Race: Whitby Canada Day 5k
Result: Unforgettable!
A decision was needed Sunday evening: get up next morning at 6 am for a 8:30 am race in Burlington on the other side of the GTA; or sleep past 9 am and hit a local 5k race with a 10:30 am start in Whitby? Burlington offered a certified course and age prizing – Kelly Arnott runs a class act there. Whitby on the other hand was a typical Ian Barron affair best taken without (m)any expectations.
Our Johnny Jogger chose the certified course in Burlington and an almost certain age prize. Even on twitchy hams, he managed to record the best 5k time in Ontario this year (18:34) for 60 and over. I chose sweet slumber and certainly enjoyed those almost three hours of extra sleep. Throw in a rust-buster 5k race to lube up the legs and my July would be off to a great start. No regrets at all on my decision. So let the “fun” begin!
The venue for my race was originally planned for Brooklin. The newly constructed pub that was to host the race however had not yet received occupancy (nor were there road permits) so Barron, in typical Ian Barron form, scrambled the race down to familiar digs at the Whitby Yacht Club. RoadRaceResult’s link to the race directed you to the Brooklin venue web-page; a direct hit on the Running Room race sign-up was the only route to the correct details. By the time I managed to find the on-line signup it was closed.
There would be a stiff race day sign-up fee of $60. A bit much for an Ian Barron race, but what the heck. Overall and masters prizes of $100 were advertised so I had a good chance of coming out ahead in the bargain.
I arrived early to sign up and met Mr. Barron. Race fees would actually be $40 but sorry this was a fun race and there would be no cash prizes. In fact, aside from the Canada Flag socks given at sign-up, there were no prizes at all awarded. Fair enough for only 40 entrants, but still typical of Mr. Barron’s frugal antics.
I jogged the entire course for a 5k warmup and my Garmin rang it up spot on. Can’t say all of Ian’s courses have been so accurate.
As we approached the start line, we met a person collecting the timing devices stuck to our bibs – but before the start? RRResults had been trying to get their timing system going and declared it dead. They would resort to their back up system: hand-timing. A new wrinkle for a Barron affair and a new one for most of the younger runners. But I am used to it, and quite frankly find it amusing. The GTA’s east side is poorly served by local races. Hopefully if we continue to support them they will improve. Until then, grin and bear it?
As is the case with 5k races, there is always one high school kid who shows up with fire in his Mizuno’s. So I chased him around from start to finish. I’ll take my 17:40 and second overall knowing it was really 17:36 and that I was three times his age. Ahh, the days of hand-timing in my own high-school harrier days. It does take me back…to times I’d rather forget!
Hot on my heels were a strong gang of Running Free upandcomers including Allan North (19:06), Mindy Fleming (19:12), Matt Maccarone (19:25), Joanne Bakler (21:11), Stan Dymecki (21:55), Jessica Jennings (22:06) and Dan Bates (23:26). Ajax RF athletes placed 2 to 9. In total we were probably 25% of all the entrants. What would Barron do without us?
Follow up (July 8): True to his original race advertisement, Ian delivered said prize money. I’ll eat some crow, and give Ian his due. He managed to pull off a small race and do it with some serious technical and logistical pitfalls. Can other race directors claim the same?
