Thousands turn out for Canada Army Run

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Thousands of people packed the streets of downtown Ottawa early Sunday to cheer on participants in the Canada Army Run.

Photograph by: Chris Mikula , The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA ? The fifth instalment of the Canada Army Run was a family affair for Nick and Celine Best.
The brother-sister duo both blazed a trail in Sunday?s half marathon, each finishing second in their respective gender categories.
Nick?s impressive 1:10:23 finish might have even been quicker were it not for a cramp that forced him to take a quick walking break, he said at the finish line. He then heaped praise on his sister, whom he called ?the best runner in Canada?s Armed Forces.?
True to form, Celine crossed the finish line minutes later, at an equally impressive time of 1:23:46. Put another way, both of the Bests ran each kilometre, on average, in less than four minutes.
?I?m feeling it,? a panting Celine said at the finish line. ?I?m sore.?
But the combat engineer officer currently stationed at CFB Gagetown said the Army Run is the race she looks forward to above all others.
?For me, this is the race of the year, it?s the best race to do well at.?
Her brother?s support is the icing on the cake, she said.
?He runs this race because I?m in the army, so that?s one of the great things ? he comes out to support me.?
Thousands of people packed the streets of downtown Ottawa to cheer on participants as they ran, walked or wheeled along the five-kilometre and 21.1-kilometre routes.
The air was crisp as the annual autumn race, which Mayor Jim Watson called ?one of the great traditions of Ottawa,? began just before 8 a.m. This year?s event sold out in June.
Ill and injured soldiers, as well as athletes with disabilities, were the first to cross the starting line, as thousands of boisterous spectators cheered them on.
?You are everything that Canadians admire,? Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the group before they departed.
He and about 18,000 others ran in the two events. Gov. Gen. David Johnston also participated in the five-kilometre race and later cheered on runners near the gates of Rideau Hall.
Organizers expect the event will raise more than $150,000 for the military charities Soldier On and the Military Families Fund.
For veteran David Laverdure, the race is a way to honour the work he and other soldiers did at home and abroad.
?I run for my brothers and sisters in arms and those we left behind,? he said. Laverdure served overseas on United Nations and NATO missions.
He added that he?s also inspired by the tenacity shown by the injured soldiers, many of whom wear prosthetics or use wheelchairs.
?Any pain I have when I run is immediately gone when I see them start,? he said before the start of the half marathon.
Simon Mailloux was one of the participants who ran with a prosthetic leg.
The 28-year-old was injured in an IED blast in Kandahar in November 2007, but returned to Afghanistan in 2009 following his rehabilitation.
?The first few steps always hurt, but you get over the pain,? he said of the race.
He had his friend and fellow amputee Rick Rickard running alongside him, each challenging the other to dig just a little deeper.
Rickard, who lost part of his left leg in a training accident in 1988 and has run in all five Army Runs, said the support of people who line the streets of Ottawa and Gatineau is tremendous.
He had wondered if the support would wane once Canada?s combat mission in Afghanistan ended, but that doesn?t appear to be the case.
?I think the Canadian public actually learned that soldiers are there for a purpose, no matter if there is a mission in Afghanistan or anything else, and I think the support?s going to stay there,? he said.

? Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

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Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/Ottawa/Thousands+turn+annual+Army/7286629/story.html

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