11338 Bruce Barteaux: Champ at Running Circles
Greetings All,
Any day that you are blessed with the good health & a degree of mental deficiency which allows you to take on the challenge of attempting a 24 hour running race has to be one to celebrate life. This past weekend, 28/29 Sep, I had the privilege of toeing the start line with many talented endurance athletes in the local race that was the host of the 2013 Canadian 24 Hour Championship. The event was run inside the Louis-Riel dome in Blackburn Hamlet (just east of but really part of the city of Ottawa). It was a shame to be inside on such a gorgeous fall day but that was where the event was held. It did allow more consistency in weather conditions but I found it to be rather on the warm side for the full race. That said, it made keeping hydrated with electrolytes balanced even more challenging. While I had hoped to run in the 200 km range, I managed 188.6 km, however this was good enough to be the overall male winner. Coming along with that is the title of 2013 Canadian Male 24 Hour Champion. Since it was also the Canadian Masters Championship I also picked up an age group Gold from them. So, not too shabby a day.
Some of you may be aware that I have been a long time supporter of the Terry Fox Run. For every year starting in 1999 I have run a minimum of 100 km as my Special Event to raise funds for cancer research. I have raised over $2500 this year and donations can still come in. This link to my personal page provides some more detail (if there are any asterix (*) introduced by the the DWAN just copy and paste in a browser and delete it/them).
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=2005754
I was quite surprised that I was invited (barely three hours before the time) to the CBC Radio One studio Monday afternoon to have an interview with Alan Neal, the host of the All in a Day program. Completing a live interview is always a challenge, particularly when you don’t really know the flow or the questions that will be asked. They were kind enough to provide me with the link so if you are interested then follow this (remove any * added by the DWAN):
http://www.cbc.ca/allinaday/2013/09/30/orleans-man-new-national-mens-24-hour-race-champ/
Because some folks want to know, there were 41 registered runners in the 24 hr event but only 36 were posted on the results so I assume that there were a few no shows. While the second place male was just over 13 km behind me, he and # 3 as well as others ran very strong races. The leader board was populated several hours into the event and it showed the top 7 male & female competitors. I guess that that board demonstrated the results of tenacity as I was well down the list initially and may have fallen to 8th place earlier in the race. Continued focus allowed me to gradually rise in the standings until I achieved 1st place and expanded that lead once I had it.
Thanks to all for your interest, support and encouragement.