Justin Kent and Natasha Wodak top Canadians at TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Justin Kent cruised to his first Canadian men’s marathon title in Toronto on Sunday with a personal-best time of two hours 12 minutes 17 seconds.

Natasha Wodak and Justin Kent cruised to their first Canadian marathon titles on Sunday in Toronto.

Wodak, the 42-year-old Canadian women’s record holder, strode to victory in the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon in a time of two hours 27 minutes 54 seconds. It marked the first time the Surrey, B.C., native competed in the event since 2013 and her fifth overall national title.

Kent, the 32-year-old also from Surrey, crossed the finish line in a personal-best time of 2:12:17.

Ethiopia’s Mulugeta Uma claimed the men’s overall championship in a time of 2:07.16, his second career title after winning the Paris Marathon earlier this year.

Meanwhile, fellow Ethiopian Waganesh Mekasha earned some redemption, winning the women’s title in a runaway, course-record time of 2:20:44 after losing out by one second in a sprint finish last year.

Wodak said Friday her main goals for the race were to add the title of Canadian champion to her decorated resumé and to have fun.

She accomplished the former easily, beating second-place Leslie Sexton by over five minutes.

And it seems as though the latter could also be deemed a success as Wodak ran the final 100 metres with a smile on her face and her arms raised, encouraging the crowd to cheer her on.