McGill’s Martlets and Redmen finished 1st and 2nd respectively for the second race in a row while McGill All-Canadian Sarah Ali-Khan broke the Laval Invitational course record for the second year in a row.

Ali-Khan won the 4km race in 13:45 and was followed by Nadia Morin in 3rd, who discovered that racing in spikes actually makes running easier (especially up large hills). Newcomer Nicole Portley also had a good race finishing 4th and was followed by veteran Carly Moher who took the last race off due to a minor calf injury, in 6th. Zein Odeh gutted out a tough race by finishing 9th and was followed in 11th by rookie Leslie Marcott, who ran her best race of the season. The women are currently ranked 5th in the CIS but are looking for a top 3 finish at the CIS championships in November.

The Redmen, not to be outdone by the women, finished a strong 2nd behind Sherbrooke, who are currently ranked 2nd in the CIS, in the 8km race that featured four lengthy climbs up the Plains of Abraham battlements. Benoit Lebeau, coming off a 4th place finish at the Canada Games in the 800m, led the Redmen finishing 4th in a time of 25:54. Brant Carson was McGill’s second runner across the line in 9th place and was followed closely by Danny Lennox in 11th, Yoksuke Hayashi, 800m gold medalist at the Canada Games this summer, in 12th, and Ryan Beaton in 13th. Carl-Eric Bouchard and Greg Cambell also had solid races finishing 15th and 18th respectively. Team hopes are high as the Redmen try to break into the top eight this year at the CIS championships.