congratulations to Canadian swimmers Zack Chetrat and Alec Page who have also received Pan Am medal upgrades,” said Hannah.
