© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
The men’s race
The odds on an athlete named Tom taking the win would have been interesting for the oddsmakers as four of the top five finishers were indeed named Tom or Thomas. Interrupting the flow of Toms was a Seattle-based runner named Turner.
The Toms ran a very fast first kilometre given the large downhill start. If there was a timing mat at km 1, it may have shown sub-2:30.
Thomas Fafard, Thomas Broatch, Thomas Nobbs and Tom Anderson of Great Britain as well as Turner Wiley of Seattle formed a lead pack after the first km. They worked together with Christian Gravel, Simon Bérubé and Chris Taylor. The course settles and becomes gently rolling for 9km. For anyone wishing to run a fast time, it all comes from the first km, then executing the bridges (Burrard and Cambie) and the turns well.
At 8.5km Fafard, who was drafting others with near-perfect execution, dropped the hammer and took the lead. His kick scrambled the pack to make for a long, single-file finish. Fafard finished with a new personal best time of 28:45.
“After running a new 10,000m best in March, this race confirms that my fitness is strong now,” shared the 25-year-old. “I will be heading back to Flagstaff, AZ for another training block, but I am happy with today’s race.”
Fafard ran 28:39.29 in March at the Sound Running meet “The Ten,” which was a new personal best. His previous personal best on the road was 29:43.
Vancouver’s Broatch took second place in 28:56. He will be competing in the Copenhagen Marathon in two weeks. The 25-year-old ran 2:11:51 in Houston in January and will be looking to improve upon that time. Athletics Canada has a deadline in place for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games marathon standard which is Sunday, May 5, the day of the Copenhagen race. Leaving it to the last minute is surely one way to put pressure on oneself. Broatch will have to run faster than 2:08:10 and or end up ranked top 80 globally.
