Winner of the 2023 edition, Simon Leblanc, this friendly and resilient teacher from Beauce who has since made a career change to become a police officer, returned to the charge by winning the Beneva Marathon de Québec, Sunday morning, for the second year in a row.
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The man who made the headlines thanks to his exploit last year on this date when he was completely unknown to the world of running was extremely moved when completing his 42.2 km, this time in 2h29min6s.
That’s because barely a week ago, the runner wasn’t even sure he could take part in the event due to a tendon injury.
“I’ve been dealing with an injury for a year. I’m relieved, I can start running again,” said the athlete, who had tears in his eyes a few minutes after crossing the finish line.
Photo DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE
Hardness of mind
Once again this year, it was a real obstacle course for the man, who, despite adversity, says he showed up with the attitude of a winner on the starting line, when he didn’t even know if he would be able to complete the test.
“I was registered in Montreal and a few days before I didn’t have the legs. […] It’s been a tough year accepting being injured and today just being able to run, I’m speechless,” adds the very emotional one.
There were also other familiar faces on the podium: Anthony Larouche took third position with a time of 2h33min19s, just behind David Savard-Gagnon, who for his part recorded a time of 2h31min30s. Remember that Larouche finished second, a little less than four minutes behind Leblanc, last year.
8 minutes ahead for women
On the women’s side, Joanie Vadnais, from Sorel-Tracy, took the top step of the podium with a time of 2h52min13s, she who ran under the encouragement of several members of her family who were participating in the half-marathon.
Photo DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE
“I am speechless. […] I’m really happy. It’s a beautiful course, of course there was a lot of wind, but a race is a race and you never know how it’s going to go so I gave everything I had. she confided after crossing the finish line.
Justine Godin and Geneviève Fournier completed the podium with respective times of 3h0min21s and 3h4min13s.
Record edition
In total, 13,500 athletes took part in the various running events over the weekend: 2 km, 5 km, 10 km, 21.1 km and 42.2 km.
This is a marked increase of 34% in registrations for the event which welcomed runners from 24 countries, eight provinces and 29 states on the occasion of its 25e birthday.
«25e edition, record year of participation, record year of smiles, I am very happy and very proud of this beautiful edition”, concluded Marianne Pelchat, delegate producer at Gestev, emphasizing that it was also a beautiful card of visit to Quebec, referring to the route which linked the most beautiful attractions of the Old Capital.
