I?m not sure if it was the mention of chocolate, Fireman, women only or all of the above but over 1500 women turned out to the Inaugural Toronto Women?s Half Marathon and 5k held at Sunnybrook Park on May 31. Locally there were 33 female runners who participated in the well organized, Mizuno sponsored event enjoying the intimacy of the Park, the women?s specific technical shirts and the specially designed necklace style medals.
The mostly flat course was fast with the exception of a few spots near the beginning where the narrow trail became bottle necked but that didn?t slow down half marathoner Diane Kent who not only set a personal best at the distance of 1:35:06 but came in 11 overall out of almost 1000 runners and 2nd in her age group. 5k runner Nancie Gibson was equally speedy at her distance placing 5th overall out of almost 500 runners and 1st in her age group with a time of 22:04. Many other locals either ran a PB or enjoyed the company of Fireman while eating chocolate...some accomplished both. While the ?sights? were not as nice on the 5k the chocolate was just as delectable.
Congratulations to the following participants: In the half marathon Petra Austin (2:07:30), Lisa Cahill (2:28:27), Heather and Jane Clement (2:39:32), Beth Hills (2:27:23), Sandy Musson (2:06:03), Loraine Nayler (2:27:31), Patti Teske (2:26:49), Carole Wiman (2:21:11), Susan Byers (2:56:42), Elaine Cole (2:56:41), Elizabeth Harrison (2:27:30), Marla Godin (2:54:46), Janet Foran-Goneau (1:57:42), Susan Goebel (2:22:17), Deanna Lott (2:52:11), Crystal Mayer (2:41:08), Charmine Shulga (2:31:01), Michelle Wells (2:52:11), Diane Harper (2:07:23), Cathy Warren (2:11:12), Michelle Kitchener (1:52:35), Stephanie Rupnow (2:22:59), and Julie Soule (2:02:51). In the 5k; Ashley Anderson (34:29), Andrea Broadbent (32:22), Julie Grieve (51:31), Joanne Smith (46:18), Lorraine Smith (51:32), Karen Mayer (54:35), and Kim Mayer (54:35).
Beth Vader completed the Milton Sprint (750/30/7.5) in 2:05:08 while Sarah Vader competed in the Milton Try-a-Tri (375/10/2.5) in 1:07:37.
The other big race of the weekend was the County Kids of Steel race held in Picton. This year under sunny but cool skies, 216 athletes between the ages of six and 19 swam, biked and ran distances appropriate to their ages. The shortest race was a 25m swim, 1.5k bike and a 500m run, the longest a 300m swim, 10k bike and 3k run. Local winners were Ethan Erwin age 6-7, Shakil Jiwa age 10-11 and Adam Doxtator age 14-15. For complete results and athlete placing please visit
http://www.chiptimeresults.com/results/.
Dave and Debbie Penny both raced the Alfie Shrubb Classic 8k in Bowmanville in 31:45 and 56:19 respectively.
Late but not forgotten is Bill Petch of Belleville who completed the MDS Nordion 5k at the Ottawa Race Weekend. Bill crossed the finish line in 28:11 in 1826 place out of 7239 runners. This put him 82 out of 265 men 45-49 and 1192 out of 2955 men total.
If you haven?t registered for the Surf & Turf do so now, registration closes June 10th. For more information go to
http://www.cfcommunitygateway.ca/en/Trenton/news/SurfTurf_e.asp.
