CHEBOI, AREGAWI WIN WET AND COLD OTTAWA MARATHON
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
OTTAWA (24-May) — On a chilly and rainy morning here, Elvis Cheboi of Kenya and Abeba Aregawi of Sweden won the 50th edition of the Tamarack Homes Ottawa International Marathon in 2:09:22 and 2:23:12, respectively. Those finish times were very good given the wet roadway (with some standing water), the 10C/50F temperature, intermittent rain throughout the race, and gusty winds. It’s noteworthy that conditions were better than originally forecast. Environment Canada had predicted heavy rain as recently as Friday.
“Not a perfect condition, but could be worse,” said former Toronto Waterfront Marathon race director Alan Brookes, who watched the race from the finish area.
Race organizers had hoped this year’s field could challenge the race records of 2:06:04 for men and 2:22:17 for women, but pulled back from those goals as the weather situation evolved. The pacemakers went out sensibly for both men and women, which kept the lead packs together longer than usual in a big marathon.
That was especially true in the men’s race, where eight contenders, plus three pacemakers, were together at the halfway mark in 1:04:24. Behind lead pacer Peter Njeru of Kenya, Cheboi was joined by compatriots Luke Kibet Cheruiyot, Kipsambu Kimakal, Canadian Rory Linkletter, and Ethiopians Gizealew Ayana, Afework Mesfin, Gebretsadik Abraha, and Mulugeta Debasu Mereh. Njeru kept the pace very steady.
Linkletter, who lives and trains in Flagstaff, Ariz., and ran 2:06:04 at the Boston Marathon last month, actually liked the conditions.
“Honestly, I felt like it was a beautiful day to run a marathon,” Linkletter said. “The streets were alive with a little bit of rain and a little bit of wind. I felt like the competition brought the best out of the entire field.”
Njeru stayed at the front throughout 35-K, keeping the lead pack intact. After Njeru motioned to the field that he was stepping off, it was Linkletter who first cycled to the front, then Cheboi. Abraha and Mereh fell back, and Cheboi saw his opening. The winner of the Marathon de La Rochelle in France last November decided to up the pace.
“At 35 kilometers, the body was feeling good, so I decided to push a bit,” Cheboi told Race Results Weekly.
Cheboi’s mini-surge wasn’t good enough to break up the race, but his next one was. He ran 2:59 for the 41st kilometer, and only Ayana could hang with him. That set up a long sprint for home where Cheboi was able to pull away from Ayana to win by four seconds.
“At the finish line I did not expect (to win),” said Cheboi, who won CAD 24,000 in prize money. “I thought the second guy was winning.”
Ayana clocked 2:09:26, and Linkletter took third in 2:09:43. The Canadian record holder for the half-marathon (59:49) was satisfied with his race, especially given the one-month turnaround since Boston. He did the same double in 2025 and finished second here.
“Back-to-back years on the podium again,” said Linkletter. “I’d love to win it for Canada one of these years. I’ll just keep taking swings until it breaks my way.”
Mesfin (2:09:57) and Abraha (2:10:05) rounded out the top five. Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, the 2020 London Marathon winner who fell off the pace early and appeared to struggle, finished seventh in 2:11:12. American Patrick Cullen qualified for the 2028 USA Olympic Trials with a ninth-place finish in a personal-best 2:13:18.
In the women’s race, Aregawi was a surprise winner. The 35-year-old, who won the silver medal in the 1500m at the London 2012 Olympics and the gold medal at the 2013 World Athletics Indoor Championships, was making her marathon debut today. Her race was going well in the first half (she was in a four-woman lead pack clocked at 1:10:54), but later took a turn for the worse. When the pack broke up after 30-K, she was dropped by Ethiopia’s Tahir Kuftu and her male pacemaker. She was left to run alone and appeared to be running in second.
“I did not feel good, but I tried to follow them,” a shivering Aregawi told Race Results Weekly.
Indeed, she did. Aregawi overhauled the slowing Kuftu and put more than two minutes on her by the finish, 2:23:12 to 2:25:33. She seemed shocked to have won.
“I get them,” she said of Kuftu and her pacer. “My feeling is good, and I won!”
Betty Chepkorir of Kenya, who came from a minute back at halfway, took third in 2:25:51. She was followed by a pair of Ethiopians, Meseret Belete and Meskerem Assefa, who finished fourth and fifth in 2:26:39 and 2:27:04, respectively.
Elissa Legault from Quebec was the top Canadian in 2:29:13, good for ninth place. The 31-year-old was about 20 seconds behind Canadian marathon record holder Natasha Wodak at halfway, but passed Wodak early in the second half when the 44-year-old began to struggle. Her time was only eight seconds off of her personal best of 2:29:05, which was run in much better conditions in Valencia last December.
“It means a lot, especially since Natasha was on the starting line,” said Legault of being the first Canadian. “I’m very proud of my race.”
Wodak was downcast about her race. She finished 11th in 2:33:15 and had said before the race that she had targeted 2:28.
“When you have to stop and walk, it’s not really your day,” Wodak told Race Results Weekly. “I keep getting these cramps. I don’t know why, because I don’t get them in training. Halfway, I just couldn’t take any fuel and had to walk around 28-K.”
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The Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend saw over 40,000 entrants across all events, their highest total post-pandemic. While the total finishers for Sunday’s marathon and half-marathon were still being tabulated, last night’s 5-K and 10-K had 8058 and 6984 finishers, respectively.
