Posted: April 21, 2005

Athletics: Deacon opts to hang up marathon shoes

Nordion 10-K race more to liking of 2000 champion

Martin Cleary - The Ottawa Citizen

Bruce Deacon of Victoria, the 2000 National Capital Marathon champion, is returning to the National Capital Race Weekend.

But the former Nepean resident has elected to enter the 20th running of the 10-kilometre race sponsored by Nordion instead of returning to the marathon. The Nordion 10-kilometre race is May 28.

"I've hung up my marathon shoes," Deacon, 38, said yesterday in an interview. "I'm still doing 10-kilometre races, but no more marathons."

The women's Nordion 10-kilometre race will be headed by Vancouver-based Emilie Mondor of Mascouche, Que., who has the potential to erase Lyudmila Biktasheva's two-year-old race record of 32 minutes 16.4 seconds. Mondor showed her speed at the 2004 Vancouver Sun Run by winning in 31:10, which ranked her third in the world last year.

Deacon, who retired last fall from the gruelling 42.195-kilometre endurance test with a victory at the Royal Victoria Marathon, will carry a realistic goal into the 10-kilometre race.

"I'd like to see how far under 30 minutes I can go," he said. Deacon owns a personal-best 10-kilometre road time of 28:55. He was 11th in 2003 in 30:15.

"I can't kid myself at my age that I can mix it up with a 21-year-old Kenyan, but I'm close to running in the masters (40 and older) class, and if I can go under 30 minutes, it augers well."

Deacon had hoped to test his fitness and speed in last Sunday's Vancouver Sun Run, but an illness kept him from the start line.

"It (training) was progressing well until 10 days ago. I'm fighting a bacteria infection, but I expect to be in full form by the end of May.

"I'd like to get a decent time. The Nordion is a good, fast course and it's run in the evening, which is a rarity. It's nice to run in the evening because you have the whole day to wake up."

While Deacon has an outside chance to become the only runner to win both marquee races of the National Capital Race Weekend, there are many frontrunners.

A quality group of 10 Kenyan runners, including Reuben Chebil, Reuben Cheruiyot David Karanja, Jason Mosoti and Patrick Nthiwa, as well as Abderrahim Haji and El Arbi Khattabi, both of Morocco, head the men's 10-kilometre field. They have run in the 27- to 28-minute range.

Australian Olympian Michael Power, a former University of Arkansas athlete, and Jeremy Deere of Calgary also will challenge, especially after their one-two finish at the Vancouver Sun Run.

Mondor, 23, is the class of the women's field, but will be pushed by defending Nordion champion Aster Demissie of Ethiopia. Demissie was second at the Vancouver Sun Run in 32:48. Leah Pells of Coquitlam, B.C., and Lisa Harvey of Calgary, who were third and fourth respectively in the Vancouver Sun Run, also will race in the Nordion.

"It was good for them to try to get me. For me, it's an honour," said Mondor, who will run in the New York City Mini 10-kilometre race June 11 and a Golden League 5,000-metre race in Rome on July 8.

"It fits perfectly in my schedule. This is my first race this year before I get back on the track."

Meanwhile, Nordion announced yesterday it also will sponsor the five-kilometre run and walk, which will be a forerunner to its 10-kilometre race.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005 - Reprinted with Permission