Montreal race win caps week for Gillis

Montreal race win caps week for Gillis
April 30, 2012

It’s been a terrific week for Antigonish native Eric Gillis.
 
Only a few days after being named one of three Canadian men’s marathon competitors for the London Olympics, the 32-year-old St. Francis Xavier grad sprinted to the Canadian half-marathon title Sunday in Montreal.
 
Gillis, who lives and trains in Guelph, Ont., won in 1:04:37 ahead of Toronto’s Matt Loiselle, the event winner in 2009 and 2010, in 1:04:45.
 
Toronto’s Rejean Chiasson was third on Sunday in 1: 04: 54.
 
Loiselle beat Gillis to the line in a 10-K race in Vancou­ver two weeks ago.
 
“I had some good competi­tion," said Gillis. “We had a pack of four or five of us until about 18-K and then it went down to Matt and I.
 
“We battled another 2-3 kilometres and with 800 metres to go I felt strong so I pushed it."
 
It is one of the last full-on racing efforts for Gillis prior to London. He’ll take a few days off before beginning a long slow build-up to the Olympic men’s marathon through central London on Aug. 12.
 
He’ll run a 10-K and a half marathon later this summer, but they will come as he regains his full-marathon endurance.
 
Gillis, a 2008 Olympian in the 10,000 metres, agrees it’s been a week to remember. He was named to the Olympic team on Thursday along with friends and training part­ners Dylan Wykes and Reid Coolsaet, posed for the cover of a national running magazine on Friday and ran to a Canadian title on Sunday.
 
“It’s been a busy week," said Gillis, who owns two national 10,000-metre crowns and a CIS cross­country title. “It’s been good.
 
“I know I’ll have a big, long build-up for the mara­thon starting May 7. I’ll get in all this publicity stuff and then get down to busi­ness when the longer workouts start."
 
He’ll continue his hard work until July when he’ll begin to slow the pace of his workouts. For the last three weeks before London he’ll decrease his mileage and the length of his workouts.
 
Beechville’s Erin Mac-Lean, another former St. F.X. student, placed third among the women Sunday in 1:17:01.
 
Kate Bazeley of St. John’s, N.L., won in 1:16:34. Leslie Sexton of London, Ont., was second in 1:16:53.