Before her second birthday, Amelita Tai might be joining Usain Bolt in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The 18-month-old Vancouverite was sitting pretty as her mother Allison Tai pushed her in a stroller in 43 minutes and seven seconds at the Squamish Days 10K Run on Sunday (Aug. 5) to attempt to make it into the book.
“We had to break 45 minutes, because there wasn’t a current record for 10K in the book,” she said. “I did an eight km race in 32 minutes a month or so ago, but they wouldn’t accept it.”
Tai suffered a severe injury after being hit by a truck while riding a bike in 2006 and said she’s doing this in part because she wants to show moms everywhere the value of training and racing with their babies. She said Amelita is a pretty easy partner to compete with.
“She’s so good in the stroller,” she said. “We sing a lot while we run and she laughs a lot too.”
Tai said she hopes to continue establishing records, with the Surrey half-marathon in September her next stop.
John Machuga of Kelowna took home first place in the race with a time of 33:53. Machuga beat out second-place finisher Drew Nicholson of Surrey by 46 seconds and said he enjoyed the course.
“It was a good race for me today and the course here is just beautiful,” he said. “I wanted to go out hard for the first bit and it almost cost me, but I managed to hold on.”
It was the fifth race in the Lower Mainland Road Race Series for Machuga, who sits in first place in his 30-34 age group. Kristin Smart of Vancouver posted the fastest time among women runners with a time of 39:53, good for 19th overall.
This year’s winners of the Slavo Lehockey Memorial Trophy, given to the local runners with the fastest times, were Volker Schneider for the males and Catharine Fleming for the females. Schneider finished 13th overall with a time of 38:55, while Fleming posted a time of 50:17. The trophy was created to honour Lehocky, a local runner who was hit by a car and passed away while doing what he loved — running.
Other notable local finishers included Sean McCreanor (16th), Frank Smith (22nd), Jason Ross (38th), James Newby (39th), Dominic Wade (42nd) and Sack Igarashi (45th).
Tristan Smyth from Maple Ridge placed first in the 10K wheelchair race with a time of 25:43, beating out Masashi Shinoda from Vancouver by eight minutes and 23 seconds.
A total of 168 racers competed in the event, down from the 223 who took part in the 2011 race. The Squamish Days 10K is the second-to-last race in the Lower Mainland Road Race Series. Racers will next travel to the Richmond Olympic Oval for the final race of the series on Aug. 19.
The event also featured the Flashback Mile, a race that allows young runners the chance to shine. Aaron McCreanor of Squamish won for the second straight year with a time of 6:39, beating out Squamish’s Logan O’Sullivan by two minutes and 13 seconds. Hailey Gagne from Garibaldi Highlands was the fastest girl with a time of 9:23.
For complete results from the event, visit www.squamishdays.ca.
