Weekend Report. May 24-25th

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It was a busy weekend of racing for a few of the Boardwalk gang. Cameron Woo (13) owned the Scotiabank Ottawa Half Marathon (read the other post), and a few others left their mark on the track and the roads.

The Hershey Track & Field games brings an exciting opportunity to qualify for future championships with it. And although 400m is not the favourite distance of young Charlie Mills (9), he was determined to give it a try because thats the longest race they offer for his age group. In order to qualify for the Provincial final, Charlie would need to produce a 4th place finish or better in the meet held in Oshawa. With his time of 1:21.17 for 4th place, Charlie was able to book his spot to the Provincial final on June 21st!

Even more exciting might be his follow up effort on Sunday. The race to be contested was the 30th annual Walk of Life 5k at the Brickworks in Toronto. Joining him were his Coach, Jim Semes and his Mom, Joanna Kotsopoulos. In a race were age categories were not awarded prizes, all Charlie had to focus on was time. Or so he thought. In a race where the top 5 overall receive prizes, Charlie got stuck in to 5th place by the halfway point and never gave it up. His time was shockingly good, 20:42! In the span of 6 months, his time has dropped from 28min and change to this new low. Charlie has already started to flirt with the idea of breaking 20 minutes while still only 9 years old!

Charlie was in good company. The overall male and female winners of the race were his coach and his mom. The win for Jimmy Semes marks the 3rd consecutive year in which he has won the event.