The end of June going into July was extremely busy, with the kids finishing school, the Utopia Backyard and the three 5km races that Zachary and I both ran. The first two were smaller community races in Tottenham and Barrie however the third, was a part of our family vacation to the East Coast. With my daughter competing at the ScotDance Canada national championships for Highland Dancing as the provincial champion, we all made the trip to Moncton, New Brunswick for a family adventure, even though Zachary had just returned from his own trip to Fredericton, NB for the Eastern Canadian Artistic and Trampoline gymnastics championships as a provincial champion only a few weeks prior.
Overview: The Shediac Lobster Festival Claw Run is a community event offering 5km and 10km options, as a part of their week-long lobster festival. Now it’s 5th year, the 5km distance is also included as one of the events in the RunNB Open Championships. Being a championship race, it was sold out long before we arrived and had a good-sized attendance (460 athletes).
Course: The event is an out and back for both distances, with the 10km reaching further towards Parlee Beach Provincial Park and the 5km turning back at the South Cove in Shediac Bay. It playfully begins inside of a giant lobster trap, with the entire field inside of the trap section awaiting the starting horn.
On-course Support: TBH, I don’t recall if there was an aid station, however there were lots of volunteers and marshals, helping to control road crossings where before the course entered the trail system.
Surface: It was a mix of road, paved sidewalk and trails which were double wide crushed stone. The surfaces were all clear and dry that day as well.
Weather: The weather was very hot for the days leading up to the race, however cooled-off significantly that morning. The sun was out initially pre-race with a high of 14°, however the clouds rolled in as the race started with some wind behind them.
Atmosphere: I had a chance to drop in with a run club the day before in Moncton and had a bit of a brief about the event and what to expect. As it was a part of the championship now, there will be some fast college/university runners who will show and we would likely see some gaps in the lead groups as a result. Regardless, this was a fun, community-driven event, with an even mix of families and serious-looking athletes at the start. The volunteers on the day were all happy to be a part of the event, cheering on all those competing.
Post- race: As you come to the finish line, you cross and end up inside of the giant lobster trap again, water, bananas and granola bars immediately available at the back of the tent space. Adding to this, there was also a community breakfast on site, for a few more dollars at registration which definitely hit the spot post-run and was a lot of fun with some very entertaining volunteers serving up the meal options.
Overall: It had been a busy 7 days leading up to this race, with a 17hr hour drive on Thursday into Friday, following a scorcher of a 5km on Canada Day, an easy community 5km on Monday and the Utopia Backyard only 2 days before that. I wasn’t sure what I had left in the legs, let alone what Zachary had after two races so close that week. I shook them out with the Moncton 8at8 crew the morning before and really just went to have some fun.
As expected, the lead group gapped with the top 5 finishing under 17mins, and one just over. This followed with some tight grouping in the 19-20 mins chaser group. Neither Zachary or I were fighting for anything other than a good time, and we both enjoyed the race and the comradery with those who had competed around us with lots of jokes and banter after the race.
Zachary: 22:01 | 30/307 – 1st place 1-19M
Patrick: 20:21 | 17/307
As a way to break up the seemingly endless bagpipe soundtrack that was a lot of our family trip, this was an excellent way to take in some of the local sights. I reconnected with one of the runners from the day before after the race and made a few new friends who I ran with at another run club night a few days later, with one even commenting on how great of a runner Zachary was without even knowing he was my son. The running scene in the area may be smaller than the GTA but I was welcomed into all 3 events I ran that week and enjoyed the community and my trip all that much more for it.
The dance side of the trip worked out pretty well too, with my daughter taking the runner-up placement in the Canadian championship for her age group! 😁
