CHEBOI, AREGAWI WIN WET AND COLD OTTAWA MARATHON
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Outcomes Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
OTTAWA (24-Could) — On a cold and wet morning right here, Elvis Cheboi of Kenya and Abeba Aregawi of Sweden gained the fiftieth version of the Tamarack Houses Ottawa Worldwide Marathon in 2:09:22 and a couple of:23:12, respectively. These end occasions have been excellent given the moist roadway (with some standing water), the 10C/50F temperature, intermittent rain all through the race, and gusty winds. It’s noteworthy that circumstances have been higher than initially forecast. Atmosphere Canada had predicted heavy rain as just lately as Friday.
“Not an ideal situation, however could possibly be worse,” stated former Toronto Waterfront Marathon race director Alan Brookes, who watched the race from the end space.
Race organizers had hoped this yr’s discipline might problem the race information of two:06:04 for males and a couple of:22:17 for ladies, however pulled again from these objectives because the climate scenario developed. The pacemakers went out sensibly for each women and men, which stored the lead packs collectively longer than common in a giant marathon.
That was very true within the males’s race, the place eight contenders, plus three pacemakers, have been collectively on the midway mark in 1:04:24. Behind lead pacer Peter Njeru of Kenya, Cheboi was joined by compatriots Luke Kibet Cheruiyot, Kipsambu Kimakal, Canadian Rory Linkletter, and Ethiopians Gizealew Ayana, Afework Mesfin, Gebretsadik Abraha, and Mulugeta Debasu Mereh. Njeru stored the tempo very regular.
Linkletter, who lives and trains in Flagstaff, Ariz., and ran 2:06:04 on the Boston Marathon final month, truly favored the circumstances.
“Truthfully, I felt prefer it was a phenomenal day to run a marathon,” Linkletter stated. “The streets have been alive with slightly little bit of rain and slightly little bit of wind. I felt just like the competitors introduced the most effective out of all the discipline.”
Njeru stayed on the entrance all through 35-Ok, conserving the lead pack intact. After Njeru motioned to the sphere that he was stepping off, it was Linkletter who first cycled to the entrance, then Cheboi. Abraha and Mereh fell again, and Cheboi noticed his opening. The winner of the Marathon de La Rochelle in France final November determined to up the tempo.
“At 35 kilometers, the physique was feeling good, so I made a decision to push a bit,” Cheboi advised Race Outcomes Weekly.
Cheboi’s mini-surge wasn’t adequate to interrupt up the race, however his subsequent one was. He ran 2:59 for the forty first kilometer, and solely Ayana might hold with him. That arrange a protracted dash for residence the place Cheboi was capable of draw back from Ayana to win by 4 seconds.
“On the end line I didn’t count on (to win),” stated Cheboi, who gained CAD 24,000 in prize cash. “I assumed the second man was successful.”
Ayana clocked 2:09:26, and Linkletter took third in 2:09:43. The Canadian report holder for the half-marathon (59:49) was happy together with his race, particularly given the one-month turnaround since Boston. He did the identical double in 2025 and completed second right here.
“Again-to-back years on the rostrum once more,” stated Linkletter. “I’d like to win it for Canada certainly one of these years. I’ll simply hold taking swings till it breaks my means.”
Mesfin (2:09:57) and Abraha (2:10:05) rounded out the highest 5. Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, the 2020 London Marathon winner who fell off the tempo early and appeared to battle, completed seventh in 2:11:12. American Patrick Cullen certified for the 2028 USA Olympic Trials with a ninth-place end in a personal-best 2:13:18.
Within the girls’s race, Aregawi was a shock winner. The 35-year-old, who gained the silver medal within the 1500m on the London 2012 Olympics and the gold medal on the 2013 World Athletics Indoor Championships, was making her marathon debut as we speak. Her race was going properly within the first half (she was in a four-woman lead pack clocked at 1:10:54), however later took a flip for the more serious. When the pack broke up after 30-Ok, she was dropped by Ethiopia’s Tahir Kuftu and her male pacemaker. She was left to run alone and gave the impression to be working in second.
“I didn’t really feel good, however I attempted to observe them,” a shivering Aregawi advised Race Outcomes Weekly.
Certainly, she did. Aregawi overhauled the slowing Kuftu and put greater than two minutes on her by the end, 2:23:12 to 2:25:33. She appeared shocked to have gained.
“I get them,” she stated of Kuftu and her pacer. “My feeling is nice, and I gained!”
Betty Chepkorir of Kenya, who got here from a minute again at midway, took third in 2:25:51. She was adopted by a pair of Ethiopians, Meseret Belete and Meskerem Assefa, who completed fourth and fifth in 2:26:39 and a couple of:27:04, respectively.
Elissa Legault from Quebec was the highest Canadian in 2:29:13, good for ninth place. The 31-year-old was about 20 seconds behind Canadian marathon report holder Natasha Wodak at midway, however handed Wodak early within the second half when the 44-year-old started to battle. Her time was solely eight seconds off of her private greatest of two:29:05, which was run in significantly better circumstances in Valencia final December.
“It means so much, particularly since Natasha was on the beginning line,” stated Legault of being the primary Canadian. “I’m very pleased with my race.”
Wodak was downcast about her race. She completed eleventh in 2:33:15 and had stated earlier than the race that she had focused 2:28.
“When you need to cease and stroll, it’s probably not your day,” Wodak advised Race Outcomes Weekly. “I hold getting these cramps. I don’t know why, as a result of I don’t get them in coaching. Midway, I simply couldn’t take any gas and needed to stroll round 28-Ok.”
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The Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend noticed over 40,000 entrants throughout all occasions, their highest whole post-pandemic. Whereas the whole finishers for Sunday’s marathon and half-marathon have been nonetheless being tabulated, final evening’s 5-Ok and 10-Ok had 8058 and 6984 finishers, respectively.
