A team of elite masters from the Comox Valley Road Runners travelled to the Windy City to challenge themselves against 45,000 other runners at the 2014 Chicago Marathon.
Chicago is known as a fast course with a number of world records being set there over the years. Race day brought almost perfect temperatures for racing, but a cool breeze negated the possibility of records falling this year.
Kenyans once again dominated the race with Eliud Kipchoge winning the men's event in a time of 2:04:11, the eighth fastest marathon ever run. Rita Jeptoo defended her women's title, winning in 2:24:11.
The Road Runners team was captained by Wayne Crowe (Extreme Runners/Asics) who was unfortunately on the sidelines due to injury. The team dominated the age group competition, winning first place for mixed teams in this huge international field.
Leading the charge for the CVRR team was Les Disher who ran a stellar time and personal best of 2:56:31, second in M6064. Next was Danny Keyes who shattered his lifelong goal of breaking the magical three-hour barrier by running a personal best by more than 10 minutes to finish in 2:58:17, 19th M5054.
Edmonton native and new CVRR team member Brian Stewart had a solid race, finishing in 302:45, 14th M5559. Roz Smith showed that she firmly belongs among the best age group runners in the world, running 3:47:37, second F6570. Janet Green continued to show her consistency, even after more than 220 marathons, running 3:58:22, taking fourth F6064.
Crowe stated, "The excellent results by each team member was the culmination of months of hard training and dedication and I am extremely proud of them all."
The Chicago team will now be taking some much-deserved rest to let their bodies recover before beginning training for the upcoming Vancouver Island Race Series beginning in January.
– Comox Valley Road Runners