TORONTO - Jerome Drayton's Canadian record has eluded marathoners for 35 long years, the oldest record on the track and field books and a far-flung mark that's older than both Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis.
Coolsaet, 31, and 30-year-old Gillis, who train together in Guelph, Ont., are patiently stalking Drayton's mark, and hope to take another step closer Sunday at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
"If someone sets the record, it will be a big deal because it's so old," Coolsaet said. "I'd really like to be in that ball park (Sunday)."
Drayton covered the gruelling 42.195-kilometre distance in two hours 10.09 seconds in 1975 to win in Fukuoka, Japan.
Gillis, who ran the 10,000 metres at the Beijing Olympics, recently moved up to the marathon, running 2:13.52 in his debut in Houston in January.
Coolsaet won the 2009 Canadian marathon title in his debut after just six weeks of training to earn a berth on the team for the world track and field championships in Berlin. He finished 25th in Germany -- improving on his 79th-place ranking --in 2:16.53, a time that could have been significantly faster had it not been for soaring temperatures that day.
Many believe Regina's Simon Bairu, however, will be the one to claim the record. Bairu, who lowered the nine-year old Canadian 10,000-metre record last summer, isn't running in Toronto, but instead will make his marathon debut in New York on Nov. 7.
"There's not really a rivalry between the three of us," Coolsaet said. "But we'd all like to be the first person to get the record."
As an added incentive, there's a $35,000 prize on the line Sunday -- $1,000 for each year Drayton's mark has stood -- for a Canadian-record run.
"For me, it's still almost four minutes to go to that Canadian record, there's a stepping stone I have to take to kind of legitimize seeking that record before I can really take a shot at it," Gillis said. "After this weekend, I'll hopefully have a much stronger conviction toward going for that record in the near future."
Sunday's flat Waterfront course favours a fast time, and Coolsaet and Gillis will be chasing a deep field led by two-time defending champion Kenneth Mungara. The Kenyan set the course record of 2:08.31 -- the fastest marathon ever run in Canada -- last year. Teshome Gelana of Ethiopia, who won the 2010 Houston marathon in 2:07.37, will also be gunning for the $20,000 first-place cheque, along with Kenyan Daniel Rono, who's run 2:09.35.
Both Coolsaet and Gillis have their eyes on a spot on the 2012 London Olympic team and a good time Sunday could go a long way to helping them book their tickets. The qualifying period for the marathon has already begun, and Athletics Canada has set a standard of 2:11.29. If they run the time, they would still have to prove fitness in 2012 and be in the top-three in Canada to make the team.
But with only so many marathons one can run in a year, Gillis estimated he would have just four chances to achieve the standard. (A sprinter, on the other hand, could have as many as 40 races in which to make a standard).
"And out of those four, you might get two where you have good weather and you can run a good time at," Gillis said.
Coolsaet had originally been targeting a spot on Canada's team for the Commonwealth Games, which open Oct. 3 in New Delhi. He'd planned to run the 5,000 metres in India before his track season was derailed by a foot injury, so he switched his season focus to this marathon.
With the onslaught of bad news out of New Delhi ahead of the Games, Coolsaet is happy to be racing closer to home.
Gillis said his training partner had been disappointed at first that he couldn't vie for a spot on the team for India.
"Now Reid's not disappointed at all," Gillis said with a laugh.
"There are too many opportunities to run in Canada, this one in Toronto is a good kind of career builder, good exposure, good chance to run a fast time," he added.
Tirfi Beyene Tsegaye of Ethiopia is among the favourites to win the women's race, running 2:24.51 to finish third in the Paris marathon in April. Canada's hopes fall on Victoria's Marilyn Arsenault, Josiane Aboungono of Toronto and Katherine Moore of Vancouver.
