North American 5K Championships
# North American 5K Championships

The North American 5K Championships, also known as the North American 5 km Team Challenge, was an annual road running competition over 5 kilometres between three North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The event was created in 2002 and held as part of the Arturo Barrios Invitational races each October in Chula Vista, California. It would be the permanent host of the competition, until the final edition in 2005. The competition had three elements: a men's 5K run, a women's 5K run, and a team competition. The team scores were decided by combining the finishing places of the top two men and top two women for each nation. The lowest overall score was the team winner. A total of three athletes could be entered per nation in each race.

All three participating nations won a team title over the competition's four-edition history, with Mexico winning the first, the United States the second, and Canada the final two titles. Mexico was the most successful in the men's race, having three wins, and Alejandro Suárez was the most successful male athlete with his back-to-back wins in 2003 and 2004. Canada was the most successful in the women's race, courtesy of Émilie Mondor's three straight wins from 2003 to 2005 and a runner-up place in 2002. The United States failed to win an individual title, despite being the host nation. Mondor set the women's championship record of 15:16 minutes in 2004 (also a Canadian national record), while Mexico's David Galván inaugural winning time of 13:47 minutes was never bettered.

## Editions

| Edition | Year | Host city | Host country | Date | No. of athletes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st | 2002 | Chula Vista, California | United States | 27 October | 18 |
| 2nd | 2003 | Chula Vista, California | United States | 26 October | 18 |
| 3rd | 2004 | Chula Vista, California | United States | 24 October | 18 |
| 4th | 2005 | Chula Vista, California | United States | 23 October | 17 |

* $^{nb}$ American Lauren Fleshman was entered in the women's race, but was a non-starter.

## Medallists

### Men's individual

| Year | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | David Galván (MEX) | 13:47 CR | Bolota Asmerom (USA) | 13:54 | Kevin Sullivan (CAN) | 14:00 |
| 2003 | Alejandro Suárez (MEX) | 14:01 | Pablo Olmedo (MEX) | 14:03 | Ahman Dirks (USA) | 14:05 |
| 2004 | Alejandro Suárez (MEX) | 13:56 | Rafael Sánchez (MEX) | 13:59 | Reid Coolsaet (CAN) | 14:03 |
| 2005 | Paul Morrison (CAN) | 13:58 | Juan Luis Barrios (MEX) | 14:08 | Reid Coolsaet (CAN) | 14:10 |

### Women's individual

| Year | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | Dulce María Rodríguez (MEX) | 15:30 | Émilie Mondor (CAN) | 15:32 | Adriana Fernández (MEX) | 15:36 |
| 2003 | Émilie Mondor (CAN) | 15:23 | Elva Dryer (USA) | 15:43 | Sylvia Mosqueda (USA) | 15:54 |
| 2004 | Émilie Mondor (CAN) | 15:16 CR | Malindi Elmore (CAN) | 16:00 | Collette Liss (USA) | 16:03 |
| 2005 | Émilie Mondor (CAN) | 15:37 | Amy Yoder Begley (USA) | 16:04 | Tara Quinn-Smith (CAN) | 16:07 |

### Team

| Year | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | Mexico David Galván Julio Valle Dulce María Rodríguez Adriana Fernández | 10 | United States Bolota Asmerom Clint Wells Sylvia Mosqueda Libbie Hickman | 16 | Canada Kevin Sullivan Jeremy Deere Émilie Mondor Lucy Smith | 21 |
| 2003 | United States Ahman Dirks Pete Julian Elva Dryer Sylvia Mosqueda | 13 | Canada Bruno Mazzotta Joël Bourgeois Émilie Mondor Leah Pells | 15 | Mexico Alejandro Suárez Pablo Olmedo Estela Chavez Esly Quijano | 17 |
| 2004 | Canada Reid Coolsaet Ryan McKenzie Émilie Mondor Malindi Elmore | 12 | Mexico Alejandro Suárez Rafael Sánchez Angelica Sánchez Elisa Cuellar | 16 | United States Jonathon Riley Chad Johnson Collette Liss Amy Mortimer | 19 |
| 2005 | Canada Paul Morrison Reid Coolsaet Émilie Mondor Tara Quinn Smith | 8 | United States Pete Julian Ian Connor Amy Yoder Begley Amy Mortimer | 16 | Mexico Juan Luis Barrios Teodoro Vega America Mateos Gisel Bautista | 20 |
