BADDECK — The Dennis Fairalls Grey Hair successfully defended their win in last year’s Cabot Trail Relay by smashing the course record in this year’s version of the 276-kilometre road race, Sunday.
“They came here to break the record,” said race chairman Dave Parkinson. “They crushed the record. To beat it by 38 minutes . . . quite impressive.”
The winning time for the group of University of Windsor alumni was 16 hours, 16 minutes and 45 seconds. The previous course record was 16:54:16, set by the Aquafina Rocky Road Runners in 2004.
The race’s 276 kilometres is broken up into 17 stages. More than 1,000 participants from 70 teams ran around the clock, starting in St. Anns on Saturday morning and finishing in Baddeck on Sunday morning.
The Dennis Fairalls Grey Hair included Doug Vincent, Rich Tremaine, Alex MacLeod, Phil Dalton, Andrew Coates, Drew MacAulay, Trevor Pye, Rami Bardeesy, Josh Kramer, James Gosselin, Mark Kiteley and Svein Piene. Tremaine, Coates, MacAulay, Bardeesy and Gosselin ran two legs each.
The Maine-iacs of Maine were the runners-up for the second year in a row, though they also broke the previous record with a time of 16:47:01. The Maine-iacs won the Cabot Trail Relay in the four years previous to 2009.
The third-place team was the Red Island Road Hogs of Prince Edward Island in 18:10:06.
The top Cape Breton team — the Cape Breton Road Runners — placed fourth overall with a time of 18:53:58. The local team included Dean Abbass, Todd Crowdis, Devin Abbass, Lauchie McKinnon, James Forsey, Lee McCarron, Chris Milburn, Terry Morris, Ken MacKinnon, Donnie MacIntyre, Brent Addison, Eric Power, Jullian MacLean, Allan MacKenzie, Evan Bezanson and Jake Florian. McCarron ran two legs.
“The race went fantastically,” said Parkinson, adding, other than a stiff headwind for the first seven legs, the weather was ideal. “We were blessed once again with some phenomenal weather which just made it all the better. The teams seemed to thoroughly have a good time as they usually do and it was just as good as they’ve been in the past.”
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By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton BureauMon. May 31 - 4:53 AM  " border="0">
Amy Gough ran the last leg of the Cabot Trail Relay for her husband Mark Campbell, who had to call off his attempt to run the entire 298-kilometre race himself when he fell ill after completing nearly 190 kilometres. Other members of his support team and a film crew documenting his odyssey also pitched in. Gough and Campbell are pictured in 2007.(File) |
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Mark Campbell had been running for 27 hours when he crested MacKenzie Mountain in Inverness County and felt a chill pass through his body.
It was 4 a.m. and Campbell began to feel sick in his guts. He tried to eat, but it didn’t help. Then he went to the washroom and saw blood.
He had run nearly 190 kilometres and tackled three mountains. But his body was telling him he had to stop.
A doctor told him the same thing at the hospital in Cheticamp 45 minutes later.
That was that. His bid to conquer the Cabot Trail ended. He had hoped to run the entire 298 kilometres, usually divided between 17 runners, during the annual relay race. And he had hoped to raise funds for a camp for chronically ill children.
Then, Campbell’s support team and the film crew following him stepped in.
Chris Allen, whose leg is supported by metal plates and seven pins, volunteered to keep running for Campbell. The rest of the team would as well.
Allen had never trained to run, said Campbell’s friend.
"He ran 42 kilometres (the equivalent of a marathon)," Todd McDonald said, choking up.
"As this went on, word spread throughout the Cabot Trail Relay that this was happening. All the participants would pull over and say ‘We want to run with you, we want to run for Mark.’ It would start as one runner trying to do 10 kilometres and it would grow to two, and four, and six. All these runners that had already done their (own) relay leg drove ahead to find us and join us, and run beside us."
Three years ago, Campbell ran the 298-kilometre relay through the Cape Breton Highlands with two other partners. Last year, he did it with one other person.
This year, he wanted to complete it on his own. He hoped to raise money for the Brigadoon Children’s Camp Society, as it works toward opening a camp in Aylesford, Kings County, for chronically ill children.
And mentally, Campbell could have finished the race, the filmmaker following him said. But the Dartmouth man’s body would not allow him.
"That’s hitting the wall and it’s painful and it hurts," Tarek Abouamin said.
"But it’s far, far from a failure. I think this story is even more enriched now because something wonderful happened. All of these individuals bonded together in a feat and refused to quit."
Campbell set off from the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anns, Victoria County, about 12 hours before the other runners taking part in the 23rd annual relay race began Saturday morning. Although his support team initially planned only to keep him hydrated and fed, they began running alongside him when a pack of coyotes started calling out to the moon.
Campbell conquered Smokey, North and MacKenzie mountains, and although he had to stop earlier than he would have liked, he still crossed the finish line in Baddeck.
His wife, Amy, took on the final leg of the relay. Together, they ran the last 500 metres.
"He was ordered to go to bed and get some rest," McDonald said of his friend.
"So he was driven ahead and they did the finish together. It was definitely one of the top few moments of my life to watch that. Mark was in tears, Amy was in tears."
Other runners who bridged the gap included a woman training for a five-kilometre run. She had never managed the distance before but finished it in the middle of the night for Campbell.
"By the end, we were running for Mark and for Brigadoon, but we were (really) running for each other," McDonald said.
"People were bleeding from their toenails and everywhere else, but we kept running for each other, so I think that’s what I will remember."
Campbell collected more than $6,000 for Brigadoon this weekend from other runners and those who heard about his run.
He said that he plans to come back and do the entire trail again. Although some suggested he should simply pick up where he left off, Campbell said that would not work out for him.
"It would be like stopping at the 15th hole and the coming back later to finish a round of golf. If there’s interest, I’ll come back again — and it’ll be from start to finish."
( lfraser@herald.ca)
Cabot Trail Relay Race
PEI RoadRunners Championship Points Totals
PEI RoadRunners Championship Points Totals
Kensington Harvest Festival 25K
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