Posted: June 23, 2007

Athletics: Githuka holds off Stevenson for win in Emilie's 5K in Ottawa

Paula Githuka of Hamilton held off a closing Nicole Stevenson of Toronto to win Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K in Ottawa this morning. Githuka held a nine second lead at 3K which Stevenson whittled down to two by the finish line. Githuka won in 16:37 to Stevenson's 16:39. Last year - in the RunnersWeb5K Race for Women - Stevenson won in 16:28 over Emily Tallen of Kingston who placed third this year in 16:55. 239 women completed the event, an increase of 37 over 2006. 46 women ran 20:00 or faster compared to last year's 35 making the field one of, if not the fastest women's 5K races in Canada. There were 8 women sub 18:00 (7 in 2006) and 24 sub 19:00 (20 in 2006). $5,500 in prize money was up for grabs for the top five open and masters, including $100 primes for the leader at each kilometer. Gladys Kohoro won the 1K prime before fading to place 16th. Githuka won the primes for 2, 3 and 4 kilometer marks. L to R: Gladys Kohora (16th) , Pauline Githuka (1st), and Emily Tallen (3rd). Nicole Stevenson in fourth place here finished 2nd A team from Montreal took first place in the team category while the hometown Ottawa Athletic Club took the next 4 places. Sarah Dillabaugh (17:28) and Liz Maguire (18:07) were the top local open and masters runners respectively. The runners ranged in age from 14 to 70+. The race was renamed in honour of Emilie Mondor, one of Canada's greatest distance runners who was the first Canadian woman to break 15:00 for 5K and represented Canada internationally at the World XC Championships and the Athens Olympics. She had moved to the Ottawa area last summer to train for the marathon. She was scheduled to make her debut at that distance at the New York City Marathon. Emilie was killed in a car accident in September of 2006 enroute to her home in Mascouche, Quebec to attend a high-school reunion and visit her family. The event was blessed with excellent weather for the second year in a row with clear skies and cool temperatures, although some runners found the breeze in the last kilometer a little strong. Francois and Nicole Mondor, parents of Emilie, were in attendance and started the race and spoke at the awards ceremony. 7 year-old Julia Fluet of Ottawa finishing the children's 1K run An accompanying 1K run for children 12 and under was held with 56 runners, walkers and toddlers in baby joggers completing the course. Complete results are available from: RunnersWeb.com. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest