Almost 6,000 athletes returned to run the Times Colonist 10K road race on Sunday, with many participants crossing the finish line with personal best times or a bursts of emotion they attributed to the positive atmosphere and beautiful day.
Dressed in TC 10K race shirts, kilts and dinosaur costumes, running alone or with family and friends, pushing baby carriages or wheelchairs, runners of all abilities and sizes and ages were seen coming over the finish line on Belleville Road.
John Smith crossed the line in about 40 minutes, 11 seconds with a personal best he could explain only as the result of the cheering crowds on the sidelines, supportive fellow runners, and the unparalleled beauty of the course.
The race starts beside the legislature, carries along the Inner Harbour, winds up through cherry blossom lined residential streets, and returns back along the Dallas Road waterfront.
“The atmosphere that you get at an event like this is amazing, everyone sort of eggs each other on and so you perform at your best — I’ve never run that fast in my life,” Smith said.
It was three years ago that Smith last ran in an in-person race. “It was nice to prepare and take part in my hometown,” he said.
COVID-19 lockdowns cancelled the 2020 race and last year participants ran their own 10K routes and recorded their times.
Sarah Kerr, who moved to Victoria from Calgary six months ago, was volunteering at the race on Sunday as a way to get involved in her new community.
“I saw the start and it actually moved me to tears, to see all those people so committed and of all shapes and sizes and ages,” she said.
“And then standing at the end and watching people come across the finish line and seeing how hard people had worked, and how satisfied they were with what they had done, and how supportive and encouraging everyone was — it doesn’t matter what time you come in, there’s still such enormous support and validation — it was just great.”
Kerr said she was grateful for all the vaccines and public health measures that made the return of the in-person race Sunday possible.
Ashley Clarke, of Nanaimo, attributed her personal best of about 42 minutes in part to the atmosphere — “the energy, the connection, it was amazing.” Everyone coming together with passion for a collective reason and unbeatable scenery were the ingredients for a great morning, said Clarke.
Tracey Foster ran the race for the first time, coming in just under an hour.
Foster had been nervous about the route but said she was swept up in the flow of the runners, “the kids and the cowbells and the clappers — I almost wanted to cheer them but I was focused on breathing, breathing, breathing,” she said.
Loretta Bosma of Victoria ran the race virtually last year by herself but that wasn’t the same, she said. She was glad to be back participating in the event with other runners: “It just speaks to the spirit of Victoria.”
In the early 1990s, Alison Dickson volunteered at the TC 10K and thought people were having so much fun she should give it a try. “It was my first race ever,” she said. “I trained for the year and I’ve been running ever since.
After two years of the pandemic, Dickson, who ran the TC 10K virtually last year, was “emotional” as she relayed the the high she got from the people along the route holding up signs of encouragement, kids ringing cowbells, and elderly people waving outside their condominiums on Dallas Road.
Robyn Dunstan of Nanaimo ran the race with her son Hayden, 19, and became teary when she described the race: “It was absolutely amazing, it was so uplifting being with all these people, everyone who passes is so positive, and we just know this is such a gift just being able to do this now.”
Hayden, a University of Victoria student, wore a T-shirt reading “Best Christmas Gift Ever” — a reference to the promise he made to his mom to run the TC 10K with her this year. The pair also wore yellow ribbons in memory of a family friend who died related to a mental health condition.
Basil Onyia, who moved to Victoria from Nigeria three years ago, ran the TC 10K for the first time Sunday and said it was “a different vibe” to see so many people out without masks and participating in a large event.
Onyia usually runs a 10K in 51 minutes so he was pleased with his 48-minute finish. “I booked the last few steps.”
Nine-year-old Karina MacDougall, of Lakehill Elementary, and mom Joanna, a teacher at George Jay Elementary, ran the race together. Joanna said running with her daughter took away any anxiety she might have felt in the race.
Karina said she focused on making it from water station to water station, found the slight wind on the way back “refreshing,” and in the end she sped up to beat her mom.
“It was amazing,” her mom said. “You didn’t have to wear a mask and people were just happy, full of joy.”
Eight-year-old Mabel Gillespie of George Jay Elementary was asked post race what was the hardest part of the race. “The running,” she said.
Mom Emma said she’s run the TC 10K for years, even when 36 weeks pregnant with one of her children, so to be back Sunday in the live race and competing for the first time with her daughter, son Carlin and his friend Dom Thornthwaite was a big day.
“It was really emotional,” said Emma, “to be in the community, the power of feeling the people around you, and the positivity — we said it was like a big love fest.”
Mark deFrias, race manager, said Sunday served up the perfect conditions for a run: sunny, about 8 C and no wind.
“It’s been two years, we’ve been really waiting for this moment so it was so great to see all the smiling faces cross the finish line,” said deFrias.
Better yet, deFrias said despite there being fewer runners this year — about 5,500 compared with 9,500 in 2019 — the $40,000 raised for charity remained the same.
The benefiting charities are the B.C. Cancer Foundation, Heart & Stroke Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Canada, Help Fill a Dream, Easter Seals, Victoria Hospital Foundation, Every Step Counts and the Times Colonist Literacy Fund.
“It just shows the generosity of this community,” said deFrias. “What this community really cares about is giving.”
