Malindi Elmore sets masters record with 4th-fastest marathon by Canadian woman all-time

Fresh off her strongest of 10 marathon builds, Malindi Elmore set a Canadian masters record (45-49 age bracket) for women with a time of two hours 24 minutes 54 seconds on a warm Sunday in Valencia, Spain.

Her performance was good for 12th place, one minute 21 seconds faster than last year’s effort, and 14 minutes quicker than the previous masters mark by Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ont., from March 5, 2023.

It was the third fastest time of Elmore’s career, three seconds off her Houston run in 2020 and behind her 2:23:30 personal best in Berlin on Sept. 24, 2023. Natasha Wodak, Elmore’s good friend and sometimes training partner, has held the national mark of:23:12 since September 2022.

“Today was another solid marathon for me,” Elmore said in an Instagram post. “ Six years now of running consistently in the 2:23-2:28 range every year — and at 45.75 years old [every month counts now] — I can’t take that for granted. “Every race is hard and special and gruelling and wonderful and terrible all at the same time.”

Elmore, who withdrew from her World Athletics Championships debut in September because of injury, was hopeful of a PB but the unexpected temperature of 20 C and wind didn’t make it possible.

“I hit a 10-kilometre rough patch between 25-35 km before finding a new rhythm for the final seven km,” said the three-time Olympian. “I reset my goals and decided to go after sub 2:25 …[and] made it with six seconds to spare.”

Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya won the race in 2:14:00, a new course record is what is widely regarded as one of the fastest marathons in the world. It is also the fourth fastest women’s marathon in history.

Elmore, from Kelowna, B.C., was dealing with posterior tibial tendonitis in her right foot