The dominance of Canadian women in the International 10K continued quite unexpectedly on Saturday when Andrea Grove, with a running style that only her mother would love, decimated the field.

Tipped as a darkhorse before the race, Grove, who is the training partner of injured three-time winner Courtney Babcock, raced away from Grace Momanyi, of Kenya, and Ireland’s Breeda Dennehy-Willis at the two-mile mark and was never challenged.

Her winning time was 34 minutes and four seconds, which, as was the case with the men’s champion, was the fastest time since the South African, Elana Meyer won in 32:39 in 1997.

What is more, Grove, a bubbly 28-year-old who hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was running in her first competitive 10K.

“My team-mate (Babcock) gave me a bunch of advice before I left,” Grove said. “I think it might have benefited me that I had never run a 10K. I went out behind the girls and I kind of prepared myself this week that no matter what, miles four to six were going to hurt.”

Momanyi, who was second to Babcock last year, was expected to make the race interesting, but she had nothing left after too fast a start and had to settle for the runner-up position again, in 35:14.

“I was prepared to have someone right with me but as it was I had pulled ahead,” Grove added. “I kept telling myself to keep on it, keep working hard and stay relaxed. But that last hill almost did me in. I was glad no one was near me because I don’t know what I could have pulled out.”

Grove joked that Babcock had implored her to bring the title back to their training base in Missoula, Montana. However, she said: “I had hoped just to break 35 minutes, I didn’t care where I placed.”

With Babcock missing from the field, Momanyi’s backers had to fancy that their runner would rule the day, but the 19-year-old, despite recording an impressive eight victories over the distance in the past two years, made a mistake that would prove significant.

“I ran fast in the first mile but I got tired and had no chance to pick up the pace later,” she said. “I tried but the hills killed me. I’m satisfied but I made a mistake in the beginning by going out too fast.”

Dennehy-Willis followed Momanyi in as third female in 35:33, with Emily Nay, of the US, fourth in 36:06 and Ireland’s Marie Davenport-McMahon fifth in 36:20. Tatyana Pozdnyakova, the 46-year-old Ukrainian who also placed fourth among the women in yesterday’s half-marathon, was the first female master and sixth overall in 37:37.

Anna Eatherley, who was seventh woman to finish, completed her fourth local victory in a row and fifth in total, although 38:31 was her slowest winning time. “I felt really good initially,” she said. “I managed to get through the first mile in 5:35, which is a bit fast for me, and I did feel it in the end. “I kind of died right there along the six-mile mark — I was extremely fatigued. It was probably the accumulative effects from (the mile) last night. But, as this is my only opportunity to compete against some really good girls, I like to try to stay with them as long as I can, just for the experience.”

Karen Smith, the triathlon sensation, was as close to Eatherley as she could have expected, finishing as second local, and ninth woman overall, in 40:15. “It was great, I ran with a pack of about five guys,” she said. “We just pushed each other along the way and must have finished within 20 seconds of each other.

“It was really helpful to have that group to push me along. I am very pleased because I wasn’t expecting to do nearly as well as I did today.”