Gillis closing in on Olympic marathon berth

It was a restless night in Vancouver for Antigonish’s Eric Gillis.
 
The marathon runner, in B.C. for a 10-kilometre run, watched two talented and motivated Canadian racers take a shot at his Olympic qualifying time at the Rotterdam Marathon on Sunday with only one succeeding.
 
Unless an elite Canadian opts to run the London Marathon next weekend and can break Gillis’s time of 2:11:28, Gillis will be one of three Canadians competing on Aug. 12 in the men’s marathon at the London Olympics. But Gillis sees no more challengers on the horizon.
 
Dylan Wykes of Kingston, Ont., ran a 2:10:47 Sunday in the Netherlands to move atop the Canadian mens rankings.
 
Reid Coolsaet of Hamilton, Ont., and Gillis, a 2008 Olympian in the 10,000 metres, became the first two Canadian qualifiers at the Toronto Marathon last October. Coolsaet ran a 2:10:55.
 
Wykes beat his personal best by close to two minutes to grab his spot in the Olympics.
 
What caught Gillis’s eye was the 2:13:35 run by Rob Watson of London, Ont., keeping the Nova Scotian in the top three Canucks. It was a great result and a personal best for Watson, Gillis’s former training partner, but still two minutes off the pace he required.
 
"There were two guys going for the standard today in Rotterdam and only one of them hit it, so that does not bump me to fourth," Gillis said in an interview from Vancouver. "I am still good."
 
The gate closes for Canadian runners next weekend with London the last chance. But all of the international class Canadian runners trying for London have already made their attempts.
 
"As far as I know there is no one who can do it," Gillis said.
 
It was a long winter for Gillis as a series of Canadian runners took their shot at the standard. Had two runners eclipsed his time, he would have been forced to make one last attempt to record a better result, something that would have compromised any prospect for a decent showing at the Olympics.
 
Now he’ll be able to schedule a series of shorter runs to get in top shape for London. Admittedly rusty, he ran to a fourth-place finish in a field of 48,000 Sunday in the Vancouver Sun Run in his first race since the Toronto Marathon.
 
"There was some pretty good competition ahead of me, but Im not really in tip-top race shape right now. But it felt good. I felt better than I expected out there."
 
He conceded he can rest now in the belief his spot in the 2012 Olympics is secure.
 
"This did it," he said. "My mind is eased for sure.
 
"I woke up at 4 a.m. in B.C. and checked the results and I was pretty excited. I was happy for Dylan and also happy for myself that I kind of solidified my spot on the team. I didn’t get back to sleep after I checked the results."
 
Canada has qualified three men for the Olympic marathon for the first time since 1996.