Canadian Half Marathon Championships Start ListsThursday, April 10, 2008 Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal Start List announced, including strong field for Canadian Half Marathon Championships Also available at www.runcanada.ca MONTREAL, QC. 8 April 2008. Organizer today released the Start List for the 6th edition of the Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal, to be run in Parc Jean Drapeau on April 20th. The event will also host the Canadian Half Marathon Championships for the first time. In addition to a formidable Kenyan contingent led by Samuel Ndereba [Half PR 61:50] and his sister and current Marathon World Champion, "Catherine the Great" [Half PR, 67:54], the Canadian Championships have brought out a stellar Canadian field--especially in the men's race. Behind Samuel and four other Kenyans, there promises to be one of the deepest packs of Canadian men in a Half marathon in some time. Past Canadian marathon champ, Matt McInnes of the Brooks Canada Distance Project has the best PR coming in, of 64:54, but only marginally so. Further, he ran that time four years ago in Philadelphia. More recently, in January, teammate Andrew Smith 65:13 at the Naples Half on a steamy morning in Florida. British Columbians Jerry Ziak and Steve Osaduik will toe the line with recent bests of 65:22 and 66:27; Guelph's Taylor Murphy has a 65:52 to his credit, run in '07; Montreal's Fethi Oukid ran 66:20 last year; and Brooks Canada Project's James Neilson has run 67:00 in the past 12 months. Add in Montreal-based Algerian and Canada Running Series regular, Bagdad Rachem [65:38 in 2007], and we are in for a real treat as this large group of Canadians battle it out for the Championships--for a piece of the $11,000 Championships' prize purse and a chance to represent Canada at the IAAF World Championship Half Marathon in Rio de Janeiro on October 12th. Behind Catherine Ndereba and her Kenya Prison officers’ teammates Neriah Asiba and Caroline Chepkorir, the Canadian Women's Half Marathon Championships promise a great duel between veteran National Marathon Champion, Lioudmila Kortchaguina [35 years] and Tara Quinn-Smith who recently won the Naples Half in 1:13:52 (Florida). While Lioudmila has run a 1:10, that was 5 years ago, and her recent performances have been more consistently in the 1:13/1:14 range. Just a step or two behind, should be Quinn-Smith's fellow Brooks Distance Project training partners, Lauren King and Beth Wightman. For full details on the Championships, the Awards and Trials for the IAAF World Championship Half in Rio, see http://www.canadarunningseries.com/monthalf/montCHAMPS.htm Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal Start List. April 8th. Canadian citizens eligible for the Championships awards are in red. International athletes or Canadian residents who are not full-citizens are in black.
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