Legs for Literacy: Doucet & Doiron win New Brunswick Half Marathon title
October 23rd, 2017

The 18th annual Legs For Literacy race weekend took place this past Saturday and Sunday in Moncton. The weekend featured a family event and race expo on Saturday, and races on Sunday. Runners competed in 5km, 10km, half marathon, and marathon.  The event served as the New Brunswick provincial championship for the half marathon distance.

 

The Saturday events included a wheelchair racing demonstration featuring Canada Games medalists Veronica Coombes and Jacob LeBlanc of New Brunswick, and up and coming wheelchair racer Dillon MacMillian from Nova Scotia, also a Canada Games competitor. The Saturday events included a race expo and a family run for kids aged 13 and under.

 

In the 5km race, Olympian Genevieve Lalonde of Moncton won the event with a stunning performance of 15:58. Alexandre Boulé of Saguenay, Quebec finished second with a time of 16:14 to win the men's category.

 

In the 10km race, David Harju of Moncton won the event with a time of 37:11 while Madeleine Crowell of Charlottetown, PEI won the women's category with a time of 39:17.

 

In the half marathon event, which served as the provincial championship, Jean-Marc Doiron of Moncton won gold with a personal best time of 1:13:17, followed closely by James MacLellan of Oromocto in 1:13:19, and Grant Handrigan of Moncton who won bronze in a time of 1:13:57. On the women's side, Shelley Doucet of Quispamsis captured gold in a time of 1:19:45, followed 77 seconds later by Sacha Hourihan of Southfield in a personal best time of 1:21:02, and Laura Dickinson of Miramichi who won bronze in a time of 1:22:35.

 

Both Doiron and Doucet broke the course records for men and women, respectively.  Laura Dickinson's performance is a new under-20 provincial record, bettering the existing record by two minutes and 19 seconds.

 

In the marathon event, Emily James of Rothesay won the women's category with a time of 3:07:14 while Daniel LeBlanc of Moncton won the men’s event with a time of 2:41:18.

 

Forty-one marathon runners set Boston qualifying times.

 

"What a fantastic weekend," said Gabriel LeBlanc, Executive Director of Run New Brunswick. "The weekend was highlighted by events for all ages, several guest stars, incredible records, and many personal bests."

By: Brandon Scott LeBlanc