More than 2,000 residents
of Sudbury and other parts of Northeastern Ontario
took part in the annual fundraiser marathon in support
of the Health Sciences North Foundation
Len
Gillis
The 20th anniversary
of the Sudbury Rocks Marathon saw more than 2,000
participants Sunday in what is believed to be the
largest ever turnout for the charity fundraiser.
The event was held
downtown Sudbury, starting and finishing on Minto
Street, adjacent to Memorial Park. Participants
were invited to take part in a marathon walk, a
full running marathon with a relay event, a half
marathon, a one kilometre children's race, the Perdue
family 10-kilometre walk/run event and the five
kilometre walk-run event.
Race organizer Brent Walker said he was pleased
with the large number of people who responded.
"We are over the
moon excited about the fact that we are going to
have over 2,000 people participate in this community
fundraiser event. So this event is organized entirely
by volunteers with all funds donated to the Health
Sciences North Foundation,"said Walker.
"The event itself
is one of those things that if you build it, people
will come," said Walker.
"And if you provide
an opportunity for people to train and get fit,
you know, it's just better for the community's overall
health, and not to mention it's a lot of fun like
the excitement out here is electric today,"
he said.
Walker said the run began as the Sudbury Fun Run
at Laurentian University 20 years ago and over the
years has gradually become more popular. He said
the event outgrew Laurentian U and then it was moved
to Lily Creek field, and then to Science North and
then to Durham Street by the downtown YMCA venue.
"We found those
were all too small. And here we're looking at having
2000 people who have come from all around Northern
Ontario and beyond to participate in our event.
And again, we're over the moon excited about the
fact that, you know, the event has been such a success
this year," said Walker.
Aside from walkers,
runners and strollers the event also featured Ontario
Mine Rescue officer Scott Gillet of Sudbury who
ran the 5K event wearing a Dräger BG ProAir
breathing apparatus; the same gear worn by mine
rescuers who respond to an underground emergency.
As Gillet crossed the
finish line he was cheered on by several other mine
rescuers in the crowd who were on hand to show support.
Gillet was also congratulated by Sudbury MPP Jamie
West who crossed the finish line at the same time.
Walker also stated
that the success of the event was thanks to the
incredible effort by more than a hundred volunteers
who not only turned out to help with the marathon,
but also took part in the pre-planning.
2025 results
are posted HERE
The Sudbury
Rocks Marathon: so many stories - and not enough
time to tell them
Randy
Pascal
2025-05-27
More
than 2000 entries not only established a new high-water
mark for the Sudbury Rocks Marathon, but also created
an environment that featured a couple of thousand
potential stories, each runner unique - but far
more than one can squeeze into a column of a thousand
words or so.
Still, it is always fascinating
to search out the various motivators and back stories
that prompts these folks to push themselves to various
degrees. Some run in search of excellence.
A former varsity runner at both
Cambrian College and Laurentian University, Aurel
Fox-Recollet successfully defended his Perdue Family
Lise’s 10km title, trimming his time down
by more than two full minutes to 36:53.
“I find the 10km to be easy
yet challenging at the same time,” said Fox-Recollet,
now 30 years of age and looking forward to another
appearance at the Masters Indigenous Games in Ottawa
later this summer. “It’s a nice blend
of speed and endurance, which is something I excel
at.”
As for the secret to his success
on this particular day, the young man who attended
by CCAA nationals (Cambrian) and the OUA Championships
(Laurentian) acknowledged that he has absolutely
no interest in re-inventing this particular wheel.
“I knew I had a shot at winning
because I had done all of the fast workouts,”
Fox-Recollet said. “It’s an easy equation
– you just have to put in the work. That really
helped me today.”
By contrast, former Laurentian and
Sudbury Canadians soccer star Erica (Duczeminski)
Tyne is far more impulsive in her approach to the
sport, having decided the day before the event to
tackle the 10km distance – and still finishing
among the leaders.
“I’m a bit of an unorthodox
runner,” suggested the graduate of Lockerby
Composite. “I played soccer but didn’t
really like running. After having kids, I got into
it with short distances. On a whim, I did a half
marathon a couple of years ago and did a good job
and figured maybe there is something to this.”
Although this was only her third
run of the month, Tyne is coming off an appearance
at the New York City Half-Marathon in March, posting
a very solid time of 1:37.49. That said, there is
nothing resembling a summer running schedule in
place for the local physiotherapist.
“I did a bunch of the local
races a couple of years ago and then I did New York,
which was kind of a bucket list. Okay, I’m
done, I thought – and then I came out here.”
A native of Peru who trained with
the Voyageurs cross-country time during his first
year attending the university, studying business,
Renato Zegarra leaned more heavily on the influence
of friends to take his interest in running to a
whole new level in recent years.
“When I came to Canada, I
discovered a whole new world,” noted the 19
year old former 800m athlete who covered the half-marathon
in just over 1:27.00, a little shy of bettering
the best clocking of friend and fellow runner Nick
Lambert. “Long distance (running) is bigger
here.”
“I was excited to find a really
nice group of people. As an immigrant, it’s
not always easy to find a nice group of people but
I am happy that I did. They push me hard and I push
them.”
The push for 24 year old Espanola
native Mya White came much closer to home, as she
and family and friends tackled the 5km event that
included more than 800 runners. “When I moved
to Ottawa (she attended Algonquin College after
graduating from Espanola High-School), my mom was
diagnosed with cancer.”
“I was her caregiver during
that time. I was really down in the dumps for that
whole year and didn’t really work out a lot.
After she passed, I decided that I needed to take
care of myself.”
And on those days when the workouts
are much than a little daunting, she is quick to
call on her constant companion. “My mom was
my biggest supporter when I was running,”
said White. “She was always at my track meets,
always at my cross-country meets. She is 100% the
reason I run.”
For now marathoner Pat Pilon, it
is the next generation rather than the past that
served as the genesis to his launch in lacing up
the shoes and taking to the streets two years ago.
“It was really just a healthy lifestyle change,
changes in my habits,” said the 33 year old
who played football both with the St Benedict Bears
and the Sudbury Gladiators.
“With having kids, setting
a good example for my kids was important –
being healthy and active.”
It seems to be contagious.
His wife, Kayla and their six year
old (Brody) completed the 5km on Sunday morning,
with Hayes (age 3) and Westyn (age 1) cheering on
the sidelines with the grandparents. In addition
to serving as a role model, Pat can also now share
key learnings from the mistakes that he and so many
new runners will make.
“I started running but I had
no real source of education for running,”
Pilon admitted. “I just ran as far as I could
as hard as I could as long as I could – and
started hurting myself. There’s a lot of good
info on You Tube, people who were in the same boat
as me. I found out about all of these different
training methods.”
After tackling his first half-marathon
in Sudbury last May, Pilon lowered his time by about
12 minutes in racing the TCS Toronto Waterfront
Marathon last October. On Sunday, he was one of
73 individuals who completed the 42km challenge,
posting a time of 3:29.03.
Marathon winners included Lucas
Jones (male – 2:44.39) and Alannah MacLean
(female – 2:58.01) while first place finishers
in the half-marathon were Eric Leishman (male –
1:13.48) and Saree Sasson (female – 1:24.22).
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