July 5, 2007

Canada's ONLY Chase Marathon

INFORMATION

    Clinics

1. Firecracker Roadrace Results
2. Sustainability Joy Ride
3. So How Come We Didn't Know About Vitamin D
4. Gebrselassie's legend grows with One Hour Run World record in Ostrava
5. Upcoming Events - Friendly Massey Marathon
6. Running Room Update -
7. Track North News -
8. Mike Coughlin's Discomfort Zone Tri Section-Timberman Race Simulation Workouts - First one THIS SATURDAY

Firecracker Roadrace Results 2007 Out of towners took the top positions in this year's CVRD INCO Walden Firecracker 5km Road Race. James Gosselin from Timmins took top honours in a very fast 15:41. His quick time was the fastest run since 1999. Over a minute back came Toronto's Warren Ringler in 16:50 closely followed by Jean-Olivier Lambert from Timmins in 16:58. Our fastest local runner was Hanmer's 15 year old speedster, Benoit Bizier, in a time of 17:39. Kaitlin Tallman, 19, of Mindemoya was the overall female winner posting a time of 18:44. She was also 10th overall. A very young Britney Allard,14, of Timmins came in second posting 19:56. Local athlete, Melanie Muise, came third in 20:08. On the Masters front, Toronto's Jamie Black, 44, took top honours in a time of 17:53. Of note, Jamie is originally from Sudbury and was the first overall male winner in the Firecracker's inaugural event back in 1994 when a ran in the mid 15s. Sudbury Rocks!! Running Club member, Stephanie Koett, 44, took top place in the Female Masters Division in a time of 22:47. All Results Here Congratulations to all participants. There were many first timers, many who ran P.B.s, many who paced others to successful completions. And all finished standing. Thank you to all sponsors, volunteers and those who cheered along the way. Without you the race does not go. Of special note: the Organizers - Ron Poirier, Vince Perdue and Malcolm Stevens will be stepping down as Directors of the Firecracker Event. Don't fret! Already there has been interest expressed and someone is very keen on continuing the event and becoming the new Director. Ron and I will steer anyone interested through the organizational hoops for next year's event. Thank you all for supporting us over the years. Your assistance has allowed us to donate many thousands of dollars to the Northern Cancer Centre, the Circle of Strength Cancer Support Group and we were also able to give Dick Moss and Track North a few hundred dollars every year to help out the new generation of runners. I believe we made a difference and we back away a little sad but very satisfied. Thank you Ron Poirier. Your vision and actions made the Run what it became - the Jewel of the North -. The name of the event says it all. Not the official one -Inco Walden......- but what all local runners came to know as simply "Ron's Run". That's high praise and it's well deserved. We hope to see all of you next year under new leadership.       Vince Perdue A note from Minna Mettinen - Wheelchair Athlete and Sudbury Rocks!! Running Club Member This years INCO Firecracker run was my best race -ever! Despite the fact that I blew a tire @ 2.5KM.What is so great about it, was that the tire blew just at the right time. This gave me the opportunity to pace in to the finish a young man running his first 5KM race. A young man who entertained thoughts all racers engage with along a long and difficult race. Going into the race, I expected nothing more then to see what will happen to my warped rims and a bit of exercise. Having just come from a 6hr Tour D'e Toronto two days prior, I was glad to see a serene 5 Km route ahead of me on Canada Day.When I came up on the young man and realized why I needed to be there. Having just blown a tire, I thought of DNF'ing, but he appeared before I had time to act on that thought. Watching his struggles, I realized that I needed to hang back, help pace him to the end. Along the way, we made land markers as goal-posts to reach for before a walking session rewarded his efforts. We shared his fears and turned them into triumphs to look forward to. When he turned the second last corner, asking me how long we had been on the course, telling him it was only 37 min. propelled him past me in double time. He scampered around the corner, looking back as if for approval and i told him to "Go for it Buddy!" He never looked back, pushing onward one final time. This turned out to be the best race experience I've ever had. Sharing this youngsters triumph at the finish line was sweeter then finishing my own first half marathon. I never did ask him what his name was, but I'll always remember his face and our experience together. The young man was Connor Bowie. Minna donated her finishing prize to Connor - vince -minna

 

Sustainability Joy Ride

Celebrate cycling in Sudbury and join members of the Bicycle Advisory Board for a ride around Ramsey lake

2, 10, or 26 kms

The last Saturday of every month

Full Information here (PDF)

 

So How Come We Didn't Know About Vitamin D

forwarded by Tim Uuksulainen

Warren Bell and Alan Cassels
Special to Globe and Mail Update
Think health policy-makers make decisions about what's in the public's best interest and based on the best science? Think again.

While it may seem that decisions about health policy are made by people driven by concern with the public good, it's clear they get lots of help, encouragement and advice from corporate CEOs whose key concern is not the public good, per se, but keeping shareholders happy.

A recent news story underscores why an unsuitable marriage of health policy-maker and businessman may not be so good for our health. The story was about a scientific study, small but quite dramatic in its findings, that revealed that a humble, neglected substance - vitamin D - reduced cancer incidence quite unequivocally over four years if people took "extra" vitamin D.

So what's "extra"?
Every mother knows that the "proper" dose of vitamin D for her family is 400 units a day. What she won't likely know is that this number comes neither from careful study nor meticulous observation. It was born of haphazard science done in the 1920s when rickets was shown to be end-stage vitamin D deficiency. "Experts" at the time calculated the "recommended daily allowance" by taking the smallest amount needed to prevent gross deficiency - in this case, about 40 units a day - and multiplying it by 10. Presto, 400 units is all you need. And the number stuck. The thinking, as usually happens with vitamins, is that any more than that might make you sick.

Yet, for decades, the data have been building, showing that larger amounts of vitamin D are good for you. Animal studies and large human studies have shown that taking a lot more vitamin D than 400 units is both safe and beneficial.

You don't have to dig too deeply to find evidence that the drug companies habitually wield science in a way that benefits, above all, their investors. Spinning the science has shaped the minds of regulators, members of the medical profession and, of course, the consumer against this simple, cheap and remarkably effective vitamin.

But how might the thinking unroll in the executive suite of a large company manufacturing patented drugs?
First: You know vitamin D is good, but you can't make any money out of it because you can't patent the damn stuff. No promise of sizable profits means unhappy shareholders. Can't have that.

Second: If vitamin D actually stops people from getting sick, it can take a serious chunk out of the market for the patented medicines we currently make. Can't have that, either.

Third: If people increase their production or intake of vitamin D (and a host of other key nutrients, through diet and lifestyle, or supplements), they might stop worrying so much about their health. So, the market for fear-based products -drugs that lower "nasty" cholesterol, alter blood pressure and improve blood sugar - could well shrink. This is definitely not good for shareholders.

Given this fact pattern, how have the leaders in corporate medicine responded to this potentially difficult competitor?
First: They've worked on promoting the message with regulators and doctors (and you, dear reader) saying too much vitamin D could be bad for you. Reinforcing the "recommended daily allowance" message (despite being based on outdated and unscientific assertions) prevents people from taking vitamins in doses large enough to compete with patented products. Despite scant evidence to this effect, they've suggested that a host of micro-nutrients will make people sick if taken in too large amounts.

Second: They've played down the dangers associated with patented products with the message that prescribed drugs must be "safe" because they are rigorously studied by our companies, approved by Health Canada, prescribed by competent physicians and dispensed by helpful pharmacists. You can't say the same about vitamin D, right?

Third: They've used their giant drug studies (which the regulator requires them to do, in order to license their patented medicine) and flooded medical journals, inserted themselves into physician education and made sure the media got the right spin on those products. The punchline: Drug good, vitamin bad.

Are we then surprised that prescription drugs seem like the only game in town and that lowly unpatented substances, such as vitamin D, languish in obscurity? Remember this the next time you read a study about taking vitamins in larger amounts. In fact, you may want to ask your doctor if he or she knows anything about vitamin therapy that hasn't been put there by the ones keeping the shareholders happy.

And if you are told that prescribed drugs and surgery are your only options, you may want to take some time to fortify yourself with some second opinions.

Dr. Warren Bell is president of the Association of Complementary and Integrative Physicians of British Columbia. Alan Cassels, a drug policy researcher at the University of Victoria, is co-author of Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients.

Gebrselassie's legend grows with One Hour Run World record in Ostrava

forwarded by Tim Uuksulainen

- IAAF World Athletics Tour Wednesday 27 June 2007

Ostrava, Czech Republic - Despite his recent career shift to the roads, Haile Gebrselassie illustrated quite clearly that he’s still very much at home on the track after breaking the World record in the One Hour Run at the 46th Golden Spike Grand Prix in Ostrava tonight (27), the Czech stop of the IAAF World Athletics Tour 2007. Running before a near capacity crowd at Mestsky Stadium, the legendary Ethiopian covered 21,285 metres* over the course of 60 minutes to break the previous best, 21,101m, set by Mexican Arturo Barrios in La Fléche, France, on 30 March 1991.
“Today is just a fantastic day,” said a beaming Gebrselassie, after adding 184 metres to the classic distance running challenge. “I thought at half way that I would get the record. But 50 percent of the record is because of the spectators, and they were fantastic.” This was the second attempt by Gebrselassie to tackle the record. In his first, in Hengelo in 2002, a calf problem forced him off the track after 39 minutes. Besides a few grimaces, he showed no signs of faltering this time around. Assisted by three pacesetters, he reached the 10,000m point in 28:11.24 and two kilometres later (33:50.74), he was on his own. With his long refined surgical precision, Gebrselassie knocked off 68-second lap after 68-second lap before displaying remnants of his swift legendary finishing kick when the final minute countdown began. In the waning moments he even won another race, dashing past a judge who tried desperately to keep up and mark the spot where the hour would end. “I was expecting something special today,” he said. “I was worried a little bit about the wind, but it was ok. I think I could have run even faster.”

En route, the 34-year-old Ethiopian also broke the World record for 20,000m, covering 50 laps in 56:25.98*, well within the previous 56:55.6 also set by Barrios. These were the 23rd and 24th World records set by the two-time Olympic 10,000m champion.

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