By Leslie Ann Bent
May was a fantastic marathon month for STARR, with some great mileage and some inspiring virtual marathons and ultras. Our final report shows:
· 31 runners and walkers participating including children – 20 female (65%) and 11 men (35%)
· 5,330km covered in 31 days – that’s more than 126 marathons!
· We’ve had 4 marathon memory write ups, 1 half marathon recap, and 2 virtual marathon stories.
· We also had 7 youth clocking the kms with their parents. Nice to see the youth out.
Top Competitors
Female –1st Pauline (283.8k), 2nd Emily (273.7k), 3rd Megen (182.3k), honorable mention Teresa (182k)
Male – 1st Danny (710k), 2nd Greg B (421K), 3rd Greg C (365.6K), honorable mention Robin (323k)
Special recognition prizes
Glow Stick Award goes to someone who brightens everyone’s day – Maggie
Abacus Award goes to someone we can count on, for all his behind the scenes work for MMM – Robin
Mountaineer Award for many vertical (reported) kms – Carol with 21,000 vertical meters of climbing
Cheerleader Award for those who cheered on our runners the most on the STARR website and Facebook – tie, Jenny and Jim G
Father’s Day award for a father inspiring his children in fitness – Steve E. for encouraging his 2 daughters (ages 9 and 12)
Running with the Bulls Award for the runner who takes the most risks with trying new and challenging routes – Many are looking forward to those challenges again when we can run together – Jackie
Winners will be contacted by email to receive their prizes. Megen and I will be reaching out to winners for pick up or delivery later this week. We must say that Danny has earned his Man-Sized Treat Basket hand-created by Megen including a beverage or two if you believe the rumours. She calls it “Take the Load off Danny.” In among Pauline’s prizes is the book “Running with the Kenyans: Discovering the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth.”
So, what marathons have we virtually completed? There have been so many so I will just name a few. Danny added a marathon for each province in the second half of the month. Carol and Wayne both tackled ultras. Wayne completed the Squamish 50 miler and Carol the Canadian Death Race plus the Lost & Found 30k. Jackie stayed close to home with the Victoria, Vancouver and Port Angeles marathons. We did lose Donna somewhere on the Goose at the half way point! She is still out there somewhere, I hope. Ken, Mark and I all did Dublin. Andy tackled Barcelona and Boston. I am half way through the Loch Ness Marathon and I am still looking for the Loch Ness Monster. I haven’t found it yet.
Here are the results to May 31
Ultras: Wayne (105km into the race), Carol (155km)
How many marathons?
Completed 10 or more: Danny (16.8), Greg B (10)
Completed 6 or more: Greg C (8.7), Robin (7.7), Pauline (6.7), Emily (6.5)
Completed 4 or more: Jim G (4.4), Andy (4.4), Megen (4.3), Teresa (4.3), Mark (4.2), Maggie (4.2)
Completed 3 or more: Jackie (3.9), Steve E & Carol (3.7), Leslie Ann (3.6), Lila (3.4), Stephanie (3.3) , Vanessa, Toryn and Brynn (3.1)
Under 3: Wayne (2.5), Kari (2.3), Ken (2.1) Jenny (1.6), Jodie (1.4) Willow, Haley & Jesse Wow a marathon! And Skyler wow a half marathon!
Congratulations to everyone. A special high-five to the youth who showed grit and determination. All will receive treat bags made by Megen as well as certificated designed by Maggie and signed by our president.
Leslie Ann this is motivating, inspiring and amazing. Thank you for making our pandemic time fun and fitness-focussed. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks Leslie Ann and Megen. Congratulations STARR members and STARR kids! Keep running everyone!
Aww, well done everyone! Some really impressive distances covered over the month. Great to see everyone’s progress, big shout out to all the youth, each of you are so awesome. Thank you Leslie Ann for coming up with the challenge and your continued inspiration.
A huge shout out to Leslie Ann for keeping us busy in the best way possible during the Pandemic!
Congratulations to all STARR members and the youth for making this a memorable month! Bravo and a Distant high five.
Wow – what an awesome group. Thanks Leslie Ann for inspiring us all to go that extra mile.
This has been a most unusual end of winter and all spring. Thanks to Leslie-Ann for her determination to keep the STARRs AND families involved in keeping up fitness levels during this time when it might have been very easy to just sit on the couch. Not only did we run around Vancouver Island, we also collectively clocked the miles to complete many many marathons!! Friendships have been forged; and down the road – soon!! we will share good memories of a not so good time. Megen, you are an asset not only to STARR, but also to the community of Sooke! Thank you. Maggie, more inspiration!! A nasty tumble early on `hobbled you for a while and now here you are running marathons. And our humble hardest-working STARR, Robin. your communications skills have kept us all informed and in touch. Thank you thank you thank you. And my last comment for now to our upcoming young STARRs, CONGRATULATIONS!! I am so happy to have you in our galaxy!! See you all SOON!!!