Labour Day weekend marks the end of every summer and with that, comes one of my favourite local races in Gotta Run Racing’s annual run within Island Lake Conservation Area, in Orangeville. After running this solo a few years back, the event has quickly become a cherished family outing.
Following a mid-summer hip injury, I had taken some time off to rehab and slowly started working my way back running. I made the reluctant decision to drop from my usual 10km to the 5km race option, as even if I wasn’t feeling great, I could still run with and cheer on Zachary.
Course: Being used to the 10km route, with groomed pea stone and wooden bridges, the 5km course was quite different. While there is overlap in the first kilometer on the road as well as the forested single track at the halfway mark, the 5km route includes more rollers and slopes (about 75m elevation gain), as well as about a kilometer of cross country double track grass.
On-course Support: There was one aid station that I noted just past the halfway mark, cheering on everyone passing even if they didn’t stop. Additionally, there were marshals/volunteers at most transitions and major directional changes.
Surface: A huge mix of every surface you can imagine! Gravel, pavement, pea stone, hard packed dirt, exposed roots, rocks and into a long section of grass covered double-track. Everything was dry, except for a few dew-covered corners on the grass.
Weather: A cool early morning, sitting around 9-10° before the sun started heating up the staging area but absolutely perfect 15° by the time the races started.
Atmosphere: A great turn out with around 350 registered runners, along with family and friends in attendance. The kids race started the morning events and the energy was electric. Zachary and fellow Running Free teammate Domenic Lonuzzo led the group of young sprinters around the course with parents and family loudly cheering on their loved ones. This energy carried over to the start of the 10km and 5km races, with music pumping and cheers all along the corral. Plus, we had my parents in town visiting, who were able to cheer us all on!
Post-race: Water and medals were available at the finish line, with snacks and additional hydration near the pavilion (bananas, granola bars and salty snacks too), massage and physio services from Eramosa Physiotherapy Association (EPA) and protein and electrolytes at the Thrive Protein tent.
Overall: Zachary and I were there early to help setup as volunteers, so we had the added benefit of meeting a lot of the other volunteers and Team Running Free members, in addition to giving Zachary a better understanding of the logistics required to put on an event of this size. He had been fighting a cold and while he wasn’t at full strength, he told me he had a great time helping to stage the area and tear it down afterwards. Zachary was curious and asked dozens of questions along the way but everyone was so kind to him and he felt right at home.
Highlights:
1) Watching my daughter chasing Zachary as he led the kids through their race, was a proud papa moment, as she held on for a 3rd place finish. She has since told me she’ll be trying out for the XC team at school now that she’s old enough, so we’ve got another athlete coming soon!
2) Knowing that neither Zachary or I were at full strength, we had planned on just running for fun, however we lined up with Gillian House from Thrive Protein, who I’ve raced with a few times over the years. I’ve seen her training really hard this summer and she told us this was her first race back post-partum! Just seeing her excitement and nerves fired me up to give chase. Well, sure enough she went out and broke her own course record, and took the podium (21:54 👑). What an amazing inspiration!
Zachary and I went out fast but the pace was too quick for him and he slowed to enjoy the race, while I held with the lead pack. The course had every surface type imaginable and seemed to have an extra 300m distance, which hurt when I was gassed at 4.5kms 🤣
I held pace for the duration, only losing a position to Gillian and managed a 10th place finish overall, which is a promising result for my rehab. Zachary had a hard race but ultimately enjoyed his day, especially seeing the final results:
Zachary: 26:28 | 28/171 | 2nd place age group
Patrick: 22:41 | 10/171 | 2nd place age group
Thank you to all the volunteers and partners for putting on a great day and of course the tireless efforts of Jodi and Norm, who truly are pillars of the running community and host an amazing event to cap off the summer with!
