Wayne Crowe sent in this report:
LOCALS TAKE PODIUM AT CANADIAN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Members of the Comox Valley Roadrunners took to the streets to compete in the annual TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 19th. They joined over 7,000 other runners from around the globe for this world class event which doubled up as the Canadian Marathon Championships. The front end of the race was dominated by Africans with Leonard Langat from Kenya winning the men’s title in 2:08:05 and Shure Demise from Ethiopia taking the women’s title in a time of 2:21:03. The Canadian men’s champion was Ben Flanagan in his debut
marathon in an impressive time of 2:15:41. Veteran racer Rachel Hannah took the women’s title in 2:33:48. After many months of long runs, gruelling workouts and injuries the locals were ready for the challenge of the national championships. While warm weather, high humidity and wind did not lend itself to fast times, CVRR runners represented themselves well. There were some excellent finishes accompanied by hard fought battles with the demons who often raise their ugly heads in these challenges of endurance and mental fortitude. Every team member strove get the most out of themselves on the day with Roz Smith F7579 (4:00:07), Wayne Crowe M70-74 (3:33:39) and Andrea Wilson W50-54 (3:13:57) each taking home Canadian Masters Marathon age group titles. The CVRR team dominated the W50-54 division with Marion Bryon (3:29:06) placing second and Nikki Wilson (3:36:17) placing fourth in the division. Nikki, along with fellow team members Nic Samsom M2529 (2:55:10) and Leon Heath M3034 (3:08:23) all executed great races to run huge personal best times. Dan Wilson had a stellar race in the M5054 division coming off injury to put in a great time of 3:05:28. Gabrielle Swann, W2529, made all of her hard training pay off with an amazing debut and a very fast time of 3:22:30 in her first marathon.
Newly minted M6064 Canadian 6 Hour record holder Danny Keyes somehow managed to get to the marathon start line only four weeks later after this gruelling event and somehow managed to coax his body along the scenic race route to finish in 3:35:52. Alex du Boulay, M3034,
demonstrated great courage and determination to battle to the finish line in a very solid time of 3:37:49. There will be many more fast times ahead for him and all of the CVRR race team as they face new challenges ahead.
