What an amazing event and race experience at the Utica Boilermaker this weekend ..
806 Vincent A. Fong M# 713 59/635 M45-49 1:06:59 7:12 1:06:38 7:09 Kanata ON
Longer Report:
Had the opportunity to participate in this year's edition of the Utica Boilermaker 15K, when one of the locals organized a bus/hotel tour to the event this year, and it just happened to fit into schedule .... as I have heard a lot of positive reviews from a number of people, as well as the atmosphere, from the race organizers, the amazing volunteers along the course .. 20 water stations on a 15K course
and, free beer from 9:00am to noon, from the Main Sponsor of the event, SARANAC 
...Rather than the typical race schwag offered by most race events / organizers, instead of a souvenir t-shirt, we received a souvenir beer glass, and a nice pin in lieu of the race medal ..
The one advantage of taking a bus tour is that we get a nice chauffered ride from the hotel to the race site, having to avod the pre-race travelling and port-a-potty line-ups, by enabling us to stay at the hotel til about an hour before, and allowing us to use the onboard faciilities, en-route ...
and, ended up arriving about 30 minutes before the start ..During the opening Ceremonies, we were informed that this was the largest edition of the Boilermaker ... A Sell Out at 13,000 registrants, and the coolest start / race event at 58F at gun time ...
As we hit 8:00am, the Gun goes off, and here we go ... the first 2-3K was nice and relatively flat with rollers, and I soon fell into my 1/2 marathon / Tempo Pace ... pretty un-eventful, just following the masses of runners ahead of me .. and seeing water stations every 500-800m, along the course ...
Ended up hitting the first 5K in about 22 minutes ... soon we enter the golf course and begin about an 800m rise, to the highest peak of the golf course, while looking over to the right, we could see the runners on the other side way down, just beginning the climb .. such a wonderful view ...Once we hit the crest, it was literally all downhill from there .... downhill in the course / terrain, not my race ...
It was nice going downhill for a stretch, regaining my breath and letting the legs fly down the other side, though I did not hammer it down, as much as I could have, as I wasn't sure what to expect over the final 8.5K, as this was my first time on this course .. And, hit the 10K mark at around 45 minutes or so ....It was starting to get hot, as the sun came up, but with water stations so frequent, and cups of ice available, as well, it was easy to stay cool ... Then the final 5K was a gradual downhill, to the finish line ... crossing in at 1:06:59 clock time, or 1:06:38 Chip Tine ...
The Numbers:
Clock Time: 1:06:59
Chip Time: 1:06:38
Overall Position: 806 / 11,049
Gender: 713 / 5977
AG (45-49) : 713 / 5977
Overall, as it was my first official 15K event, it was a guaranteed PB
which may be difficult to surpass, as I may have set a high standard for my first one .... As well, I also set new PB's in my beer consumption ... 4 beers before 9:30am and 6 beers before 11:00am ... Perhaps, I could have gone for more, but did not want to push it further, as well, also wanted to allow for some room for the next time ...
On the bus back, the Race Organizer indicated that he would likely be planning another trip in 2012, so, if all goes well, I should be back again ..
