Mike Vs. Dave: Team Edition

As many of you already know, Mike and Dave are going head-to-head in the inaugural Battle of Run Waterloo.  

After stage 1 (2014 Re-Fridgee-8er 8K), Dave has a lead of just over 1 minute!

That being said, the race is far from over.  In recent weeks, Mike beat Dave by approximately 2 minutes in a 7-Miler.  The next stage, the Waterloo 10K Classic, may very well be the deciding stage of this race.

To make things even MORE interesting, not only will Mike and Dave be racing as individuals, but they will be racing as captains of their own H+P teams.

Team Mike vs. Team Dave
In the team edition of Mike Vs. Dave, the premise is simple: the team with the fastest average finishing time in the 10K wins.  Here are the details:

• Only the top 5 on each team will count in the average time calculation
• Each team will be selected in a draft format.  A coin toss will decide who gets first pick.  The individual with the 2nd pick will also get the 3rd pick.  Then the two captains will alternate picks until their teams are complete.
• The results of the draft will be LIVE TWEETED at 9:00pm on June 2nd!  Make sure to watch our twitter feed to see how it all unfolds!  

Other H+P-ers in the Battle:

We can't forget the rest of the team participating in the battle.  Right now we have a number of athletes fighting for spots on the OA and their AG podiums.  

After stage one, we have six runners (Sean, Dave, Mike, Greg, Brendan, Pat) all in the top 11 OA.  

Vicki Z is also in contention for the OA podium on the women's side as she now sits in 4th OA.

H+P Racing: Somewhere around May 25th, 2014!

With our next big, collective team focus still a few weeks away, the team was spread out throughout a number of different races this weekend (and last).  Here is a summary of how we did!

Sulphur Springs

100M 
Steve Parke had an amazing 100M!  He came in with a time of just over 18 hours.  The was good enough for 2nd OA, and put him in front of 3rd place by almost 1.5 hours!

25K:
Helen had an outstanding race.  She crushed the technical 25K run in 2:17, taking 6 minutes off her time from last year!
Linda also had a great race.  She finished with an outstanding time of 2:26!

10K:
Dave Rutherford crushed the very technical 10K course in a time of well under 39minutes.  This allowed him to comfortably win his AG, and place 4th OA.

Woodstock Triathlon:
Luke had an outstanding race.  He finished the sprint triathlon in a time of 1:05.  This put him in second place in the very competitive 40-44AG.

Ohio TTT:
Graham Dunn DESTROYED this race.  If you don't know what it is: basically you race triathlons all weekend long.  Friday is a short sprint tri, Saturday you race TWO separate Olympic Triathlons, and then Sunday you race the Half Ironman.  Mr. Dunn managed to finish in a very impressive 16th place OA, and achieved a personal best in the event by 45 minutes!

Buffalo Marathon:
Vicki Z had an amazing break-through race.  She crushed the marathon, finishing with a time of 3:32.  This was a 19 minute personal best, and brought her in ranked 3rd in her AG!

Toronto Women's Half Marathon:
Tracy made some last minute arrangements, and ran the half in a very respectable 1:47!  This brought in 10th place in her AG, nice work!

Heels and Wheels

On June 1st, there is going to be a great 5K race and 1K charity walk taking place at Bingemans.  It is for a cause that is near and dear to H+P-er, Jan de Visser.  CLICK HERE for full details.  

Jan's story:

On September 3rd, 2011 Jan de Visser went on a fateful bike ride that almost killed him. What was supposed to be an easy brick ride in preparation for the next week's Muskoka 70.3 ended after barely 5km in the passenger side door of a minivan. He sustained a broken neck, bleeding in the brain, a shattered cheekbone and eye socket, eye damage, and a broken collar bone. While the physical injuries were relatively quick to heal, the bleed in the brain caused a traumatic brain injury (TBI) which is still causing him problems: memory, planning and organization, and mood are all impacted, and in addition he now suffers from epilepsy. Being able to get back to running and later riding was a major factor in his recovery: it kept him sane, forces him to pay attention to his diet, and his training provides structure to his day. For the foreseeable future he will be a duathlete though instead of a triathlete.

More event details:

• 5K Race
• 1K walk
• kid's dash
• WELL-stocked swag bags and "insanely high-valued prizes." 

If you want to race or volunteer, click here for more info.

2014 Baden Road Races

H+P had an excellent experience at the 2014 Baden Road Races.  There were a few new features in this re-branded version of the New Hamburg Classic Races.  Our favourite addition to the already outstanding event was the hill challenge.  In the middle of the 7-miler, there is a massive hill that is also timed.  Run up the fastest, and you get a new pair of shoes!

Click here to read the WRS race recap.

Here's how we did as a team:

7-Miler Team Results

• Luke was the first in for the team.  He crushed the 7M course, finishing 2nd OA, winning his AG.  This is his 4th race in a row with the team where he has stood on the OA podium!
• Greg worked with Luke for much of the race.  Finally kicking his training into gear, his fitness is starting to build.  He finished 3rd OA, and won his AG!
• Mike had an AWESOME race for the team.  He forgot that he was supposed to be tired after the marathon from last weekend!  He came in 3rd on the team, 5th OA, and averaged 4mins/K for the 7M course.
• Dave Rutherford, coming back from his Achilles injury, was in next for the team.  He finished in under 47 minutes, won his AG, and placed 8th OA.  
• Mailman came in right behind Dave.  He finished in 47 minutes, and 9th OA, making him the 5th H+P-er in the top 10!
• Nick Burt was unable to draft his nemesis in this race (Mailman), but still finished in just over 48 minutes.  He still comfortably won his AG.  The season series of Mailman vs. Nick now sits 2-1 in Aaron's favour.  
• Jessica was the 1st woman in for the team.  She ran very strong, finishing 2nd OA for females, and winning the hill challenge!
• Payton was our next female to finish the 7M.  She ran a very strong race of just over 53 minutes, placing 2nd in her AG and 6th OA.
• Will hammered a great 7M, finishing 2nd in his category.  
• Cari also had an awesome race, cruising in with a time of just over 1:10!

5K Team Results

• Coach Sean won the race with a time of 17:20
• Friend of H+P, Catherine, had an awesome return to action after 6 months away form racing.  She won the race in 21-minutes low.
• Kailey had an outstanding race for the team.  After being away from running for over 6 months with injury woes, she crushed the 5K, finishing 2nd OA, 1sec behind Catherine,
• Next in for the team was Holden.  He had a great race, finishing in well under 25 minutes.  Pretty darn good for a 10-year-old!  
• Ed was in next for the team.  He ran a very strong 25:05, placing just inside the top 30.  
• Maria had an awesome race, coming in just over 30 minutes and winning her category!

Special thanks:

• A HUGE thanks goes to Daniel Cook.  He got up before 5am, did his long run, and THEN made the trip out to cheer on the team!
• Also, a big thanks goes to Brendan who came out to cheer people on and take pictures at the base of the climb.  

You guys made the race experience better for everybody!  Way to represent H+P!  

May 3rd-4th, 2014

There wasn't a specific race targeted as a team this weekend...but there were still plenty of H+P-ers in action in a variety of races.  Here is how we did:

Mississauga Half:

Holger Kleinke has ANOTHER PB, coming in with a time of 1:26:14 (4th in AG)

Mississauga Full:

Mike Piazza battled hard and finished with a final time 3:11:22.  This time was good enough for 2nd in his AG!

Mississauga 10k:

Rob Brouillette ran another very sold 10K.  He finished with a time of 33:44, winning his AG and placing 4th OA.  

Half Marathon in Vermont:

Chris Goldsworthy crushed his half with a new PB, hitting 1:25 low!

Goodlife Half:

Pat had a massive PB, running 1:25! This was good enough to place him 4th out of over 200 runners in his AG!

Katelyn also had an amazing result.  She wanted to break 2 hours...and she did that by over 10 minutes, coming in with a time of 1:49!

Goodlife Full:
Tracey finished with a VERY strong time of 3:46! Nice work!

Mudpuppy 3 and 5K

New H+P-er, Nicole Green had an awesome race.  After taking some time away from running, she still managed an excellent time, running 23-low!

Luke and his little future H+Pers had awesome races.  Here's what Luke had to say:

Taters ran his first ever 3K, in 15:50 and came in 20/148 in AG 5-9 (not bad given he's only 6) and Holden ran his 2nd ever 5K in a good time of 23:21 and came in 13/46 in AG 10-14 (and he's only 10). Good results for a cool and windy day!

2014 Waterloo Marathon

Less than 24 hours after we raced the ENDURrace 8K the team was back in action trying to conquer the 2014 Waterloo Half and Full Marathon.

We were treated to perfect race conditions, and an overall outstanding race experience.  Here is how we did as a team:

Half Marathon

Luke had an awesome race.  Despite just racing the 8K the night before, he still manged to run under 1:24 and finish 3rd OA!

Coach Dyce was in next for the team.  Despite limitted training because of travelling, he still pulled off a 1:26 half and placed 6th OA.

Adam Dixon had an outstanding race.  He had a massive PB, running 1:29, and just cracked the top-10 OA!

Vicki, like Luke, had just raced the 8K the night before.  Despite that, she still crushed a 1:41minute PB, bringing her in 11th OA!

Will had an awesome half.  Running much of the race by himself, he still finished with a very respectable time just over 2:10.

Also we have to say congrats to Ed, who trained with us last summer, on his OA win!

Full Marathon

We only had ONE H+Per in the full.  Despite just racing a 50K the day before, Steve still crushed a sub 3:30 marathon, placing him comfortably in the top 15 OA!

2014 H+P ENDURrace 8K and Combined

It's hard to believe that yet another ENDURrace has come and gone.  Two weeks ago we had an amazing experience at the ENDURrace 5K, with outstanding team results.  It was going to be tough to top that effort, but we gave it out best shot.

Also, thanks again to Julie from the WRS for the great photography!

Here is how we did in the 2014 ENDURrace 8K:

8K  Team Results:

As a team, we had better than anticipated result!  Despite missing many of our key members, we still managed to have the top 4 finishers in the race overall, and the 2nd and 5th place females overall.  Our open team finished with an outstanding average time of 30:34!  RESULTS.

Individual 8K Results CLICK:

Brendan Hancock had an excellent race.  Running alone for the duration of the 8K, he managed to take 1.5mins of his 8K time from Feb, running a mid-28, and winning the race OA.

Luke Ehgoetz had yet another awesome performance.  He came in second overall, well under 30 minutes, and first in his AG.

Nick Burt was the next runner to come in.  He completed the podium sweep for H+P, finishing in 3rd place after just barely edging out Aaron Mailman in an epic sprint finish.

Aaron Mailman came in next with a huge PB of 30:44, good enough for 4th OA and 1st in his AG.

Jessica was next for the team and our first female.  She had an excellent performance, finishing in 33-low, and placing 2nd OA for females!

Vicki was our second female across the finish line.  She has yet another PB, and handily won her AG!

Dave Rutherford showed true determination and grit.  Doing nothing but recovering from injury and run walking over the last 2 months, he had a great, controlled effort.  While it was supposed to be a rehab run, he still manged to walk away with a 33 minute 8K that was good enough for the AG win!

Daniel Cook had an awesome first H+P race.  He had a massive PB, and placed first in his category!

Cari also had an awesome race.  She had a huge PB, coming in well under 46 minutes!

Shantell had a great return to action as well with the team!  As did Jeremy Tracey.  The momentum is starting to build with both of them again!

Combined Results RESULTS:

With so many runners having run both races, it was exciting to see how we stacked up once the 5K and 8K times were combined.  Here is how it looked for the team:

• Luke WON with a combined time of just under 48 minutes
  
• Mailman was 2nd OA as be banked more than enough time in the 5K to beat Nick with the combined time
• Nick battled back from a tough post-exam 5K, making up time on the 2nd and 3rd place runners in the 8K.  He ended up finishing only seconds off the podium, bringing him in 4th place OA
• Vicki took care of things in the women's race, winning the combined title in her AG in a great time of well under 1 hour
• Daniel Cook finished strong with a combined time of 1 hour which got him the win in his category
• Cari came in top 10 in her AG when her two PB's were combined!