The Event: This is a 10 mile race which is a part of a two day festival of running. They have the Classic Mile on Friday evening and the 10 mile, along with an 8 km and a 5 km race on Saturday. There is also a kid's race. Overall they have 15,000 people registered, 8,000 registered in the 10 mile race. It is superbly well organized with a decent expo. I only bought a magnetized 26.2 sign for our new vehicle. We drove over Friday and were at the expo late afternoon. Then we headed back to the hotel for an early night.
Race Day: I was up by 5 AM and off to a free parking area about 2 1/2 miles from the start finish area. I caught a shuttle bus to the start area. Again, this was very well organized with very little waiting. There were loads of portalets as well as washroom facilities in a number of local building that were open early. Music was playing. It had a very festive ( but crowded ) atmosphere. The temperature at 8 AM ( the start ) was 71 F with high humidity. The temperature became more of a problem as the race progress. The humidex at my finishing time ( about 9:30 AM ) was 87 F.
The course is fairly difficult with many hills in the last half. The published elevation chart did not reflect reality. The first half has a number of gentle inclines and declines. I enjoyed this part quite a bit. There were, however, many, many turns throughout the entire route and with the very crowded conditions presented somewhat of a problem in maintaining a consistent pace or running the tangents. Of the 8,000 registered for the 10 Mile race, just under 7,000 finished. In addition, the first 200 metres and the last 700 metres are run on a cobblestone surface with many imperfections. I really had to focus on placing my feet in those areas.
I lined up with the 8:30 per mile pace bunny. This would get me to the finish in 1:25:00 which would be a PB for this distance. I stayed with him for the first 5 km segment but found the group around him too crowded so I dropped back about 200 metres where there was some flexibility is choosing a running path. At just before the 5 mile marked the "Bradley" hills begin. They sell a t-shirt at the expo proclaiming that you survived the Bradley Hills. These are three hills in sequence, each a bit longer than the previous one. There are not too steep but do wear on you. ( Not as bad as our own Wilmot Line hills.
) If you believed the elevation chart, it was mostly downhill from 6 miles to the finish. NOT SO!!!! 
The remainder of the route is a series of smaller hills whish I would have welcomed more at the start of the race. I maintained sight of the 8:30 per mile pace bunny until near the finish. The finish area is also well organized with people handing out medals and also towelettes soaked in ice water. I took two - one for the front of my neck and one for the back of my neck. There was ample food etc. but as is my norm, I walked past it all and went for a cool down walk and then caught the shuttle back to the parking area and enjoyed my chocolate milk. It was keeping chilled in a portable cooler. It was then a 15 minute drive back to the hotel. We then drove home and were back by 3:30 PM. Overall - a very good race and I will likely run it again.
Gun Time: 1:28:53 Chip time: 1:25:36 Average Pace: 8:33/mile
Placing: Age Group: 7/52 Men: 1085/3405 Overall: 1400/6960
5 Km Segments:
#!: Time - 25:44 AP: 5:09 min/km - AHR: 150 bpm - overall a bit uphill, many turns
#2: Time - 26:12 AP: 5:14 min/km - AHR: 154 bpm - the Bradley hills and a couple more hills
#3: Time - 26:56 AP: 5:23 min/km - AHR: 157 bpm - more hills and a walk break to take a gel
#4: 1.32 km on my Garmin - Time: 6:45 - AP: 5:09i min/km - AHR: 163 bpm - a couple more hills and those cobblestones!!
Ken
. I did hear of some pretty big road racing names at this event. 
