Happy St. Patrick’s Daylondonpacers.on.ca/newsletter-pdfs/Pacers Newsletter - March 2008.pdf ·...

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Newsletter The London Pacers Running Club

www.londonpacers.on.ca

March 2008

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Besides St. Patrick’s Day, Great things happen in March: the clocks go forward

The snow melts

St. Patrick’s Day

The snow melts

Spring

The snow melts

Easter

The snow melts

Around the Bay

The snow melts . . . . . . . . . .

Then we have April

The snow better be melted

Oh ya—then we have a flood!

Please send your race re-sults to

[email protected] in advance of newsletter

deadline, March 30—so we can put the ATB results in

for April!.

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Executive President Jim Burrows [email protected] 519-474-3497 (H) Vice President Sonya Slaven [email protected] 519-657-0625 (H)

Treasurer Betty Timmons [email protected] 519-675-1657 (Home) Publicity Andrew Jones [email protected] 519-642-3520 (H) Social Alita Milliken [email protected] 519-472-0312 (H) Membership Gail Schmidt [email protected] 519-657-9936 (H) Secretary Gerda Zonruiter [email protected] 519-471-3550 Newsletter Sherry Watts [email protected] 529-858-9880 Web site Victor Kratchovil [email protected] 519-951-0243

London Pacers March 2008 Newsletter

Next Pacer meeting is Monday, March 10 , 2008 at 7:30 p.m

at Grosvenor Lodge on Wharncliffe Road

See next page (page 3) for Speakers information

Around the Bay Bus

Tom Mulligan, a former trainer from the Running Room, is organizing a bus to Hamilton for the Around the Bay Road Races. There may still be room available. If you are interested and have already registered for the race, please contact Alita. The approximate cost is $25.00 per person. Race kits will be picked up for you prior to the race, Details to follow.

Alita Milliken 519-472-0312 [email protected]

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London Pacers Meeting, Monday March 10, 2008 Grosvenor Lodge 7:30 PM

Guest Speakers

Pilates and Acupuncture Ann Rich graduated with a Master's degree in Acupuncture from the North-west Institute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (now Bastyr University) in the United States. Her practice focuses on athletes, women's health including fertility, to those just wanting to improve their overall health. Ann enjoys work-ing with all types of athletes and has worked with athletes training for, and on the United States and Canadian National Rowing Teams. Over the years she has assisted many athletes in a quick return from injury to competition. Out-side of acupuncture, Ann also spends her time coaching, she has been an ac-tive coach since 1995 and has been a rower since 1987. Her experience as a rower includes high school, university (Washington State University), and pre-elite racing. Currently she is an assistant coach at the University of Western Ontario. Larissa Mills has been teaching Runners, Rowers, Triathletes and various other amateur and professional athletes. With 25 years of combined coaching and teaching experience Larissa has established the only Pilates Certifying Studio in the London area. She is the Director and Founder of Pilateez.com and truly enjoys working with all clients. Pilateez.com offers regular, prenatal and postnatal pilates mat classes.The semi private sessions are really popular among athletes and clients. Her focus has been on relieving back, hip pain and improving athletes' performances. Pilates is a series of exercises that strengthen the core, including the low back muscles. For runners, we work on flexibility for tight hamstrings and IT bands, while the main focus is to teach runners how to use their core muscles rather than their legs to run longer and faster. On April 13 we are having a Pilates for Runners Seminar regularly $50 and will offer a $10 discount. There are only 12 spots. Take care of your Spine, Larissa This will be a group-participation workshop. Bring mats if you have them and wear comfortable layered clothing (start warm and peel as you go!). Larissa will bring a few mats for those who do not have them.

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Pacer Discounts Members of the London Pacers are given a discount on purchases at Runners Choice at 207 Dundas St

and at the New Balance store on Fanshawe Park Road W at Hyde Park Rd

WELCOME

Welcome new members Lydia Cappelli, Eric and Theodore Cappelli-Martell, and returning member Cheryl Scollard.

Warm greetings to individuals on the active membership list for 2007 who are cele-brating birthdays in March:

Don Armstrong, Michelle Braecker, Eric Cappelli-Martell, Johanna Dobransky, Jonas Do-bransky, Grace Dungavell, Gerry Fenwick, Valerie Giles, Doris Heinrichs*, Lynne Hughes Marsh*, Charles Kirk, Bryan Kussner, David Marsh, Tom Massel, Philip McRae, Cameron

Morris, Gillian Roberts, Betty Timmons, Tammy Whitehead *entering a new age category

Don’t forget to renew your membership for 2008. Memberships that are not renewed by the

end of March will be marked as lapsed.

Pacers Indoor Track Nights at TRAC for March Thursday March 6 8:00-9:00 Thursday March 13 8:00-9:00 NO regular track, because we are holding a 5,000m race. Feel free to enter, volunteer (we need counters) or come out and cheer.

Thursday March 20 8:00-9:00

Pacer Happenings March 2 Around the Bay training and pack run, Rowing Club, Wonderland Road 8:00 AM March 6 Track Night, UWO 8-9 PM March 9 Around the Bay training and pack run, Rowing Club, Wonderland Road 8:00 AM March 10 General meeting, Grosvenor Lodge 7:30 PM March 13 Indoor 5000m race, UWO 8 PM March 16 Around the Bay training and pack run, Rowing Club, Wonderland Road 8:00 AM March 20 Track Night, UWO 8-9 PM March 21 Downtown 5K, Victoria Park March 23 Around the Bay training and pack run, Rowing Club, Wonderland Road 8:00 AM March 30 Around the Bay Road Races

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London Pacers General Meeting Minutes, February 11, 2008 Executives in Attendance: Jim Burrows, Sonya Slaven, Betty Timmons, Sherry Watts, Gerda Zonruiter Attendees: 22 From the President:

Track – we are on an every other week schedule starting February 21.

Track meet – 5 k indoor track meet on March 13.

Really Chilly – sign up by the 14th of February and save $5.

Boston – 10 Pacers signed up. The race limit is 25,000 people.

Memberships – renew as memberships are due.

Shore to Shore Relay – registration fees increase after February 29. Two Pacer teams signed up. Gerda’s team is looking for a few women.

Speaker: Tina Gokstorp, OSO Yoga Tina led the group in a half hour yoga class, focusing on moves for runners. The class was excellent. OSO Yoga offers many different specialized classes. Free passes for a class at the OSO yoga provided by Tina will be made available to Pacers at the Sunday run.

To get more information on classes that are offered, visit www.osoyoga.ca – London location or www.osoyoga.com – Ailsa Craig location

Chilly goes green!

Thanks to Pacer Gwyn Hayman for approaching the Really Chilly committee with the idea to ask Loblaws Great Canadian Super Store for a donation of black cloth shopping bags. Gwyn contacted Richard Masse of GCSS and asked if he would be willing to donate 100

cloth shopping bags, Gwyn offered to donate 50 and the Committee bought 50 so that 200 bags were made available to the participants and volunteers this year for their race kits.

Gwyn also donated the Epsom salt bags for the race kits.

Thanks so much to Gwyn for a great idea!

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Ode to Springbank Park Bella Rikley

A tunnel of leaves

Rustling ,whispering, scurrying Blades of sunshine

Dappled shade Eyes adjusting, looking for the chipmunks

Opening onto my left hillocks To my right lazy river idles by.

Gnarled, spooky ancient willows sway as I pass Ahead a majestic soaring spruce, a baby in her limbs

Soon the cackle of waterfowl, the lovely swan family floats by Delighted visitors stop to admire.

A merry-go-round, a moat, and a promise of children’s laughter to my left. Open fields, miniature train, visions of long past picnics and games of soccer

Now replaced by an army of geese and their leavings A short downward curving slope skims beside a fish pond and manicured gardens.

Ducks shopping for dinner Soon the slashing plunging sounds of water flowing over a dam and

Look a family-a mutant family of white and grey “Canadians Up, up, up the hill where once raced soapboxes in the autumn sunshine

Into the curve of the horn of the park Traffic motors across the bridge and now a return eastward.

Past the little cottage and grand gazebo, the start and finish of many a races Soon the sun will be in my eyes and the welcome relief of shade

From the cathedral of pines will greet me I take in the smells of the earth and the residents of the farm below.

Peacocks and peahens shatter the silence like a siren.

Sulphur- a hidden dark pond appears Perhaps an underground springs feeds her

Does it ever freeze? The old pump house sits in welcome by the bank

Oh the years that building has survived.

A decision now-a final push up the “dogleg” The character building leg before the return.

Past chipmunk condos, the new footbridge and again to the beginning of our sojourn of this much loved park.

She’s a grand ole beauty in all seasons and continues to give me solace, friendship, inspiration and a renewal of spirit.

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The photos are of Lorne Duquette at the Florida State Racewalk Championships

Lorne shows the Pacer colours at the Florida Racewalk Championships. Lorne won his age group and brings home the gold from Florida.

Walkers! There are opportunities for walkers of all speeds and motivations to enjoy the company of a group.

Racewalkers and speedy power walkers meet Saturdays at Guy Lombardo Museum parking lot and

Sundays at the Rowing Club at 8 AM (as well as earlier and later for longer or shorter walks). Contact Sherry for more information: 519-858-9880

or [email protected]

Powerwalkers and fitness walkers meet with Karen Tuesday 6:30 PM Guy Lombardo Museum Parking Lot

Sunday 8:00 AM Rowing Club For more information contact

Karen (519) 641 -1004 or [email protected]

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The Really Chilly lived up to its reputation—not only was it chilly

but a little wet as well.

Thanks to participants, volunteers and to

Fanshawe college for making this such a memorable event.

Photos courtesy of

Tomas Dobransky

Sherry Watts

Jim Burrows

Shannyn Clancy—A past bursary recipient

Phill Rikley and Ray Lloyd

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REALLY CHILLY ROAD RACES - report It was not only chilly this year, but a little wet as well, in fact it was really wet and icy—maybe

we should have a name change—the Really Chilly, Icy, Wet, Unpredictable Road Races! Although the weather was typical for February, ie undependable, there were 138 finishers in the

three races.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, provided sponsorship for the chili meal and with prizes and those who participated—you can’t put on a race, small or large with a great group of talented people

and the Pacers once again showed their dedication to their sport and to the club.

Not only were the participants treated to great food afterwards, but volunteers, families and friends were invited to enjoy the plentiful chili and buns.

The hot drinks flowed endlessly and no one could say they went away without enough food or some-

thing hot to drink.

The Really Chilly committee did a fantastic job organizing, coordinating and juggling things around to make some pretty difficult weather conditions work. When the police come to the Race Director an hour and a quarter before a race and say they think the race should be cancelled, it’s a pretty tough decision to make but the decision to postpone rather than cancel seemed to give the course enough

time to thaw and the race went ahead a half hour late with no mishaps and no need for the services of the St. John’s Ambulance team this year!

The course marshals were very much appreciated by the participants. Many people reported that the marshals and Police offered encouragement along with their duties to keep the runners safe on the

course.

There were many first time race participants as well as many experienced runners and walkers at the race. The committee members received many commendations and positive comments about the race in general but in particular about the marshals and the overall organization of the race. People came

back to the gym, very wet but with smiles on their faces and in great moods, even though the race conditions were certainly less than ideal.

Fanshawe college, Fitness 101 had the gym ready, provided many Fanshawe volunteers and ensured

that the Committee had everything they needed to make the race a success.

Again, you can’t say enough good things about the Chilly committee. The monthly meetings for this race started in June of 2007 and each member contributed more than 100% to make this race a suc-cess. Not only did the committee work on the race but their families all contributed in some way be-

fore hand or on race day. Thank you to Nancy Johnston, Scott Slaven, Donna Kraft and Doug Weaver, I am so proud to say I have been a part of your Chilly Committee.

Paula Muxlow

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What? The London Distance Banquet is a fundraiser to help fund London’s Junior Distance runners as they pursue their ambitions of representing Canada at International competitions in both Track & Field and Cross Country.

Why? Canadian Distance Running is not well supported. Our National governing body requires self-funding for almost all major international competitions, particularly at the Junior age level. Without financial support, our best athletes may not be able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. The London Distance Running Fund has decided to make a difference in the lives of young runners and fulfill this need for London’s future generations.

How? The London Distance Banquet hopes to bring together the city’s running community to support this worthy cause and send the message to athletes that London cares. Through your support we will build on last year’s success and fund Lon-don’s future international stars in this wonderful sport.

Tickets can be purchased at Runners’ Choice, 207 Dundas St. (at Clarence) OR at New Balance London, 1422 Fanshawe Park Rd.(at Hyde Park). Contact Dennis Mazajlo at (519) 850-2914 ext. 14767 or [email protected] for more information & table reservations.

Where? Byron Legion Hall(Branch 533)-London 1276 Commissioners Rd. West When? Thursday March 27th, 2008 at 6:00 PM *Ticket Price: $20.00 Main course and dessert is included in the ticket price. *Silent Auction: Miscellaneous items will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. *50-50 Draw: A ticket will cost $2, or three for $5. Bring your pocket change! The Chris Brewster Award will be presented to a deserving high school distance runner who demon-strates excellence in athletics and community involve-ment. Last year, Mark Henshaw, 2007 World Junior Cross Country Team Member, received the 1st an-nual Chris Brewster Award. The Runners’ Choice Scholarship: One of our biggest supporters, Runners’ Choice, will recognize their 2007 scholarship recipients and open the appli-cation call for 2008.

Featured Speaker: Dave Bailey “Canada’s 1st Sub-Four Minute Miler”, is a London resident who repre-sented Canada at the 1968 Olympic Games and was ranked 4th in the world in 1967.

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MIAMI CRUISING - 2008 Imagine, if you will, more than 13,000 runners assembled in the predawn darkness around Shaq’s old Shack (the American Airlines Center) in downtown Miami. A rousing send-off complete with fireworks.

Imagine a concurrent start and course going in one long loop across the MacArthur Causeway, with a backdrop of enormous cruise ships, to Miami Beach, turning south, then east, then north before meandering back to the Venetian Causeway and returning to the city. After dropping the halfers, a second loop completes a tour of Little Havana punctuated by a 2-mile out-and-back on the Rickenbacker Causeway to Virginia Key between mile 22 and mile 24 before returning to the heart of the city. Imagine the last aid station as a sea of Trinidadian flags so reminiscent of last January’s torment on a sweltering day coming into Port of Spain. Now, imagine all of this in slow motion due to some sort of neuromuscular conspiracy of the knee extensors and the hip flexors of my left leg. I did and it wasn’t pretty! Knowing that I was a wounded duck from the get-go, my “race” strategy was clear: start slow and taper off. And I stuck to it! I saw the rear end of more bunnies than a hound dog in a cornfield in July. That was the story. The question was why? The answer was pre-booking and pre-paying a package with Run N’ Fun Vacations and then having the greedi-ness to do ten marathons in 2007. Something had to give, and that was the ability to run at anymore than a snail’s pace. I was still running (honest!) but even bonked walkers were passing me near the end! I had known that my training pace had depreciated by about 2 minutes per klick in the weeks leading up to the race but I still had an inkling of hope that 4 days rest would effect some miraculous recovery. Just forget the conspicuous wasting of my quads! We addicts call it denial. Anyway, running vacations can’t be vacations without running! Can they? And this vacation didn’t entail the sort of piecemeal arrangements that I traditionally quick-up for Maeve and my-self, this trip was entirely organized by Joe Delorenzis and Theresa Edmonson who not only accompanied the group but even recruited Jacqueline Gareau, one of a handful of Canadian winners of the Boston Marathon to be the featured embedded guest. Every detail including flights, the pasta feed, various transfers (amongst airports, hotel, expo and ship) and a 6-day western Caribbean cruise were meticulously but not oppressively orchestrated. The “group” included a lot of couples and extended families, runners and non-runners as well as the entire mynextrace.com staff.

Continued on page 12


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The flight down had been uneventful except for a couple from Kitchener both of whose bags were lost by WestJet adding insult to injury as they had cleverly split their belongings between the two in case one of them got lost. Gotcha! Saturday’s expo had been pretty typical of large events. Lots to do and see. The locals around the Miami Beach Convention Center seemed largely oblivious to it and, bundled in sweaters against the 75-degree cold, expressed amazement at the sight of so many scantily clad runners coming to-and-fro. Race day was warm-and-humid (by our standards) but essentially free of sun, a blessing for those of us that were pressing the 6-hour limit. It even sprinkled rain a couple of times. This was briefly cooling but ultimately reinforced the humidity. Nevertheless fluid stations were many and close together, and well supplied with product, personnel and enthusiasm. The marathon was won by Guatemalan Jose Amado Garcia (running out of Boston) in 2:17:43 and Kelly Lilje-blad (Boulder) in 2:47:13, missing her U.S. Olympic qualifier qualifying time by just a few seconds. Brian Sell beat the half-marathon-course record by over 3 minutes in 1:03:46 while Yolanda Fernandez of Co-lombia set a new course-record on the distaff side of 1:16:01. Many in our group including Jaqueline didn’t run at all. Joe had done the 5K walk the day before. Most that ran on the Sunday ran the half. With my sensational finish at the longer distance, Maeve and I barely had time to shower and catch the bus to the ship. For those of you who have cruised, you know, but for those of you who haven’t, you need to: it’s a sumptuous experience with a doting crew that greets you and treats you into lavish submission. Beyond the basic all-you-can-eat-loads-of-sun-lots-of-music package, CARNIVAL LIBERTY is Vegas-at-Sea with lots of coercion to use your sail-and-spend card as liberally as possible on all sorts of temptations not included in the basic price: drinks, gambling, spa treatments, gold, silver, duty-free liquor, fine art, etc. etc. all on-board. The ports-of-call were basically extensive markets for souvenirs and still more jewelry punctuated by a bit of sightseeing and the odd beach. That’s the slightly cynical review of things. (Just slightly!) Positively though, the ship had three swimming pools and four hot-tubs, a basketball court and a 9-lap-to-the mile rubberized track. (Imagine Jac-queline Gareau gliding effortlessly past streams of joggers and fitness walkers. Quite a sight!) The cruise did have some major hitches. The Cayman Islands’ stop was scrubbed as we had to double-back to facilitate a med-evac by heli-copter from the ship back to Florida. This trounced wedding plans for one large party that had 60 additional guests waiting for them on the beach, and a visit with his sister by the Runner’s Choice proprietor in Kingston who was in our group and had that feature as a major part of his vacation plan. GOTCHA!

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To add insult to this injury, the ship had to make a 10-minute pit-stop in the Grand Cayman port anyway in order to disembark three more critically ill people. So near-and-yet-so-far! GOTCHA again! For the rest of us the disappointment was assuaged by a couple extra hours in Jamaica and a refund of the cost of our stingray-petting Cayman outing which actually netted us no chest impalements and a refund cheque (even after the 10$ per person per day tip charge) when we finally got back to Fort Lauderdale. Within our RunN’Fun group there was minimal pressure to hang out together albeit that Theresa had given out identical startlingly red identical tea-shirts. Suppertime in the main dining room found us seat-assigned together. Otherwise convention was optional nor did I ever see two of those red shirts together. Runners are such maver-icks! There was a group photo on the last day at sea. On the Tuesday there was a 4 pm Run N’ Fun reception with hors d’oeuvres and drinks and a series of special awards. One gal had run a PB in the half. Then I was humbled by the closest-to-100-marathon-finishes (my 98th) award with a bag of goodies. (Given my time I expressed my belief that ING MIAMI 2008 ought to count for two!) Jacqueline gave a straight-forward account of her tainted and delayed victory at Boston. She went there just because she thought she would look good in a “writ” (wreath). She’d been planning to run Ottawa. I got Jacqueline to sign the card to match the other 1980 Boston winner’s (some guy called Bill Rodgers!) con-gratulatory note for my 50th that Maeve had acquired for me. (They’re close personal friends!) Jacqueline (more-or-less pronounced Jack-aaaa-leeeen en francais) is not the least stand-offish. More like in your face – in an exuberant, very encouraging way. Organizing a clinic (stretching, etc) on deck on Friday morn-ing. Constantly chiding people about their posture. Trying to analyze everybody’s injuries. A respiratory tech turned massage therapist by profession, she would pounce on your shoulders at suppertime with fingers of spring steel and elbows of iron trying to kneed out all the tension. At disembarkation she huddled with a sub-group of the women asking them to “make a voe (vow) to come back and do this all again next year”. All-in-all the ING MIAMI MARATHON RUN N’ FUN trip was a surprisingly inexpensive, well-organized and highly enjoyable experience. Joe IS planning to repeat the same effort next year; and he has other ones coming up like a 12-day one around the Florence (Italy) Marathon in November. It’s worth checking out his website (www.RunNFun.ca) or his booth at the Round-the-Bay or National Capital expos this spring. Meanwhile, I’ve got to get back to work rewiring my left leg so that I can actually finish numbers 99 and 100. Jamie Harris

. . . . . 99 . . . . 100

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Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

New Orleans just keeps drawing me back. It was the site of my first racewalk marathon and I have re-

turned three times, twice more for the marathon and once for the 5K. If you are looking for a flat winter marathon in a city worth visiting, you should put Mardi Gras Marathon on your list (Feb 1 next year).

The city is full of contrasts. There are the French and Spanish and Cajun influences in a modern American city. There is the bustle of the tourist areas and the bleakness of the areas which may never recover from the results of Hurricane Katrina. The French Quarter has one street of sleazy bars next to one of expensive antique shops next to one of touristy gift shops and semi-serious voodoo shops. Up-scale restaurants are next to hole-in-the-wall eateries.

Paula and I did the Mardi Gras Marathon in 2006, less than 6 months after Hurricane Katrina. At that time the city was just staggering back onto its feet and the race was the first sporting event to resume. I was very curious to see how the city was doing so when Gail said she was going to do the half marathon, I begged my way onto her trip and signed up for the full once more.

The city is still rebuilding. A glance at the main tourist part shows little change from before the disaster though tourism is at about half the previous level and the convention business has not returned. But hotels are open, restaurants are going strong, the Hornets games are sell-outs (we tried to get tickets to no avail). On Saturday , the Superdome hosted a monster truck jam under the same roof that sheltered 25000 in the storm’s aftermath. That night the air was fetid with the exhaust of the most indulgent of vehicles instead of the smell of everything that went wrong in that city.

We did the tourist things – the swamp tour to see alligators and Spanish moss, the walks around the French Quarter, the café au lait and beignettes at the Café du Monde. We ate blackened catfish and red beans and rice and Po boys and jambalaya and crawfish. And bread pudding and pralines and King Cake. And we bought Mardi Gras beads and postcards.

We did a post-Katrina city tour which we really debated about. Was it just going to be looking at the mis-ery of others from behind the tinted windows of a van? It turned out to be an emotional trip through the stupidity of bureaucracy, the resiliency of the people and the helplessness that nature can engender. We saw fields of con-crete steps which had once been a subdivision. We saw thousands of houses still bearing the distinctive marks from the rescuers noting the date the property was searched, the number of people found, living or dead and the marks from the SPCA denoting animals found in the buildings. We saw houses being rebuilt next to ones whose owners will likely never return. We saw people living in tiny trailers awaiting the help they need to get back into their homes. Some sights were destined to come back time and again to mind – the yellow marks where the brackish, muddy water had sat for a week or more as high as 10 feet in some areas. The house with a small airplane still lodged in its garage 30 months after some quirk of the flood had deposited it there. The hand-painted signs pleading for houses to not be demolished. Our tour guide expressed the anger that the residents feel towards the govern-ment, the military and the insurance companies. In pointing out the markings indicating that the National Guard units who had done much of the door to door searching had come from all over the country, he told us that the Louisiana National Guard had not been there – they had been deployed to Iraq at the time they were most needed at home. The people are still angry.

The race itself is not exceptional. It is a good one certainly but not a great one. It has a marathon, half and 5K and racewalk categories (with judges) for the half and full. This year there were just over 5000 people in total. The courses are flat with one small overpass and a couple of footbridges in the second half of the marathon. It starts and finishes beside the Superdome. The route this year went into the French Quarter via the infamous Bour-bon Street and back out along St Charles, the route of the famed streetcar, to Audubon Park. A big loop around the park and you return to the Superdome where the half-a-thoners split off and the marathoners keep going to do a big loop around City Park and back. The course has a 7 hour limit and some people take full advantage – there were 300 finishers behind me. Gail heard an announcement that runners were there from 50 states and 16 coun-tries.

In races where I have time and energy to chat and look around, the people are a fascination. I walked with one for awhile who, upon finding out where I was from, remembered Don and Aggie racing in the graveyard (you’ll have to ask them about that one). I started right behind and later passed a 3-generation family running the mara-thon – they had the generation number on each shirt. The third generation, a boy of perhaps 16, was suffering badly around mile 24. I walked for awhile with a man who remembered me from my first Mardi Gras Marathon . At about 23 miles I passed a fellow who asked if I could keep up that pace for the whole race. Considering that I had

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already done it for most of the distance, it seemed an odd question but I was in a kindly mood and told him I felt that I was slowing. Sometimes I think it must be difficult for a healthy young male runner to be passed by a white haired female racewalker in the closing miles of a marathon. He was gracious at the end though.

It was great to see Gail along St Charles as she was running away from Audubon Park before I entered it. She was doing her first Mardi Gras race and placed high in her age group in the half marathon. It was also fun to see the city through her eyes during the trip and through her fabulous photography afterwards.

New Orleans is an amazing place to visit and what better excuse is there than to do a marathon. Many of the people I spoke with during the race thanked me for coming to the city. The people who live there really love the place they live and really want to show it off to the rest of the world. February 1, 2009. Consider it. Sherry Watts

Mardi Gras beads everywhere

Alligators on the swamp tour—chasing after marshmellows, not tourists!

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The London Pacers Running Club Membership Application—2008 _____ New Member _____ Renewal _____ Single $35 _____ Family $45 Please note that all memberships are half price after June 30, 2008 PLEASE PRINT Name in full: _________________________________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Telephone: ____________________ (Home) _____________________ (Work) E-mail: _________________________________ Birth date: __________________

(Please print legibly) (yyyy/mm/dd)

Please provide the names and birth dates of other family members (for family membership): Spouse: ____________________________ ________________________

(yyyy/mm/dd)

Children: ____________________________ ________________________

(yyyy/mm/dd)

___________________________ ________________________

(yyyy/mm/dd)

____________________________ ________________________

(yyyy/mm/dd)

____________________________ ________________________

(yyyy/mm/dd)

The applicant consents to the use of membership information and photographs for club business and promotion

Date: ___________________________ Signature: ____________________________

Please send completed registration forms to: The London Pacers Running Club

c/o Gail Schmidt, Membership Secretary,

36 Crabtree Ave., London, ON N6G 2H7

Telephone: (519) 657-9936 Email: [email protected]

Last chance to sign up - don’t let

your membership lapse!

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Races I believe that anyone who wants to participate in a race should have some idea of what goes on behind the scenes. Some seem to think that a race just happens and that his or her every wish should be easily ac-commodated. I have sat on several race committees and being involved in timing many races, I get to see the day of the event nearly from start to end so though I don’t see everything that goes into planning, I have some idea of the difficulties. Races involve a tremendous amount of planning. Dates must be chosen months or even years in advance. Insurance and police and city permits must be obtained. Police and first aid or ambulance must be booked as well as the location, including the parks that are traversed on the route. These things have a surprisingly large price tag attached. Sponsors must be contacted and accommodated. The generosity of sponsors keeps races alive but they want something in return which can put the race committee on a tightrope walk to keep them happy. The budget must always be considered. What prizes and give-aways can the race afford? Will giving better shirts result in enough extra entrants to justify the extra cost? What colour and design of shirt or hat or socks will least annoy the most people? It can only be guessed how many of what sizes of things must be ordered and this is made more difficult by changes in sizes by each manufacturer and by change in fashion. One year everyone wants large shirts and the next, form-fitting is demanded. Should expensive prizes be given to the faster folks or is it better to put the money towards everyone? What food that may be donated or purchased at a reasonable cost will lead to the least complaints? Many runners want chip timing but is the significant extra cost going to bring in extra participants? For most races all of this is done by volunteers. Some larger races have one or two paid staff but for most its simply a way of giving back to the sports community and the work must be fit in between regular jobs, family obligations and their own training and racing. The time required for pursuing each extra sponsor or each method of promoting the event must be fit into a 24-hour day. There is an amazing array of things that can go wrong that must be anticipated. What if key volunteers go missing? What if a key committee member gets ill? What if construction blocks the route or equipment fails? And what if the weather does not cooperate? Or the runners just do not chose that race? The Really Chilly race is a recent example that I witnessed. After months and months of meetings, emails and phone calls, race weekend dawned. On the Saturday, the committee members spent the day with last minute organizing, setting up at Fanshawe College, doing registration at Runners Choice and fretting over the weather report. Sunday morning I was at the college at 7:00 AM and several of the committee members were already there and had already done hours of work – brewing coffee, loading vehicles and worrying. The last of them pulled away from the gym at 1:45 having cleaned up the area (including picking up the gar-bage left behind by thoughtless participants) and all still had jobs left to do. Equipment had to be returned from whence it came after a thorough drying, bills had to be paid and reports written. If you enjoy races, perhaps you might consider working on a committee to put one on. Believe me, you will get a whole new appreciation for the events that look so smoothly organized. If you cannot find the time or energy, at the very least give a great big thank you to the people who do the work for you – and perhaps think twice before tossing out complaints. Sherry Watts

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The March 2008 Race Report Summarizing results to February 24, 2008 Please send results to [email protected] in advance of newsletter deadline. Feb 10, 2008 Sallarulo’s Race for Champions 5K Nova Southeastern University,Davie, FL Pacer, Time, Division place

Feb 17, 2008 Really Chilly 5K Walk, London 5 walkers overall; 2M/3F Overall place, Pacer, Time, Gender place, Division Place

Feb 17, 2008 Really Chilly 5K Run, London 50 runners overall; 26M/24F Overall place, Pacer, Time, Gender place, Division place

Feb 17, 2008 Really Chilly 10K Run, London 75 runners overall; 53M/22F Overall place, Pacer, Time, Gender place, Division place

Feb 23, 2008 RRCA 6K Florida State Championship Racewalk, Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek, FL Pacer, Time

Lorne DUQUETTE, 42:27,4/7 Racewalked

1, Sherry WATTS, 31:20, 1, 1/2

2, Don RAMSDEN, 32:35,1, 1/1

3, Betty TIMMONS, 35:36, 2, 2/2

16, Donna KRAFT, 23:28, 3, 1/4

23, Gail SCHMIDT, 25:41, 7, 1/3

46, Doug KINGSTON, 33:24, 25, 1/2

4, Jim BURROWS, 37:22, 4, 1/11

5, Rod HENNING, 37:53, 5, 1/12

22, Dave HOUSE, 44:11, 20, 3/12

34, Paul ROBERTS, 49:20, 30, 8/11

39, Megan JOHNSTON, 51:19, 5, 1/3

49, Cheryl SCOLLARD, 53:50, 8, 2/3

51, Bob FRASER, 53:53, 43, 5/5

60, Wendy FRASER, 56:43, 13, 1/1

Lorne DUQUETTE, 50:12 1st in age group

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Feb 24, 2008 15th Tim Hortons Grimsby Half Marathon 545 finishers; 333M/212F Overall place, Pacer, Clock time, Chip time, Gender place, Division place, Notes

Feb 24, 2008 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon – Racewalker Marathon, New Orleans, LA 8 finishers; 2M/6F Overall place, Pacer, Time, Gender place, Division place

Feb 24, 2008 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon – Half Marathon, New Orleans, LA 2857 fin-ishers; 1321M/1536F Overall place, Pacer, Time, Gender place, Division place

96, Gerda ZONRUITER, 1:34:04, 1:33:56, 8, 2/38 3rd Master Female

1, Sherry WATTS, 5:04:35, 1, 1/6

572, Gail SCHMIDT, 1:52:53, 156, 20/192

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