Last weekend I participated in the Emilie’s Run – The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women.
Emilie was from a small town in Quebec and loved everything sports related. In 2003, she became known on the international scene with a 13th place finish at IAAF World Cross Country which was followed by a Canadian 5km Road Record. During the summer season, she became the first Canadian women to ever run under 15:00 for 5000m which she did at World Championships in Athletics breaking National 5000m record and ending up in 12th place. In the summer of 2006, Emilie moved to the Ottawa area to train for the marathon under Ken Parker, founder of the Ottawa Athletic Club Racing Team. She was to make her marathon debut at the 2006 New York City Marathon.
On September 9th at approximately 3 PM, following a 2 hour training run along the Rockcliffe Parkway accompanied by her coach Parker who cycled along side her, she left to drive to Mascouche, Quebec for a high school reunion and to visit her family. While driving along hichway 417 towards Montreal she lost control of her car and crashed. She was airlifted to Ottawa’s Civic Hospital where she passed away without regaining conciousness.
Every year, women across Ottawa, and even across the province, get together to celebrate women runners. The registration is only open to women.
It was a beautiful along the Aviation Parkway, and despite the chilly wind and gloomy clouds, it was nice to see the crowd of women out for a Saturday morning jog. Looking across the crowd I could see women of all shapes and sizes. And they all looked just beautiful.
I ran the 5K race with my mom, my best friend Natalie and Gillianne.
I plan on doing the race again next year to continue to support women runners.