Élisa Morin of Montreal scored her second Canadian short-course trail-running title in a row on Saturday at QMT50, one in all two Canadian trail-running championship races going down at Quebec Mega Path. Her time was 5:09:11. The opposite is the long-course championships at QMT80, the place defending Canadian champion Jean-Philippe (J.P.) Thibodeau took the win, additionally for the second consecutive yr, in 8:06:09. The athletes have been competing for spots on Group Canada for subsequent yr’s World Path and Mountain Working Championships, to be held in Cape City, South Africa in October 2027.
Quebec Mega Path is held at Mont-Sainte-Anne, about 40 km east of Quebec Metropolis. The 80K course begins at daybreak close to the bottom of Le Massif and makes its approach from there to the Sentier des Caps and the infamously rooty, technical Mestachibo path earlier than returning to Mont-Sainte-Anne.
Neither Morin nor Thibodeau received their races outright; the 50K was received by Ikram Rharsalla Laktab of Spain, in 5:07:11, with Morin (who’s initially from France) second general. Dakota Jones of Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, a local weather activist who’s identified for biking nice distances to race (he cycled to Mont-Sainte-Anne from Vermont this week) took the general win within the males’s 80K, in 7:51:23.
“It was actually arduous!” Morin mentioned post-race. “Mestachibo, I do know it’s lengthy, I do know it’s arduous–extra mentally than bodily. Like final yr, I took roughly the identical time. I do know I’m actually sturdy uphill, so I got here again on Ikram on the uphill, and I had a great consequence after the second climb, however after I began downhill, I may already really feel that the legs have been gone.”
Like lots of her friends, Morin is an especially well-rounded athlete who excels in any respect disciplines in path and mountain operating; in 2025, along with the brief course title, she swept each the vertical ascent and traditional up-and-down mountain races for the second straight yr.
After the race, Thibodeau joked about having a “rabbit” (Jones). “It was a tough day, with the temperature and the humidity,” he mentioned. “However I used to be fortunate sufficient to run with him for about 20 km, and after this, I went my very own tempo, and simply tried to maintain the title from final yr. I checked off my spot for Worlds subsequent yr!”
Canadian championship podiums
Leya Masson was second within the short-course championships, in 5:35:46, and Courtney Brohart of Canmore, Alta., was third, in 5:39:51.
Alexandre Ricard of Squamish, B.C., received the lads’s short-trail championship, in 4:34:21 (repeating his 2024 victory). Ricard was the quickest Canadian on the Damaged Arrow Ascent in California earlier this month. Final yr’s champion, Dany Racine of Victoriaville, Que., completed second (4:43:16) and Penticton, B.C.’s Chris Balestrini third, in 4:48:33. This was a profitable return for Balestrini, who sustained a severe leg damage final yr whereas operating in B.C.’s Rogers Go. Balestrini additionally holds the Canadian 50K street file, at 2:48:32.
Within the girls’s long-course, Sarah Bergeron-Larouche of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., took the win, in 9:04:43; 2025 champion Claudine Soucie of Gatineau, Que., was second, in 9:24:40 and Sara Bergen of Squamish was third, in 9:32:13.
Second within the males’s long-course was Dylan Pust of Guelph, Ont. (8:33:03), and Benoit Gaillard of Montreal (like Morin, initially from France) was third, in 8:33:37.
QMT attracts worldwide elites
This yr, the 14th version of Quebec Mega Path welcomed 3,900 athletes from 25 nations. Along with the 80K and 50K occasions internet hosting the Canadian lengthy and brief course trail-running championships, respectively, the occasion has a brand new race distance this yr, QMT30, and it’s the one North American cease on the Golden Path World Sequence circuit. QMT135 has been a part of the World Path Majors sequence since its inception final yr.
QMT50, together with QMT135 (which was a brand new race in 2025) are a part of the World Path Majors (brief and lengthy sequence, respectively). This yr marks the primary yr of QMT’s participation within the Golden Path World Sequence, with the brand-new QMT30, to happen Sunday; it is going to characteristic a formidable lineup of Canadian and worldwide athletes.
For our story on QMT135, click on right here.
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