Oakville Labour Day Half
Marathon & 10km
Monday Sept. 6, 2010.
Overcast/Light Rain 12 degrees celcius
Runners can appear to be strange creatures of habit, especially on long weekends. More than one non-running acquaintance has asked me why we collectively insist on putting ourselves through such rigorous activity up to 5 or 6 times per week and appear to enjoy it. My answer? We actually do enjoy it — so much so, that come the long weekends we forego the cottages and patios (well, at least temporarily) for the start and finish lines.
Labour Day weekend is no exception, as Oakville’s Coronation Park plays host to a Half Marathon and 10km. The event, organized by the Landmark Sports Group, took place at a bright and early 7:30am on holiday Monday morning this year. When the weather cooperates — and it certainly did this year — the course is very fast and a prime candidate for a PB time.
Both routes follow a generally flat landscape around the streets surrounding the park, with the typical suburban scenery of trees, shopping malls and single detached houses. I ran the 10km route, and the only issue I had with the course layout was a couple of narrow curves, one of which was near the finishing stretch (you had to carefully step over a raised curb). Otherwise, the course was reasonably spacious and well marshalled, and that one long straight-away stretch between km’s 5 and 7 was a life saver. The course was apparently novice friendly as well. I was there to pace my uncle and two younger cousins, one of whom was running his very first 10km run despite limited training (courtesy of two nasty scrapes from a botched softball slide). All relatives including the first-timer finished the race just over the one hour mark without too much fatigue or fuss.
One thing that did keep the race enjoyable was the medium sized crowd. This event gives the impression of being a big draw, complete with polished organization, a well designed website, its own kit-pick up expo on the day before the race, and a no-kit-pick-up policy on race morning. The actual attendance was probably around 1,100 people, large enough to provide a good atmosphere but small enough for everyone to comfortably participate. In addition, there did not seem to be any traffic hassles or angry drivers at all, car sightings were minimal at the traffic light intersections. One can assume that most of the wanna-be runners/skeptics were either sleeping in, or enjoying the day up at the cottage. It was fine by us.
I spotted at least one other Team Running Free representative, Rich Johnston, who finished an impressive 5th overall in the half marathon. He finished just four minutes behind winner and Jamaican marathon veteran Andrew Gutzmore. Jennifer Eberman was the top female in the half marathon, while Jerry Kooymans and Ali Drynan won the 10km.
