Niagara Falls puts on a first class running event and always attracts many Northerners. Over 50 participants travelled from Sudbury and surrounding Communities to take part in events from the 5k to the marathon this year. Most sampled the rest of what Niagara offers as well from sightseeing to attractions and shopping plus many opportunities to sample different foods.

The Niagara Falls International Marathon starts by the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo N.Y. The first 6.5km (4 miles) of the race travel the beautiful majestic parkways of Buffalo before crossing the Peace Bridge into the historic old town of Fort Erie, Ontario. The route then follows the Niagara River Parkway and finishes at the majestic Niagara Falls. Participants are bused to the start in Buffalo from Niagara and the Albright-Knox Gallery graciously opens their doors for all providing a great space for keeping warm and checking out the gallery if you're so inclined.

This year's high points:

• Hotels well located with bus service from the Brock to the Run starts.
• The most Starbucks locations I've seen and the Brock Bucks opened at 5:00 am
• Mama Mia's has good Italian food - enough said
• Bus trip to Buffalo was great and Organizers very helpful ensuring (luckily) that ALL runners had proper ID for the border crossing.
• The start including the Gallery was great. Our party of many were able to camp out inside and get prepared in the auditorium that holds hundreds.
• The course is a visual treat - from the suburbs of Buffalo, across the Peace Bridge, and then along the winding 2 lane Niagara River Parkway all the way to the Falls at Niagara Falls.
• The water stations were the best I've seen anywhere. The kids manning stations could be literally heard about 1/3 mile away. Their enthusiasm was most helpful and the Halloween costumes were a monstrous hit. Other excellent water/aid stations were the bikers in full battle gear, fireman, construction crew and the the police with their ladies in short leather skirts - YOWZERS!.
• The Pipe Band at 10k sped everyone up. Some because of inspiration and others because they just hate the sound of bagpipes. I personally loved them and took the time to place a request for Amazing Grace.
• Due to an unscheduled 1/3 mile recovery walk to mile 23, I was able to meet up with Steph Koett and Kirsty Frantzen. I was then in position to assist Kirsty achieve her Boston marathon qualifying time with fully 6 seconds to spare. That was one fast last mile we did. Congrats to Steph for doing a phenomenal pacing job until that point and kudos to Kirsty for putting the hammer down when it appeared there was little reserve left.
• The Finish area was great with lots of cheering support and quick access to food bags and the clothes buses.
• Our youngest Rocks!! distance runner, Lindsey Champaigne age 16, completed her first marathon and finished strong and satisfied.

This year's low points: -Only One-

• The north wind hit us unexpectedly hard once we turned unto the Niagara Parkway and never really let up until close to the finish line. Some points in the 10-12 mile area were extremely vicious. As a result most runners slowed considerably in the last 1/2. This was my second windy race and I will respect that element much more from now on.

Trevor Shamas writes:

First thing I need to acknowledge at the Niagara race-fest last weekend was Linda Poirier's presence. I think it's fantastic she's taken up running and that she took the opportunity to come down and run her first 10k. Sure, it came with great shopping opportunities, too, but from her comments before and after her event I think there's another running addict in the Rocks! fold. Congrats Linda!

Also congrats to all who made their Boston times this weekend! I recall a number of painfully happy yet relieved faces at the finish line from those who made it. Great to see.

Finally, and by no means last, I need to thank those who helped me out as things unwound on me. If I leave anyone out here it's just because of the haze I was in the midst of. Thanks to...

• Steph, Monique and Kirsty for trying to pull me along with you;
• Will for offering to give up his pace to drag me in;
• Vince for also trying to pull me along and for the phone call yesterday to make sure I was still on the planet;
• Dave for getting my bag off the bus as I couldn't manage the lineup (and while I couldn't physically laugh on the outside I was chuckling uncontrollably on the inside as you ripped the number off my shirt) and for the call yesterday;
• Lynn for getting the fleece wrapped around me that I couldn't seem to manage on my own and for making sure I didn't eat the sticker on that apple;
• Ken for opening those damn granola bar packages for me;
• Ken, Lynn and Vince for getting me on the bus back to the hotel;
• Sheila, Linda and Maureen for tucking me into bed as they left the hotel (I didn't move until 5pm).

I'm looking forward to a vertical finish next time!

And good luck to Ken and Vince as they do back-to-back marathons with Hamilton on deck for this coming weekend. You're amazing! Slightly insane, but amazing.

Trev

Suzanne Dionne writes:

I would like to say a big Thanks You to Lindsey Champaigne for being my running partner for the Marathon on Sunday. For such a young age I thought she was very couragious. Thanks Lindsey for a great run. Suzanne Dionne

Who Will Be There?

Ray Zahab
A true inspiration to anyone who has a dream to achieve! An endurance runner who has accomplished what was once impossible: running across the Sahara Desert! Read more about Ray Zahab below.

We are working on our list of confirmed speakers for this fall event. We are in touch with some exciting athletes, and we cannot wait to share the good news with you!