Cambridge Harriers Running Club

On May 12th, four Harriers traveled to Orangeville to compete in the Seven Bridges 10 km Trail Race. 150 runners competed and Lisa Leskien was 4th overall and first female with a time of 40:51. Steve Mota was next, in 15th spot in 44:18. He was 3rd in the 50-59 category. Douglas Rivera had his first age group top-3 placing with a 3rd in the 30-39 category and a time of 47:20,whiled Rick Marcus was 66th overall and 4th in the 60 and over category with a time of 58:00.
 Heather Chan was the lone Harrier in our Cambridge Mill Race, placing 49th overall in a time of 47:14 for the 8 km.
  And Katherine Willis was the lone Harrier in the Cambridge Rotary Superheroes 5 km this past weekend. She placed 1st in the 50-59 category with a time of 26:58. There were 150 competitors. At the Calgary Half Marathon last week, Rob Brouillette was 5th overall in the field of  2,200, crossing the line in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 8 seconds.      ​

​Some very good results from local runners in a few races today.
 Out in Vancouver, Rob Brouillette was third overall in the BMO Vancouver Marathon, running 2:33:18. There were just under 5,000 finishers.
 Down in Mississauga, Sharon Rutledge was the fastest of the Harriers trio in the Half Marathon, running 1:55:11 compared to Nelson Coelho and Fran Muller who came in at 1:55:44.
 Mitch Free was the victim of a marshaling mistake while running 3rd in the closing stages of the marathon and was forced to run an extra 2 km. Not what anyone wants at the end of that event. He ended up 5th overall with a time of 2:45:28.

  Athletes from the Cambridge Harriers brought home several medals from the Canadian Masters Indoor Track And Field Championships over the weekend. Wayne Gagne captured two golds and a bronze, winning the age 60-64 200 metres in 29.1 seconds, the 60 metres in 7.55 seconds, and taking 3rd in the 400 metres in 67.3 seconds.
  Katherine Willis won gold in the 55-59 category 3000 metres with a 15 minute and 42 second clocking, while Gary Cassel junior ran to 3rd place in the men's 50-54 category 3000 metres with a time of 11:06. Cassel also ran the 1500 metres, placing 4th in 5:01.
 Matt Beechey of the Invictus Track Club took gold by 1 centimetre in the 45-49 shot put with a toss of 8.60 metres. He was second in the triple jump with a leap of 8.25 metres, 4th in the 60 metres (8.08 seconds), 5th in the 50 metres (6.93 seconds) and 6th in the 200 metres (26.83 seconds).
  In the Burlington Chilly Half Marathon, Rob Brouillette of Cambridge placed 15th in a field of 1000 runners, covering the 21.1 kilometres in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 25 seconds. Cambridge's Robin Todd was first in the women's 50-54 age category with a time of 1 hour, 30 minutes and 59 seconds. Mike Hammond of the Harriers posted a time of 2:24:58.
 In the Burlington Frosty 5 km Race, Robert Ritchie of Cambridge ran a time of 22:40 while Sarah Aitken was the top Cambridge female with a time of 23:33.
  Lisa and Greg Leskien of the Cambridge Harriers continued their snowshoeing endeavors on the weekend, competing in the U.S. championships in Bennington Vermont. On a difficult course which climbed for the first 4 kilometres to a mountain summit in 3 feet of fresh powder snow, Lisa placed 5th overall out of 53 and first among the international competitors, covering the 10 kilometre route in 1 hour, 31 minutes and 17 seconds. Greg was 31st in the field of 100 men, posting a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes and 55 seconds. He was 3rd in the international category.

Only two Harriers ventured out into the wind and freezing rain to race in the annual Waterloo Fridgee Eighter 8 Mile Road Race on the weekend. Steve Mota placed 23rd with a time of 58 minutes and 12 seconds, while Heather Chan was 76th in 1:23:15. Both were 4th in their respective age categories. 100 runners competed.

  Lisa Leskien was the first place female in the Dion Summerstown Forest Snowshoe Race in Williamsburg Ontario on the weekend. She covered the 7.5 kilometres in 42 minutes and 1 second for a margin of victory of over 5 minutes.

  On January 13th Greg was 7th overall in the Ignite The Night race at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg. He covered the 10 km in 1:05:21. Lisa was 12th overall and second female with a time of 1:08:06. There were 25 competitors.
  Lisa Leskien placed third in the women's standings in the North American Snowshoe Racing Championships in Saranac Lake, New York on January 14th. She covered the 10 km route in 1 hour, 2 minutes even, finishing 2 and a half minutes behind the winner, Sara Dunham. Lisa was 18th overall in the field of 66 competitors on a very cold day, while Greg Leskien was 12th overall in a time of 59:49. 
    60 racers competed in the Brighton Dion 5 km race in Goodrich-Loomis Conservation Area on January 27th. The course was shortened to 5 km due to patches of bare ground. Greg Leskien placed 2nd with a time of 23:12 and Lisa was top female with a 24:04 clocking.
  There were 800 competitors in Sunday's Robbie Burns 8 km Road Race in Burlington. Steve Mota was the lone Harrier competing and he placed 153rd in 34:53. Blair Morgan of Dundas was the overall winner in 24:32 and Hamilton's Victoria Coates was the top female in 27:30. John McLean was the top Cambridge runner in 19th with a 27:28 clocking while Robin Todd was the top Cambridge female to finish, running 33:55 to place 2nd in the 50-59 age category. Mitch Free was 22nd overall and 2nd in the 40-49 category in 27:34.

183 runners competed and Gary Cassel junior was the top Harrier, finishing 12th in 20:22 to win the 45-49 age category. Sharon Rutledge was 44th in 24:04, placing 3rd in the 30-34 category. We had two silver medalists in the 65-69 category with Geoff Whitehead on the men's side in 27:02, and Brenda Cassel for the women in 37:48.  ​

Lots of runners in the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon events, but only one from our 'group' as far as I could see. Rob Brouillette placed 23rd out of 9,900 runners in the half marathon, running 1 hour 14 minutes and 24 seconds.
 The previous weekend, Anita and Scott Cressman ran at the Thornbury Rotary Apple Races on a hilly course on a very windy day.. Scott placed 7th in the 10 km with a time of 47:06, while Anita was 26th in the half marathon with a time of 1:57:11.
 Our Sydenham Trail Race crew made it a weekend trip to the venue north of Kingston and competed on a fast rail trail course with some very fast competition. Lisa Leskien was 14th overall, posting a time of 32:07. She was first in the 30-39 category. Steve Mota crossed the line 28th with a time of 35:47 followed by Jenn Kellett, 51st in 40:02 and Sean Kellett, 58th in 41:11. The top male covered the distance in 26:24 and the top female sped the distance in 27:05.