Roslyn Smith was the fastest runner among women in the 70-74 age bracket at her third Boston Marathon on Patriots’ Day, April 15. She completed the challenging course in 3:53.
“Conditions were humid so as a result my time was slower than I had hoped,” said Smith, who had been down 15 minutes to Jeannie Rice, who holds the F70-74 world record of 3:27. “It really was the story of the Tortoise and the Hare.”
At some point in the race — though she never saw Rice — Smith passed the 71-year-old runner from Ohio, who crossed the line in 4:03:55.
At her first Boston Marathon in 2009, Smith completed the course in 3:36:45, sixth fastest in her age group and second fastest for Canadian women 60-64 years. She bettered her time in 2011 with a 3:32:28 clocking — fastest among Canadian women 60-64 years.
Fellow Comox Valley marathoner Janet Green also competed this year in Boston, completing the course for the 22nd time out of 23 starts since 1993. The Courtenay doctor ran 4:28.
“It was one of the slower ones since I hurt my shoulder (at the 2016 Boston),” she said. “My best time in Boston was 3:23, but that’s a long time ago. Before I hurt my shoulder, I could run under four hours.
“I’ve now run four Bostons with a sore shoulder,” she added with a laugh. “I will go back probably for the last time next year. I’m trying to do marathon number 400 in Victoria in October.”
Green — who took up the sport at age 35 in 1988 — is a member of the prestigious Seven Continents Club, which means she has run a marathon on every continent, including Antarctica. She has twice completed the World Marathon Majors in Tokyo, Boston, New York, London, Berlin and Chicago.
“There’s now about 6,000 people that have done that, but I think there’s only a couple hundred of us who have done it twice.”
A few other locals made the trip to Boston. The fastest was Andrea Wilson, who ran a personal best of 3:23. Coco Elgood ran 3:48, Tracy Kennett 4:06 and Ken Richardson finished in 4:55.