This time final month, Canadian girls’s marathon file holder Natasha Wodak was on a flight to Spain for a much-needed break after withdrawing from the London Marathon the week of the race. She was coping with two minor accidents throughout her London coaching construct; then, in a last-ditch effort to place every little thing collectively for race day, she caught a abdomen bug–the ultimate straw in Wodak’s imperfect prep.
“Withdrawing from London was powerful, however I’ve discovered there’s at all times a silver lining,” says Wodak. “I immediately considered a plan B.”
The Canadian 10K Championships weren’t on her radar in March, however now she’s going to get to defend her nationwide 10K title on Saturday night towards a deep girls’s elite area.
With a number of nationwide titles, two Olympic Video games and a Canadian marathon file to her resume, every little thing now could be simply icing on the cake for the 41-year-old Wodak. “I’ve completed every little thing I’ve needed in my profession, and I really feel very lucky to nonetheless compete at a excessive stage,” she says.
“Despite the fact that I’ve gained this race a number of occasions, the truth that it’s the Canadian 10K Championships nonetheless excites me,” she says. “I nonetheless get the nerves. Nerves imply it’s essential.”
The 10K distance has been sort to Wodak throughout her profession. She represented Group Canada within the 10,000m on the 2016 Olympics and a number of world championships, and earned a gold medal within the self-discipline on the 2019 Pan American Video games in Lima, Peru.
Though London didn’t occur, Wodak at all times has her eyes on the larger image–which this 12 months means the marathon on the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest this August. “I’m planning to run a number of shorter races on the roads and monitor in preparation for Budapest,” says Wodak.
“Coming off a marathon construct, I don’t know what to anticipate,” she provides. “There are such a lot of gifted girls on this 12 months’s area, and I do know I’ve what it takes to run a quick time.”
A few of the quick girls Wodak alluded to are Brianna Scott, Leslie Sexton, Elissa Legault and Katelyn Ayers, all of whom have run quick 5K occasions this spring. Final 12 months on the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend, Legault had a efficiency to recollect, ending second within the marathon and incomes a spot on Group Canada for the 2022 World Athletics Championships–her first nationwide staff.
Legault has made a press release within the final month, successful the 21K de Montreal and Clinique du Coureur 5K in Lac-Beauport, Que., in a brand new 5K private better of 15:41. “Ottawa has been a particular place for me for a very long time,” says Legault. “I did my first half marathon right here in 2014–and final 12 months’s marathon was very rewarding.”
As for Wodak, her race plan is to have enjoyable and benefit from the course of. “Wins are by no means a given,” says Wodak. “I wish to give this 10K race every little thing I’ve.”
The Canadian 10K Championships would be the spectacle of the race weekend, with the ladies’s race kicking off Saturday at 6:15 p.m. E.T. adopted by the lads’s at 6:30 p.m. You’ll be able to stream the occasion reside on Athletics Canada TV.
The 2023 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend will happen on Could 27 and 28, and Canadian Operating is within the nation’s capital to report on the Canadian 10K Championships and Ottawa Worldwide Marathon. Comply with us on Twitter on Instagram for all issues Ottawa Race Weekend and up-to-date unique information and content material.
