Mom & Dad, Ottawa, Canada

Mom & Dad, Ottawa, Canada

Last year when my parents were in New York running the marathon they met Sue Longbottom, the president of the ING Ottawa Marathon, at the marathon expo. They got to talking about how my parents both run marathons and it came up that this year would be my parent’s 30th wedding anniversary. Sue said that this year was also the Ottawa Marathon’s 30th wedding anniversary.. and the anniversaries were within days of each other. Mom & Dad had been trying to decide how to celebrate their anniversary and it’s just they’re style.. they flew up to Canada, were interviewed for some news articles, and ran the marathon to celebrate. The weather was gorgeous, they wore signs on their backs that said “Married 30 Years to Him/Her”, and my mom finished with a personal best time. Oh, and the marathon was on May 30th, coincidentally.

Congratulations to my mom and dad both on finishing yet another marathon and for staying together for 30 years!! You make us proud!

To read the text of the article, No. 30 Extra Special for Marathon, Couple, that was published in the Ottawa Citizen, click the link below to continue reading.

No. 30 extra special for marathon, couple
BY MARTIN CLEARY

The number 30 will represent a new beginning for the upcoming National Capital Race Weekend, one of largest gatherings of athletes in Canada.

On Sunday, which is May 30, the ING Ottawa Marathon will celebrate its 30th anniversary with changes to the sponsorship, course, name, time, incentives and field, which will include a 30th wedding anniversary couple, Rick and Mary Bowden of New London, Wisconsin. “We had talked about doing something special for our 30th anniversary and we didn’t want to do a cruise,” said Mary, who started running five years ago and has lost 75 pounds while training for and running 11 marathons. “When we were at the New York City Marathon Expo, we came across the booth for the Ottawa marathon. I chatted with Sue (Longbottom, president) and told her it will be our 30th wedding anniversary (yesterday). Sue said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s our 30th, too.’ We got talking and it was like a done deal.”

The Bowdens, who have personal-best times of four hours 56 minutes for Mary and 4:26 for Rick, are coming, and they’ll be chasing some of the top Canadians as well as quality Africans and Europeans.
The race weekend, which is presented by the Ottawa Citizen, could attract record registration for its nine races Saturday and Sunday.

As of yesterday, more than 19,000 runners, walkers, in-line skaters and wheelchair athletes have accepted the challenge to go distances ranging between two kilometres and 42.195 kilometres. Last year’s record registration was 20,328. Race organizers are predicting 23,000 athletes this weekend.

“We have invested significantly in broadening our reach across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, which seems to have paid off,” Longbottom said. “We are proud of our new one-loop course for the ING Ottawa Marathon and I think it can be credited as a contributing factor.”

After 29 years as the National Capital Marathon, the race will now be called the Ottawa Marathon to improve its international identity. It will start an hour earlier at 7 a.m. Sunday.

The marathon earned its international wings when it became part of the ING Globerunners Series, joining races in New York City, Amsterdam and Brussels.

The first half of the new course will pass nine of the top 10 tourist attractions in Ottawa and Gatineau, including the Parliament Buildings and the Museum of Civilization. The second half is known as the Legacy Loop, the former circuit for the marathon since 1998.

If a runner breaks the Canadian open marathon record - 2:09:55.0 for men by 1976 Olympic champion Waldemar Cierpinski of the former East Germany or 2:26:01 for women by 2001 world champion Lidia Simon of Romania - he or she will win a Hyundai car.

The marathon also will serve as the national championships and the final opportunity for a Canadian runner to be the first to break the tough Canadian Olympic Committee marathon standard of 2:12:38 for men and 2:28.14 for women.

NATIONAL CAPITAL RACE WEEKEND

The lineup: Saturday, Ottawa Citizen five-kilometre run/walk, 5 p.m.; MDS Nordion 10-kilometre run, 6:30 p.m.; Sunday, ING Ottawa Marathon walk, 6:30 a.m.; ING wheelchair half marathon, 6:45 a.m.; ING Ottawa in-line skate marathon, 6:50 a.m.; ING Ottawa in-line skate half marathon, 6:55 a.m.; ING Ottawa Marathon, 7 a.m.; ING Ottawa half marathon, 10 a.m.; and ING family two-kilometre run/walk, 10:30 a.m. How to register: On-line at www.ncm.ca until tomorrow at 5 p.m.; in person at the race weekend Expo at the Carleton University Fieldhouse on Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Note: Edmonton’s Sandy Jacobsen, the defending women’s marathon champion who used the race to qualify for the 2003 world championships in Paris, won’t defend her title. Jacobsen scratched because her training has mysteriously left her less than 100 per cent fit. By pulling out, Jacobsen, 38, sacrificed her final chance to qualify for the 2004 Olympics in Athens