Marathon morning at the Start Line in Brackley Beach
The "gun" they used to start the race!
Ewen Stewart, the grand master of running on Prince Edward Island withDoug MacEachern, head of PEI Marathon course logistics & runner extraordinaire, in the background
Alex, Matt Allain & Steven Baglole at the Start Line ready to go
Alex, as usual, takes off like a shot, leading the pack
Running by the Covehead Lighthouse
Just past the Covehead lighthouse
Dalvay by the Sea
Dalvay Lake
Winter River
The Confederation Trail at the 25K mark, on the Suffolk Rd.
University Ave in front of UPEI, all the hills behind him, strong wind in his face
Just past Allen St.
You can hear the Finish Line from here even if you can't see it
Passing the Sea Treat (University Ave & Euston St)Video of Alex's finish
The first half in 1:33:00 and in 11th place.I finished in 3:12:45, beat my marathon PB, 16:44 faster than my first marathon in 2008,
came in 11th out of 252 runners and 1st in Male 20-29.
Mike MacKinnon won the marathon and Kathy Armitage of New Maryland, NB for the top female, Kara Grant was top PEI female.
Thank You to all runners and volunteers and for emails and Facebook messages.
My next marathon will be Disney in Florida in January!
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More Photos
Deborah Mutch's Photos
Kevin E. Proulx's Photos Here & Here
Marathon-Photos.com Photos Here
Running For Autism
Not Against It
acceptance, inclusion, awareness
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2011-10-16/article-2778843/Miscouche-runner-takes-Island-marathon-victory/1
Guardian photo by Brian McInnis
MARATHON
The male and female victors in the 2011 BMO Nesbitt Burns Prince Edward Island Island Marathon are old hands at this winning thing.
Sunday, Mike MacKinnon of Miscouche won his fourth Island Marathon, while Kathy Wilson-Armitage of New Maryland, N.B., won her first full-marathon on P.E.I. but had nabbed first place in the Island half-marathon in 2004.
Both battled a sunny and warm but blustery fall day.
MacKinnon finished in two hours, 43 minutes 19 seconds, while Wilson-Armitage crossed the finish line in Charlottetown in 3:18:45.
Temperatures hovered around 16 C and winds were a steady 30 kilometres or more per hour.
“It was tough. I thought ‘Oh my God, this wind is stronger that I thought’ and I knew it would cost me,” said MacKinnon, 38, adding the heat wasn’t a problem thanks to the breezy day. “Not with the way the wind was. The heat wasn’t a big deal.”
Second place overall went to Steven Baglole of Charlottetown in 2:44:51, while Chuck Dixon of Sackville, N.B., finished third overall in 2:52:14.
It’s the fifth straight year an Island runner has won the hometown marathon.
The last non-Islander to win was David MacLennan of Scotsburn, N.S.
MacKinnon’s last Island Marathon win came in 2008.
“They’re all challenging. I’ve had to battle it out,” said MacKinnon, a automotive teacher at Three Oaks High School in Summerside. “If I can outpace them (the field) I have a chance. If it gets to a kick I don’t have a chance and they know that.”
MacKinnon said he plans a quiet family celebration with wife Janice and children Hailey, 10, and Ryan, 7.
For Wilson-Armitage, her first 42-kilometre run in over a decade had similar challenges, notwithstanding her long break from the pavement.
“It was brutal. Strong headwinds and a battle (with the hills) on the finish. It was my first (Island) Marathon in 11 years. It was like my first, but it will be my last,” said Wilson-Armitage, 46, smiling and wrapped in a silver, wind-resistant heat blanket after the race. “In this weather I was really pleased. I’m just pleased to be finished.”
Former Olympian Kara Grant of Mermaid finished second among the women in 3:24:22; third place went to Brenda Benson of Summerside in 3:26:03.
Despite the win, Wilson-Armitage doesn’t think she's prone to winning. It's just a matter of numbers, she said.
“In the smaller marathons (and half-marathons), the field of women is so small,” she said.
Wilson-Armitage also credits her husband Michael Armitage for support, and her friend Allison MacDonald, who ran the half-marathon as a warmup to next month’s New York Marathon.
“She’s my inspiration,” said Wilson-Armitage.
So with the race behind her, what will Wilson-Armitage do to celebrate her second overall marathon victory (she won a marathon in Fredericton, N.B., years ago)?
“I think I’ll drink white wine, if I can walk,” she said. “Right now I’m starting to seize up. I’ve got to keep moving.”
In the men’s half-marathon, Jonathan Gendron of Shearwater, N.S., finished first in 1:16:49, followed by Stanley Chaisson of Stratford, who won the full marathon in 2009, in 1:17:35.
Ian James Doyle of Sydney, N.S., was third (1:19:19).
Stacy Juckett of Dartmouth, N.S., was top female half-marathoner, finishing in 1:29:52.
Gabrielle Gallagher of Halifax, N.S., crossed in 1:33:17, while Jennifer Pizio-Perr of Tignish was third (1:34:19).
P.E.I. marathon draws thousands of runners
CBC News
Runners of the P.E.I. Marathon crossing the finish line. Tourism Charlottetown
P.E.I.'s annual marathon this weekend drew in an estimated 2,500 runners from across Canada and the United States.
Myrtle Jenkins-Smith, one of the organizers, said it's become an international event.
"We are a Boston [marathon] qualifier so we have people that come here to qualify for Boston," Jenkins-Smith told CBC News.
"We had the largest percentage of marathoners in eastern Canada qualify [for the Boston marathon] last year, so that's pretty exciting for P.E.I."
Mothers set example with marathon
Laurie Ann Brown and Bridget Roy of Liverpool training for the P.E.I. race in part to set an example for their children. (Ryan Hicks/CBC) For two mothers, best friends from Nova Scotia, Sunday's P.E.I. Marathon was an opportunity to set an example.
Bridget Roy and Laurie Ann Brown of Liverpool spent a year training for the event, both losing more than 60 lbs.
"It really does mean a lot," said Roy.
"We both have young children and we're role models for our children now, to have a healthy lifestyle."
Roy and Brown, who ran the half marathon, were amongst more than 2,500 people who took part in marathon events Sunday.
Phys Ed teacher Stan Chaisson sees the event as part of the growing popularity of running growing on the Island.
Just last week I was at Eliot River School with my St Jean Consolidated cross-country runners. Oh my goodness, there must have been about 800 runners there between grade three and six, just in our zone," he said.
Mike MacKinnon of Miscouche, P.E.I. had the best time in the marathon. He did it in 2 hours and 45 minutes, more than a minute ahead of the second place finisher.
Runners who finished the P.E.I. marathon can use it to qualify for the Boston marathon.
(Note- Bridget Roy was the winner of the draw of the gift box of Great Canadian Soap Co. "Post-Run Relief" at the PEI RoadRunner's Booth at the PEI Marathon Expo. Congrats all round Bridget, well done!!)
3 comments:
Congratulations, Alex, that is awesome!
WOW! Great race report! How do you get so many pictures of Alex at so many points on the course? Congratulations on your PB Alex!! Very impressive!
I had a little help this year.. the close up of Alex, Matt & Steven at the start line, as well as the finish line video (and a few other photos and all the video) was taken by Alex's boss Em on my old camera with the scratched lens. Alex's dad took the photo at Dalvay Lake (and the one of me arriving there on my bike that's in the set) as well as the finish line photo and a few others. I bike from the start line in Brackley Beach to Dalvay, about 12K and then again for the last 3K or so. In the middle we stopped at the Winter River Bridge and where the Trail crosses the Suffolk Rd. Past years we've made more stops and have only seen the leaders at the start. This year I saw more of the leaders than I've ever seen and we really had to keep moving to keep up with Alex! It helps that "Point & Shoot" cameras are just that so I can do it from a bike without really looking!
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