On Sunday, during a small indoor track event in Toronto, Ottawa distance runner Liz Maguire broke the Canadian indoor masters record in the women’s 55-59 age group by over a minute and a half.
The 59-year-old finished second in the all-comers 5,000m race with a time of 19:40.57, surpassing the previous Canadian record by one minute and 37 seconds. This record had been held for two years by Nancy Catton at the same Athletics Ontario Mini Meet. Maguire is now the first Canadian woman over 55 to complete a sub-20-minute 5K indoors. (All masters records are subject to Athletics Canada’s ratification process.)
Maguire ran to a new age-group record of 19:40.57 at the Athletics Ontario Mini Meet #2. Photo: Doug Shaggy Smith (Shaggys Photos. com)
This marks Maguire’s third Canadian masters record. She also holds outdoor records for both the 1,500m and mile in her age category. Later this fall, she will move up into the 60-64 age group, and it seems likely she’ll be aiming to set even more records.
Maguire has been running all her life, having made it onto the women’s podium at the prestigious Around the Bay 30K Road Races in both 2005 and 2006. She recorded a personal best of 2:53:41 in the marathon, which placed her among the top 10 finishers at the Ottawa International Marathon in 2007.
Ottawa’s Liz Maguire competed for Canada at the 2024 World Masters Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she won a silver medal. Photo: Doug Shaggy Smith (Shaggys Photos. com)
Recently, at the 2024 World Masters Championships held in Gothenburg, Sweden, Maguire earned a silver medal for Canada in the W55-59 category for her performance in the 1,500m event. Her finishing time of 5:01.80 broke an old championship record and was just seconds away from taking gold.
Saskatoon mom runs speedy 60-metre masters record
