An article from Andrea Wilson and Wayne Crowe!
Local runners joined over 4000 racers at the 2026 Canadian Half-Marathon Open and Age Group Championships held Sunday August 16th in Edmonton. But even though the local runners placed well, something wasn’t right. Athletes nearing the finish line were suspicious that there was a problem when they noticed longer distances and times on their GPS watches than they had anticipated. Rory Linkletter, an elite distance runner from Calgary who currently holds the Canadian half marathon record of 59:49, won the men’s half marathon in an inflated time of 1:04:35. He immediately declared that the course was wrongly measured. This opinion was repeated over and over as runners crossed the finish line. That included Jadyn Keeler, a professional 23-year-old runner from Barrie Ontario, who won the women’s half marathon in her debut at this distance. Her impressive pace might have challenged the Canadian record of 1:09:38 held by Andrea Seccafien, but due to the lengthened course she crossed the
finish line in 1:12:12. Inundated by questions from participants and although initially denying that the courses were too long, the race organizers re-
measured both the marathon and half marathon courses. Based on the re-measurement they issued an updated statement to athletes on August 18th , admitting an “increase to the distance of both the half marathon and marathon courses of 674.7m.”
Regardless of the long course, local Comox Valley runners dominated the podium of the Canadian Age Group Half Marathon Championships with five out of six of them receiving gold or silver medals. They took the extra distance in stride, understanding that everyone raced the same course with their actual times being two to five minutes faster than their recorded finish times.
Roslyn Smith took first place in her age group to claim the F75-79 Canadian Masters Half Marathon Championship title in an inflated clock time of 1:58:42. Coach Wayne Crowe ran a well-paced race to take the M70-74 national title with a clock time of 1:48:09. Rob Kelly was a strong competitor in the M60-64 age category, earning a silver medal in the Championship in 1:32:18. Andrea Wilson, rebuilding after injury, finished an impressive second F50-54 in 1:34:39. Coco Elgood also had a great race finishing second F55-59 in 1:46:42. Veteran runner Janet Green finished in 3:00:53.
Edmonton is just a step in the journey for these runners as they all continue their preparation for the Royal Victoria Marathon and Half-Marathon taking place October 11. We are expecting fast and accurate times ahead!