Towne Fitness runners complete half marathon

November 5, 2016 · 0 Comments

On Sunday, October 30, seven Towne Fitness runners completed the Niagara Falls International Half Marathon.

What makes this group of runners so special is that four of the seven runners had never completed this distance prior to running the race.

Towne Fitness offers free running groups every Monday evening at 7.15 pm and Friday at 12.15 pm and, more recently, added a Tuesday running time at 5.45 pm.

The groups run year round, in all weather conditions. And this is where it all began.

Each one of the runners has a different story; however, a common thread weaves its way through and that is one of encouragement, support and motivation shared amongst them.

Training plans were discussed and a closed Facebook page was created so that the runners had a way of sharing their journey.

The Facebook page was instrumental in helping each other make it through their training. They soon learned that not every run is a good one, but the good ones sure made it worth it.

The weekly post-run pictures and antics were just the best.

First time half marathon runners consisted of Angela Gallie, Sarah Ricci, Stacey Rooyakkers and Susan Richardson. Fellow runners Heidi McRobers, Amanda Arch-Webber and Hannah Sine also crossed the finish line and added another medal to their collection.

Towne Fitness is very proud of the achievement of all of their runners but would like to single out one in particular, Susan Richardson. Some of you will remember her as “Mrs. Richardson” from her days as a teacher at Highland Heights Elementary School.

We know her as a keen horse rider, fitness enthusiast and, now, avid runner.

Susan has been a member of Towne Fitness for over a year and works with a personal trainer twice a week. She started running with the Beginners Running Group in the Fall of 2015.

Susan’s commitment to her training program was quite incredible. She never missed a training run and if the weather wasn’t co-operating with her program she came into the gym and ran on the treadmill. She did most of her training on the hills of Mulmur and joined the weekly running groups.

She started running with Jeff Sine, Towne Fitness Owner/Trainer and fellow runner toward the end of her training; a great running partnership that carried over into Sunday’s race.

Jeff met Susan on the race course at the 6km mark. He paced her to the finish line where she crossed in 1st Place for her age category.

“We knew Susan would run a great race and give it 100 per cent of her effort, however her time was quite remarkable,” said Towne Fitness. “She was 20 minutes faster than the 2nd place woman and just minutes behind the winning men in the same age category. Way to go, Susan!

Congratulations to all of our Towne Fitness Runners who had the pleasure of crossing a finish line in 2016. We are so proud to have you out there on course representing Towne Fitness.”

The Running Group is free and open to anyone.

“If you are interested in running a race or just want to learn to run, please join us and our amazing TF Runners!”