Posted: October 23, 2005

Athletics: Canadian runners sweep gold at North American five kilometre road team championships

CHULA VISTA, Calif.- Canadian runners successfully defended their team title on Sunday at the North American five kilometre road race championships with Emilie Mondor of Mascouche, Que., and Paul Morrison of Gander, Nfld., also taking the individual titles.

Mondor, in her third race since coming back from a post-Olympic break, clocked 15 minutes and 37 seconds under rainy and windy conditions for the women's titlte. Amy Yoder-Begley of the U.S., was second in 16:04 and Tara Quinn-Smith of Waterdown, Ont., third in 16:07. Megan Metcalfe, the third member on the Canadian women's team, was fifth.

"With the long break I took after the Olympics, I didn't think I had much of a chance to win here," said Mondor, 24, who won the individual race here last year and shortly afterwards took a break from the sport. "But when I woke up this morning I decided to go for broke and get the win. I had a great start, kept the pace and built my lead. When I finished I felt great."

In the men's race, Morrison, out most the summer with a stress fracture, took the gold in 13:58 with a Mexican runner second in 14:08 and Reid Coolsaet of Hamilton third in 14:10. Matthew Kerr of Elora, Ont., was ninth.

"Paul knew he was fit and he wanted to win," said Canada's head coach Mike van Tighem of Calgary. "He looked really sharp. He's a kid with a lot of talent."

Canada topped the team standings with eight points and the U.S., and Mexico were second and third respectively.

"This meet is a great measuring stick for our runners," said Van Tighem. "The cross country nationals are in six weeks and that's a big focus because we select the world team there. And it's always significant to beat two strong running nations such as the U.S., and Mexico especially with such a young team."

The North American 5K Road Team Championship is a competition between the United States, Mexico and Canada. All three countries are represented by a team of six athletes, three men and three women. The race uses a cross country scoring format where the first two (of three) runners of each gender, for each team score points.