Sunday October 11th

Race Director Ted Keenan with the assistance of the Onaping Falls Nordic Ski Club and many volunteers, hosted the 2nd annual Turkey Trot on the Windy Lake Trails. There was a 1Km Kids Run, a 5Km Run or Walk and an 8.5 Km Run. For everyone's convenience bus service was arranged from 2 locations - the Sudbury Running Room and Chelmsford's Place Bonaventure Mall.

Race morning was cold with a 9:00 am temperature hovering at 0 but the sun came out and at least the runners were warm. The rest of us bundled up and cheered.

70 participants competed for fun, medals and loads of prizes. Nobody came away empty handed as even the race bags were loaded with goodies including cashews or almonds and sometimes both.

All Results Here

If you want to see phenomenal fall colours and get a great walk or run at the same time this event should always be on your list. Plan for it next year.

 

A record crowd of 140 walkers and runners took part in the 2009 Walden XC Turkey Gobble. The event was hosted by the Walden Cross Country Fitness Club and is the final race of the year in the Sudbury Fitness Challenge series.

The day was cool with broken cloud cover providing lots of sunny breaks. The run was quite pleasant as the trails are sheltered from any winds and the fall colours were at peak.

Starting off the event was the popular Kids 1k. followed by the mass start 3.2k and 6.4 walk/run .( All Results Here)

The best was saved for last when all participants and volunteers were treated to hot soup, chilly, coffee, cold drinks and draw prizes.

The overall Fitness Challenge winners were awarded after the draw prizes. Sarah McIlraith was crowned Ms. Sudbury Fitness and Neil Phipps Mr. Sudbury Fitness. Congratulations to both.

Thank you to the Race Director Patti Kitler and her volunteers for putting on a quality event year after year.

See you all in Naughton next year.

 

We hope all of the Rocks!!! are enjoying their fall running, and wish them continued success in all of their athletic endeavours.

Tawnecia & I have been keeping up with our running, and their is a very supportive community of recreational & competitive runners in Kelowna, BC.

Just this past weekend we completed the Royal Victoria half marathon, which has been quoted as one of the top 10 destination marathons in North America and the most Regal Marathon. It is also a large event with 2611 finishers in the marathon, 4603 finishers in the half marathon, and 2150 finishers in the 8K.

The quotes were quite true and the weather was wonderful, as the race started out at around 4 degrees, and it warmed up to 14 degrees by the time the marathoners crossed the finish line. This was a unique event in which we were able to see some of the top elite marathoners finish, since the marathoners start 1 hour after the half marathoners. It was quite exciting watching the first, second and third female marathoners cross within several minutes of each other.

The course is gently rolling and goes by the BC legislative buildings, and the Royal Wax Museum, as well as beautiful ocean scenery. The event was extremely well organized, and and the food was absolutely the best (both at the pre-race pasta dinner and post-race finishing chute). Tawnecia & I were both happy with our results, although as expected the last few kilometres were tough - all of the hill training in Kelowna helped us a lot, since we could see many runners struggling with the continuously rolling terrain. The easy-going attitude of the volunteers and residents of Victoria made the kilometres go by quickly. Anyone looking for a fall marathon with a relaxed atmosphere in a beautiful city with lots of participants and the best food would be well advised to consider this event.

However, we hope that all of you will skip this event in 2010; since we look forward to welcoming as many Rocks!!! as possible to our home city event in 2010 - the BMO Okanagan marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K.

Cheers,
William

Results Here