Youth rules the roost
DAN DAKIN
Sports - Monday, August 21, 2006
@ 02:00
Jeremy Rae is only 15 years old, but he still
has more running experience than many of his competitors.
The Fort Erie teenager beat a field of more than 150
runners to win the annual Flying Chicken 5km run in St.
David's Saturday night. Rae stayed at the front of the field
right from the start and crossed the line in 18 minutes, five
seconds, which was 37 seconds better than second-place
finisher Emily Patton of Toronto and more than 1:20 better
than the second-place male.
Despite the fairly
significant margin of victory, Rae said he had more speed in
him.
"I've been improving a lot
since last year. I'm trying to get faster for cross country in
the fall, but I took it a little bit easier for this race,"
said Rae, whose best 5km time is 16:45. "It feels good to win
this, but I know a lot of them run this for fun."
Rae
is heading into Grade 10 at Lakeshore Catholic in Port
Colborne, where his focus once again will be cross country and
track. Last year he went to the provincial championships and
finished fourth in the 3km race.
But his love of the
sport goes back to when he was in elementary school.
"I started running in Grade 4 because my parents both
did it, so I thought I would give it a try," he said. "I
played hockey and soccer, but I gave them up because I was
better at running and I wanted to purse my career in that."
His parents are still running as well. His dad, Wayne
Rae, finished 19th in the 5km race Saturday, while his mother,
Tereza, finished 21st.
"We run together and come to
events together so it's fun," the younger Rae said.
While more than 150 runners took part in the 5km race
and walk, there were 66 runners in the 10km event, which was
won by Etobicoke's Frank van den Bosch in a time of 37:59. The
winning female was Donna Marie Vakalis, of Burlington, in
39:55. The top local finisher was Bryan Krasovskis, of Niagara
Falls, who finished seventh in 42:43.
The annual race
keeps the focus on fun with dozens of runners dressing up in
chicken costumes and feathers to compete. The race was
followed by a chicken feast at Kent Heritage Farms and
proceeds went to Heart Niagara.
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