Competition doesn’t stop with age

Doug Smith may not have been the first cause behind Ontario’s burgeoning masters athletics movement but he has played a major role in the historical surge in membership. He’s a large part of the reason that, in a world where races are increasingly expensive and often indifferently marshalled, Ontario Masters Association (OMA) races are accurately measured, rigorously organized and affordable.

Just don’t expect a prize for showing up.

Honours are awarded to the top three in each age group and if there is one certainty, it’s not the big number on the front that matters but the small one on the back, indicating the age group. Not that a different age category will protect competitors from being run over by Toronto Olympic Club’s Nelson Ndevera or world-class masters athletes Earl Fee, Ed Whitlock and Karla Del Grande.

“We award medals to the top three in each age group at our championships and we keep entry fees at a bare minimum,” Smith said. It’s not about profit or even raising money for a charitable cause but about providing competitive opportunities for masters athletes. The reality, Smith said, is that the OMA “can’t compete with the bling offered by the big for-profit races. The OMA provides first class timing, a certified course, refreshments, timely results, usually for $10 to $15.”

In an era where many Canadians who step to the line run for a cause – a lost loved one, spiritual enlightenment, weight loss or, in other words, anything but the primitive instinct to beat the next guy – running to race is a notion that is as simple as it is radical.

“People always ask me, ‘what’s the race for?’ Road racing is a sport – people do it for the specific reason of competing, running as fast as they can. Charity runs are great, training to get one marathon on your resume is fine, but we (the OMA) focus on the competition,” states Smith unapologetically.

If the mantra of another generation was, “don’t trust anyone over 30,” the refrain of this age may be, “don’t do anything past the age of 25.” It’s a common experience that is often the product of a jarring collision between high school athletic supremacy and the hard, cold reality of collegiate athletics. Former go-to players on the power play end up playing in the 11:30 p.m. time slot for an intramural team grounded in lost pride, diminished meaning and fuelled by cheap beer.
For those who survive the experience with their athletic aspirations intact and still have the drive to run and compete, Smith provides a venue.

“I discovered the masters [scene] by accident when I came upon one of their races at Sunnybrook Park in 1988. I was hooked. I tried the track for the first time and set the Canadian M35 record in the steeplechase, recalled Smith, who loved running as a kid.

“I used to run around the long hilly block in Sudbury in the 50’s in my bathing suit. There were no shorts then. And high tops as there were no racing flats then either. I ran in Phys Ed during High School, but there were no competitions. I started running seriously in ’78 and ran 23 marathons in the 1980s.”

It was only when he went to the OMA Championships in Oshawa in 1991 that he came into his current leadership role by accident. Smith arrived at the meet by Go Train and was looking for a ride home. Hoping to find a lift he decided to drop by the Annual General Meeting after the event and see if anyone was going in his direction. As fate would have it they were looking for a new Director. “Someone said ‘how about this guy?'”, recalls Smith. “I couldn’t think of an excuse. I became the Vice President the following year and then the President in ’94.”

Smith has no regrets.

“I wonder what my life would have been like for the last 20 years? What would I be doing right now – watching Oprah ?”