Thrice was nice as Jane Murage completed the women’s three-peat Sunday in the 26th Times Colonist 10K through the streets of the capital.

“People know me now and were shouting: ‘Go Jane go,’ ” said the 28-year-old professional runner from Kenya, who won in 33 minutes and 07 seconds.

“The crowd was so supportive and that motivated me to move.”

Meanwhile, Kelly Wiebe of Vancouver found that besting Kenyans in running can be famishing work.

“I’m really hungry and going to eat a lot of food for brunch,” said Wiebe, after winning the men’s Times Colonist 10K championship in 29:08.

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“They’re tough”: Vancouver Sun Run winner Luke Puskedra was worried about Kenyan runners

VANCOUVER — He really only had to worry about a handful of lithe Kenyans, but Luke Puskedra said the mass of humanity at the start of Sunday’s Vancouver Sun Run 10K was certainly a motivating factor.

“I mean, when you’re running against 45,000 people chasing you, you’ve got to run fast out there, right,” he said with a wry grin.

Puskedra was off by about 5,000 on the runner count. But the multiple-time track All-American at the University of Oregon proved fast enough on a sun-splashed day to stay in front of them all, including the talented Kenyans.

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Two-time Vancouver Sun Run winner Natasha Wodak happy with “personal best” after clocking in second

VANCOUVER — Plagued by injury in 2014, two-time Vancouver Sun Run winner Natasha Wodak was delighted to run a personal best time for the 10K on Sunday. It still wasn’t good enough, however, to catch Kenyan Risper Gesabwa, who made her Sun Run debut a winning one.

Gesbawa, who has raced 10Ks all over the U.S. the last few years and was coming off a third-place finish in New Orleans two weeks ago, was also making her first visit to Canada. And she’ll leave $3,000 Cdn richer after winning in a time of 32 minutes, 28 seconds.

Wodak, who won in 2012 and 2013 but didn’t race last year while battling plantar fasciitis in a foot, was seven seconds back, while Kenyan Jane Murage was third in 33:17.

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