Fergus Highland Games 10K
Fergus, ON
August 11, 2013
This is a small race is put on by the The Running Works in Guelph. It is part of the Fergus Scottish Festival that is an annual event. It takes place in the small town of Fergus Ontario and when I say it is a small race, I mean in terms of numbers, but not in terms of talent (1/3 of the runners were under 45 minutes).
In signing up for this race I wanted to just get a break from the long Marathon Training that I am doing for a Fall Marathon. A nice 10K race is so much better than a 32K long run and I really appreciated the break. I did not expect a lot of bells and whistles from this race as it is noted that the goal is to keep the race cost down. I only paid $25 for this run with 19 and under being $20 and 65+ being only $5. The entry fee gets you the accurate timing and course and that is all. You can purchase a shirt for $8 if you would like but I have enough shirts as most reading this do as well. There are also some small cash prizes for the top three, but I never have to worry about that. With the always increasing cost of races it nice to keep the cost low. I didn’t notice a mat at the start line so the only chip timing is done at the finish thus you go by gun time.
The course combines a few declines with a few inclines, but nothing too shocking. It is run on mostly country roads which are tree lined and very peaceful. I appreciated the shade from the trees as even though it was a cooler morning the sun was beating down like it should in August. The finish is on one of the incline portions, but it is very manageable and you deserve an incline after the decline off the start.
I personally had a fairly good run as my marathon training has been going well. I managed to start the first KM with a 4:19 and stay fairly consistent finishing with a gun time of43:41. Good enough for 28th overall and somehow pulling out a 3rd in the 30-39 division. I started a little farther back in the pack as I really wanted to start off slow and was able to pass a lot of people in the first 5K, but I found it odd that I only passed 1 person after the 5K mark. No one slowed and everyone stayed fairly consistent on their paces. I can only assume that as my times decrease I will find this happening more often. My largest accomplishment in this race was that I was passed by not a single sole (pun intented).
Happy with the race results and the race itself. Now back to 32KM long runs.
