27th Annual CHOK/YMCA International Bridge 10k Race
By T. Alan Place

On June 27 2004, Alan Place, your Palouse Road Runner Prez, participated in the 27th Annual CHOK/YMCA International Bridge 10k Race. About 380 runners -- up from just over 300 in 2003 - took part in the race. Participants were required to board buses at the finish area in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, about one hour before the start of the race. They were then transported across the Blue Water Bridge to a US border check, and then on to the start area at the Blue Water Area YMCA in Port Huron, Michigan.

At the start of the race, the race director warned all participants that if they were not wearing their race numbers on the front of their shirts, they would be arrested at the Canadian border. While this may have been true, he strained his credibility by adding that the Canadians would ship offenders to Iraq the next day. Nevertheless, your Prez had his number pinned on correctly. The race was started by the race director first bellowing "runners ready - set", followed by red-and-white bedecked Miss Canada Week (or somesuch) firing the starting gun. Unfortunately Miss Canada Week forgot to cock the gun so it did not fire. The lead runners had to be collected from various parts of Port Huron and returned to the start line. The gun was cocked and given once again to Miss Canada Week. This time it did fire and we set off down the Thomas Edison Parkway and across the Blue Water Bridge. This was the first time that the Prez has sprinted past the border guards of two nations without being stopped.

The course was flat on both sides of the border apart from the ascent and descent of the bridge, which is perhaps a mile long. The race finished at Canatera Park in Sarnia. The Prez's time for the 10k was 60m 21s. However, knowing that he was going to write this article, the Prez stopped half a dozen times during the race to take photographs. We should probably deduct 30 minutes from the Prez's time to allow for such artistic compositions. Accepting this adjustment as eminently reasonable, it is to the credit of your Prez that he remained graciously silent during the awards ceremonies, when some whippersnapper with a clock time of 31m 44s received the winner's trophy. The fastest woman was clocked at 38m 27s. However, the Prez was amazed that he did not receive a prize for the runner who had come the furthest to run the race. He found out later that this was because his hometown was recorded as Moscow, Michigan instead of Moscow, Idaho. Not a good day for trophies, though your Prez did come away with a CHOK coffee mug and a pack of CHOK playing cards, which he is willing to show to admiring PRR members. A well-organized race, and a beautiful cool sunny day for running. The Prez can recommend it to any member of the PRR who may be in the Far East (Michigan) during June.

View from the bridge