Winnipeg’s Neal rules female division at Manitoba Marathon

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This article was published 18/06/2023 (815 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Taking her cue from the cool and foggy early morning conditions Sunday, Winnipegger Dawn Neal got off to a blazing start and kept the pressure on her competition before reaching the finish line at IG Field as the top female runner at the 2023 Manitoba Marathon.

Neal, who turns 42 on Wednesday, finished the full 42.2-kilometre run in two hours, 57 minutes, 58 seconds.

She had a healthy lead on fellow Winnipeggers Jessica Wylychenko (3:07:01) and Caroline Fisher (3:15:21), who finished second and third, respectively.

“I went out way faster than planned and just managed to finish — I can’t even believe it,” said an overjoyed Neal moments after completing her superb run. “(It was) ideal conditions to start. It was nice and cool compared to last year. I just tried to keep up with the girls going out fast — there were some really fast girls going out — and then just try to hang on as long as I could.”

At the finish line, she called her husband, Steve Neal, and four children with the happy news. In 2022, Neal was the unofficial women’s champion although the race course was officially closed due to oppressive heat.

“My husband got up with the kids on Father’s Day early and got everyone out to cheer for me at Mile 18…,” said Neal, who home schools her children, ages three, six, eight and 10. “I was crying when I saw them at Mile 18. It’s just a blessing…

“It was so heartwarming to see them all there and I hope that I can inspire them to do hard things as well. That’s why I do this. I just try to inspire them to live a happy, healthy lives and stay active.”

“I went out way faster than planned and just managed to finish — I can’t even believe it.”–Dawn Neal

In the men’s marathon, Roger Hopper of Chesapeake, Va., surged to top spot with a time of 2:23:50. Steffan Reimer of Blumenort was second in 2:32:32 to earn top Manitoban honours. Winnipeg’s Paul Carr was third.

“It was kind of a long grind (running) by myself late but it was just fine,” said Hopper, 32. “A super flat (course) helps and very little wind today so that made things easy.”

Hopper is a relative latecomer to the marathon game.

“I was kind of afraid of (running marathons) for a long time and I finally got the proper training and then just decided to step up,” said Hopper, who made his marathon debut in 2021 and has now won three of his four career marathons, including the One City Marathon in Newport News, Va., in March.

Reimer, a 34-year-old elementary school phys-ed teacher at Mitchell Elementary, tested himself by running only four weeks after an appearance at the Fargo Marathon.

“I knew that 2:30 was was doable, but in the conditions today after four weeks from doing my last one, 2:32 or whatever it was, was all I could ask for,” said Reimer, a father of four. “The goal today was to be the top Manitoban and I got it done… It feels good. I’ve been No. 2 for so many years now so to finally come through… feels really good.

In the men’s half marathon, which also served as the Canadian championship at the distance, the sensational Cameron Levins ran from the front and stormed to top spot with a course record time of 1:02:42. The 34-year-old established the previous mark of 1:03:23 in 2022.

“It’s kind of like a time trial — I wanted to get a good effort and see what I could do,” said Levins, who hails from Black Creek, B.C.. “I think this confirms me for the world half marathon championships (in Riga, Latvia) later this year.”

Phil Parroy-Migas of London, Ont., was second in 1:06:43 and Justin Kent of Burnaby, B.C., was third in 1:07:00. Neepawa’s Daniel Heschuk was the top Manitoban, finishing fourth in 1:07:35.

Heschuk, 26, was thrilled to share the course with a world class runner like Levins, who is the Canadian record holder in the half marathon and the North American record holder for the full marathon.

“It’s such a treat to have him out here,” said Heschuk. “We’re basically seeing the Wayne Gretzky of distance running here. Like there’s very few runners in the world that can match his speed. Fourth place in the worlds last year. He’s on the upswing right now and I think that we’re gonna be seeing a lot more really, really big things for him in the future.”

Heschuk tested himself only briefly against Levins.

“He was on a pretty hot pace,” said Heschuk, who is currently working toward his masters in molecular biology at the University of Manitoba. “I ran with him for about for the first 100 metres and he was already gapping us — it was incredible. He knows what he’s doing and I also know what I’m doing. I have a lot of respect for him and I know that I won’t be able to hold on to him for very long, so I’ve got to go my own pace.”

In the women’s half marathon, Elissa Legault of Mascouche, Que., had a first-place clocking of 1:12:18.

“Weather wise it wasn’t that bad, but the humidity was very high,” said Legault, 28. “So it still had a bit of an effect I think. That’s also shy I started more conservative and waited to see if I could pick up (speed).”

Legault was followed by Kinsey Middleton of Boise, Idaho, and Vancouver’s Samantha Jory, who were second and third, respectively.

It was a special event for the 30-year-old American-born Middleton, who led Sunday’s race at the eight-kilometre mark before Legault took control.

“My mother’s side of the families is all Canadian and I represent Canada internationally,” said Middleton, who has dual citizenship and was recently named to the national team that will represent Canada at the marathon world championships. “I made the decision as soon as I graduated from university — I went to Oregon State. I always knew I wanted to represent Canada and I have just like always felt more connected to that side of my family.”

Among the 7,800 competitors Sunday was a smaller group of runners competing in a 50-kilometre event, installed for the first time in 2022.

That category was highlighted by the efforts of Winnipegger Gina Tranquada, who completed the course in 3:44:00 while running with pacesetter Corey Gallagher, a veteran local distance runner.

Tranquada’s realized her goal of reaching the standard for consideration for the national team with a first-place time of 3:44:00 in the women’s event. Gallagher was one second back.

“I’ve always loved running long and as soon as I found out there is a 50km (event) I’ve been trying to make the Canadian trail and ultra running team,” said Tranquada, 37. “And so my goal today was to run sub-3:50 and I did with flying colours.”

While oppressive heat forced the early closure of the course in 2022, Manitoba Marathon executive director Rachel Munday and her army of volunteers had smoother sailing in 2023, with only minor issues on race day.

Weather, with cool early morning temperatures, proved to be favourable. However, Sunday’s participation numbers were still about 2,000 fewer than during the pre-pandemic era.

“We’ve been looking at the weather patterns for 30 days so 99 per cent of me was very confident that today was going to be a good weather day,” said Munday. “And so knowing that we had a great communication plan this year but also that the weather was on our side, I felt really good.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14