We had the pleasure of running on Sunday September 28th at the Newmarket Huskies-hosted Don Farquharson Memorial cross country races in the Sheppard’s Bush trail system in Aurora. This race is run in memory of the Canadian Masters legend himself, with family members in attendance to help honor his legacy.
I was turned onto this event through a running friend I met earlier in the summer, Daniel Fiorini, who is himself a Masters coach with the Newmarket Huskies. With both my children now interested in and at the age where they can join their respective elementary school XC teams, this sounded like the perfect opportunity for them to get at least one XC race in before their school meets, as while the event is predominantly filled with track teams, it is open to the public and offers 1km, 2km and 4km distances for the varying age groups.
Final push
Course: The 1km and 2km course is a quick loop beginning on the soccer fields, heading up a short berm and leading into the north end of the trail system and back to the soccer field for the finish, with the 2km taking a second loop. The 4km course also starts and finishes the same however takes a turn and runs south and downhill into the trail system, with a larger loop twice over a bridge and back up the hill to the fields. Both courses were well marked with marshals and ribbons.
On-course Support: No aid station necessary with this distance but marshals and bicycle crews were available if you had any emergencies.
Surface: Cut grass on the fields with primarily pea stone double wide for the trail system. The surfaces were dry, though a section of the trail seemed to have some bounce like a dried peaty marsh.
Weather: A hot 20° with the sun in warm ups and in the fields. Some reprieve from the sun in the trails but the temperature was steady there as well.
Atmosphere: A sea of fluorescent yellow and black, being the Huskies team colours, with a lot of runners and team affiliated volunteers in attendance. I counted at least 10 different track teams with a handful of unattached runners, such as the three of us. The crowds were generally grouped together for warm ups as expected but there was an open walk-through for the kids’ distances, to help scope out the course. Lots of parents and family members in attendance and of course cheers for everyone crossing the finish line.
Post-race: Everyone ran hard and just past the finish line was a consistent stream of athletes gasping for air and taking a few minutes to compose themselves. It felt as connective as lining up to start, and the jokes and accolades flowed easily, especially running into a few other unattached competitors that I know from the area.
Overall: As a “practice” race for the kids XC season, this was perfect. It was an appropriate distance for their pending races, had very competitive fields, dominated by track clubs and mixed surfaces. Knowing they’ll be running Snow Valley and Mount St. Louis for their area and county finals, I would have liked a bit more elevation but the speed made up for that.
The Newmarket Huskies put on a well organized and efficient race day, with the help of parents and friends and family, and truly made this a great XC event for the up-and-coming track athlete.
For myself, I haven’t run XC since high school, so this was a wholly new experience and I had a blast. My race was dominated by teenagers who ran very strong (1st place ran 12:56) and took 3/4 of the places ahead of my finish. The distance was perfect for me, as with my rehab this summer, I hadn’t spent much time on my speedwork and just past 4km has been where my pace has been dropping in some harder sessions.
After the initial scramble and bottle necks on the grassy segments, the pace settled out fairly quickly. I held strong on the inclines and passed on every downhill, only losing one position just before the 3km mark to a friend, Heather Pady who was finishing strong, chasing her husband, Richard.
The kids’ races followed the 4km and were equally quick across the field of competitors, with both Zachary and Colbie finishing strong in their distances and age groups.
The awards ceremony took place on top of the berm, with medals for the top 3 positions in the U8 and U10 in the 1km and U12 and U14 in the 2km. In the 4km, beyond the top 3 podium, they also had Canadian Masters Athletics medals for all 5-year age categories beyond 30.
Big smile after finally catching her breath
Colbie: 4:04 | 4/17 – 1st place U10 female
Zachary: 8:07 | 7/30 – 4th place U12 male
Patrick: 16:13 | 44/98 – 1st place 45-49 (my first CMA medal)
Colbie surprised all of us, taking 4th overall, 3rd in female and 1st in her age group category!
Zachary was initially disappointed in missing the podium in his age group but finished ahead of the 3rd place U14 and was the only unattached competitor in the top 20, so upon reflection was happy with his effort and finish.
Interestingly enough, all three of us had the same average pace for our distances, running a 4:04/km pace. I know they’ve got more untapped power to unleash, so I’m eagerly anticipating their next XC races!
Post race smiles
