The 10K Dream Team Challenge Returns!

The results are in! The Ottawa 10K Dream Team Challenge took place on May 25th, 2019. Here’s which team won, and which charity took home the prize!

1st Place: Justin Kent’s Dream Team (Stacey Chepkemboi Ndiwa, Valary Jemeli, Mohammed Reda El Aaraby)
Charity: Canadian Cancer Society (receives $1,000)

2nd Place: Natasha Wodak’s Dream Team (Peres Jepchirchir, Gete Alemayehu, Paskalia Kipkoech)

3rd Place: Sasha Gollish’s Dream Team (Moses Kibet, Abderrahmane Kachir, Wilfred Kimitei)

4th Place: Jessica O’Connell’s Dream Team (Joyce Chepkemoi, Dorcas Kimeli, Malindi Elmore)

Read the original May 13th, 2019 post about the Dream Team Challenge:

In less than two weeks, the IAAF gold label Ottawa 10K will again play host to the fastest  runners from around the world.

And once again, Canada’s largest running weekend will feature an altruistic opportunity for the world’s top runners to help out four of Ottawa’s greatest charities.

The second annual 10K Dream Team Challenge will take place on May 25. The unique competition features 16 top athletes in four teams running to raise funds for local causes. This year’s Dream Team captains are some of the best elite Canadian runners in the running world. This week, they’ll pick their teams to win and share a purse of prize money. Fastest team wins and, based on their position, team members can share between $1,000 and $6,000.

This year’s Scotiabank Charity Challenge participants chosen by the 10K Dream Team Challenge captains include the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Mito Canada Foundation and the Ottawa Humane Society. The winning team’s charity will receive $1,000.

Join in the fun!

You too can join in the fun! A new public contest allows anyone to make their own Fantasy 10K Dream Team. Participants stand to win one of three great prizes: first place is $250, second place is a pair of Zizu Sunglasses, and third place is a Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend Timex watch.

The race roster of elite athletes can be found here. Participants in the Fantasy 10K Dream Team Challenge must make a $5 donation to the Salvation Army before selecting four athletes for their team. People can enter as many times as they like with different team combinations. Money raised by public entries will go towards the Salvation Army’s relief efforts to the spring flooding in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.

Anyone can participate until Friday, May 24, and the winners will be announced on Monday, May 27.

The 2019 10K Dream Teams

Meet the four amazing Canadian elites who are this year’s Dream Team Captains! Check out their stats and bios below.

Captain: Sasha Gollish

Toronto Waterfront 10K (Personal Best): 33:05, 2018
2nd Edmonton 10K: 34:36, 2018
1st Bridgetown Barbados Half Marathon: 1:22:49, 2017

The five-time Canadian Champion Sasha Gollish won the Toronto Waterfront 10K last June with a personal best of 33:05. The 37-year-old from Toronto excels at running long- and middle distances, cross-country, and duathlons. Last year she was on Team Canada at the 2018 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Valencia, Spain.

Website • Twitter • Instagram

Charity: Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

Dream Team Members

Moses Kibet (Kenya)
Abderrahmane Kachir (Morocco)
Wilfred Kimitei (Kenya)

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Captain: Jessica O’Connell

Encinitas Cardiff Kook Run Elite 10K (Personal Best): 32:22, 2018
2nd Portland Track Festival 5,000m: 15:18, 2018
2nd Ottawa Canadian Championships, 5,000m: 16:12, 2018

The 30-year-old Jessica O’Connell from Calgary has represented Canada at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games and at the London IAAF World Track and Field Championships in London, UK. She set a personal best (15:06) in 5,000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California, in 2015.

Website • Twitter

Charity: Mito Canada Foundation

Dream Team Members

Joyce Chepkemoi (Kenya)
Dorcas Kimeli (Kenya)
Malindi Elmore (Canada)

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Captain: Justin Kent

Encinitas Cardiff Kook Run Elite 10K (Personal Best): 29:54, 2019
1st Vancouver Sun Run 10K: 29:30, 2019
2nd St. Patrick’s Day 5K, Vancouver: 14:13, 2019
3rd Vancouver 10K: 29:59, 2018

Twenty-seven-year-old Justin Kent has been running competitively for almost a decade, and has been winning meets since he was 18. This April, the runner from Burnaby was the first B.C. native

to win the Vancouver Sun Run in 27 years. His 2019 has started off successfully, since he also just ran a personal best in the 10K in California in February.

Twitter • Instagram

Charity: Canadian Cancer Society

Dream Team Members

Stacey Chepkemboi Ndiwa (Kenya)
Valary Jemeli (Kenya)
Mohammed Reda El Aaraby (Morocco)

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Captain: Natasha Wodak

Ottawa 10K (Personal Best): 32:41, 2019
Payton Jordan Invitational 10,000m (Personal Best): 31:42, 2015
1st Vancouver Sun Run 10K: 32:38, 2019
1st Victoria Half Marathon: 1:11:48, 2018

From Surrey, BC, Natasha Wodak is the Canadian 10,000 m record holder (31:41.59), which she ran in May 2015. The 37-year-old ran a personal best 10K at the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend in 2015 (31:59). She has represented Canada at many international championships, including the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Website • Twitter

Charity: Ottawa Humane Society

Dream Team Members

Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya)
Gete Alemayehu (Ethiopia)
Paskalia Kipkoech (Kenya)