Around The Bay 30K

The Around the Bay 30K race (begun in 1894) is believed to be the oldest regularly held race in North America. While in Toronto, I had the chance to see their trophy. It's recycled! It's actually the 1914 Boston Marathon 1st Place trophy, which was repurposed in 1950 as the permanent trophy for the Around the Bay. Here are a few photos:
The 1914 1st Place Boston Marathon Trophy was named the Tommy Thompson Trophy in 1950 and serves as the permanent trophy for the Around the Bay 30K Race in Hamilton, ON. Jimmy Duffy was the winner of this trophy at Boston on Patriot's Day 1914.

I took photos of a couple of panels of the base with the list of winners. I took this one because you'll see that the 1954 winner was Arnie Briggs. Though a fine runner, I was most aware of Briggs as the man who trained Kathrine Switzer for the famous 1967 Boston Marathon. It was at that race that, due to her using initials, rather than her first name, she became the first woman to run Boston with a number.

I took this shot because an internet friend, Orville Atkins won the race in 1961.

Not Just Sore, Marathon Sore!

That's Carlo Gabbi (sp?) of Italy as Dorando with Dorando's cup, me as Johnny Hayes with Hayes' gold medal, and Michal (rhymes with nickel) Kapral aka "The Joggler" as Tom Longboat. And, yes, I shaved the moustache to be Hayes...otherwise they might have thought I was Dorando.



Me, on the left, Bruce Kidd, the great Canadian runner of the early 1960's and an authority on Tom Longboat, and John Bryant, English author of "The Marathon Makers" at the press conference before the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

I set a new PW for the marathon, adding about 1:31 to my previous worst, but on about 70 days of training, I can't gripe.

An Annoying Man!

On Sunday evening, I had the pleasure of having a beer with Vince "Boston or Bust" Hemingson. He insisted on taunting me by calling me "Scooter", a name he knows I don't use in real life. He kept saying it was "self-inflicted", so he was merciless. Vince went on to run a 3:48:53, a very solid performance on a less than ideal day. A picture will follow. I had a very nice time finally getting to visit with Vince. Last year, we had some communication issues, this year, my phone went on the fritz, but was usable, so while our communication wasn't optimal, we did manage to get things set up.