Thursday, April 19, 2012

IMPORTANT Toronto Yonge Street 10K updates.  Run with Reid Coolsaet or John Stanton (literally!); join in the Charity Challenge!

“LIKE” Canada Running Series & Toronto Waterfront Marathon Facebook pages between now and next Wednesday & you could WIN a PowerBar Gift Pack!  

To view this newsletter as a webpage — http://www.canadarunningseries.com/newsletter/2012/crs-04-19-12.html

Headline News

• Run with Canadian running guru, JOHN STANTON, Founder of Running Room, in #TYS10K. YOU’RE INVITED!!You’re invited to run with John Stanton this Sunday in the Toronto Yonge Street 10K and beat John to the finish line! John will be running 10 & 1’s, just as you’ve been doing in your training and he’ll be running at a pace between 6:00 min/km and 7:00 min/km so that we can have a huge running party for his pace group. Come to the GREEN start corral & look for the pace group sign that says, “John Stanton 10 & 1’s”. John will be sounding the Start horn & then joining into the pace group as it approaches the start line, so you’ll get 10 whole kilometers with John on Sunday. We would love to have you join us!
• Tarah McKay-Korir aiming for victory & a BIG DOUBLE for their Waterloo County family this week! Another terrific pre-race read, and Preview of #TYS10K Women’s race this Sunday, from Paul Gains.  http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/blog/2012/04/mckay-korir-aiming-for-victory-at-toronto-yonge-street-10k-by-paul-gains/
• Exciting re-match, KANGOGO-COOLSAET on tap for Sunday’s #TYS10K Men’s race. Kip says he’s in “best shape ever”! Read Paul Gains lovely feature. http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/blog/2012/04/kip-kangogo-aiming-for-victory-at-toronto-yonge-street-10km-by-paul-gains/  
• SHOE DROP-OFF at #TYS10K, April 22nd, for CES Canada (close to the BAGGAGE Area, near the START – not at the Finish!!). Please bring your gently used running shoes and CES will find them great new homes in Kenya where they are involved in providing support and education to HIV/AIDS orphans. For more on CES see http://www.cescan.ca/
• Run, Shawn Brady Electric Blood band & Michelob ULTRA to ROCK Toronto Yonge Street 10K, 2012 http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/blog/2012/04/run-shawn-brady-band-michelob-ultra-to-rock-toronto-yonge-street-10k/   
• STWM 2010 Champion Sharon Cherop becomes Boston Marathon Champion on Monday! Congratulations, Sharon – we are very proud of your accomplishments! And as her Coach Gabriele Nicola said, “Toronto Waterfront was where it all began for you!” http://www.letsrun.com/2012/cherop-win-0416.php  Plus STWM 2010 2nd place Women Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene WINS Paris Marathon in CR 2:31:39  http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/LRR12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=64572

• Sponsorship, Marketing Opportunities still available for CRS & STWM 2012: at a wide range of levels all the way from $1,500 to $300,000! Interested? Connect with kathryn@canadarunnignseries.com, alan@canadarunningseries.com

Fundraising Features

Recommended Upcoming (non-CRS) runs

 

May 6th, 2012. Mississauga Marathon, Half, 10K & 5K.  “Greater Toronto’s Spring Marathon”, plus a distance for everyone! Join Hazel for a weekend of fun! http://www.mississaugamarathon.com/default.shtml

 

Alan's Journal

"The 8 days that shook the Marathon (and Canadian Distance Running) World!

Dear Fellow Runners,

I wrote a BLOG last week about the upcoming “8 Days that shook the Marathon (& Canadian Distance Running) World”, and so it is turning out to be – with the weather kicking in as the major factor it is with road running and marathons.  http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/blog/2012/04/stwm-2012-starts-to-take-shape-as-spring-marathon-fever-grips-the-planet/

The story, of course was on the potential for records, drama and huge excitement for what we do, from April 15th to 22nd, with Rotterdam Marathon (15th), Boston Marathon (16th), London Marathon (22nd) and Toronto Yonge Street 10K at home (22nd).

And while the weather has played a major role with winds in Holland and heat in Massachusetts, what thrills we’ve had so far, and how important our Canadian component is in all of it.

Things started early on Sunday in Rotterdam. On his third attempt at the Canadian Olympic standard (2:11:29), Kingston & Vancouver’s Dylan Wykes had a massive PB of 2:10:47, punching his ticket to London on August 12th. He now joins Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis who qualified at STWM 2011. This will be the first time Canada has sent a full complement of 3 men to an Oly Marathon since 1996. We’ve only sent ONE person since then, Bruce Deacon in 2000!!! London’s Rob Watson came up shy of the standard in his Rotterdam run, but his 2:13:35 was another HUGE PB and puts him in striking distance of our top guys. Not to be outdone, our women SHONE in Rotterdam. Forever, our Women’s marathoning standards have been in the doldrums, MIA… But on Sunday London’s Lanni Marchant and Brantford’s Krista DuChene changed all that in 2.5 hours and gave us a core Women’s squad to build around. “Massive” and “huge” don’t adequately describe the breakthrough performance of Lanni’s 2:31:52 and Krista’s 2:32:08 (read Krista’s “Pleased, Very Pleased.” http://kristaduchenerunning.blogspot.ca/2012/04/hello-from-rotterdam-what-great-race.html ).

BRAVO! Go Canada Go!

As Dylan concluded his post-Rotterdam Blog:

“With 500m to go you turn onto the Coolsingel (the main street in Rotterdam) and there are thousands of fans going crazy. It’s pretty freaking cool. I checked my watch with 400m to go and knew there was no way I wasn’t going to get under the standard. I sprinted hard the next 200m and then the last 200m, well let’s just say I enjoyed that bit — numerous fist pumps. I looked at the finish line clock as I crossed under it — 2:10:46. I thought ‘wow, I didn’t just get under the standard, I killed it!’
Congrats to Rob, Lanni, and Krista who all ran PB’s and truly impressed out there on the streets of Rotterdam on Sunday. Exciting futures in the sport for all of them.
So many people to thank I’m not sure its worth trying on here. I hope to be in touch with as many people as possible over the next little while. But obviously huge thanks to my family for the unwavering support. And to my coach Rich Lee and his family for everything they’ve done for me the past few years.” (read the whole Blog at http://www.time-to-run.com/dylanwykes/rdam-race-report-warning-its-a-bit-long-if-youve-got-30min-read-on-if-not-clif-notes-version-21047olympics/ ).

If that wasn’t enough, I was in Boston on Monday to personally witness our STWM 2010 Women’s Champ, Sharon Cherop of Marakwet, Kenya become our first Boston Champion! (And the woman who was 2nd to Sharon at STWM 2010, Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene, won Paris Marathon on Sunday in a Course Record 2:31:39. STWM IMPACT!!) 

And the new Men’s Boston Champ? None other than Wesley Korir, husband of Tarah McKay-Korir, Women’s winner of Harry’s Spring Run Off Toronto 8K and favourite to win Toronto Yonge Street 10K this Sunday. They currently spend winters in Kenya, and summers (nowadays) living at Tarah’s parents’ home in Waterloo County. On Friday, Wesley told me he LOVES training on the country roads there, and some days races the Mennonite buggies! This Sunday, it’s Wesley’s turn to provide support, as he’s confirmed that he’ll be out at TYS10K, holding their daughter Mckayla and cheering for Tarah. Tarah will be racing Kate Van Buskirk, and both of them plan to return to the track after Sunday, to try for the Olympic standards at 5,000m and 1500m, respectively. On the men’s side, London-bound Reid Coolsaet will be racing to defend his title, with our other London “Marathon Man”, Eric Gillis on cheering duty and along with Wesley, helping us at the Awards Ceremony (10:40am).

Combined, there is SOoooo much to cheer and get excited about in Canadian road running right now – AND, most importantly, to be PART OF right here with Canada Running Series. These are undoubtedly “Glory Days” as LetsRun.com phrased it. And we are all very much players in these halcyon days “Where BIG DREAMS Come True,” as this year’s slogan for STWM exclaims.

I’m looking forward to mixing and mingling with Canada’s internationally-competitive stars on Sunday, and mixing and mingling with ALL of you! Whether you’re running 3 minute kilometers, 6-minute kilometers with John Stanton, or 10 minute kilometers on Sunday, YOU/WE are all part of the sport, TOGETHER-- as Dylan wrote in a recent story, “Running side-by-side” (http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Running+side+side/6284620/story.html Photo in this story on whether elites and recreational runners can co-exist, is of Dylan with Kip KANGOGO, who will also be racing TYS10K on Sunday). That’s the marvelous thing about our sport. The way it brings us all together.

And that leaves me with a final THANK YOU to all of you who are coming out on Sunday for Toronto Yonge Street 10K.  Including Shawn Brady’s Electric Blood Band, we are going to rock Yonge Street and have a BLAST! I can’t deny that it’s been a rough past year with the Sporting Life saga. I think you know where our heart lies at CRS – in the sport, its inclusiveness, as THE most-democratic enterprise around. And at our CRS core for almost 30 years has been a strenuous commitment to organization, innovation, and technical excellence. We were the first to accurately measure our courses; to introduce electronic Chip Timing; Corrals and Wave Starts; and to bring the highly-successful “Charity Challenge” format to Canada from the London Marathon. Every year, you can guarantee we’ll be here for you. It’s our mutual lifestyle. So a special shout-out to those of you supporting TYS10K this weekend, from first to last. You can count on us for great races. It’s great to feel the love from you!

Have a GREAT time this weekend (Expo, Running Room Friendship Run with John Stanton & Reid, as well as TYS10K)! And now I think we’ll have to change the “8 Days” to “15 Days”, as Banque Scotia 21K de Montreal promises to be another terrific, almost Sold Out show next weekend, and a fitting GRAND FINALE to the inaugural “Run Canada Month”! (42 places left in the 21K as of today).    

… PLEASE keep in regular contact via Facebook and Twitter,

Alan [aka www.twitter.com/alnbrookes]

Ps. By popular request, please note the announcement above in “Upcoming Deadlines”, of one more year at The Distillery for TORONTO TEN MILER & 5K, on London Olympics Marathon Day, August 12th. WHAT a day that will be for us all to celebrate together by sharing our running. Registration OPENING BLITZ May 1st….

CRS Online

» Follow CRS Race Director Alan Brookes on Twitter for ALL the Latest News and inside information - http://www.twitter.com/alnbrookesJoin the Harry's Spring Run-Off 8k FACEBOOK Group - It's your place to share your story, post up your photos from the event and your experience, why you are supporting the cause. Click here for the page.

» Join the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Maratho Facebook Fan Page - Breaking news on Toronto's largest run, the latest in marathon news and more. Click here for the page. Like our Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon or Canada Running Series Facebook pages and you will be entered for a draw for a FREE entry to a CRS RACE OF YOUR CHOICE on February 1st, drawn from our fans.

» Follow the Canada Running Series FACEBOOK Group - Overall news on the Canada Running Series, mainly focused on our Eastern Canada events. Click here for the page. Like our Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon or Canada Running Series Facebook pages and you will be entered for a draw for a FREE entry to a CRS RACE OF YOUR CHOICE on February 1st, drawn from our fans.

2012 Canada Running Series Calendar

Register now for all your favourite Canada Running Series runs. Save even more by using our combo packs to register for more than one event at once. The more your register for, the more you SAVE! http://www.canadarunningseries.com/crs/index.htm

• Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K to fight Prostate Cancer March 25, Vancouver
• Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K & 5K to fight Prostate Cancer April 7, Toronto
• Toronto Yonge Street 10k April 22
• Banque Scotia 21k de Montréal et 5k présenté par ASICS April 29
• Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k presented by Asics June 24
• The Beaches Jazz Tune-Up 20k, 10k, 5k Training Run & Walk* July 22, Toronto
• Toronto International 15k & 5k August 12 (TBC)
• Oasis ZooRun 10k Run, 5k Run/Walk & Cub Run September 22, Toronto
• Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Half-Marathon & 5k October 14