home

 

                  Hello Everyone,                                                                                                                                                                                 October 15, 2025        

                    In this Issue:

     

  1. Turkey Gobbler 2025
  2. Mike Wilson at the Royal Victoria Marathon
  3. Locals Run Chicago Marathon
  4. Trail Running in Sudbury: Why Fall Is the Best Season To Hit the Trails
  5. Giving thanks for all that is Sudbury Sports
  6. Sudbury Rocks Running Club - Group Runs
  7. Photos This Week,
  8. Upcoming Events: Nov 2 Run to Remember
  9. Track North and Laurentian XC News

     

 

 

 

 

  Oct 12, 2025


2025 SFC Turkey Gobbler
Walden Cross Country

 

All Photos Here

Results Here


Annual Turkey Gobbler did not disappoint. Sunshine, blue skies and smiling faces made for a perfect day. Thnx Neil Phipps Sara McIlraith and the many volunteers for once again putting on this event. It has become a Thanksgiving tradition for us and hundreds of others .
Happy Thanksgiving

Email: BeatonClassic@hotmail.ca

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2025
2025 Turkey Gobbler Trail Run

 

Mr. Fit Sudbury Clinton Lahnalampi and Ms. Fit Sudbury Sara McIlraith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Wilson at the Royal Victoria Marathon


Royal Victoria half marathon complete !!! Amazing run , so scenic !!! Huge race , hard to push … lots of bottlenecks and turns … amazing fan participation ( never seen so many spectators cheering us on )
Just a perfect race !!

 

5K 0:25:55 17994 WILSON, Michael
Sudbury, 0:25:47


Half 1:57:56 WILSON, Michael
Sudbury, ON 1:51:02

 

 

 

 

Locals Run Chicago


      

                                                               Dan Whalen

 

 

She did it again!! Track North CAMEL athlete Alannah MacLean ran another impressive marathon today in Chicago with a finishing time of 2:48:39 (3:59 per km average) - just narrowly missing her personal best set by a mere 7 seconds. Alannah split the half in 1:24:07 - showing incredible fitness and mental toughness as she held a very consistent pace from start to finish. Congratulations Big Al!!

Darren Jermyn

 

 

 

Trail Running in Sudbury: Why Fall Is the Best Season To Hit the Trails
From misty ridges to lakefront loops, Sudbury’s fall trails are perfect for runners—whether you’re chasing sunrise views or joining a local run club.

By Helen Francis, Ultra Endurance Coach
Since her first ultra race in 2017, Helen has competed in 25+ ultras ranging in length from 50K to 215 miles. She is a strong proponent for overall health and well-being, and truly believes that trail and ultra running are things that everyone should try.


No matter where you are in Greater Sudbury, you can find trails to run on. Sitting on the Precambrian Canadian Shield and straddling different watersheds, the terrain is rugged and diverse. The trails reflect this and can be hilly, rocky, cut through valleys, and wind around one of the over 330 lakes in the city. You will run through both igneous and metamorphic rocks, and those with keen eyes will be able to spot clear indicators of the meteorite and comet impacts that have shaped this district. You will also discover the forested areas of the boreal forest ecozone and see the amazing results of reforestation and regreening that have regenerated the area after environmental disturbance from mining and logging.

Why Fall Is the Best Season for Trail Running in Sudbury
In my opinion, fall offers one of the best seasons to experience Sudbury’s trail system, when golden birch and aspen nestled in cracks and low spots stand out against the dark evergreens that cling to higher ridges. The bare rock, dotted with lichen that adds grey and pink tones to highlight the warmth of fall and foliage. You will also spot sugar maples as splashes of orange and red, particularly near lake edges or sheltered valleys. Boggy wetlands are surrounded by moss flats that shift from green to rusty red. Most spectacularly, the morning mists that rise from valleys and lakes are ethereal. If you plan your run for the right time, those fogs lift to reveal the forests outlined against the sharp blue of the fall sky—truly magnificent!

Kivi Park and South End Trails: From Easy Loops to Technical Challenges
For those who are staying or visiting the South End of Sudbury, here are three routes I’d recommend:
Kivi Park (location 4472 Long Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, P3G 1K4) offers an easy-to-moderate 3 or 5 km run starting from the main park office, with the option to follow the Green (easy) or Red (moderate) hiking loops. Both loops will take you past the wishing tree, and the longer loop will also take you up to stunning lookouts (complete with red Muskoka chairs) along the Kivi ridge. Kivi Park itself is over 480 acres and offers many trails to explore. For those who have the time and are looking for a long and challenging trail run (approximately 20 km), head to Crowley Lake. Follow the Yellow loop around Crowley Lake and then connect to the Teal loop around Linton Lake. This mix of loops is considered very technical and offers dramatic views of the lakes, cotton grass wetlands and panoramic views across the boreal forest. The Crowley and Linton loops can be connected to from the Main Office at Kivi Park. All trails at Kivi Park have well-signposted lookouts. The hiking trails are not for mountain bikes, so you should only come across hikers and dog walkers.

New Sudbury Routes: Rotary Park, Moonlight Beach, and Lake Laurentian

For those of you who are staying or visiting areas to the east of and in New Sudbury, both Rotary Park, and Moonlight Beach, connecting to the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area, provide fabulous trail options.

Rotary Park (Park at the Adanac Ski Lodge at 744 Beatrice Street, Sudbury, P3A 5E5). The easy 5-6 km (out and back) trail is largely hard-packed gravel and suits runners who want to push a stroller and/or wheelchair athletes. You have an opportunity to keep this route flat and stay along Junction Creek both out and back, or take the high route and add some elevation. The high route takes you to a lookout that offers a fabulous view of New Sudbury. For a further challenge, extend this route by adding in a run down, up and behind Adanac Ski Hill itself (if it is not ski season). A hilly 10km can be found by mixing in these extensions.

Moonlight Beach/Lake Laurentian Conservation Area offers numerous trails that can be accessed from Sudbury’s south end. A moderate 9-10 km route starting at Moonlight Beach takes you along a gravel-packed route towards the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area. At the BioSki Chalet, take the Beaver Pond and then the Red-winged Blackbird loops, ultimately winding back and following the Moonlight Beach path back to your car. On the Beaver Pond and Red-winged Blackbird loops, the trails are single track and technical. The Beaver Pond loop offers you a wooden platform with a view over the wetlands, and the Red-winged Blackbird loop has an interesting view of an active beaver lodge.

A challenging 18-20 km route requires continuing from the intersection of Moonlight Beach at the BioSki Chalet and connecting onto the Link Trail until the Nature Chalet, and then following the Red Trail around Lake Laurentian. This technical, rugged and hilly 10km trail around Lake Laurentian is a favourite with hikers and runners, offering glorious views from the lakesides, as well as vistas from the ridges. Additional extensions can easily be added to this loop. One unique feature to discover is the locally known Perdue Peak, with its growing rock cairn. I encourage you to find a local runner while you are here and learn the emotional story behind it.
Routes are mixed usage, so be careful to look out for mountain bikers, hikers and dog walkers.

Beyond these areas, there are a myriad of further trails, including those at Walden Cross Country Ski Club, Capreol Cross Country Ski Club, others referenced in the Rainbow Routes Trail Guide and many that are hidden in green areas connecting suburbs to other areas around the city. If you want to learn more, I encourage you to join one of the many free running clubs, as the athletes there will be more than happy to share their knowledge of the trail systems and will likely offer to run with you.

Looking for a way to connect and socialize with like-minded runners? Here are a few running clubs in the city:

Sudbury Rocks Run Club leaves the parking Lot of Apex Gym (125 Loach’s Road, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2P8) 6 pm Wednesdays, for both a 5km and 10km run (usually a mix of road and trails); and Saturdays from the Elizabeth Street parking Lot, at 8 am for a 15-20km run (usually a mix of trails and roads).


Crosscut Distillery Run Club (1347 Kelly Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, P3E 5P5) offers a 3km and 5km run option 5:30 pm Tuesdays, with cocktails at the finish. The routes are relatively flat and again a mix of road and easy trail.


Stack Brewing (947 Falconbridge Road, Sudbury, ON), in partnership with Adventure 365, also provides a run club on Thursdays at 6:30 pm, again 3 km and 5 km options are available, this time with a local pint at the finish.

** Note: No clubs require pre-registration, and everyone is welcome.

 

 

About Helen Francis, Ultra Endurance Coach

 

 

Upon moving to Canada thirty years ago, Helen Francis had a career in the mining sector working for Vale for close to 20 years, which led to a role as CEO of the YMCA of Northeastern Ontario for another 5 years. Embracing the outdoor adventure that Sudbury offers has led to Helen's journey into trail running and ultra running. Since her first ultra race in 2017, Helen has now competed in 25+ ultras ranging in length from 50K to 215 miles. She is a strong proponent for overall health and well-being, and truly believes that trail and ultra running are things that everyone should try.

 

 

 

Giving thanks for all that is Sudbury Sports
Randy Pascal
2025-10-14


As I looked to a relatively quiet weekend on the local sports front and pondered content for the Thanksgiving Monday column, I couldn’t help but to be struck by the very essence of this particular holiday – and specifically how it dovetails into the sentiment that is at the very core of the work that I do, pretty much seven days a week.

How can one not give thanks when each and every day gives rise to a wonderful landscape of incredible stories to be told, all within an environment that remains every bit as much of a passion for this writer as it was more than twenty years ago when I first made the plunge from a career in banking to Sudbury Sports?

I give thanks pretty much daily for the entire spectrum of athletic involvement in this great city, the athletes, coaches, administrators and parents who allow me to meander happily from one event to the next, blessed with a child-like sense of excitement that is a function of the next interesting tale to be told.

For as much as a thousand word column does not come anywhere close to providing the space needed to individually thank all those who have contributed (and continue to do so) to engulfing myself in a setting where I pretty much never have to “work” another day in my life, I would be remiss in not sharing some random thoughts on those who remain particularly impactful.

And just to clarify: it’s not work when you love what you’re doing.

I give thanks for the entirety of the Sudbury high-school sports scene, with its incredibly expansive array of fascinating teenage athletes, some of whom might reach a degree of excellence, most whom will not, but all of whom seem so genuinely pleased to share their thoughts in what might well be the only post-game interview they will ever experience.

I give thanks for close friends and fellow sports nuts Dave Makela and Blaine Smith, both of whom were instrumental in the initial decision to leave the security of the financial industry to pursue an adventure rife with countless unknowns. While early challenges were unavoidable, it’s been far more than a decade in which I can look back with absolutely no regrets.

I give thanks for an incredible track & field and running community, for the pleasure of working alongside folks such as Darren Jermyn and Dick Moss, Vince Perdue and Robert Esmie, Colin Ward and Neil Phipps. Thankfully, the whole realm of athleticism is hardly the only discipline in Sudbury that features such genuinely nice and decent people.

I give countless thanks for my Sudbury Wolves penalty box partners in crime Todd Guthrie and Steve Mynerich, gentlemen who can make even the longest of OHL seasons an enjoyable and memorable experience. Truth be told, the entire array of game night regulars at the Old Barn on Elgin Street render what is supposed to be something of a job far more of a social outing.

I give thanks to Dario Zulich and the entire SWSE team. For as much as we might not agree on every single hockey-related move relating to our beloved Wolves, there is simply no questioning the level of care that this man and the folks who surround him share in trying to make Sudbury an better place to live (and hopefully provide countless moments to celebrate and remember).

Same holds true for all of my many friends with the Greater Sudbury Cubs and the NOJHL, with countless evenings at the Gerry McCrory Sports Complex filled with endless meandering to and fro, sharing smiles and laughter and all of those life updates that make living worthwhile.

I give most sincere thanks to all those who have been involved in the journey that is SportLink – Greater Sudbury Sport Council. It’s been a 20+ year trek that introduced me to the gem of a human being that is Lisa Kivinen, that allowed me to develop an incredible kinship and admiration for all that the late Dan Lee had to offer to this community – and that continues to grow through the efforts of Joanne Pendrak and Laura Young and so many other devoted volunteers.

As we near the passing of the torch, I give thanks for both Chris Sheridan, the man who remains the only reason why the pursuit of a Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame even continues to this day, and Joe Drago, a critical supporting ally whose energy to his hometown and dreams for what could be are absolutely boundless.

I give thanks to the Foligno clan, the First Family of Hockey in Sudbury. As I pen this very column, I cannot help but to note that it is a very similar sense of appreciation for all that we have been blessed with that drives every single interaction that Mike, Nick, Marcus and family enjoy with fellow Sudburians. They remain a glowing example of how to embrace success and leverage it for the good of many.

On an equal footing are the likes of Rebecca Johnston and Tracy Fleury, Derek MacKenzie and Erik Wohlberg, Caroline Ehrhardt and Cloe Lacasse, athletes who have excelled and never lost sight of their roots – and who gladly give of their time to maintain those Sudbury connections.

And they are but the tip of the iceberg.

I give thanks to all of those people who have devoted years of their life in pursuit of the betterment of Sudbury hockey. For as much as a gathering of Barry McCrory, Peter Michelutti (both Jr & Sr), Robert Mazzuca, Gus Lescault, Albert Corradini and those who have come and gone (Ken Creasey, Art Connor and the like) would never in a million years reach a common consensus, they have remained pillars upon whom I have relied heavily for help and information.

I give thanks to a local community of Sudbury sports media who help to keep it fun as we share thoughts and opinions and stories and wonder about all that comes our way in a single sporting calendar year.

I give thanks to the very special friendships with Denis Collin and Ken Campbell, two fellows at completely opposite ends of the sporting spectrum, and yet both of whom who continue to fill a role as confidantes and sounding boards for a writer whose silliness is an engrained personality trait.

And above all else, I give thanks to the entirety of my family, to parents who so believed in my love of sports - even as a clearly below-average athlete - and to three brothers who never go a month without convening on a Zoom call that is, quite honestly, a reality show waiting to happen.

I give endless thanks to our children – Kristyn, Mark and Stephanie – who somehow find a way to sprinkle just a touch of pride into their daily efforts to ensure that humility (or perhaps humliation – in a loving sense) prevails at the very heart of who I am.

To Mary-Ellen: words alone could never express the phenomenal thanks that I share for allowing me to pursue this dream and supporting my quirkiness every step of the way. It could not have ever happened wihout you – and for that, I am eternally grateful.

My life is a series of endless adventures – and I am but along for the ride.

(apologies to the hundreds not mentioned by name – the curling and volleyball folks, the hockey officials, the entire Eastlink family, my friends in Valley East – and on and on and on)

 

 

 

 

Sudbury Rocks Running Club - Group Runs


    Wednesdays - meet at Apex Warrior parking lot departing at 1800h. Typically runs are 1 hour or 10km.
                    Saturdays - meet at Bell Park's Elizabeth St parking lot departing at 0800h. Typically runs are longer at 1.5 hours or 15km minimum.

Generally the pace floats between 5 and 7 minutes per km. Anticipate a mixture of roads and trail running on the routes.
Inclement weather is usually just a challenge. Group has only been cancelled for local races or xmas. Cancellations or changes in meeting locations will be posted.

Locations are show in the attached photos/maps.

Wednesday pm location

Saturday am location


 

 

Photos This Week

Oct 8 Wednesday pm run

      

      

Oct 8 Moonlight Bridge

Oct 8 Bioski

Oct 9 Duck Trail

Oct 9 Moonlight Bridge

Oct 9 Laurentian Lake

Oct 9 Blackbird Pond

Oct 9 Moonlight Beach

Oct 11 Rocks!! Saturday am run

Oct 11

Oct 12 Turkey Gobbler Trail Run

Oct 13 Moonlight Duck Trail

Oct 13 Laurentian Trail

Oct 13 Laurentian Trail

Oct 13 Moonlight Trail

Oct 14 Moonlight

Oct 14 Moonlight Duck Trail

Oct 14 Moonlight Trail

Oct 14 Bioski Pond

Oct 14 Moonlight Back Country

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

  November 2, 2025

Run to Remember

Run to Remember

November 2, 2025

Participants can choose to run/walk 1 km, 5 km or 10 in the nature trails of the Collège Boréal Sudbury campus. All participants will receive a t-shirt and a medal.

Register with this link.

https://collegeboreal.akaraisin.com/ui/RuntoRemember2025

We hope to see new and returning participants!

1km Course Map Here                      5km and 10km Course Map Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run Club Update

 

 

 

Track North and Laurentian XC News

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 


Contact Us

Proud sponsor of the Sudbury Rocks!!! Race-Run-Walk for the Health of it

ttp://www.sudburyrocksmarathon.com/

HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT | ARCHIVES | CLUBS | EVENTS | PHOTOS | RACE RESULTS | LINKS | DISCUSSION


Visitors:  

Click to Enter Site