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Rob Watson Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Canada Running Series

Mar 17 2016
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Welcome to Canada Running Series 2016!

By | Alan's Journal, Modo Spring Run-Off 8k | No Comments

IMG_3045VANCOUVER March 17th 2016. Welcome to Canada Running Series 2016! Yaaaay! Opening Day is finally here with the MODO Spring Run Off 8K this weekend, and it’s GREAT to be back in Vancouver! Springtime. Stanley Park. Blossoms, daffodils and green grass everywhere. I just love our two Spring Run Off 8ks in Stanley Park and in High Park, Toronto, April 9th. And before the month of April is done we move onto Parc Jean Drapeau to enjoy some beautiful, traffic-free Montreal public space. See our full race calendar here.

For me, these CRS park races just seem to get road running in Canada off on the right foot. Racing through some of our country’s best parks as they awaken into bloom just gets the blood pumping. For me, they’re an important social thing, a chance to re-connect with so many friends I’ve mostly kept in touch with over those dark, cold, winter months on social media. Now it’s time to live IRL, not just on the ‘Gram! There’ll be another 60,000 of you running with us in 2016; plus maybe 150,000 family and friends out cheering you on; and another 5,000+ volunteers making it happen with our 15-member, full-time, professional CRS crew. It’s #goodvibesonly . There’s also the fundraising component, as many of you play a key role in raising $6 million a year at the CRS events, for some 330 local charities.

And then there’s the racing bit! Even if it’s primarily a social, healthy lifestyle or charity thing, for many of us it’s still a racing thing! How fast can you run an 8K? Can you improve on last year’s time, or beat your bestie, your crew-mate, workmate or partner? This year will bring an extra excitement as an Olympic year, with many of our CRS stars aiming for Rio, another Canadian National Team, or top rankings in our Series.

Sunday’s MODO Spring Run Off 8K maybe our smallest Series race, but it will have it all, as a quality running experience! Great shirts and finishers’ medals. An accurately-measured, as well as a stunningly attractive course around the world-famous Stanley Park Seawall, a great cause to race for in Music Heals, and the buzzzzzz of competition! The event also doubles as Race #4 in the inaugural BC Super Series.

041_IJ_SVHM11_0832Up front in the Men’s race, we’re excited to see Rob Watson, our CRS “free spirit”! It’s part of his fight to get a place on the bus to Brazil. For that he needs to run a marathon before the end of May in 2:12:50 or faster. His 63:58 half in Houston in January indicates he’s right on track. Sunday’s Modo 8k will be a “blow-out” race for Rob before he gets on the plane for Cardiff, Wales, and the IAAF Half-marathon World Championships next weekend (follow me to Cardiff for coverage). In the UK, he’ll proudly rep the Maple Leaf and take on some super-fast dudes like Mo Farah! Then it’s the London Marathon on April 24th. “It’s London or bust pretty much,” the 32-year-old Watson told us recently. “It’s my last chance to make the Olympics.” 2:12:50. Tick, tick, tick. London calling. And did you know Rob is a fan of the early ‘90s skate punk scene? Maybe some Chuck Ragan, Hothouse Music, Bad Religion or Propagandhi tunes will inspire him?

Just to keep things interesting, Calgary’s Trevor Hofbauer will try to get in among the BC boys on Sunday, to keep Rob, Kevin Friesen, Theo Hunt and Nick Hastie honest. Trevor did just that last September when he raced to a 2nd place finish in the Eastside 10k (30:25). Most recently, he’s just back from the World’s Best 10K in Puerto Rico where he ran 30:20, and teamed up with 2015 CRS Women’s Champion and Rio-bound Lanni Marchant to win the NACAC team competition for Canada, and take home the USD$20,000 first prize.

Wondering if the old guys still have the magic? It’ll be worth getting out of bed on Sunday just to see the epic duel between Vancouver’s super-Master, “Super-K” Kevin O’Connor and the pride of the Victoria veterans, 2015 Canadian National Masters cross-country champion, Craig Odermatt.

The Women’s race on Sunday promises a tasty head-to-head RachelCliffduel between Rachel Cliff and Dayna Pidhoresky. They were 2nd and 3rd at last year’s Modo, behind Lanni, with Rachel just 18 seconds ahead of Dayna as they crossed the Finish line at the Pavilion. Rachel is in great form, with a Course Record performance at last weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day 5K [16:05]. Dayna’s training has been going very well, but it’s not translated to the races so far in 2016. January saw her DNF at 25k into the Houston Marathon after passing halfway inside the time needed for the Canadian women’s Rio standard of 2:29:50. Then on February 5th she started equally well at a hot and humid Rock ‘n Roll New Orleans Half, passing 10k in 35:17, before fading to finish in 1:18:41. Will it be third time lucky for Dayna this Sunday? We’re also thrilled to see she’ll be going for the “SRO-Double”, also racing the Race Roster Toronto Spring Run Off 8k on April 9th. Read more about that on our blog! 

Is anyone else doing the double? I’ll be doing the “Race Director Double”. In fact, I’ve been RD of the Toronto SRO since 1986 when O’Connor and Odermatt were still in short pants!!!

So I hope you’ll join us on Sunday in Stanley Park . We still have some 50 to 100 bibs left up for grabs. Come out and “just give it hell!” as Rob Watson advises!  If you’re looking for some more detailed advice, look no further than Chris Winter’s “6 Tips To Keep You Out Of Trouble On Race Day.”

And if you’re not up for running, then you must come out and cheer, have a beer with us after the race, relax and enjoy the post-race concert with Dominique Fricot and REGAL! 

CRS 2016 is here, there’s LOTS to celebrate, and it’s just the start of an epic year. Good luck to all. ENJOY your running and racing.

For info on last-minute registration and packet pick up see: http://www.canadarunningseries.com/spring8k/sroREG.htm

For a complete Start List of invited athletes see: http://www.canadarunningseries.com/spring8k/pdf/modo8k-elites-16.pdf

Mar 16 2016
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Rob Watson on “The Blowout Race”

By | Digital Champions, Modo Spring Run-Off 8k | No Comments
March 16, 2016 – Vancouver

Everyone participates in events their own reasons, and sometimes those reasons different depending upon what you want to get out of each event. Rob Watson (@robbiedxc) is off to the World Half Marathon Championships next week, but is also racing the Modo 8k this weekend. Why race 8k when you’re running a World Championship event the following weekend? Let’s let Rob explain:

I spend a lot of time running, and when I am not running I spend a lot of time thinking about running. Over the years I have developed some theories on this sport. Most are weird and don’t make sense, but every so often I think that I may be on to something. I have this theory about the power of the “Blowout Race” and why they are both awesome and necessary. So if you will, please lend me a few minutes to let me try to explain this to you. Ladies, Gents and everyone else. From the deepest corners of a runners mind. I present to you – The Blowout Race.

The Canada Running Series Modo 8k is just days away. I’m excited to get out there and give it a go in one of the better races that this city has to offer. The course is nice, the competition is solid and the vibe is always awesome. I wish I could say that I am coming in peaked, rested and ready to roll, but that is not the case. That is ok though, it’s all part of the master plan.
You see, not every race has to be a PB, you don’t have to have the blades sharpened and be rearing to go every time you toe the line. Sometimes you can run a race for reasons other than your time or place. I am running Modo as a “blowout race” before I head over to Cardiff Wales for the World Half Marathon Championships on March 26th.

What is a blowout race? Simply put it is a race where you swallow your pride, throw caution to the wind and just give it hell. The goal is to make yourself hurt and ride the redline for as long as possible.

Why am I doing this? Well I have to admit, this idea comes through personal experience of trial and error. There is no science to support my reasoning, just years on the roads and a whole lot of races in the legs. The basic idea is to teach the body to get used to that racing burn and manage pain.

Here is my theory. You can work away as hard as you want in practice, but no matter how hard you push, you can never truly run yourself ragged (at least I have trouble reaching that point). But in races, something clicks and I find that I can push myself just that much more. It is that feeling of absolute fatigue that I am aiming for come Sunday.

Again, Why? Well this is the part that I have a hard time explaining. I find that my body reacts well to that all out effort. When you force yourself to just dig that much deeper and grind that much harder something clicks. The body wakes up and kinda says “ok, so I guess I should get used to this” and then your suffer management score bumps up a notch or two- because when it comes right down to it, racing is all about managing discomfort and dealing with fatigue.

I find that after a race in which I blow it out I get a nice bump in my fitness and my training improves. Things that were challenging a week or so earlier are just that much easier. You may say “yeah, well obviously, that’s just how training works.” To that I say shut it, it’s more than that.

I put my blowout race theory to practice earlier this year when I ran the Pioneer 8km one week before the Houston Half Marathon- it worked like a charm. I went into that 8km with a plan to simply go for it. I felt great through 5km then spent 3km hurting pretty good. It was miserable-I was tired, achy and simply spent at the finish. Mission accomplished. The next week in Houston my body was ready for the race pain and I came through 8km faster than the weekend before and feeling just fine.

Anyways, so the Modo 8km is going to be my blowout race before the World Half Champs. I am going to get out there and just give it hell. Like I said before. the course is great, the competition is solid and vibes will be solid.

I reckon you should try the blowout sometime. It may sound unreasonable, but I promise that it is a real thing!

See ya Sunday!

-rob-

Whether you’re looking for a blowout race before another big Spring event, running your first 8k, or just running for an excuse to have some beers at the post-race concert – we look forward to seeing you at this weekend’s Modo 8k. If you forgot to sign up, we added a few extra spots so grab one while you still can!

Mar 10 2016
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Rob Watson Tuning Up For Modo Spring Run Off 8k by Paul Gains

By | Modo Spring Run-Off 8k | No Comments

TORONTO. March 10th 2016. Rob Watson has always been known as a free spirit, someone who accepts whatever results he achieves on the roads and on the track.

Mostly those results have been impressive.

Twice he has represented Canada at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships running the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2009 Berlin championships and the marathon in Moscow in 2013. A year ago he was crowned Canadian Marathon Champion.

ROB BLOG 2Now he is counting on achieving the Olympic qualifying standard at the Virgin London Marathon.  At the age of 32 he knows his time amongst the upper echelon is limited.

“It’s my last chance to qualify for the Olympics,” he admits. “I haven’t really planned my running career past London. If I do well in London and, I am fortunate enough to qualify for the Olympics then, obviously, I will aim towards that. I don’t know where I will go with it. It’s London or bust pretty much.

“The London marathon is April 24 and that is what all the training is aiming toward. That will be my last shot at getting an Olympic qualifier so we are putting all our eggs in one basket.”

Together with his coach/brother Pete Watson he has mapped out his path to the Olympics which includes the Modo Spring Run Off 8k on Sunday March 20th. Training is, by his own admission, proceeding as he had hoped.

“It’s going quite well, quite well,” he reveals. “I am pretty fit. I qualified for the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, Wales (March 26th) so all systems are go. The Modo 8k is kind of like a ‘blow out the carbon’ race. I like to always get a shorter faster one in before the actual (championship) race.”

Watson grew up in London, Ontario then attended Colorado State University on an athletics scholarship.  For several years he trained with the Speed River Track Club in Guelph, Ontario before selling many of his belongings and moving out west to Vancouver. He is currently living in the Kitsilano Beach area with his girlfriend, Genevieve.

“I am right down in West Kits near Jericho Beach,” he explains. “It’s about a half kilometre run to Jericho Beach. When they hold the Canadian Cross Country Championships here, it’s at Jericho Beach.

“It’s a great location. Dylan Wykes lives about two hundred metres away, Luc Bruchet is around the corner. Chris Winter is right up the street. There is a good group of us runners down here in this neighbourhood.”

Watson was pleased to learn that Music Heals is the featured charity in this year’s Modo 8k, being a huge music lover himself. In fact, the Executive Director, Chris Brandt, will be among those who toe the starting line but with slightly different expectations. Brandt says he is delighted the charity will again benefit from the association with Canada Running Series.

“Most of the music charities in Canada focus on music education,” he declares. “We are one of only two that I know of that focus exclusively on music therapy.

MUSIC HEALS“Music Heals raises money and awareness for music therapy in Canada.  We are based in Vancouver and we fund programs across the country that provide music therapy for everything from kids to palliative, seniors, autism, dementia, burn units, AIDS and HIV, bereavement rehabilitation and a whole bunch more.”

On March 5th seventy two bars across the country participated in a fundraiser whereby they donated $1 from each cover charge collected to Music Heals. Brandt points out that, in its three year existence, the charity has signed cheques in support of various music therapy programs to the tune of $500,000.

Watson himself attends as many concerts as he can fit in. A big fan of musicians like Chuck Ragan, Hothouse Music, Bad Religion and the Canadian band Propagandhi he is also one of the few elite runners who actually listens to music on some of his training runs.

“Sometimes, when I am going for an easy run I will tell my girlfriend ‘I am going to listen to music for a while’ then strap that on and go for a jog down the beach,” Watson reveals.

“Generally when I train it’s faster, louder stuff. I am a huge fan of the early 90’s skate punk scene. Loud and fast when I am training. When I am home it’s a little more low key. Anything with a guitar, you can’t go wrong.”

Genevieve doesn’t necessarily share his music tastes.

“I took her to one of the Progagandhi shows,” he says with a laugh. “She didn’t know what was going on. There is a good mosh pit and people kind of dance around and go a little crazy. I try to behave now that I am a little bit older. I don’t want to get injured. I try to behave; sometimes it doesn’t work.”

Watson expects the Modo 8k field will be a strong one and he will have a fight for the victory even if he hasn’t studied the competition.

“I know that (Trevor) Hofbauer is coming so I think he will be one of the stronger runners,” he says. “I don’t know who else is coming.

“It’s a good race. If it’s a nice day I would like to get out there and run under 24 (minutes) for sure. ‘23 mid’ would be a nice. I am just going to go out there and blow the doors off and run as hard as I can.”

The field got a lot stronger with the addition of 2012 Canadian Olympian Dylan Wykes who confirmed his entry late Wednesday. He has been battling some injuries lately. Canadian international Terrence Attema is also confirmed.  Meanwhile, Dayna Pidhoresky, the 2011 overall Canada Running Series champion, leads the women’s field.

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For More information and to register:

https://canadarunningseries.com/spring8k/

 

 

Jul 22 2015
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TO2015 Pan Am Men’s Marathon Start List (Unofficial)

By | Uncategorised | No Comments

TORONTO July 22nd 2015. 19 athletes are set to toe the Start Line for Saturday’s Men’s Marathon at Pan Am Toronto 2015. CRS stars Rob Watson and Kip Kangogo will face especially tough competition from Peru’s Raul Pacheco and Brazil’s Franck De Almeida. Beyond them, there are 5 other athletes who have run in the same time range (2:14 to 2:16) recently to qualify. The race promises a fair bit more depth than the women’s marathon. With the heat, humidity and hills, it will be a sizzler of a competition. Our boys NEED YOUR CHEERS!

All of you CRS regulars will know Kip Kangogo @KipKangogo, the Pride of Lethbridge, well. You will have seen him, the super nice guy he is, at many of our CRS races. He was our CRS Men’s Champion in 2013, and has been runner up in 2012 and 2014, so often battling away with Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis.

And I think it’s fair to say that the enigmatic, peripatetic Rob Watson @robbiedxc may just be EVERYONE’s favourite Canadian high-performance athlete on social media! He’s been a regular star at both Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and Scotia Vancouver Half, stars in his own podcast, is a Manchester United fan, and loves cookies and beer post-race!

Here is the complete (unofficial) Start List for Saturday morning’s Pan Am Men’s Marathon.

Name Country PB Qualifying Time
Mariano Mastromarino ARG 2:15:28 2:15:28
Franck De Almeida BRA 2:12:03 2:12:04
Ubiratan Dos Santos BRA 2:16:22 2:16:22
Kip Kangogo CAN 2:15:35 2:17:12
Rob Watson CAN 2:13:29 2:16:38
Roberto Echeverria CHI 2:15:37 2:16:58
Christopher Guajardo CHI
Diego Colorado COL  2:17:09  2:17:09
Richer Perez CUB
Segundo Jami ECU 2:17:11 2:17:11
Jose Amado Garcia GUA 2:13:53  2:15:52
Alejandro Suarez MEX  2:13:33  2:17:21
Daniel Vargas MEX 2:13:06 2:16:32
Raul Machacuay PER 2:15:31 2:15:31
Raul Pacheco PER 2:11:01 2:11:01
Aguelmis Rojas URU 2:14:16 2:19:33
Craig Leon USA  2:13:52  2:14:13
Tim Young USA  2:14:40 2:14:40
Luis Alberto Orta VEN 2:19:59 2:19:59

While our CRS stars Rob and Kip have PBs of 2:13 and 2:15 respectively [Rob’s at STWM 2013], they’ve only run 2:16 and 2:17 most recently to qualify for the Games. That puts them in a tough spot against Raul Pacheco, who like Pan Am Women’s Champion Gladys Tajeda, trains with Mexican marathon legend Rodolfo Gomez in Huancayo, Peru. That’s 3,300m up in the Andes! In April he finished one place ahead of our current Canadian #1 ranked marathoner, Reid Coolsaet, at Rotterdam, with a 2:11:01 PB at age 36. Last Spring, Brazil’s De Almeida ran 2:12:04 in Padova, Italy, just 1 second shy of his 2012 PB.

But on race day, in a Championship, on a tactical, challenging course, ANYTHING can happen. And the pack chasing Pacheco and De Almeida should include our boys Rob and Kip, as well as Raul Machacuay, Pacheco’s teammate from Peru; Mexico’s Dani Vargas; the two Americans Tim Young (2:14) & Craig Leon; Masters’ athlete Diego Colorado from Colombia who was 2nd in Guadalajara at the last Pan Am Men’s Marathon; plus Brazil’s Ubiratan Dos Santos, Argentina’s Mariano Mastromarino (a steeplechaser turned marathoner), and Chile’s Roberto Echeverria. And I feel compeled to offer a special shout out to Segundo Jami (a 2:17:11 guy), who I’ve seen race a couple of times in the Ultimas Noticias 15k, in his native Quito, Ecuador. Both times he was runner-up, and one reporter with a sense of humour suggested his father should have named him “Primero” instead of “Segundo”!

YOU’RE INVITED to join Toronto’s Run Crew CHEER SITES this Saturday July 25th, 7am Start, to represent our city and cheer on all the athletes – but especially ROB and KIP!!! Your cheers could make the difference!  Full details here.

Jul 06 2015
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Alan’s Journal: One Series. One Country. One Community. One Family. One Love.

By | Alan's Journal | No Comments

TORONTO July 6th 2015.

Hey fellow runners;

4CatsA big THANKS to everyone who made the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon & 5k weekend such a great experience! One of the most enjoyable things for me, was to see the way the race is building out into more of a long-weekend-experience, and bringing together our community from across Canada. Our #ScotiaHalf Digital Champions, our 83 official charities and SO many of you have been lighting up our CRS Social Hub, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for weeks, and it all reached a fine crescendo over the June 26th-28th weekend. Our 2-day mini-Expo was the best so far, and East Van Run Crew leader Ryan Chilibeck, aka @meatysauce, got us up and running in style on the Saturday morning with a Shake-Out Run and beer tasting at Red Truck Brewery. Check out the photos here.

The race itself was HOT, in all senses of the word. Under bright, sunny skies and 20 to 25c temperatures that felt HOT, 4,500 runners from 29 countries charged down from UBC to Stanley Park. Another 2,150 met them in the park and ran the 5K. The main bout was the #BettyandVeronica show in the 21K, Round 5, with Veronica [Lanni Marchant] taking an impressive “W” over hometown bestie Betty [Natasha Wodak], 71:08 to 72:31. Natasha also added to a great atmosphere by running to raise funds for VOKRA cat rescue, and toeing the line complete with cat-woman face paint! It was humorously billed as “Catfight in Vancouver”! The Men’s race also featured some of Canada’s very best, with Reid Coolsaet [65:40] putting on a show, to overpower dust Matt Loiselle and Sami Jibril in the heat. Read our full race report.

NickRyanBillThe weekend of Canadian running celebrations continued on Sunday and Monday evenings. On Sunday, Lanni, Natasha, Matt, Sami, and Kevin “SuperK” O’Connor were able to join our CRS crew in Gastown for a fabulous, post-race dinner. It was a great mix of athletes and organizers, and underscored how much we are all one big family, one community together. Then Monday night, Jenna, Inge and I, plus Toronto’s Bill Chaupiz from Night Terrors Run Crew and Nick Mizera from Pace and Mind, all joined Ryan and the East Van Run Crew for a beautiful recovery run in their ‘hood, including scenic Trout Lake. It was great to see the #ScotiaHalf bringing together our Toronto and Vancouver communities! Thanks for the bike loan John, and great to catch up with Leslie again – sorry I haven’t been out regularly!

It was also special to see JP Bedard among the hundreds of CRS visitors to #ScotiaHalf from across the country. If you haven’t read Paul Gains’ feature on JP, @runJPrun and his remarkable story, plus his crusade to build awareness for childhood sexual abuse, it’s a DON’T MISS! He’s now back in Toronto racking up 200 kilometres a week in preparation for his TRIPLE Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon! That’s right – not a miss-print! If we think 42.195 km is a challenge, JP will be doing the course 3 times, back-to-back-to-back on October 18th. 126.585 kilometres. One day. Indeed, we have such remarkable people in our community! Read the story, and make sure you join us in October.

As well as STWM preparations, July in Toronto 11694060_10102271365233241_153510771_nfor our CRS team is all about the Pan Am Games, where most of us will be involved in the Pan Am Marathons and Race Walks. We hope you’ll join in, especially for #PANAMARATHON on the 18th and 25th, to cheer on CRS stars Rachel Hannah and Catherine Watkins [ July 18th] and Kip Kangogo and Rob Watson [ July 25th]. On the track at York, there’ll be the #BettyandVeronica Show part 6, and SO many of our other CRS stars and friends. Four of our Toronto run crews – Parkdale Roadrunners (pictured at right), Tribe Fitness, Pace and Mind and Night Terrors Run Crew will be hosting CHEER SITES on the marathon course on both dates. I’ve written a separate blog on this with all the deets, schedules, including athletes’ Twitter and Instagram handles so we can stay connected and be part of a shared experience. I know there’s been lots of grumbling about the Games – mostly traffic related – but at the end of the day this is our city, our Games, and our friends racing for Canada. They deserve and NEED our cheers! Let’s show them how much we care; how rightly proud we are of them and of our great city, and make a home-turf difference. Go CANADA!

Gotta run! I’m doing a leg of the Pan Am Torch Relay tonight!

Looking forward to seeing 800 of you on Sunday at Beaches Jazz Training Run for STWM,

Alan

Ps. Let’s stay connected on social media! Twitter & Instagram @alnbrookes.

Jul 06 2015
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Let’s make the Pan Am marathons ROCK! Canada Running Series stars; Toronto Run Crew Cheer sites.

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TORONTO. July 6th 2015. We’re having not one but two once-in-lifetime run parties, on July 18th and July 25th and we’re ALL invited! The 2015 Pan Am Games is coming to OUR city: your Canada Running Series team will be working as key volunteers for the Women’s Marathon on Saturday 18th, and the Men’s Marathon the following Saturday the 25th. OK, so it’s early, both 7am starts, but we’re used to running early aren’t we?! AND the two Championship races feature 4 of our CRS stars that you all know so well!

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Our current CRS Women’s Champion @RachelHannahRD, Rachel Hannah and the fabulous @runmommaster, Catherine Watkins will be first up to rep the Maple Leaf; @KipKangogo, Kip Kangogo [4x winner of the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon; winner of the Toronto Yonge Street 10k and CRS Men’s Overall Champion in 2013] and @robbiedxc, Rob Watson [2:13:29 PB at STWM 2013 ] will take on the best of the Americas men on the 25th. We run with these peeps almost every month in Canada Running Series races. They’re our running friends and family. Now they’re putting it all on the line for Canada. THEY NEED OUR CHEERS!

There are TWO great options for you to join the Pan Am Marathon action on July 18th and 25th: 

1. There are still some Grandstand seats available for purchase from Toronto 2015, to put you right at the Start & Finish line with us. Purchase tickets here. [See Marathons on July 18th and 25th].

2. FOUR of our awesome Toronto run crews have stepped up to host 4 on-course CHEER SITES. EVERYONE is invited! You can join them for free, and show Canada and the world how Toronto rocks! It’s a unique opportunity to get to know your fellow-Toronto runners; and your cheers, your signs, your energy WILL make a difference, especially to Rachel, Catherine, Kip and Robbie. Any more fun and it would be illegal – guaranteed! Here’s where you can CHEER:

Night Terrors Run Crew

Pan Am NTRC

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Lakeshore and Jameson (South side)
Connect: @nightterrorsrun, @nightterrorsrun

Pace and Mind

Pan Am P&M Cheer Site

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: The Queensway and Parkside Drive (West side)
Connect: @paceandmind, @paceandmind

Parkdale Roadrunners

PanAM Parkdale Cheer Site

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Lakeshore, right in front of Palais Royale (North side)
Connect: @Parkdale_RR, @parkdaleroadrunners

Tribe Fitness

Pan Am Tribe Cheer Site

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: High Park (South-West corner of Centre Rd. and Spring Rd.)
Connect: @Tribe_Fitness, @Tribe_Fitness

Here’s the link to the PanAm Marathon course

The marathon course starts and finishes at Ontario Place. 270_AC_TYS10K13_0162It’s a tough one! Run a 2.195km initial loop, then 4 x 10km loops along Lakeshore West [the western half of Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon course], into High Park and back, including the Centre Road Hill we all know and LOVE from the 3km mark of Harry’s Spring Run Off 8K.

This means that if you’re at one of the Crew Cheer Sites, you’ll see the runners 8 times.  Are you ready? While our CRS team are working furiously on the final details of water stations and drinks bottles, timing, bib number allocations, marshalling and anti-doping, YOU can start on your race-day signs, banners, balloons, costumes, drums, noise-makers, cow-bells, tunes and more!

Let’s get ready… set, GO CANADA GO! July 18th and 25th. We can do it, TOGETHER!

There are other great opportunities to cheer on our other Canada Running stars on the track at York University, in the week in between the two marathons.

“Running in my home city, it’s a dream come true. And something that most athletes never get to do…  Slowly but surely I’ve been sharing this awesome news with my friends and family. Thank you to everyone who has supported me along this journey. It is just starting and I am so excited for what is to come.” – Sasha Gollish, W1500m.

LANNI MARCHANT & NATASHA WODAK in the Women’s 10,000m final with very real podium chances if we cheer loud enough! It’s the 2015 #BettyandVeronica Show part 6!

ALEX GENEST, who comes to lots of our Toronto Yonge Street 10K and STWM Tune Up runs, representing Speed River TFC, will be in the 3000m steeplechase along with Oshawa’s Matt Hughes.

GEN LALONDE of Speed River, who we’ve also run with in the CRS Tune Up training runs, in the Women’s 3000m steeple.

LUCAS BRUCHET from the BC Endurance Project [like Natasha W and Catherine], who was 4th at MODO Vancouver Spring Run Off 8k in March, plus the awesome CAM LEVINS, pride of Black Creek, in the Men’s 5000m.

NATASHA LABEAUD [2014 Vancouver Eastside Champion] along with Winnipeg’s JESS O’CONNELL in the Women’s 5000m

AARON HENDRIKX, another of our friends from U of Guelph & Speed River TFC, plus MO AHMED, pride of St.Catharine’s, in the Men’s 10,000m

SASHA GOLLISH of University of Toronto Track Club and NICOLE SIFUENTES in the Women’s 1500m

There are just SOOOOO many of our running friends to cheer for, and they need our Canada Running Series family to provide a home-field advantage!

Click here for a complete list of our Athletics Canada’s TEAM CANADA. 

Click here for a complete SCHEDULE at the York University track. 

Click here to purchase tickets. 

If you’re not able to get to all the track events, our very own scribe, PAUL GAINS, will be part of the CBC team in their coverage, so no need to miss a step. See CBC Pan Am page http://panam.cbc.ca/

Share the Games, the journey and the races directly with our CRS STARS via social media:

Name Event Date (July) Twitter Instagram
Rachel Hannah Marathon 18th @rachelhannahRD x
Catherine Watkins Marathon 18th @runmommaster @runmommaster
Kip Kangogo Marathon 25th @kipkangogo x
Rob Watson Marathon 25th @robbiedxc @rwatson26point2
Lanni Marchant W10,000m 23rd @ljm5252 @lannimarchant
Natasha Wodak W10,000m 23rd @tasha_wodak @nwodakruns
Natasha LaBeaud W5000m 21st @tashyrunner @teamanzures
Jess O’Connell W5000m 21st @jess__oconnell @jessmoconnell
Aaron Hendrikx M10,000m 21st @aaronhendrikx @aaronhendrikx
Mo Ahmed M10,000m 21st @Moh_Speed X
Lucas Bruchet M5000m 25th @lucabruca @lucabruca
Cam Levins M5000m 25th @CamLevins @camlevins
Alex Genest M3000sc 21st @papaG_steeple @papag_steeple
Matt Hughes M3000sc 21st @HugheSteeple @hughesteeple
Gen Lalonde W3000sc 24th @lalongen
Sasha Gollish W1500m 25th @SGollishRuns @sgollishruns
Nicole Sifuentes W1500m 25th @ndsifuentes @ndsifuentes

 

 

 

Jun 18 2015
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Marchant and Wodak Continue Rivalry in Vancouver. By Paul Gains

By | Scotiabank Vancouver Half | No Comments

VANCOUVER June 18th 2015. A star studded field has been assembled for the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon, June 28th but all eyes will be on the dazzling duo of Natasha Wodak and Lanni Marchant.

The pair have battled all Spring on the roads and on the track with a 2-2 score. Vancouver will be a deciding race.

Wodak, the 33 year old Vancouver resident set a new Canadian 10,000m record at the Payton Jordan Invitational May 2nd with a time of 31:41.59  getting the better of her friend and rival whose tenacity was rewarded with a personal best of 31:46.94, the third fastest time ever run by a Canadian. Wodak also beat Marchant at the United Airlines New York Half Marathon in March.

It was a different story at the Ottawa 10k May 24th when LanniMarchant, a criminal defense lawyer living in Chattanooga, Tennessee,  finished 3rd in a very strong field with a time of 31:49. Wodak was 4th ten seconds later. The two were heavily applauded for those performances in the IAAF Gold Label race as they beat many strong East African athletes.

Most recently they raced at the Calgary Half Marathon where Marchant put more than a minute on her rival winning in 1:12:17 to claim the National Half-Marathon Championship.

A year ago Marchant easily won in Vancouver. On the day her task was simply to show the folks at Athletics Canada that she was fit enough to represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games marathon. Her 4th place in Glasgow was proof they had chosen well. This year she knows it will be a more competitive race.

“Natasha and I have had a ‘back and forth’ all season,” says Marchant, who is also the Canadian women’s marathon record holder at 2:28:00. “I don’t think that will change for this race. She is running on her home course and I am defending my title on this course. We both have things at stake but that’s how good competition comes about. I think we we’ll see how it goes towards the end of the race.

“I don’t think I can run away from her – like a bad habit – and I will do my best to not let her do that to me. So I think it will be us next to each other or close to each other for a lot of the race before one of us makes a move.”

NatashaUp until last week Marchant had stayed with Wodak at her Vancouver apartment before Wodak flew to New York to compete in the NY Mini 10k and Marchant went south to California. The pair are friends when they are not competing.

“We have tons in common,” Wodak reveals. “We enjoy doing the same things; we like to go out and have a glass of wine or have a beer.  We are actually friends, we don’t just run together, we do other things. We get along very well.”

Wodak will approach the race from a different perspective. Both she and Marchant will represent Canada at the Pan Am Games and then the IAAF World Championships in Beijing. They will run the 10,000m at these championships. In order to be in peak fitness for Beijing she and her coach, Richard Lee,                                                              adjusted her training program going forward.

“Richard and I sat down and decided June would be a good time for me to sort of take a step back in my training,” she explains. “It’s so that I could have a little bit of a rest from racing hard. I have the Pan Am 10,000m in July but my ‘goal race’ is 10,000m in Beijing at the end of August. So for me to be able to peak at the end of August we decided it was important to take a step, basically, off the track in June. This month is not about racing hard it’s going back to basics getting in some longer runs and tempo runs.”

Among those who have been following the rivalry is 2012 ReidCanadian Olympic marathoner Reid Coolsaet. The Guelph, Ontario resident will also be racing Vancouver and acknowledges the focus has switched to the two ladies when it is usually upon the Canadian Olympic marathon men.

“I don’t really think there’s a difference in performance so much – I qualified for the 2016 Olympics,” Coolsaet says of seeing the tables turned. “The difference is just that they have a good head to head competition going. They’ve gone one for one in half marathon and then the 10k which makes it more exciting than myself running a race, while other Canadians like (two time Olympian) Eric (Gillis) are running the 10k championships and me running the half marathon championship.

“I think that is the big thing; they are running well and they are going back and forth. You don’t know who is going to win each race. I think that is what is exciting about it. It’s cool. Chasing times is not that exciting unless you hit them. A big competition is always cool to see.”

Coolsaet suffered a rare loss on the roads at the Calgary Half Marathon finishing eleven seconds behind Kip Kangogo, the Kenyan born Canadian citizen. He says he will be ready for the Vancouver race.

“After the Rotterdam marathon I took a couple of weeks off and I have just completed six weeks of base training,” he reports. “So the Calgary half marathon was kind of really early in my build up. Since Calgary, my workouts have picked up and, starting this week, I am going to have a 10k focus. I will be in better shape for a half marathon in Vancouver at the end of June than I was for Calgary.”

Coolsaet will face Canadian international Rob Watson and the up and coming Sami Jibril among others.

For a complete Start List click here: https://canadarunningseries.com/blog/2015/06/svhm-elite/

 

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