Laura Batterink of Port Perry, Ont., and Kelly Wiebe of Swift Current, Sask., proved to be the class of the fields in Sunday night’s Canadian 10,000-metre Championships held in London, Ont. Batterink and Wiebe each set a strong early tempo to pull away from their competitors and spent a large part of their evenings racing against themselves and the clock. The wins are the first Canadian track titles for both Batterink (33:58.77) and Wiebe (28:58.90).
Rounding out the podium in the women’s race, defending champion Leslie Sexton of London, Ont., finished with silver in 34:59.25 and Jullien Flynn of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., crossed the line third for bronze in 35:30.64.
Last year’s 10,000-metres champion, Barry Britt of Hampton, N.B., ran a personal best and New Brunswick provincial record of 29:31.86 to finish second behind Wiebe and Sami Jibril of Toronto, Ont., who finished just a hair over thirty minutes (30:00.04) in the bronze medal position.
The remaining 2015 Canadian track and field titles will be decided later this summer. The Canadian Combined Event Championships are set for June 19 - 21 in Ottawa, Ont., and the Canadian Track and Field Championships (Junior & Senior) take place July 2 – 5 in Edmonton, Alta.
