Emilie's Run A Fitting Tribute
runnersweb
[Note: the race date is June 23rd not today as indicated in the story]
By ROB BRODIE, Ottawa Sun
It promises to be a fast race on a fast course.
A day to celebrate women's running.
In other words, the kind of event Emilie Mondor would have been proud
to be a part of herself.
More than 200 women are expected to line up near the National
Aviation
Museum this morning, doing their part to honour the memory of a woman
who lived and breathed running.
With each passing day, it seems, Emilie's Run grows in the heart of
Ken Parker, the long-time Ottawa running enthusiast who created the
women's-only five-km event a year ago.
Mondor, who missed that event because of injury, had visions of
setting a course record today. Given that she's the only Canadian
woman to have run the 5K in under 15 minutes, it was surely possible.
But that dream -- and so many others -- ended Sept. 9, 2006, when
Mondor was killed in a single-car accident on Hwy. 417 near
Hawkesbury. She was only 25.
It didn't take long for Parker to decide to make today's race a
permanent legacy to Mondor, an athlete he'd just began coaching to
run
marathons (she was targeting the 2008 Beijing Olympics). She had
moved
to Gatineau only a short time before her death.
Parker thinks today's race will provide a fitting tribute to Mondor.
A
year ago, 35 of the 202 entries finished in under 20 minutes. Parker
believes it's possible that number could hit 50 today.
"This is an opportunity to run on a fast, certified course," he said,
noting 20 minutes is "the benchmark" for 5K runners. "It's equivalent
to the three-hour marathon."
Defending champion Nicole Stevenson of Toronto, who won last year in
16:28.7, is back. So are the rest of the top seven finishers in 2006,
including Kingston's Emily Tallen, and Sarah Dillabaugh, Liz Maguire,
Amy Schreeberg and Michelle Schuler of Ottawa.
Parker has boosted prize money to $5,000, including a $100 prize for
the leader after each kilometre, provided that runner finishes in
under 20 minutes.
"We know we'll have more entries this year," said Parker.
Online registration at www.emiliesrun.com ends tonight at midnight.
Race day entries will be accepted until 8:30 a.m.
Parker emphasizes this isn't "just a race for fast women."
"All levels of runners can come out and just celebrate women's
running," he said.
Just the way Emilie Mondor would have liked it.
Somewhere, she's sure to be smiling down upon them today.