It may have been his debut at the distance, but Reid Coolsaet of Hamilton looked comfortable in his first-ever marathon, winning the national title and achieving the world championship qualifying standard on Sunday in Ottawa.

Coolsaet was eighth overall, but the top Canadian in the Ottawa Marathon, crossing the line in two hours, 17 minutes and 10 seconds in a race that also served as the national championship for the distance.

David Cheruiyot of Kenya won the race in 2:13:23, outsprinting Wegayehu Girma of Ethiopia, who finished six seconds back.

By running under 2:18, Coolsaet has met the qualifying standard for the world track and field championships in Berlin, Aug. 15-23.

Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco beat her own course record to win the women's race in 2:27:41, four and a half minutes ahead of Toronto's Lioudmila Kortchaguina, who captured the Canadian women's title.

Kortchaguina's time of 2:32:10 was also under the world championship standard.

For Coolsaet, the jump to the marathon came rather unexpectedly.

The 29-year-old is a four-time Canadian champion over 5,000 metres, but injury problems severely hampered his training for the past year.

Coolsaet, who trains with the Speed River track club in Guelph, Ont., was only able to resume regular training in March after dealing with a bout of hip and foot problems.

While his marathon preparation wasn't exactly ideal, he felt it was his best shot to make the world championship team, since he lacked the requisite speed required to succeed at the shorter distances.

View complete article at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2009/05/24/sp-marathon-track-national.html