MARS has been to Boston for The Boston Marathon. The 8 runners (and one friend) arrived in Boston midday Saturday and enjoyed two cool but sunny days leading up to marathon Monday. They awoke Monday morning to a cold, windy day. In Boston, runners arrive by bus several hours before the race start in Hopkinton. At the village they were treated to strong headwinds and rain. Our bunch huddled under a big tent and tried to stay warm, entertained by longtime Boston veteran, Troy Cox. Troy’s enthusiasm for this race was infectious. He put everyone at ease, setting the runners up for a great day.
MARS Runners in Throway Clothes Before Boarding Bus To Hopkinton
The race start was cold and a steady 20 mph headwind made it feel cooler. Fortunately the rain stayed away for the first half of the race. The race start in Boston is a dangerous time. Your adrenalin is pumping, there are thousands of runners who are as fast or faster than you and there is a deceptively “easy” initial 10K with lots of downhill. Many runners try to put “money in the bank” but at their own peril, as running too fast too early in Boston ends in horror.
Wall to wall runners early race
Here’s an outline of the race course
Here’s a recap of our local MARSian performances at the Boston Marathon
30,251 runners entered Boston Marathon
By age group that our runners were in:
18-39 women 6821
40-44 men 2392
45-49 men 2809
Our results by age groups:
Women
Jess Sheppard 80th women’s 18-39, also 100th woman overall
Katherine Ahokas 86th women’s 18-39
Martina Morton 383rd women’s 18-39
** Open Women Team Competition (top 3 runners score) – 5th out of 51 teams! **
5th Place Open Women’s Team of Martina Morton, Katherine Ahokas and Jess Sheppard
Men
Troy Cox 14th men’s 45-49
Pierre Mikhail 92nd men’s 45-49
Mark Sinnige 177th men’s 45-49
Dave Johnstone 1216 men’s 45-49
Lowell Greib 398th men’s 40-44
** Master’s Men Team 13th out of 71 teams! **
More
All 8 MARSians under 3:30
6 runners ran 3 hours or under
4 runners in the top 100 in their age groups
In the next few weeks MARS will select a spring Marathon destination for 2016. We plan to select a spring race with both marathon and half marathon options to increase club participation.
The MARS Fun Run Series starts next week on Tuesday April 28 at 6pm. Click link below for details
Registration can be done here.
MARS Cross Country Running is coming soon and we want YOU. The club will pay for any runner who commits to running the September 27 or November 1 race if it is your first race. We will also pay for your travel to that race. In addition we have plans to pay for accomodations for anyone running at the Canadian XC Championships in Kingston. Masters XC is a team event AND is age-graded, with teams in 10 year age groups. We are pretty sure if you try it you’ll like it. The race season is as follows:
Taylor Creek (Toronto) 5K Cross Country – Sept 27 (depart 9 am, home by 5pm)
Sunnybrook Park 8K – November 1(depart 9 am, home by 5pm)
Ontario Cross Country Championships – Etobicoke – Nov 15
Canadian Cross Country Championships – Kingston ON – Nov 28
The club will continue its Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday morning workouts until June 30 when we will add a 5:30 pm Tuesday workout to the schedule. Club members can access the training schedule at the TeamSnap website. Details on club membership can be found here.
Muskoka’s very own Band on the Run is June 13. Great runs, great community, great music. Click here to find out more.
Finally, MARS is taking some local high school runners to Craftsbury High School XC Camp from June 27-July 4. There are a few spots left. Click below for details.
See you on the roads…….
