SUDBURY ROCKS!!!

The Sudbury Rocks!!! Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes

"Our vision has been realized"

The Run just gets bigger and better. From 400 participants in our inaugural 2005 event to about 1500 registrants in 2009, the Organizers can finally state "Our vision has been realized". Five years ago we dreamed of an event that would not only increase fitness in the community but would would be a vehicle to inspire people to take those first steps to a more active lifestyle. We did that by putting on a visual show. We got in front of people - by using high traffic roads, by closing roads, by pyloning 1/2 the city and by promoting, promoting promoting... The first couple of years were a struggle as we learned how to be successful road race organizers. By the third year the Police and City staff had faith in our abilities and our run took off. With their enthusiastic support and a new downtown location with the YMCA as our venue sponsor in 2007 our run spread its wings. And in 2009 we are definitely bigger and better. We won't sit back yet though. This event is all about promoting fitness with the hope of making a significant dent in the numbers of those contracting diabetes. We're not only promoting diabetes awareness, we're trying to do something about it through activity.

Thank You!

A run this size is quite a task to put together. The Organizing Committee literally work hard for 9 months to make the show happen. All are under the same stresses (or worse) as their regular jobs - especially in volunteer recruitment. We require about 350 volunteers to make this thing go. I require 150ish marshals, 30+ police staff, 8 cyclists and lots course monitors. The water stations take another 150 or so. Then the Venue and Registration gobble up the rest. All these enthusiastic helpers are on the course that day for hours. There's our sponsors. Most have been with us from the start but we do get new ones every year. And for little fanfare they provide us with the funds and/or equipment to ensure we can put on an event of this magnitude. There's our visionaries. This run would never have been without the initial vision and drive of Steve Matusch (our Director for 4 years) and Jennifer MacKinnon (Northern Director of the Canadian Diabetes Association). I thank you ALL!! vince

from Jennifer Mackinnon: I wanted to send you all a very huge THANK YOU for your efforts this year with the Sudbury Rocks event. I know at times things were challenging but yesterday was a wonderful day! Your efforts have helped to raise $41,000 and counting in pledges for the Canadian Diabetes Association, as well as build such good feeling and hope in our community for people living with diabetes.

I am someone who is affected by diabetes – my dad and sister both have type 2 diabetes, my grandmother died of complications three years ago, and it runs in my husband’s family as well. On behalf of the Canadian Diabetes Association – and the MacKinnon-Watters family – thank you.

See you May next year!

Jennifer

from Steve Matusch to the Committee, Sponsors and Volunteers (edited slightly): There are a few times in our lives when we all have an opportunity to influence a large number of people’s lives for the better. This was one such opportunity, and all of you embraced that and succeeded admirably. I want you to think about this:

- Every runner out on that course (1,500 or so at last count!!!!!) had this opportunity because of you. Some were doing personal bests, some were doing a new first, and some were just there for the cheers of encouragement. But they were all there because of this opportunity that you provided.

- All of the people who were out there because their lives have been affected by diabetes, felt a bit better that day. This gave them a way to make a difference, and they were there because of you.

- All of the people who came to the Y for the first time – to see the facility and to learn about the all the good that the Y does in the community were there because of you.

- All of the people cheering the marathon relay team runners (a LOT of them) were there because of you.

- All of the kids having a blast earning their first participation's medals and feeling good about participatory sports had a great experience because of you

- All the family members holding signs cheering their mom/dad/brother/sister on their first marathon/half marathon were there because of you.

- All of the volunteers, marshals and police and well-wishers were all there because of you.

- That whole swath of Sudbury that was blocked off by a bazillion pylons – that collectively said that Sudbury is a FIT city…. that happened because of you.

Events like this, are important… they’re part what makes a city into a community. They’re what make people fit in, have fun, and enjoy living where they do. Thanks you so much for freely contributing your time and your talents to that.

And from me personally, as a runner, this was my first chance to run such impeccably organized and thoroughly organized event in my home town. I had this chance because of you. THANK YOU!!!!! I had the best and happiest running day of my life out there, and thank you for that.

Steve Matusch

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The Winners

CIS SudburyRocks!!! Marathon:

1 1238 Ken Stubbings 3:00:26 MM40-49 1/9 1 4:17 1:29:01 3:00:24 Cobourg

5 1215 Andrea Ellis-Nsiah 3:16:42 MF20-29 1/3 1 4:40 1:36:45 3:16:29 North Bay

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Marathon Relay:

1 408 Run of Muck 3:12:57 MRelay 1/10 4:35 3:12:53 Azilda
splits 1-4 21:44 19:47 24:56 30:17
splits 5-8 26:59 21:07 21:30 26:37
Jason Doucet ; Stephen Skjonsby
Dylan Roberts ; Renee Lefebvre
John Shelegy ; Renee Lefebvre
Steve Heddle ; John Doe

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Marathon Walk:

1 1287 Connie Buzzell 7:06:23 MWF40-4 1/1 1 10:07 3:27:30 7:06:23 Markstay

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Riverside Cardiac Clinic 1/2 Marathon

1 5246 nicholas wolynsky 1:23:59 HM20-29 1/19 1 3:59 1:23:56 SUDBURY

4 5178 Donna May Robins 1:26:42 HF30-39 1/40 1 4:07 1:26:41 North Bay

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Continental Insulation 10k

1 4154 Neil Phipps 38:41 LM30-39 1/26 1 3:53 38:40 Lively

6 4070 brooke gougeon 42:39 LF40-49 1/33 1 4:16 42:37 sudbury

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VALE Inco 5k

1 2578 Ross Proudfoot 15:55 SM1-19 1/71 1 3:11 15:55 Lively

11 2610 Emma Tallman 20:08 SF1-19 1/76 1 4:02 20:07 Mindemoya

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Congratulations to All Participants

All Results at: http://www.sudburyrocksmarathon.com/results/

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Other Stuff

Run photos will be available soon. Keep checking the website for updates. You can go to the site, click on our event and request an e-amail be sent to you when they have processed your photos. You can also view all the event pics when they are uploaded to the site.

http://www5.marathon-photos.com/scripts/index.py?branch=home

When Dave Chisholm decided to quit smoking after 32 years in 1999, he turned his attention to running to help keep his mind off the cigarettes.

It was an easy decision. His wife, Monique Fournier, was an active runner with the Sudbury Rocks running club.

"Her coach, Vince Perdue, pushed me into running a five kilometre race," said Chisholm, 55, shortly after finishing the 10- kilometre race in the annual Sudbury Rocks!!! Race, Run, or Walk for Diabetes on Sunday morning. "'We will start with a five-km and see how you like it'. I was hooked after that. And then, you try and beat your time."

Chisholm was one of almost 1,300 runners and walkers who took over many of the city's major arteries to help raise money for diabetes research. Chisholm's time was 1:01:34.

"I was aiming for one hour," he said. "I had a little trouble with the hills."

What made competing in the 10-km race all the more special for Chisholm was the fact he had not run in some time due to rotator cuff surgery and had just resumed running in February. Even with the time he lost due to the surgery, Chisholm has already participated in four competitive runs.

Sunday was Chisholm's second appearance in the Sudbury Rocks big event.

While Chisholm didn't raise any pledges on top of his entry fee, he did attend the fundraising pasta dinner Saturday night.

"It's important to support the cause -- diabetes research," he said. "And it was good to get back into running again."

 

Sudbury Star reporter Rachel Punch, who trained for months in preparation for the media celebrity five-kilometre run and wrote about her training regimen in a regular column, came out on top with a time of 28 minutes flat.

"My goal was under 30," she said, following the race. "I feel pretty good about it. It was a good experience."

Punch not only won the race, but also had the highest fundraising total -- $1,056 -- of all media celebrities.

Two Rogers Radio employees, Holly Thorne and Angela Gemmill, whom Punch left in her wake, both said the run was a good experience.

"My time was 45:01," said Thorne. "I was 15 minutes faster than last year."

Gemmill, meanwhile, raised $160 in pledges. "I did it in 38:06," said the reporter, who like

Punch, had been training for the event. "I'm also pre-diabetic. This run has special meaning for me."

Lori Rudzki, community intake co-ordinator with the Canadian Diabetes Association's Sudbury branch, said that as of 10 a. m. Sunday, the event had raised $40,747.16, well ahead of the $35,000 raised in 2008.

She said the additional money was through bigger participation. Some 1,200-1,300 people took part in the event this year, up 300-400 from 2008.

"Participation was great," she said. "We had a lot of support from media like The Sudbury Star, Rachel Punch's column. The publicity and promotion in the community really helped bring up the numbers."

Rudzki said the five-kilometre and half-marathon races were the two most-popular events.

"We (also) had a good turnout for our newest event -- the team marathon," she said.

Read the story including Video at the Star site: http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1552112

 

SUDBURY ROCKS!!!

Other Run Stories

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Short Stocky Legs and Life - by new Rocks!! member, Catherine Perrin

Short, stocky legs - that's what God cursed me with. I did everything in my power and a whole lot of things outside of my power to transform those short, stubby legs into long, slender ones. I tried every fad diet short of starvation (oh wait, I tried that to), tried every workout routine ever invented, then I invented a few of my own and I bought every contraption known to man in hopes of trimming down those legs. I prayed for long, slim beautiful legs, but I never did get them.
Suddenly, life ploughed me down with one up-hill battle after the other and now my legs seemed like the least of my worries. At the ripe old age of twenty-four, I found myself divorced with three little kids. Poverty and child rearing don't mix. The simplest of everyday tasks became a constant struggle. The bi-weekly trips to the laundromat, the daily trips to the grocery store and worse yet the long walks home were almost too much to bare. I rarely had money for the bus, let alone a taxi, so wherever we had to go, we walked. Coaxing three pairs of tired little legs along was no easy task but those kids were good little troopers and boy oh boy, could they ever walk.
Finally, all but the youngest were in school, so I went back to school myself. Now I had to run the kids over to the sitters, run like the dickens to catch the bus, run to class, run home after school to make supper, run up stairs to put the kids to bed then run back down to do my homework. Life was one big race. Then I got a job, made some poor choices, wound up working two and sometimes even three jobs just to make ends meet and still found myself running. Running to work, running to the grocery store and still, sadly running to the laundromat.
Eventually, I learned how to play the cards I was dealt and life got so much easier. I now have a great job, a beautiful house and low and behold, I even have a car. When I got the car I couldn't wait to put my bike in the shed. I drove the car for at least two days before I was filled with an overwhelming sense of sadness. I realized that I actually loved to ride my bike to work so at the end of the day I dragged my bike back out of the shed and put a big smile on my face. "I thought you said you were so happy not to have to ride your bike to work anymore Mom" said one of my bewildered children. "I no longer have to ride it, I now chose to ride it and there really is a big difference.
Life was clicking along so perfectly I thought what more could there be and then I discovered running. Not running because I have no car or I'm late for work or because we're all out of milk and the grocery store is going to close in ten minutes but because I simply love to run. Sometimes I run with my daughter who actually introduced me to it and sometimes with both daughters and even a son in law or two. It can be a fun social event or a solo experience. If I'm a little sluggish in the morning, a brisk run to work is just the thing I need to start the day with a new found energy and enthusiasm. At the opposite end of the spectrum, if I've had an especially frustrating day, a quick run home calms me down and clears my mind so I enter the house feeling happy and content. Once in awhile though, I experience that perfect run when my body is gliding along like a well oiled machine. The only sound I hear is the steady pounding of my feet hitting the pavement and my strong, rhythmic breathing. I feel as though I could run forever. At that moment nothing else matters, I am so completely alive and so happy to be in my life.
I thank God for these strong, steady legs that have carried children, groceries and laundry over more mile than I could ever count but more importantly for carrying me through the tough times when the ground was a little shaky and my spirit a little weak. These legs helped me run when I had to run and let me run when I loved to run.
On Sunday, May 3/09, I ran my first half marathon. The wind was a little strong and the air a little cool but the sun shone and the people smiled and I was so glad to be part of that huge adrenalin rush. I ran with my daughter Tawnecia who kept a good steady pace and slowed me down when she saw me struggle, yet pushed me on when she knew I could do better. The last two k were almost unbearable. I truly didn't think I could go on. She told me to pretend I was just late for work so I put that image in my head and ran a little faster knowing that if, I really was late for work I'd have to keep on running and soon I'd be there and then (and only then) I could stop. As we ran that final hill, I groaned in agony but I kept on going. As we topped the hill Tawnecia said "Mom, I need you to reach down inside and run like you've never run before." As I loudly (as loudly as I could, being out of breath and such) protested assuring her that I have been running like I've never run before for the last twenty k or so, she took off. What could I do, I couldn't let her down so off I went with amazing speed for the amount of pain I was in not to mention my completely depleted energy supply. As we neared the finish line I could hear the cheers and I knew "I made it" I couldn't see straight, couldn't walk straight and couldn't talk, but I did it. At that very moment I realized that I loved my legs and I knew that whether I came in first or last, I crossed that finish line thus, I was a winner. So now when I look back at the difficult times, instead of saying, "Boy, I sure had a hard life, I can smile and proudly say, "Wow, I sure trained hard for the big race."

Catherine Perrin

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The Kenman - by Rocks!! menber Ken Stubbings

Well now this year's Sudbury Rocks Marathon ended way out in left field. The Kenyans did not show.... so the "Kenman" was able to come through. Other than the nice last 12km of head wind, the race was good. A first place finish was not even on my mind. (Being an old guy and all.) I had no plans in mind for this run; # 36 of my goal 50 by age 50. I did not carry a pace band. I hardly looked at my watch. And those 3 young guys ahead of me were not even in sight between the 21k and 30k mark. I knew I was in fourth place coming through the 1/2 and figured was I was just there for a good time. But the race is never over till you hit the finish. Right coach.... Us old guys just keep hanging along and sneaking up to those fast young bucks. Thanks everyone for sharing my moment of glory.

To us runners, the event was very well done. What do we want.... good water stations, good port-a-potties, good marshals, a medal, and a shirt. Well, I did not use a port-a-potties, but I know the other items were good. The organizers' long nights, hard planning, and nagging at each other showed through in the professionalism of the event. Trust me, your little details do show for the runners that know enough to look at them. The addition of the marathon relay helped to add more action on the second loop of the run. I suggest you keep the relay run.

I believe Lynn had a good run in the 10k. This is taper time for her as she prepares for the London 1/2 marathon next weekend.

I am off to the full marathon in London next weekend. And no, I am not doing another 6 in 6 this year. ( Well maybe ... no just kidding... well ...oh I don't know.)

Thanks Rocks for the 1st place cash prize. It will come in handy for the Manitoba Marathon in June.
Ken Stubbings

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My First Ever - by Abby Gilbert

I just felt that I needed to drop you a quick note to tell you guys what a
fantastic job you did! I participated in the 10k, and it was my first ever
organized race. I have only been running for about 9 months now. Your
volunteers were great! I need to let you know about one particular volunteer.
I have no idea who he was, but he was at the 6 km mark, and he really clapped
and made eye contact with me. I couldn't help but smile. All the volunteers
were supportive. What a wonderful first experience. I will be back next year
for sure!

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Everything Was Good - by Rocks!! member, Will Tai

The Sudbury Rocks!!! Race, Run, or Walk for Diabetes just keeps getting better every year. From the charismatic and interesting guest speaker at the pasta dinner, to the support after the finish of the race; it was a pleasure running in our home town, in a superbly organized marathon with fantastic volunteers along the route. From the course markers, to the aid stations, to both new and familiar faces who cheered us on; I only have high praise for all of those that worked hard to make the 2009 event the best yet. From a participant perspective everything worked to perfection.

Tawnecia & I will greatly miss Sudbury - not because of the city itself, but in large part due to the fantastic team and friends in the Sudbury Rocks!!!

Thanks for making the race day so enjoyable, and I wish all of the Rocks and Running Room runners/walkers all of the best in achieving their future goals.
William

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Allo and Thank you - from Rocks!! and family member Suzanne Dionne

Thanks so much, for the marathon weekend. It shows it was hard work, you inspire me every time. I loved running the Marathon on Sunday because I knew how well it was organized. I loved the set up. Start to finish. So “Thank you Thank you Thank you !!!!!!!! To you and you’re team. Brent Sheila and Trevor you are true friends and I love you for that.

Now to my fans Karen Beaulieu, Monique Fournier and Haley you are too cute for words. Now Lise Perdue is a true God send to have driven at any point she could think of to bring Elle to help me feel strong. Man did that help. It was so nice to see all the familiar faces like Frank, Linda and Steve Archer a true fan of his wife and friends it was all good.

Last but not least I saw allot of familiar volunteers, students and adults and I hope they feel good about what they did do help out because they are very much appreciated. And if I did not say thank you twice. Then I thank you again now.

Suzanne Dionne

Celine Loyer 2nd in York Event

Toronto:

Sudbury sprinter Celine Loyer captured a very close second place finish in the womens open 100m at the York Lions Spring Open. Loyer captured the Silver in the womens 100m in a time of 12.45 only one one thousand of a second off first place.The time was so close that both first and second had the same time. This is Loyer's first outdoor race of the season. The meet was held at York University in sub standard conditions with a temperature of only 9 degrees. Loyer is off to Florida with members of Team Canada for a training camp. Loyer is a Second year massage therapy student at College Boreal in Sudbury.

Women 100 Meter

Name Year Team Finals Wind H#

Finals
1 Ruediger, Kate U. of Toronto T. 12.45 1.6 2
1 Loyer, Céline 89 D.S.S.G. Athleti 12.45 1.7 1
3 McHaina, Chisomo 92 Laurel Creek T.F 12.59 1.6 2
4 Harrison, Christina 89 Project Athletic 12.65 1.7 1
5 Braithwaite, Vanessa 89 Unattached 12.76 1.6 2
6 Katz, Sarah U. of Toronto T. 13.10 1.6 2
7 Markowitz, Nicole York University 13.13 1.7 1
8 Rwahwire, Quinnie 90 Project Athletic 13.72 1.7 1
9 Robinson, Leah 93 Laurel Creek T.F 15.58 1.6 2


Official results here at www.yorku.ca/yutc/