Sun, Sep 9 2007 - Longboat Toronto Island 10km (View Original Event Details)
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Apparently, I, Lillian, enjoy doing these write-ups so much that I even do them for events for which I haven't signed up. I decided to join Matt, Susan, and Sarah at the Toronto Islands to cheer them on for the Longboat Toronto Island 10K run. The race is named after Tom Longboat, a First Nations long distance runner who won the Boston Marathon in 1907.
Sarah is in training for the Scotiabank Half-Marathon and I was most impressed with her Ipod and clip set-up. The foot clip keeps track of how long and fast she's been running and if she runs particularly well, Lance Armstrong comes on and says, "Good job! You've ran your personal best!"
During the race, Matt caught up to Sarah and told her that she was slowing down. So she immediately sped up and then slowed down again. He caught up to her once more and said, "I'll see you at the finish line."
"No," she retorted quickly, "I'll see you at the finish line." With a burst of adrenaline, she sprinted away. That sprint didn't last too long as I saw Matt finishing just ahead of Sarah.
After cheering for Susan at the midpoint of the race, I walked over to the finish line to wait for the racers. There was a big race clock that let the participants know how long it took them to finish the race. All three said to expect them at around the 50-minute mark; the clock said it was 33 minutes, so I had more than a 10-minute wait for them.
I sat and watched the racers trickle in. The racers that were coming in were little old grannies who were speed walking. As more and more of them crossed the finish line a good 10 minutes before Matt, I thought to myself, "Man, how slow is Matt, if all these little old ladies are finishing before him!"
Then it occurred to me that they were participating in the 5K race and not the 10K one.
Sarah, Susan, and Matt all ran a personal best and came in the top half of their divisions. Susan completed her first 10K race. Matt was especially pleased as he finished the race in less than 48 minutes (beating his old time by more than 4 minutes). His time confirmed that the speed training had paid off. Sarah seemed to be well prepared for her half-marathon in three weeks (Lance Armstrong once again congratulated her on her new personal best).
Though we didn't see her, Rose was also in attendance.
Youtube clips:
Susan runs
Run, Matt, run
Matt finishes
Official Results.
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.