I ran the 2014 Toronto Women’s 10k on August 23, 2014 – part of the Toronto Women’s Race series. Unlike most races, the Toronto Women’s series tends to have races on a Saturday which really works well for me. The races are held at Sunnybrook Park along the public trails and pathways. It’s a very nice venue off the road but since the park is open to the public, you do ‘run’ into the occasional passerby on bike or with stroller as well as other recreational runners. I’ve found those not participating in the event always grant the right-of-way to racers and will often cheer as they wait for the pack to pass by.
This is my second time participating in this event. The first year was in 2012 when some of the bridges in the park were under construction which resulted in a detour for the 10k — it ended up being two loops of the 5k course.
This year, the construction was finished so we were able to resume the traditional out-and-back 10k course through the park and over some bridges — which included some ‘lovely’ hills.
Arrival at the race is well organized with plenty of parking as well as an athlete drop-area.
Same day race-kit pick-up was available and well organized. For those picking up more than one kit, volunteers were at the athlete listing and available with pens and paper to write down the multiple bib numbers you were picking up. Public restrooms are in a building but a bit of a walk from the start / finish. Port-o-lets closer to the corrals as with most races.
There is also a small expo with vendor booths and race sponsors and of course the post race grub.
The expo, bag check, packet pick-up etc are all in a grassy area of the park adjacent to the start/finish area with picnic tables where you can stay with friends / family before the start. Unfortunately the grass in the park was quite long, and as expected for August, the early morning dew was quite heavy, making for a wet pair of shoes. I learned from the previous race at this location that it’s best to pack your race shoes and change into dry shoes and socks just prior to the start.
It was a humid day but fortunately cloudy — had the sun come out, it would have made for some nasty race conditions.
One of the highly publicized aspects of the race series is the Toronto fire fighters manning the water stations. At the water station after the 5k turnaround, the firefighters were distracted by something and were completely turned around with their backs to the course rather than watching for the athletes — I needed to yell out to get their attention so I could get a cup of water…..a bit unusual and hopefully mine was an isolated incident.
The marshals along the course were encouraging and did a great job keeping everyone on the right course and racing hard. They also ensured runners were aware of any ‘special’ terrain as well as warning runners about the steep decent prior to one of the hills.
Post race food and drink were very well organized — water readily available at the finish and food was already packaged in a loot bag so you didn’t need to go from station to station — just grab a grub bag and off you went.
It’s great racing with a group of women and I will continue to participate in the events in this women’s series.
