Ottawa Race Weekend Recap

Video by: Hank Devos

Believe me. You haven’t experienced energy until you’ve met Team CIM.

What is Team CIM, you ask? Team CIM comes to life to participate in races of all kinds. One of the best parts of Team CIM is that participation in race days comes in many shapes and sizes. Whether you are a seasoned marathoner or a first time 5ker, looking for a new PB or just looking for a fun way to stay fit, or a sign-waving, cow-bell-ringing, cheering, chanting supporter, Team CIM welcomes you! Team CIM is made up of folks with T1 as well as friends, family members, and supporters who have a wide range of experiences and are always willing to share. Wondering what carbs other T1s carry for lows while running or tips and tricks for stashing a pump and meter while on the go? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

After months of prepping, training, and getting excited, this past weekend, over 50 Team CIM members converged on Ottawa, Ontario for the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. A sea of CIM green showed up ready to represent the T1 community and to take on the 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Full Marathon as both runners and cheerers.

The weekend was action packed all the way from the kick-off of the Team CIM Dinner on Friday evening, through to the cheering on of the marathon runners on Sunday morning. As an Official Participating Charity of the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend (how cool, right?), CIM was welcomed to participate in the Charity Village throughout Saturday. The village gave Team CIM the chance to spread the word about who we are, what we do, and how awesome the Type 1 community is. A special Thank You to CIM Ambassadors, Kirsten and Becky for taking the lead and to the Hanson Fam for donating the Team CIM Tent!

CIM Ambassadors Shauna, Rebecca and their families got to work early in ensuring that Team CIM had THE BEST cheering section. (As I ran along the 10k race route, I kept my eye out for other cheering stations – boy, did we ever blow them out of the water!) Complete with a sound system, an amazing playlist (maybe we can bribe Rebecca and Scott to share their beats!), the most creative signs out there, tambourines, cow-bells, and an army of green-clad cheerers, Team CIM cheered Saturday’s runners on – from the first 5k runner to whiz past us to the very last (and determined!) 10k racer – we were there for them all!

Our 5k roster included first-time racers, Hilary Hanson, Maddy Hanson, Tammy Marcinko, Kirsten Otis, Ashley Duff, Heather Wideman, Dave Praetorius, Brooke Pressey, and Michael Stacenko, as well as Ottawa Race Weekend veterans Shauna Adeland, Amy Burrows, and Maggie Case. With personal bests being set left, right, and centre, the Team CIM cheer squad sure had something to make some noise about!

The 10k race kicked off amid some chilly weather on Saturday evening and welcomed the biggest contingent of the Team CIM roster to the race course. Leading the pack with impressive speed (and surprising everyone so much that we don’t even think anyone was able to snap a photo!) was Trevor Gardner who blew past his 2012 10k race time by 24 minutes, finishing in just 47:13! Way to go, Trev!  Mark Davis, Hailey Barr, Stephanie Brodie, Rebecca Fitzgerald, Kymberley Morin, Debbie Cameron, Ang Davis, and Ron Moore all took on the Ottawa 10k course for the first time and were looking fabulous (see pictures below) as they passed by the CIM cheering section.

Team CIMers Michelle Sorensen, Sheila Gordon, Luke Cameron, Erin Randall, and Jen Hanson (that’s me!) hit the pavement once again at the Ottawa 10k, all setting new personal bests.

Sunday morning saw the cheer crew out bright and early to spread enthusiasm and encouragement to all of the half and full marathoners. Marco Bianchi, Saci Mowinski and Chris Carmichael kicked some butt on the Marathon course, hammering out a full 42 km before lunch time! Our cheer squad was out in full force, zooming around the city on bike and foot, trying to see the racers at as many points throughout the morning as we could! Taking on the Half Marathon was an impressive crew of Team CIMers including Pat Forget, Stephen Hairsine, John Shaw, Katie Devos, Hank Devos, Anne Hospod, Jen Stiglitz, and (after completing the 10k race the evening before) Luke Cameron.

It was so exciting to see a bright green Team CIM jerseys breaking its way through the crowd on the race courses in Ottawa. Feeling the energy and excitement of fellow cheerers was amazing. I remember so well those many moments when the crowd of cheerers first made eye contact with the Team CIM runners on course. You could feel the energy.

A HUGE thank you to every person who came out to be part of Team CIM this past weekend. A special Thank You to CIM Ambassadors Shauna Adeland and Rebecca Fitzgerald for having the vision to bring the weekend to life! Thank you to Hank Devos, Virtue Bajurny, and Maddy Hanson for the photo as well as to the dedicated Team CIM cheerers – Becky Nelson, Don Cameron, Julie Robbins, Pat Lynch, Andrew Schmidt, Patti Hanson, Don Hanson, and Scott Stiglitz – as well as the many folks who dropped in to lend their energy to the Team throughout the weekend.

A special shout out to Virtue Bajurny, who finished her bike ride from the cheering station to Carleton and back JUST in time for the team photo in an impressive 2 hours and 32 minutes. Her adventures (and oh, she had many!) throughout the weekend always kept a smile on our faces. (Did you see the coverage the race was getting through Virtue’s social media-ing? Check it out: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook )

Finally, Thank you to Mountain Equipment Coop for their donation of delicious energy bars, gels (and new favourite low treatments), to the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend crew for helping make our weekend flow smoothly, and to Medtronic of Canada for all of their support.

Full photo album coming to Facebook soon! (Have pics to include? Email Virtue at getsocial@connectedinmotion.ca)