A new fundraising race held Saturday in Sarnia featuring a grueling six-hour endurance competition was capped out at 73 entrants well in advance.
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Registration for the inaugural Sarnia Sole Burner event, which featured people from across the region and the province, had to close because of limits on the size of the event allowed at the Suncor Foundation Nature Way.
But on Friday night, a last-minute hopeful entry from the Chatham area approached organizer Steve Clark and pleaded for a last-minute spot.
“How am I going to tell this guy no? “He drove all this way,” Clark said Saturday while standing next to the start line in the nature trail off Modeland Road. “So I let him in.”
The last-minute runner participated in the six-hour, all-you-can-run ultra event. Ultra running events are for distances longer than traditional marathons.
Saturday’s competition in Sarnia, which was also a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society, was a chance for aspiring long-distance runners to give it a try.
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“This is a really good place for them to figure out if that’s going to be for them,” he said. “Try out a six-hour race, see if you like it.”
There were also five-km, 10-km, and 25-km events running simultaneously, which all started at 9 am Kelly Johnson, 34, from Sarnia ran in the 25-km event.
“It was tough to stay hydrated, keep the fluids in you,” he said after finishing the route in one hour and 55 minutes, which ranked second.
Johnson competed in two marathons, including one a couple of months ago in Toronto, ahead of Saturday’s local event.
“I like the community aspect of it,” he said.
Fellow Sarnia resident Katarina Dimaria, who also ran the 25-km version, said it was hard.
“I was tired, but it was pretty good,” she said. “I just paced myself the whole way.
“Personally it didn’t feel good, but I’m definitely getting better.”
The weather was on the participants’ side as a heavy rainstorm subsided just after the race started.
Clark said organizing the event went better than he expected.
“It’s been awesome,” he said.
He already is planning to bring the event back in 2025, which is expected to raise funds for the Sarnia and District Humane Society.
“I’m ecstatic to run it again next year,” he said.
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