Posted: May 2, 2007

Athletics: More than 9,000 expected to toe start line in record-setting Sporting Life 10K

TORONTO. May 2nd. A record 9,000+ participants are expected to toe the Start line of the 10th Annual Sporting Life 10K in support of Camp Oochigeas this Sunday. Combined, they are on track to raise a record $200,000+ for the unique Muskoka camp for kids with cancer. The event is Toronto’s largest single-distance running event, and is billed as Canada’s fastest 10k. It plunges down the country’s most-famous street, from Yonge and Castlefield, all the way to Roundhouse Park on Bremner, just behind the CN tower. With 7 live bands at key points along the route, the Juno Award-winning Paul James Band playing at the post-run party, and perfect weather in the forecast [sunshine with low of 10, high of 20], there’s guaranteed to be the usual, fabulous, festive atmosphere to this big-city 10K. Up front, last year’s winner [in 28:52] and current Canada Running Series champion, Giitah Macharia of St. Catharine’s, will be hard pressed to repeat against some tough Kenyan competition led by Stephen Koech, Philip Koech [no relation], Isaac Arusei and Philip Lagat. Stephen is coming off a strong second place finish at the recent Cooper River Bridge 10K in 28:42. Lagat ran 28:35 for his 10k best at Azalea Trail last year, while the young up and coming Philip Koech has run a 28:11 in Kenya. This will be his first trip to North America, and he will be arriving with two others, direct from Nairobi tomorrow [Thursday] afternoon. Given the expected ideal conditions, and the downhill route, Ruben Chebii’s lightening-fast course record of 27:45, set in 2004, could be threatened. In the friendly rivalry with the Vancouver SunRun [won in the pedestrian time of 29:22 on April 15th this year] and the MDS Nordion Ottawa 10K [to be run May 26th], the Sporting Life seems well set to keep it’s title as “Canada’s fastest 10k”. Other Canadians expected to be in the thick of things--at least early on-- are Ottawa’s Joseph Nsengiyumva, Montreal’s Bagdad Rachem, and Toronto’s Danny Kassap. Martin Williams of Tipton Harriers in Birmingham, a member of the UK marathon squad, should also be in the lead pack. In the women’s race, Canada’s #1 ranked female marathoner, Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Toronto, is confirmed to start. After protracted injury troubles over the winter, Lioudmila is coming back into strong form. She won the Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal on April 22nd [race #3 in Canada Running Series ‘07] in 1:14:42, and will be using the Sporting Life as her final tune-up before defending her national marathon title at the ING Ottawa Marathon on May 27th. She has a particularly soft-spot for the Sporting Life 10K- not only was she last year’s impressive winner in 32:22, but it was the first race she ran after she and husband Ilia came to Canada as landed immigrants in April 2001. Two weeks after their arrival, Lioudmila ran her first Canadian race at the Sporting Life 10K. “After several weeks of virtually no training I was happy to come 4th, and win my first money in Canada to help my family. It was $400,” remembers Lioudmila. Lioudmila will be tested in what is likely to be a close women’s race, by Kenya’s Florence Jepkoskei and Monica Wangari, and by England’s Vicky Gill. Florence is a solid and consistent competitor who placed 2nd at the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K in April in a personal best of 32:48. Monica will also be on her first trip outside Kenya to race, where she has performed consistently well in cross-country. She is expected to run under 33 minutes also. Like Martin Williams, Vicky is a member of the UK marathon squad under Head Coach Bud Baldaro, and is scouting out Toronto for a possible appearance on “Team GB” at this September’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. From Chorley in Lancashire, Gill went to Florida State on an athletic scholarship in 2001, where she was a 5-time All-American, and won three Atlantic Coast Conference titles. She has a 5k best of 15:42, and a 32:41 PR for 10K. This should be an exciting race for spectators as well as participants. For details on the best locations at neighbourhood band sites, or for last-minute entry if you want to be on the start line, go to www.canadarunningseries.com. Vicky Gill of Chorley, Lancashie, and Martin Williams of Tipton Harriers, both members of the UK Marathon Squad, to run in Sporting Life 10K this Sunday.