The Great Race

It was a foggy Sunday morning in late September - the day of the great race. White swans swam lazily in the misty lagoon waters adjacent to the race starting line. The sun pierced through the mist to embrace the vine-covered turrets of the castle. A group of 90+ runners representing corporations from all across the Victoria region assembled together in the serene early morning setting for the 2004 Corporate Games 5K race. The OA team, Jennifer Brown (Paul Cormie's wife), Scot Peterson and Doris Silva waited anxiously for their teammate Dave Gaffney. We depended on his time to bring us to certain victory. We waited and waited but Dave was nowhere to be seen. As the start of the race approached, we shuffled sheepishly to the registration desk with our team roster of a meager three names. Were we from the red, green, or blue division? Who was our captain? Was it the 26th or the 27th? …so much confusion.

We walked gingerly towards the starting line. Jennifer bounced amid the runners, eager to begin the race. Scott Pederson and Doris Silva, the world-class elite runners from OA Solutions strategically started at the back of the pack. It became evident early on that our motivation wasn’t to win the race but to finish it. The gun went off…we leaned forward…but there was nowhere to go so we straightened up and waited for the crowd to disburse. Much to our surprise as well as the people in the red t-shirts ahead of us, we made the first of many big moves by passing them within 500 yards of the starting line. "Look at those two, they’re flying" was a succinct comment we heard as we sped past them. We stretched our 1-second cushion lead and whipped past several more groups of runners. It became obvious that only a hand-full of people could keep any semblance of pace with us. We started to gear down our pace as we approached the overhanging cliff that was to be our Everest. The decision to not separate was a well calculated one on Scott’s part, as Doris would have run in the opposite direction given half a chance. Our confidence soared as we reached the summit and we emphatically removed any thoughts of the red team catching up. It was all downhill from there. In a blur of speed, with arms and legs flailing we whisked our way towards the finish line. The crowd was out of control. Our speedy teammate, Jennifer was looking rejuvenated after a hot shower and nap and stood together with her injured husband Paul as they cheered us on to a victorious 70 and 71 place finish. We managed to eclipse our 30-minute goal. Our rosy cheeks couldn’t hide the pride we felt at representing OA Solutions with such flare. Thanks for the opportunity but don’t expect us to participate in this run ever again!