Monday, November 27, 2006 - 12:31 AM

The speedy Emilie leading the way yet again...

Canada’s fastest women’s 5K road race, the Ottawa’s RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women, has officially been renamed “Emilie’s Run – The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women.” It’s in honour of Canadian Olympian Emilie Mondor who was tragically killed in a car crash near Ottawa on September 9, 2006.

One of Canada’s most accomplished distance runners, Emilie was the first Canadian woman to break 15:00 for 5K and represented Canada at the Athens Olympics.

After spending two years sidelined with injuries, she was on her way to an impressive comeback this spring, finishing third at the Nordion 10k against a field of top international runners.

She fell in love with Ottawa during the city’s race weekend and moved to the area in July to train for her marathon debut under Ken Parker, coach and founder of the Ottawa Athletic Club Racing Team. She had been invited to race the ING New York Marathon on November 2nd but she never made it. Instead, the professional women in New York wore black ribbons during the race in Emilie’s honour.

Emilie’s Run will take place along the Rockcliffe Parkway, near the route where Emilie ran her final training run the day she died.

The inaugural RunnersWeb5K.com on June 24, 2006 brought together some of the best middle distance runners in the country.. Nicole Stevenson of Toronto won in 16:28.7 while a record-setting 35 women ran under 20 minutes.

The 2007 Emilie’s Run will take place on Saturday, June 23, 2007 at 9 AM from the Aviation Museum. A children’s 1K event will also be held. The race offers over $5,000 in cash prizes including a $100 “prime” for the leader at each kilometer. Last year the first kilometre was run under 3 minutes.