29th annual race starts at 8 a.m. Sunday
Steve Farmer was a tough man to track down Friday, two days before the 29th annual Times Colonist 10K — an event he will be taking part in for the fifth time.
The active 60-year-old, who turned into a fitness buff after a receiving a 2005 liver transplant due to a surprise diagnosis of hepatitis C, had been out on a 50-kilometre bike ride in Qualicum Beach. Once he was done, he had some time to talk about the journey that took him from being woefully out of shape to a participant in 10-kilometre races, half-marathons and sprint triathlons.
Farmer said he played soccer and lacrosse as a youth, but wasn’t very active as he got older.
“What got me going was the Canadian Transplant Games,” he said. “I decided to go ahead and try and work out for that.”
Farmer will be participating in his fifth Games in Vancouver this July. The event is meant to encourage transplant recipients to maintain healthy lifestyles.
He said he started slowly and easily to get back into shape after his transplant, joining an exercise program at Saanich Commonwealth Place meant for heart patients. “I just carried on from there,” he said. “I just kept it up.”
Along the way he did “a little bit of cycling, a little bit of swimming and a little bit of running.” He said getting involved with the Tristar Training group inspired him to put those activities together and do triathlons.
Farmer said regular exercise has become an important part of his life. “Especially since I’m approaching retirement, it’s even more important to keep it up.”
Farmer said he doesn’t worry too much about his time in events like the TC 10K. “I used to, but I’m slowing down a bit.”
Still, he would like to complete the run in under an hour, something he last managed in 2016. (He finished in an hour and seven minutes last year.)
Asked if the time and effort it takes to stay in shape is worthwhile, Farmer was quick to answer: “It sure is,” he said.
Farmer said he has come to the point where the simple enjoyment of physical activity is more important than competing. He said that when he gets on a bike, “I just want to go for a nice ride.”
And when he signs up for things like the TC 10K, promoting the work of groups like B.C. Transplant is part of his inspiration. His effort in this year’s event comes as National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week wraps up.
Farmer is one of close to 9,000 people registered for Sunday’s events. The course starts (and finishes) at Government and Belleville streets, goes through downtown and to Fairfield, and finishes with a stretch of about five kilometres along the water.
Race manager Joe Dixon said the route “collapses upon itself,” meaning that the roads are reopened as the last person goes by.
Dixon said event personnel work with Victoria police to make sure roads and intersections, especially in the downtown core, are opened as soon as possible.
The Government/Belleville area between Superior and Humboldt streets will be closed from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Motorists wanting to cross the route during the event will have to do so at intervals as directed by police.
People can still register today at the Race Expo, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Crystal Garden, 713 Douglas St. There is no race-day registration.
TC 10K start times are 7:55 a.m. for athletes with disabilities and 8 a.m. for runners and walkers. The Thrifty Foods Family Run starts at 11 a.m.
As has become the norm for large public gatherings in Victoria, police will have temporary cameras set up to help monitor activities. Police say the cameras are a precautionary measure to enhance security.
Definitional sports in a nation say a lot about that place, either historically or geographically. So it is with baseball in Cuba and Japan, cricket in India, rugby in New Zealand, hockey in Canada and cross-country skiing in Norway.
And equally, and as famously, running in Kenya.
That latter story spills over and plays out on the streets of Victoria every spring in the Times Colonist 10K and each fall in the GoodLife Fitness Marathon as Kenyan-born runners have come to dominate both events at the elite level.
It will be no different in the 29th Times Colonist 10K on Sunday with two-time defending champion Daniel Kipkoech, 2013-champion Paul Kimugul and breathlessly-fast newcomer Haron Kiptoo-Sirma among those expected to battle it out at the front of a heaving pack of more than 9,000 runners, walkers and rollers.
Kenya is notable on the women’s side, as well. Four-time Times Colonist 10K female champion Jane Murage (winner from 2013 to 2016 before Dayna Pidhoresky of Windsor, Ont., ended Murage’s streak last year) returns and the Kenyan is looking to make it a fast five in total in Victoria.
“It is the favourite sport of Kenya but the best runners come from just one area — the Rift Valley,” explained Kiptoo-Sirma, during the Times Colonist 10K pre-race media conference held Friday at the Crystal Garden.
The Rift Valley is from where Kiptoo-Sirma hails. He had no shortage of Olympic, world championships and Commonwealth and African Games heroes around him to emulate, and one of his mentors included the legendary Kip Keino. Yet Kiptoo-Sirma was a late starter, by Kenyan standards, and didn’t really get serious about running until three years ago. He proved a natural, like so many from the Rift Valley before him. His personal best in the 10K is a head-spinning 28 minutes and 50 seconds, and a worldclass 2:13 in the marathon, and he comes to the Island after winning the Around The Bay 30K in Hamilton, Ont., last month.
“I was late [in taking up serious running], and it is very competitive in Kenya,” said the 27-year-old.
But this guy proved he had what it takes and has joined the legion of Kenyan running pros who criss-cross North America, Europe and Asia competing for prize money in road races and marathons.
“You can travel all over the world, and see so many different places, as a pro runner,” said Kiptoo-Sirma. That’s a job many might envy. This weekend, it’s taken the Kenyan runners to Victoria. Last weekend, it was the Vancouver Sun Run. Next weekend, it’s the Vancouver Half-Marathon. All feature prize purses for the top finishers.
This is Kiptoo-Sirma’s first time racing the Canadian road circuit.
“Victoria is a very beautiful city . . . very nice,” he said.
Kiptoo-Sirma will be looking to break 30 minutes on Sunday but it’s weather-dependent, he said. Friday was bright, beautiful and sunny, but the weather is expected to deteriorate into the weekend. Spring-time road races in Canada can be uncertain in terms of conditions.
“I found Hamilton very cold last month,” said Kiptoo-Sirma.
Victoria might only be marginally better Sunday.
“The times in the race will all depend on the weather,” he said.
“I don’t mind the wet so much. It’s wind that is the big thing.”
Kipkoech fought a fierce headwind along Dallas Road to win last year in 29:59.
Organizers said there were more than 8,600 registered, combined, for both the Times Colonist 10K and the 1.5K Family Run at the end of the online registration period. In-person registration runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Crystal Garden. More than 400 people registered in person last year, so organizers are looking to crack the 9,000-participant plateau on Sunday.
There is no race-day registration.
The turnout last year, including the Family Run, was 8,679, of whom 7,947 ran the 10K. That was down from the 2016 total of 9,474. Participation has been slipping in recent years, following a continentwide trend for road races, which are being challenged by triathlons and off-road racing as active people keep pushing into new avenues to discharge their energies. There were 13,086 participants registered for the 2011 Times Colonist 10K. But classic road racing will always remain a staple of the scene.
The Times Colonist 10K start time Sunday is 8 a.m. at the corner of Government and Belleville, with the finish line on Belleville in front of the legislature.
Legendary race caller Steve King will again be announcing at the finish line.