Canadian Content

I wish I could say that I'm sick of talking about them... but Cam Levins (left) and Taylor Milne (right)were at it again this past weekend.That makes 3 weekends in a row of top notch racing. Saturday past, they both were invited to the previous mentioned world-famous Millrose Games to run the 'Wanamaker Mile' (1,600m) against some of the best milers in the world, including the world championship bronze medalist at 1,500m in American Matt Centrowitz and the top NCAA miler from Brigham Young University (BYU) Miles Batty.

Centrowitz with Batty nipping his heels!

Only a week previous both of these gazelles were setting the New Balance Games track on fire where Milne ran 3:56 for the mile and Levins ran 7:45 in the 3,000m! However, this week they went head to head in the same mile event.

Immediately Milne went to the front - which is more often than not going to end well - and stayed there for 3/4 of the race. Levins tucked into the pack and held the pace with best of them. Just after 1200m, the cream rose to the top. Centrowitz and Batty effortlessly surged past Milne to take the lead. Unfortunately, Milne's front running took a major toll on him as he faded for a 4:00 finish (still incredible, but not what he was hoping for I can only imagine). In the end, Centrowitz seemingly jogged across the line in 3:53.9, with Miles Batty setting the American College record with 3:54.5! Levins ran a consistently smart race and finished with an impressive 3:57.1, given his recent race schedule.

Check out the video here, fast forward to 2:50 into the race and just watch how smooth Matt Centrowitz is. Do you think he was maxed out? I don't think so. Scary stuff

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Simultaneously, on the opposite side of America, the University of Washington had their own invitational track meet that brought some of the top collegiate athletes head to head, including many Canadians.

In the Men's 3,000m:
- Quebec native Stephane Colle, attending University of Idaho, ran an impressive 8:08 (4:22/mile or 2:43/km) for 8th in his heat (5 heats in total) finishing 25th out of the out of the 96 collegians who ran

- Newfoundland's own Ryan Brockerville from Simon Fraser University in B.C. ran a impressive 8:20 (4:28/mile or 2:47/km) for 6th place in his heat and 61st overall out of the 96.








In the Men's 5,000m:

Prince George, B.C. born and bred, Geoff Martinson threw down a tremendous 13:55 (4:29/mile or 2:47/km). Martinson was the 3rd fastest 1,500m runner in Canada in 2011 with a 3:37.5 thus allowing him to represent Canada at the 2011 World Championships, making it to the 1,500m semi-final! Check out his blog here.





As for the women in the mile ,


Canada's elite track and field club, Speed River, sent both Malindi Elmore (left) & Hilary Stellingwerff  (right) to compete in the elite one mile race with one of the WORLD's best runners Sally Kipyego from Kenya. Both Canadian females had incredible races with Stellingwerff finishing 3rd in a time of 4:29.7 and Elmore in 5th with 4:32.7.



Here's the link video for this awesome race! Go Canada! 
(It's not on youtube, so I can't attach the video, sorry)