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Sports Editor - Gerard Creces email:gsssports@bowesnet.com
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
on-line: www.goderichsignalstar.com
Photo by Gerard Creces
Among the 25,000 runners that will take on the Boston Marathon April 20 are Steve Beasley, father and son Joe O'Keefe
and Joe O'Keefe and Phil Paquette. This is the first Boston Marathon for the O'Keefes, while Beasley and Paquette are
returning marathon participants:
Father and son join Boston -bound pack
Gerard Crimes
signal -star staff
Being one of only 25,000 worldwide
to participate in the Boston Marathon
is an honour in itself.
Running in your very first Boston
Marathon only adds to the sweetness.
Running in your first Boston Mara-
thon alongside your son is yet more
icing 'on the cake but to do it after
quitting a pack-a-day smoking habit is
truly phenomenal.
That's the story for Goderich's Joe
O'Keefe, who will be.running the most
elite 42.195 kilometre stretch in the
world of running April 20.
O'Keefe will be joined in the run-
ners' corral by a few familiar faces.
Firstly, his son, Joe junior, as well as
returning runners Steve Beasley and
Phil Paquette.
The Signal -Star caught up to the pack
to see if they were taking it in stride on
their way to the races.
Even before the interview starts, the
room is full of running talk, from shoes
to streets to the layout of the impend-
ing race. These guys mean business.
Joe Jr. got into running about two
and a. half years . ago. He qualified for
the Boston at the Toronto Waterfront
Marathon. Joe Sr. qualified in Detroit
last year.
Both are excited for their first Bos-
ton experience, and who better to have
with them than Paquette and- Beasley,
who have logged long hours on the
soles of their shoes. •
Beasley finished last year's mara-
thon in a time of 2:49:32 earning 1 l th
place in the men's 50-54 bracket.
Both he and Paquette are well aware
of the challenges of the Boston course,
and are filling in the O'Keefe's on the
finer, albeit scarier points.
Joe Sr's reasons for running are per-
sonal. His late brother John, he said,
was the inspiration he needed to turn
things around, he said.
"He encouraged me to live a more
healthy lifestyle," Joe said. "Part of
the reason I run today is because of
John."
He said Beasley was also a great
help to him, offering advice, encour-
agement and some good talks about
the sport.
"Coincidentally," he said. "I kept
running into Steve. He just seemed to
be there when he needed to be."
"He's a quick study," said Beasley of
Joe Sr. "From a pack a day to the Bos-
ton Marathon."
One of the most notorious aspects
of said marathon are the hills, and Pa-
quette said now that he's run the course
once, he is able to train properly for it.
"It's not the hills, it's where they
are," he said. "They damn -near killed
me last year."
While many qualifying marathons
are largely over flat distances, the Bos-
ton course is not.
The marathon is largely downhill for
the first five miles before a 15 -mile un-
dulating stretch that tests the runners'
muscles as they switch between up and
down mode.
Around mile 20, they climb again
and begin an uneven descent toward
the finish line.
Like slamming a car from reverse to
forward, switching gears on the race
course is hell on the quads.
Beasley said in order to prepare for
the race, he trains in hilly places like
Saltford and Benmiller about twice a
week for the four months leading up
See RUNNERS, Page 32
Brunk returns
with silver from
ringette champs
Gerard Creces
signal -star staff
A silver medal and a delayed flight later,
Goderich's Erin Brunk is back at home af-
ter, representing Ontario at the 2009 Tim
Hortons Canadian Ringette Championships
in Prince Edward Island this past week.
"It's nice just to be home, she said Mon-
day. "It took a while to get here."
Brunk'is part of the Stratford Belle team,
whose March 8 provincial victory over Na-
pean earned them the opportunity to com-
pete nationally.
As Ontario's belle team, they made it all
the way to the finals before being dusted
by Alberta, 8-3.
"They were good," Brunk said. "Defi-
nitely good. A lot of third -year players.
"They just kind of took it to us."
Alberta swept the tournament undefeat-
ed, as did the Ontario Junior• team.
If a silver medal wasn't enough for the
Goderich District Collegiate Institute stu-
dent, she also earned the defensive game
star award following Ontario's 5-4 over-
time win against Quebec in the semi-fi
nals.
"I couldn't believe it at first," said Brunk.
"I never win anything. I guess I just had a
good game."
Mitchell's Emily Bakker scored the over-
time goal in the win.
This is Brunk's fourth year playing
ringette in Stratford, and she said she's
been enjoying the game since she started
in Grade 3.
"I wanted to play hockey," she said. "But
my mom wanted me to try ringette.
"I've been playing ever since."
See RINGETTE, Page 30