Canadian Running’s First Annual Golden Shoe Awards

The five Golden Shoe award-winners represent the most brilliant examples of Canadian running in five categories: Canadian All-Star, High School Hero, Master of Masters, Community Pillar and Role Model. Our selection panel this year included Rob Reid, race director of the Royal Victoria Marathon (who was recently nipped at the finish line in the Victoria mayoral race), Alan Brookes, race director of the Canada Running Series and the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Linda Wager, publisher of the book Canadian Marathon Stories, and Christopher Moulton, coaching director of the Speed River Track Club in Guelph, Ont.

These Golden Shoe winners make us all proud to be Canadian runners.

CANADIAN ALL-STAR

Stephanie Hood

Born in Ontario, raised in Manitoba, educated in B.C. and living in St Louis, Missouri, Stephanie Hood likes to move around. And it 2008, she moved into the top ranks of Canadian running with a 10^th place finish in the Boston Marathon, a 12^th place in the Chicago Marathon and a win at the Canadian cross-country championships.

After her first couple of years of racing competitively in university, Stephanie Hood had burned out and quit the sport, but the pure love of running brought her back. She come out of retirement during her last year of college at Principia, a small school in Illinois. After logging “a bazillion miles” a week for the sheer joy of it, Hood won the first race she entered since her return to running.

Born in Mississauga, Ont., Hood grew up in Stonewall, Man., a small town south of Winnipeg, after her family moved there when she was one year old. In junior high in Manitoba, she began running to stay fit. After moving to Chicago for high school, Hood focused on team sports like field hockey and soccer, but it was clear that her strength was endurance. Her coaches convinced her to quit soccer and join the track team. She moved to B.C. on a track scholarship at the University of Victoria.

After a successful final year of college in Illinois, Hood landed a job at a graphic design firm in St. Louis, where she now lives. She continued to run for “miles and miles and miles” on her own before joining a local club, Big River Running, and began training under a coach, Hood’s high mileage and focused training paid off. Last April, she rocketed to a 10^th-place finish in the Boston Marathon, with a time of 2:44:44, a 15-minute PB in only her second marathon.

Hood continued to train hard, and in October, she ran another breakthrough race at the Chicago Marathon, cruising through the first half of the race in the lead pack. “One of the ladies I was running with was Constantina Tomescu-Dita, who won the Olympic marathon,” she recalls. “It was my first experience with the lead pack and you could just feel the energy and beauty and grace of it all.” They went through the half in 1:16 before the leaders broke away. Hood ran the second half on her own, finishing in 12^th place in 2:35:09. “When I crossed the line, I was like, ‘sweet,'” she says.

Hood followed that up with a win at the Canadian National Cross-Country Championships in December. Because she lives in the U.S., some of the top runners didn’t even know who she was. “I’m just kind of a new face,” says Hood.

Although she has catapulted into elite status, Hood maintains an almost childlike exuberance, says her friend and training partner, Christa Case Bryant. “The thing that was so impressive to me was that she was so joyous about her running,” Case Bryant says. “She is just the most wonderful, generous person, and her running is an outgrowth of her generosity.”

This year, Hood hopes to race at the world cross-country championships and to represent Canada in the marathon at the world track and field championships. Hood says she’s also considering doing a marathon in Canada, possibly Ottawa, the Toronto Waterfront or Vancouver. –MK

HIGH SCHOOL HERO

Mohammed Ahmed

Since being profiled in the high school ‘Honour Roll’ column of Canadian Running’s debut issue last March, Mohammed Ahmed has solidified his near-domination of the high-school running scene. He has also had to battle a frightening medical condition.

Mohammed Ahmed lived up to his nickname of “Mo Speed” last year. The grade 12 student from St. Catharines, Ont., who recently turned 18, took more than a minute off his 10,000m PB, lowering it to 30:03, and made the national teams for the world junior track and field championships and the world cross-country championships. “I had some ups and downs a little bit, but in the end it was an awesome year,” Ahmed says. The “downs” were mainly the result of a severe stomach virus that caused his to vomit blood before a 10,000m race in Tennessee last year, but after taking some medication, Ahmed stormed back two weeks later to run 30:23 at a meet in Hillsdale, Michigan, qualifying for the world juniors team.

At the worlds, held in July in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Ahmed hoped to break 30 minutes. “The 5K split was 15:01,” he recounts. “When I saw that, I thought ‘go after it, man,’ so I kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I didn’t know what my time was while I was running, but I ran 30:03.” On an emotional high after setting a new best time, Ahmed also had the thrill of meeting his hero, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. “I missed him the first night I was there,” Ahmed recalls. “The next night, I saw everybody crowded around the same table. I ran up there and shook his hand. He taught me that he’s just a person like you are. I was like, ‘Man, you can be like that – he’s just human.'”

Late in 2008, Ahmed had a frightening experience at the national cross-country championships, held in Guelph, Ont. He says he went out aggressively because he wanted to win so badly. After pulling into the lead in the second half of the race, Ahmed fought hard up the final hill and began pumping his fist in celebration near the finish line. “The next step, I’m throwing up blood,” he says. “My eyes are closed and people are grabbing me and the next thing I know I didn’t win the race. I was like, ‘This again – are you kidding me?’ I was scared again. It teaches you not to take anything for granted. I’m just happy to be alive.” Ahmed is still undergoing tests to determine the cause of his stomach problems, but says he’s feeling great doing into 2009. This year, he’s planning to focus of the 3000m distance, and has a plan to try and break Greg Andersen’s 3000m Canadian junior record of 8:00. “It’s going to be tough,” Ahmed says. “Some of the workouts are going to be painful, but I just want it so bad that the pain is going be nothing.”

Ahmed will also be deciding which university to attend next fall, and has narrowed his choices down to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Oklahoma State and the Canadian track and cross-country powerhouse, the University of Guelph. –MK

MASTERS MASTER

Denise Robson

By Charles Mandel

Newly minted masters runner Denise Robson is proof positive that you need not slow down with age. The 40-year-old just set a new Canadian women’s masters record when she ran a 2:41:12 marathon in Sacramento, California, finishing fourth overall, in December. Not bad for a woman who in 2004 was breathless the first time co-workers encouraged her to come out and run with them over a lunch-hour. “Three miles and it damn near killed me,” Robson recalls of her first run in almost two decades.

A former cross-country runner for Dalhousie University, Robson gave up the sport after deciding she didn’t enjoy it. But since returning to running, the resident of Cole Harbour, N.S., is tearing up the road. With each of her seven successive marathons, beginning with Prince Edward Island in 2004, Robson has become faster, going from a 3:13 marathon to her current Canadian record. Nor is the women’s record her only achievement. She holds three course records from the Cabot Trail Relay race, has run the fastest woman’s 5-miler in Nova Scotia history at Berwick, and broke the 16-year record for a woman runner at the 100th anniversary of Dartmouth’s Natal Day Race in 2006. For all that, Robson says the marathon remains her favourite distance. “It just seems like I can sustain a quicker pace over a longer period time,” Robson says.

While the waif-like Robson may make running look easy, plenty of grit goes into her hard efforts. She trains six days a week, running 80-100K weekly when her training peaks. Every bit as challenging is balancing her work as a disability case manager with a large insurance firm and life as a single mother with three girls, aged nine, 10 and 12. Robson concedes it’s a juggling act to make room for all three, but says she’s very passionate about her running and so makes the time. Often, she takes the kids with her to the gym or pool when she cross-trains, and she credits her parents for all the support they provide to her. “I wouldn’t be able to do any of it, if it weren’t for my parents,” Robson says. “Even when I go away, my mom will come and move right into the house and look after the kids.”

Robson also acknowledges local coach Cliff Matthews, who she says is instrumental in her success. She says his belief in her ability has boosted her confidence. “I kind of think I’m over the hill, but he says I still have some good, fresh legs in me since I didn’t do all that wear and tear on them over the years.”

Next up for Robson is Boston. She won’t admit to a goal time, but says she wants to be one of the top master winners. After that, she’ll turn her focus to the fall marathon season, when she hopes to break 2:40. Robson hasn’t picked out the race for that ambition yet, but it’s safe to say that when she does, the other athletes had better be ready to run.

COMMUNITY PILLAR

The Terry Fox Foundation

By Linda Wagar

When I contacted Darrell Fox about receiving a Golden Shoe, he said he was not comfortable with personally accepting an award for the work of millions of volunteers. So instead, the Golden Shoe goes to the Terry Fox Foundation. As the national co-ordinator of the Terry Fox Foundation, which to date has raised over $400 million, Chilliwack, B.C.’s Darrell Fox says Canadian runners and walkers humble him in their dedication to continuing his brother Terry’s dream of finding a cure for cancer.

Last year, the Terry Fox Foundation helped organize a cross-country tour of Terry Fox’s van, which had been recently rediscovered and restored. There are also monumental plans this year for a CBC-TV reality show, in which contestants would re-create the distance that Terry ran in his 1980 Marathon of Hope. On the show, Canadians would watch and join the runners as they re-trace Terry’s route and run a marathon a day. The fundraising campaign will also highlight Canadians as endurance athletes. When I ask him if he’ll be one of the participants, Darrell Fox jokes, “I missed the cut-off date of January 8.” That’s not say he isn’t a dedicated runner. Fox has been running for 25 years, has logged more than 5K a day, every day, since 1998, and holds a 10K PB of 31:21 (“in a previous life”). Fox says he and Terry shared the same love-hate relationship with running: “Terry was never big on running, but liked the challenge of doing things that were difficult and not pleasing to him.”

Terry Fox’s Marathon on Hope was not about the running as much as believing he could do something that would make a difference, and today staff and volunteers at the Terry Fox Foundation continue to come up with new ideas to raise funds for cancer research, while championing the sport of running. “We are comprised of hundreds of thousands of Terry Fox fans who further his dream by participating in foundation events raising funds for cancer research,” Darrell Fox says. “I am one of Terry’s fans.”

And we’re big fans of all the volunteers who help run the Terry Fox Foundation. They inspire us all to become heroes in our own right.

Linda Wagar is the publisher of Canadian Marathon Stories, a fundraiser for Canadian athletes in Vancouver 2010.

ROLE MODEL

Dave Reed (1954-2008)

By Nancy Tinari

Dave Reed will always be remembered for his infectious enthusiasm for running.  Although he was a superb athlete in many sports – some of his favourites being hockey, downhill skiing, baseball and golf – running was the leading passion of his life. He never quite made it to the top as an open competitor, but instead blossomed as a masters runner.  Among Reed’s top achievements as a master were a 2:00 800m, masters victories in prestigious races such as the Hamilton Spectator Games 3000m and the U.S. 5K Road Race Championships, and repeated wins and top-3 performances in the Ambleside Masters Mile road race in Vancouver. He still holds the course record in the latter event, a time of 4:17 for the downhill mile. As a “young” master, Reed ran many 5Ks in the 15:10 to 15:40 range, and he also achieved sub-4:30 times in legitimate mile races.

Those of us who knew Reed understood that he was a big kid who never entirely grew up. He had a child’s ability to get lost completely in the joy and excitement of a moment of play, and he relived the high moments of races with the single-mindedness of a kid. He was legendary for his ability to relate, in detail, every split time of his own performances, as well as times of other athletes he supported and admired. Reed was always enthusiastic about helping other talented runners achieve their goals. He also loved working with kids, and gave his time generously as a sports mentor and companion to the children of his running friends.

All of us who raced against Reed on the road will remember his love of running with the lead pack, even if he could only hold on for the first mile or so, at his favourite race distance, the 5K. Speed was Reed’s forte, though, and he was an inspirational figure on the track, with a smooth and graceful running style. He never lost his ability to “switch gears” and put in a cunningly planned surge.

In life, Reed sprinted to the finish too soon. He died at the age of 54 on November 20, 2008, at Vancouver General Hospital, of complications from a staphylococcus infection that rapidly attacked his body. He will be greatly missed by his many running friends in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and places beyond.

Nancy Tinari knew and trained with Dave Reed for 30 years. She lives in Coquitlam, B.C.