B14 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | MONDAY,OCTOBER21,2019
“It is everything I have ever
dreamed about,” Hofbauer, 27,
said. After finishing, he sought
out his father, Andy, in the
crowd. As they hugged, his dad
fought back tears. “It is what I
have worked for over the last five
to seven years. I am kind of
speechless.”
Cam Levins, who set a Cana-
dian men’s record in Toronto last
year while competing in his first
marathon, faded badly over the
final third of the race and fin-
ished third in 2:15:01. He will
need to qualify for the Olympics
at a future event.
“It would have been nice to
lock in a place, but I knew this
was a possibility,” said Levins, of
Black Rock, B.C. “I am going to
have to go back and re-evaluate
the training I did, and see what
went right and what went
wrong.”
More than 26,000 runners
participated in the 30th edition
of Toronto’s big race along the
lakefront. Entries came from ev-
ery Canadian province, 40 U.S.
states and 70 countries, includ-
ing 700 runners from Mexico.
There were so many Mexican
runners that a mariachi band set
up along the route. The massive
field also included one woman
dressed as an astronaut, others
as ballet dancers and vegetables,
and one more costumed as an
elf.
Guinness World Records had
an adjudicator stationed near
the finish line to document
wacky attempts.
Philemon Rono of Kenya,
sixth at this year’s Boston Mara-
thon, ended up first among the
elite international starters and
was crowned the overall race
champion for the third time in
four years. He overtook 2016 Bos-
ton Marathon winner Lemi Ber-
hanu Hayle of Ethiopia down the
stretch and outlasted Felix Che-
monges of Uganda and fellow
Kenyan Benson Kipruto. The dis-
tance between the top four was
tiny – with the first three run-
ners-up only nine, 12 and 13 sec-
onds behind.
“Toronto is like my home,”Rono, 28, said. “When I come
here, I always win.”
Magdalyne Masai-Robertson
of Kenya set a course and Cana-
dian women’s marathon record
of 2:22:16 to finish atop the elite
bracket of female runners. She
arrived in Toronto only on
Thursday after having to reapply
for a travel visa that was denied
at the last minute.
Then, a cab driver made a
wrong turn on the way to the air-
port in Nairobi, and she missedher flight.
Biruktayit Degefa Eshetu of
Ethiopia was second (2:22:40)
and Betsy Saina of Kenya was
third (2:22:43.) Saina recovered
nicely after abandoning the Chi-
cago Marathon last weekend af-
ter 25 kilometres because of food
poisoning.
Both Pidhoresky and Hof-
bauer were surprise winners
among the Canadians.
Neither had been invited to a
news conference on Friday thatfeatured favourites.
Pidhoresky, who moved six
years ago from Ontario to train
in Vancouver, outran her nearest
rivals, Emily Setlack and Kinsey
Middleton. She fell in behind the
track pace-setters and benefited
from the fast clip they establish-
ed.
“The plan was not to go out
that fast, but when it happens,
there is not much that you can
do,” Pidhoresky said. “All you
can do is settle in and trust that
something special will happen.”
Pidhoresky, who is coached by
her husband, Josh Seifarth, said
she began to feel rocky at the
35-kilometre mark.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to
get through this,” she said. “My
workouts were designed to run
under the Olympic standards,
but for it to come together when
it counts is really hard. If I hadn’t
done it, I would have felt it was
my fault.”
Hofbauer did not wear a
watch as he ran. He knew he was
doing well, but was not sure if he
met the required Olympic time.
“My buildup to the race was
perfect, and I knew I could do
something special,” he said. “I
didn’t really know how fast I was
going.
“When I saw my time, it blew
me away.”
Pidhoresky, who runs more
half-marathons than marathons,
said she is unlikely to do another
42.2-km race before the Tokyo
Games.
“To win here this way was ide-
al,” she said. “Now, I can plan to
train in a way where I will be at
my best in Tokyo. It puts me in a
really good position. This was a
huge break for me.”Marathon:Mariachibandserenadeda700-strongcontingentofMexicanrunners
FROMB11DaynaPidhoreskycelebratesfinishingtheTorontoWaterfrontMarathononSunday.Shewasthefastest
Canadianwomanandsecuredaplaceonthe2020Olympicteam.CHRISTOPHERKATSAROV/THECANADIANPRESSDropping points doesn’t seem so
frustrating this time for Man-
chester United. Even against Liv-
erpool.
While holding on to inflict Liv-
erpool’s first loss of the season
was beyond this patched-up
United squad, a 1-1 draw still end-
ed the Premier League leader’s
perfect start on Sunday.
It’s a sign of United’s fall from
grace that frustrating its fiercest
rival represents progress in the
midst of the team’s worst start
for three decades.
Adam Lallana’s 85th minute
tap-in for Liverpool, cancelling
out Marcus Rashford’s first-half
opener, meant that United has
now lost eight points from win-
ning positions so far in this cam-
paign.
But United stopped Liverpool
from recording a Premier League
record-equalling 18th successive
victory, extending back into last
season.
Small comfort perhaps when
Liverpool is six points clear of
defending champion Manchester
City at the top of the standings,
and United is remarkably only
two points above the relegation
zone.
“We deserved the three
points,” Rashford said. “I don’t
think they did enough to get a
draw or a win.
“Of course it’s disappointing.
It’s obviously a big opportunity
missed, a big game, a big occa-
sion for players and fans, and we
just fell short.
“We can play a lot better, espe-
cially attacking. There’s still a lot
of work to do.”
Still, it was the first time Liver-
pool had failed to win in the
league since a draw with Everton
in March.
“The result is good,” Liverpool
manager Juergen Klopp said.
“It’s not what we wanted
before the game. But the way it
developed I feel we have to be
happy. We take the point be-
cause for a long time they were
1-0 up.
“We had good moments in the
second half, but I didn’t like the
first half because we gave Man-
chester United opportunities to
do what they wanted.”
Liverpool remains in a strong
early position to dethrone City as
champions, with Pep Guardiola’s
side six points behind in second
place.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSLiverpool
dropsits
firstpoints
oftheseason
indrawat
ManUnited
ROBHARRIS
MANCHESTER,ENGLANDI
n terms of season-defining moments,
the brief pause between the end of
regulation and the start of extra time
on Saturday was easily the biggest.
With one foot seemingly in the Eastern
Conference semi-finals, courtesy of Marky
Delgado’s first-half goal, Toronto FC saw
that dream threatened when Lucas Rodri-
guez steered home Wayne Rooney’s cor-
ner deep into injury time to level the
score.
But captain Michael Bradley rallied his
troops before the start of the additional
30-minute period and the response from
his team was phenomenal. TFC ran
roughshod over D.C. United, scoring four
times in the first half of extra time to win
5-1.
“It’s normal that there’s frustration, but
we had to find a way to let that part go,”
Bradley said. “We had to find a way to
understand that we still had 30 minutes at
home in our stadium with our fans to go
after the game and get ourselves into the
next round.”
It would have been easy for Toronto to
let the game slip away. Already without
two of its most important players – Jozy
Altidore and Omar Gonzalez both missed
the game with injuries – and facing a
team trying to ensure Rooney’s Major
League Soccer career ended on a high be-
fore he returns to England, Toronto’s resil-
ience was put to the ultimate test.
That TFC passed it with flying colours
should only stand it in good stead
throughout the rest of this playoff run.
And the games don’t get any easier. Next
up is a trip to New York on Wednesday to
play the rested New York City FC, which
had the benefit a first-round bye after fin-
ishing on top of the Eastern Conference.
But with the possibility of a stadium
conflict had the New York Yankees made
the World Series, the game had already
been switched to Citi Field, the home of
the Mets, instead of Yankee Stadium,
NYCFC’s usual abode. NYCFC has played
there just once before in a 2-2 draw with
Columbus Crew in 2017.
Bradley says he feels that the change of
venue might be something that Toronto
can use to its advantage, even going up
against a team that finished 14 points
above it in the standings and lost just
once at home all year.
“They’re a very good team, there’s no
two ways about it,” he said. “You could
argue that if it weren’t for LAFC this year,
they were the best team. ... But it’s the
playoffs and everything starts over and,
on top of it, they’re playing in a stadium
that’s not theirs.”
New York City had the second-best de-
fensive record in the Eastern Conference
this season behind D.C. United, giving up
42 goals in 34 games, but having put five
past Bill Hamid in the D.C. goal on Sat-urday, TFC won’t be lacking in confidence.
Delgado, Nick DeLeon and Richie La-
ryea all scored their first playoff goals for
TFC on Saturday, while Jonathan Osorio
added two more to his résumé.
In contrast to his captain, who would
have preferred that Saturday’s game had
ended in a 1-0 win after regulation, Osorio
actually feels that the dramatic conclu-
sion will benefit TFC on Wednesday.
“It was great for the team,” he said. “It
gives us a lot of confidence and some
could argue that the game finishing this
way is better for us going into the next.”
The short turnaround between games
may well be something of a challenge,
particularly for a team that turned what
should have been a comfortable victory
inside of 90 minutes into a gruelling 120-
minute marathon.
Bradley chose to accentuate the posi-
tives on Saturday, saying that while New
York City may well be rested, Toronto will
actually benefit from the 120 playoff min-
utes that it now has under its belt. That
should help some of the younger players
on this team who weren’t around for the
back-to-back MLS Cup final runs in 2016
and 2017.
And Osorio, who played all 120 minutes
on Saturday after playing the full 90 for
Canada during the 2-0 win over the Unit-
ed States on Tuesday, was in no mood to
contemplate fatigue.
“It doesn’t matter, it’s the playoffs,” he
said. “All of that does not matter at all. We
are going to do everything we can to
recover and get ready, and that won’t be
an excuse.”NickDeLeonofTorontoFCdribblestheballasRussellCanouseofD.C.UniteddefendsduringagameatBMOFieldinTorontoonSaturday.
TFCwaswithouttwoofitsstars,butmanagedtobeatD.C.5-1inextratime.VAUGHNRIDLEY/GETTYIMAGES
TFCstavesoffaclosecall,
setssightsonsemisinNewYork
Torontoletitsleadagainst
D.C.Unitedslip,butcaptain
Bradleyralliesteamfor
afour-goalextraframe
PAULATTFIELDTORONTO
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