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Fall Racing Highlights - Karl & Megan Running in Finland
By:  Sheila Kealey   (2014/10/30)

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Although the ski racing season is over, XC Ottawa athletes are busy preparing for next season's races. Part of our dryland training and activities involves taking part in local events. Here is what some of us have been up to . . . 

OCTOBER

Karl and Megan are making the most of their travels and experiencing some Finnish racing, with success! Check out their results here and here



SEPTEMBER
September 7
Andre won the Men > 15 category at Sunday's Chelsea Nordic biathlon running race (he admits that he was awarded a handicap for shooting compared to the biathletes, making my shooting easier). He had the fastest 5km running split of the event.

AUGUST
August 9th
Peter raced the Bruce Penninsula Multisport Race in Wiarton Ontario (BPMR) for his third year, after finishing 1st in the short course last year he set his sights a little higher and attacked the Solo 100km Course. After 7 hours and 51 minutes of Kayaking, Running and Pedaling he was the first to finish! Excited to race this one again next year!
Here's what's involved in the 100 KM LONG COURSE
  • 16km KAYAK AROUND AN ISLAND in GEORGIAN BAY
  • 32km BIKE with GUT-BUSTING ESCARPMENT CLIMBS
  • 16km RUN along the EDGE of the ESCARPMENT
  • 30km BIKE along BACK LANES and FOREST TRAILS
  • 6km RUN to WIARTON via “SPIRAL STAIRCASE”

Here is a great race recap by an Ottawa based racer “active Steve.”
Results
August 16
Arthur raced in the Mad Trapper Camp Fortune Peaks Challenge, along with his eldest daughter Sasha (7), and they both won! Arthur did the 9.5k (was meant to be 11k, but organizers shortened it due to rain) and Sasha did a 3k. Arthur had the lead from the start with a young fellow who excelled on the downhills, but Arthur opened a gap on the climb up Brian's and kept/widened it until the end. The most exciting part of it was overlapping the 3k runners, which included Sasha.  Now we've both got really sore legs!

August 3rd

Ingrid teamed up with her sister, Audrey, to compete in the Deep River Triathlon Relay. The race includes a point-to-point swim in the Ottawa River, followed by a bike and run route through the streets of Deep River, and is spectated by a large portion of the town. The team Klister Sisters (no klister involved) finished 5th out of 28 teams and was the first female team by over 16 minutes! Ingrid also managed to post the fastest swimming time of all competitors. Results can be found here. 



 

JULY

July 12th
Ingrid, our resident fish, competed at the 8th edition of the Bring on the Bay 3k Open Water Swim. The race, which starts at the Nepean Sailing Club and finishes at the Britannia Yacht Club, helped raise over $49,000 for Easter Seals Ontario, an organization benefiting disabled children in Ontario. The event attracted swimmers from BC to Nova Scotia with an age range from 9-79 (and no, that's not a typo!). In her first time swimming the event, Ingrid finished with a time of 40:48, good enough for 32nd overall, and 14th female out of a record 510 swimmers. Ingrid reports: "This was a well-organized event and was super fun. I'm already counting down the days to next year!" Results can be found here

What does a 3k open water swim event look like? Check out a video of last year's event here

July 6
XC Ottawa had 5 athletes competing in the Mike Collingwood Memorial triathlon: Karl was 13th overall and 2nd in his age category, Megan was 15th woman overall; and Ingrid-Kyla-Katie teamed up as XC OttaWOW and was the 2nd female team. This local race is a favourite of many because of the Gatineau Park venue (swimming in Meech Lake, cycling a loop of the Park, and running P8-P9), and the fantastic organization taken over from Mike Collingwood (a dedicated volunteer for many events, including the Gatineau Loppet). Full results for individual; team.  


Karl running on a familiar stretch or pavement
Katie looking strong

JUNE

June 29
Kyla raced the Spartan sprint at Edelweiss in just under 1 hour to do the 5km event. Kyla reports: "A memorable part of this event occurred 5 minutes in to the race, when I found myself with my face in deep stinky mud, crawling under barbed wire, realizing "oh my goodness, what AM I DOING?"  I did this race with a group of Carleton Neuroscience students and we called ourselves the "Lesioned Amygdalas" ...fearless!


Kyla and the Lesioned Amygdalas

June 14
Sheila raced the Ottawa River Sprint triathlon and finished 3rd woman overall. She also volunteered for the event from 5:30 AM -2:00 PM (when she wasn't racing) and found the racing easier than her volunteer role. Results are here: 



June 10
Liza ran the 2nd  Beaverchase 6k, and finished 2nd female overall. This is another great low key event to get you back into running shape, and watch your progress in the summer. The series has a pretty cool history, getting named after a beaver chased the first place runner and then sat and watched as all the runners passed by, during the first ever race. You can find out more about the series here. 

MAY

May 31
Kyla raced Lap the Gats, a cycling race and fundraiser for Parkinson's Disease and placed 3rd in the 18-30F category. Kyla reports: "The Carleton team raised close to $1600 for PD, and even the Carleton cheerleaders were in attendance!  Carleton also had an information booth at the event to raise awareness about the disease and other health and mental health issues.  The Carleton activities were all organized by Nazneen Rustom, a PhD. student at Carleton.  In addition to these activities, a memorable part of the event for me was listening to the guest speaker talk about living with PD.  It was very inspirational and a good reminder to appreciate the good health that we have.  It will be an annual event, so readers can keep that in mind for next year!"
 

Kyla (Fresh Air Jersey) and her team raised $1600 for Parkinson's Disease!

May 24
Sheila ran the Ottawa Race Weekend 5km, she was 1st in her age category and 9th woman overall. She was reminded why she likes the 5k race distance, and agrees with Lauren Fleshman on the "10 Reasons the 5K is Freaking Awesome."  Results are here. 



Andre and Katie raced the RAID PULSE 8hrs Adventure Race in Val des Monts Quebec at Camp Air Eau Bois, and finished 11th in the mixed category. The race consisted of a canoe, run, mountain bike, run and mountain bike again. Katie reports " It was like no race I had ever done before! Super super muddy on the bike and Andre and I are novice orienteerers so that made things interesting! The whole event was super fun and the volunteers were amazing. I highly recommend this race to anyone wanting to try something new and challenging. Having never raced for 8hrs before, I was introduced to a whole new level of fatigue!" 
Steffan and Riel, veterans of this type of adventure, also raced and placed 4th in the male team category.  

You can watch this video of the race to get an idea of what was involved, and here are some great pictures of Katie and Andre . . .


May 3

Liza ran the Wakefield Covered Bridge Trail Half-Marathon, and finished first (female) overall with a time of 1:47:39. Results are here: Liza reports that is was definitely the most pleasant, scenic and relaxing race she has ever done, and can't wait to run it again and again! A notable result also comes from her 6-year-old brother, Stephan, who ran the 5k, and finished 3rd in the 9 and under category, in his first race ever.
 


APRIL
Liza ran the MEC race 2 at Nepean Equestrian Park, and finished 2nd overall female in the 5k. She says "It was a great way to start that summer training! Great low key event for those that are looking for regular races to keep track of their improvement." MEC holds these running events all over the city pretty regularly, details can be found here. 

 
 
Interesting Reading. . .
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