Marathoners in action!

Three Boardwalkers took on the marathon after months of hard focussed training. Steve Burns, Jimmy Semes and Norton Woo.

TCS Amsterdam Marathon
Steve was the first one to start running. Not because he was in a better start wave, but because he had a timezone advantage. Steve travelled to Amsterdam to tackle the marathon in one of the quickest fields of runners. The winner in Amsterdam, Wilson Chebet won in a time of 2:05:36. Although not quite as fast, Steve still ran under the Boston Qualifying time, and finished in 3:26:38, the 1893rd finisher of 11,277. To see all the race stats, photos, and videos, click this link.

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon
In Toronto, Jimmy and Norton were excited to try and match Steve's earlier effort. Both men wanted the Boston Qualifier time. It has alluded Jimmy on 3 other occasions, for Norton this would be his first attempt at the mark. The days weather and course were ideal for fast times, and a few records were broken. The fastest marathon on Canadian soil was run, and the Canadian Women's record also fell. Jimmy and Norton got off to quick starts. Jimmy was achieving his "A" goal a sub 3hr marathon, and Norton was running with the 3:05 pacer for the first 30km of the race. In fact, Jimmy was well under 3hrs at 30k, running a predicted pace that would result in a 2:53. However, as is known to happen in a marathon a gorilla sometimes jumps on your back. But, both runners were able to manage the pain and finish at their goal and below the standard. The highlight of the course was the hometown turf, friends, family, and Boardwalkers spurred the runners on to their great times. Jimmy finished 102nd in 2:58:25, and Norton finished 254th in 3:13:23. Results are here.

Now we wait for one more Boardwalk RC member to make it 4 for 4 in Boston Qualification. Mark Giardetti will be running the Road 2 Hope Marathon in Hamilton on November