..A weekend “double” (with competitions in both Brockville and Toronto) was very successful.Bytown even had a cheering section that made the 75 minute trip to the lovely track at Brockville’s Thousand Island Secondary School on Saturday morning for the EasternRegional Masters Championships. The weather had been very moody for the previous few days; we were apprehensive when we arrived to find a speed boat in the parking lot. It turned out to be the sales location for the local wake-boarding team, who ran the concession, but the symbolism was justified. The grounds were very soggy and rain was in the air for the first part of the meet.

In the 5000 RW, five Bytowners were joined by two Brockvillians, one 15 and one not. The latter had an advantage, being the mother of one of the judges. Bearing in mind her 10km the next day, Caroline Samson’s job in the first 2000m was to set Sandy Archibald up at 6:10-6:15 pace. With the rabbiting job done (12:20 at 2km), she then accelerated to sub-6:00 kilometres for the remaining 3000m for a comfortable 29:54.23 victory. Sandy took full advantage of the early support, maintaining well for a significant PB of 31:23.86. Sharon Chisholm also paced the race well, and an extremely strong last 3km gave her a PB at 33:35.67. Jenny Brown never got fully comfortable, but at least had the company of the young Brockville walker to finish in 36:19.41. Eileen Sarkar’s job was to concentrate above all on technique, which she did well, finishing in a comfortable 37:17.91. Much bling was accumulated through the various age-categories.

And so off, three more hours southwest, to the Toronto Islands for the Art Keay Memorial, one of the country’s major race walking competitions. The race site is at historic Hanlan’s Point, reached by ferry. Powerful evening rainstorms gave way to a clear sunny day, making the view of the city’s skyline from the 15-minute ferry ride even more spectacular than normal. But a stiff breeze off Lake Ontario, which occasionally lifted a thin mist of sand from the beach, kept things quite cool.

Forty-four people were at the start, with some of the country’s best, including a surprise visit from Canada’s top male 20km walker. Vancouver’s Iñaki Gomez impressed everyone with a very smooth-looking solo 1h28:39 Rachel Lavallée, last week’s guest in our Bytown suite at the National Capital Race Weekend, did what a young 20km walker should be doing, she honed her 10km speed. Rachel is exciting to watch when she is going fast. She sped flawlessly around the 2500m park loop in a PB in 47:30.

First Bytowner through the 5km mark was Linda Wilson, walking together with ORW’s Sarah Raetsen at marginally under 6 min kilometre pace. Caroline Samson was to walk comfortably for the first 5km to see how she felt after the day before, and was not too far behind. Both were continuing to 10km, so the first Bytown finisher was Sandy Archibald, in a time (31:42) that would have been a PB 25 hours previously. Right behind, walking with immaculate technique after a lot of careful work, was Linda Janes-Peddle, recording a huge PB of 31:57. Sharon Chisholm was next to finish, also in a time (33:44) that was second only to Saturday’s PB. Jenny Brown, feeling much better than the previous day, closed strongly with a very impressive second lap, and finished with the identical time (33:44), another second-best-ever. Eileen Sarkar was equally careful as the day before, but significantly faster in 36:13. Shortly after the 5km finished, the 10km racers entered their final lap, Linda had opened a slight gap, but Sarah was still holding her ground, with Caroline closing slightly. Knowing that she was being chased in the final kilometre, Linda kept her composure nicely to maintain a two secondlead into the finish for a 59:57, her second time ever under 60:00. Caroline’s 60:26 PB was two and a half minutes better than her debut 10km at the Art Keay last year.

Linda was 3rd Ontarian in the provincial championship behind Rachel and Toronto’s Kitty Cashman, but finished 4th in the race with Quebec’s Marina Crivello also in the field. She was also third in the overall (all distances) competition for the age-graded Art Keay trophy. Rarely, but certainly deservedly this year, the Art Keay awards went to two of the youngest competitors, winners Rachel and Iñaki.