Trevor Hofbauer successfully defends Canadian men’s title at Toronto Waterfront Marathon | CBC Sports

Trevor Hofbauer cruised to his second straight Canadian men’s title and third overall at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon while his cross-country coach Malindi Elmore, running the event for the first time, was the first Canadian woman to reach the finish line on Sunday morning.

Hofbauer, running on his own for much of the final 10 kilometres, pounded his chest three times with his right hand after the final turn of the 42.2 km race, blew a kiss and raised his right arm before reaching the finish line in 2:11.00.

The 30-year-old set a 2:09:51 personal best in his 2019 Toronto victory before COVID-19 wiped out in-person competition each of the past two years. He was also top Canadian male in his 2017 Toronto Waterfront Marathon debut.

“2017 was my introduction to the distance and 2019 was all about making the [2020] Olympic team,” Hofbauer, a native of Burnaby, B.C., told Kate Van Buskirk of Canada Running Series. “[Today] I wanted to go under the 2:09:40 world standard f[or the 2023 championship] but it got challenging toward the end.

“All eyes are on Paris [and the 2024 Olympics]. That’s all I care about.”

Hofbauer, who now lives in Kelowna, B.C., and studies psychology at the University of British Columbia, placed 48th in his 2020 Olympic marathon debut on Aug. 8, 2021 in Sapporo, Japan.

Elmore, coach of the UBC Okanagan cross-country team of which Hofbauer is a member, stopped the clock in 2:25:14 in her first Canadian marathon.

A two-time Olympian, the 42-year-old fell two minutes shy of taking back her national women’s record that Natasha Wodak, her good friend, lowered to 2:23:12 on Sept. 25 in Berlin.

Elmore’s coach and husband, Graham Hood — also a two-time Olympian in the 1,500 metres — stressed earlier this week his wife’s focus was on winning a Canadian championship and not the national mark.

Yihunilign Adane of Ethiopia (2:07:18) and Antonina Kwambai of Kenya were the overall men’s and women’s winners, respectively.

About 22,000 runners participated in the 5K, half-marathon and marathon at the World Athletics Elite Label road race, which doubled as the Canadian championship and raised $2.75 million for charity.