Sudbury Rocks in Boston

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Angela Batsford of Callendar, just outside North Bay, was the top Canadian woman in 2.57 in only her second marathon. She won the Cnd International marathon in Toronto last fall in 2.54, her 1st race! She trains on the treadmill most of the time.

Things sure heated up in Boston. Wow what an experience that was; and it was just like home with the Sudbury Gang there. Sorry I missed you guys at the Athletes Village. I was caught up with my local group when I noticed it was 9:20.

For training, I did my home work. I simulated the course profile as best I could. I did some long runs at noon after being on my feet all morning. Besides the heat, the race itself was great. My legs were not hammered from the course. They are no more stiff than from my other marathons. The hills there were no worse than the hills around home. I felt the heat though. I knew that at mile 3. I said forget the plan A 3 hour time. Let's try the plan B 3:20 time. I took some fluids at each station (one side only). But by mile 13 I was getting a slight stomach ache. I am not sure if that was the heat or too much fluids. Then, I started hallucinating. I thought I saw Santa Clause. Wait! The guy beside me saw him too. It really was Santa. At Wellesley College I had a vision of thousands of young women screaming and cheering me on. MAN, was it getting hot. I was hearing things too. Like "the Jays will never win again" or the "Boston Bruins are going to win tonight". The fire stations hosing water on us was very relieving. (Don't read the next few sentences Vince.) I took 4 brief walk breaks. Once each at three water stations and once at mile 24-25. Before I started to walk the last one, I said to myself that I should not be taking this break. I knew I would regret it. I was getting depressed. But then I heard someone yell "come on Canada". I looked over and saw a woman holding a mini Canada Flag. I walked over to her and asked her for it. She gave it to me. That was my pick-me-upper. You see my late father was very supportive of this country and the Canadian Flag. I ran to the finish with that flag.
I have never experienced so many runners, so many spectators, and so much noise. It was very awesome. The course is a little over rated for being difficult, but the experience of it all is something unique.
I missed my direct re qualification entry by 19 seconds. About the length of my last walking time. But I ran across the final mat. And as Lynn, my number one supporter said, I may have not ran the mat if I had not taken the walk.
I can still use my October 2003 Toronto time to enter Boston 2005. OR, maybe I will be motivated to eat some Massey Pancakes in under 3:21:59.
Will I go back to Boston if I am able? You bet!

Thanks for the help Vince. It was good to hug you Rocks again.

Ken

Martin Parnell writes:

Hi Vince and all the Sudbury Rocks,

Finally back in Cochrane, Alberta it's time to reflect on six days in Boston. John and I hooked up with Monique, Stephanie, Karen (and her friend Bev) and Ann at the marathon expo on the Saturday morning. John met his uncle Vinny and the rest of us bought new wardrobes (jackets, hats, vests, runners etc). That night a group of us went to "Cheers" where every body knows your name.

Sunday was a relaxing day and we agreed to meet at the entrance of the athletes village at Hopkinton on Monday morning. John and I got there at around 7.30am and met up with the rest of the gang. It was a long four and a half hour wait til noon and all the time the temp was getting hotter. The gun went off at 12.00 but we didn't cross the start line until 15 mins later.

Monique's done a great job in describing the race but I would like to add a couple of things : the infamous post box incident early in the race. I was slightly behind her when she turned to throw water in my face, that's when the post box leapt out, I think Monique was trying to mail herself to the finish line. The heat was unreal with fire hydrants being opened and people with garden hoses all along the route.

Four of us ran together (Karen, Monique, Audrey from Yellowknife and me) until the 35km mark when Karen and Monique bolted. Audrey and I passed loads of people walking the last few kms and there were quite a number laid out on the side of the road. We crossed the finish line together and the cheers of the crowd was fantastic. We all got together after the race, tired, caked with salt but happy.

Hi to all the Rocks, see you in June, Martin

Check All the Rocks Results Here

Paul McNeil writes:
My good friend and training buddy, Gary Petingola, just completed his
personal best, 3:56, in a marathon in Australia.
The site is www.canberramarathon.com.au
I thought you may want to post something on your site.
Excellent site by the way.
Paul

The second event in the Sudbury Fitness Challenge Series goes this Sunday starting with the DQ 2k Youth Challenge at 9:30 am, followed by the 21.1k at 9:45 am and finally the 5k and 10k at 10:30 am. All events start and finish at the Laurentian University Track. Come out and enjoy a truly family event.

Note: I've canvassed numerous volunteers and I thank you very much for committing your time. Please plan on being available at the track about 1 hour before event commencement. Vince

Congrats to Andrew Ellerton, who ran a PB of 1:49.05 (by .01 second)
in the 800m at the Eastern Michigan Open last weekend. That qualifies
Andrew for the Regional qualifying meet and ranks him 19th in the
NCAA at this point in the season. He runs at the Penn Relays this
weekend (the Relays are on NBC at 5:30 PM on Saturday).

Our Nevada ticket sponsor is finally up and running!!!! After 3
months of waiting for various approvals, our licence has arrived and
the machine is up and running. Thanks to the Crazy Horse Tavern in
Chelmsford, our new sponsor. If you're ever in downtown Chelmsford,
stop in for a ticket and a beverage (no, not you Paul Walker!!).

Our next step is to try and land a Bingo.

Two very nice results over the weekend:

Penn Relays - Philadelphia

Andrew Ellerton ran a couple of nice relay legs at the Penn Relays:
He busted a 1:47.8!! (off a 52-low 400m split) in his 4 x 800m (team place was 5th) - the time is especially good because he ran into another runner at the exchange and came to a dead stop.

The day before, he ran a 4:03/1600m in the distance medley (team place 4th).

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Rowland Games - Toronto

Kaitlyn Tallman ran a nice pace in the invitational 3000m, kicking like crazy over the final lap for a 10:32.47. Kaitlyn, by the way, is still only a Junior and the event was by invitation-only, for all high school ages. Kaitlyn's pb is 10:29. Her 10:32 is an excellent start to the season.