Turning 10

Runner’s pass by Fields on West Lake in the County Marathon in 2004.

County Marathon has found a comfortable pace despite some hurdles along the way

The County Marathon turns 10 this weekend. Along the way the race has featured beautiful sunshine, bitter cold and rain. Yet many runners report this to be their favourite place to run. The course is relatively flat and delivers a lush backdrop at every turn.

Some runners are seeking to qualify for the Boston Marathon—some just for the love the sport. Everyone is working toward a personal best—looking to measure him or herself against the County terrain. Some run in kilts, some in fancy headgear. Most run in brightly coloured shoes. But some run barefoot. One runner ran the distance in drug store flip-flops. The marathon has been completed by wheel-chair athletes. Several blind runners. Grandmothers, their grandchildren and every age in between.

It is a measure of the insight and prescience of the volunteer army that organizes and manages the County Marathon each year that the race in 2013 is very much the same event—format, route and features—as the inaugural run in 2004.

“The only thing we’ve changed is to move the start line a bit to take advantage of the fabulous new arena in Wellington. We couldn’t pass that up,” said Mark Henry, the race founder and director. “But, otherwise, the event has remained the same. More than 50 of the original volunteers are still working to put the event on 10 years later.

“There are about 20 runners who have participated each year too. We will recognize each of the groups this year. It is really quite an accomplishment.”

The Times caught up with Henry on the race course this week as he set up kilometre markers. Pressed to conjure a highlight of the past 10 events Henry said he was most pleased with the fact that no one has died running the event.

“One year we came close,” said Henry. “Someone decided that day he would come from Toronto to enter. If the Picton hospital wasn’t so close to the finish line he would have been dead. Our medical team, Drs. Amber Hayward Stewart and Stephen Blanchard—also with us since the beginning— picked up on it right away. They really had to bring him back from the brink.”

Henry underlines the pride he and his team of volunteers take in the health and welfare of participants. It is no coincidence the Picton hospital is just metres from the finish line.

“From day one we were about having one of the safest races in the business and having a real hospital nearby. It is why we have put so much of the proceeds toward the hospital.

The biggest challenges have come in trying to persuade a reluctant County council that the County Marathon is a good thing for this community and that it is in their interest to lend a hand. He estimates the event has generated more than $3 million of economic activity over its 10-year history. Yet, when the volunteer group sought council’s permission to erect permanent kilometre-mark signs along the route the proposals got short shrift at Shire Hall.

In 2006 Mark Henry and Kailey Ellis each sheared their hair in a bid to raise more than $1,500 for Camp Trillium as part of theCounty Marathon festivities that year.

“Many, many folks spend countless hours doing the grunt work to make this race a success—people like John Houghton. John took it on his own to work to get these kilometre markers installed along the route, but it was summarily rejected by County council without even the report being read.

“This was an insult to all the volunteers who have worked to make this event a success and a draw each fall. That was a big disappointment.”

But it is not the first hurdle the Marathon volunteers have faced—nor is it likely to be the last. But these volunteers, like the runners who have travelled to the County these past 10 years, are made of sturdy stuff. They will endure to the finish.

Make plans to get out and cheer on the participants this Sunday morning as they weave their way through the County.