Ten Mile Road Race record in Luka Chelimo's sights

Firefighters Ten Mile Road race organizers aren’t trying to put any pressure on Kenyan Luka Chelimo.

But on Saturday they did note he’s fresh off a win last weekend at the Vancouver Marathon and also brought up the fact it’s the 40th anniversary of the race record, a 47:09 dash turned in by Pekka Pairvaranta in 1975.

The diminutive 37-year-old Chelimo, who stands just 5-foot-5 and weighs less than 100 pounds, won’t promise a new record on May 18, but isn’t ruling it out, either.

“If the weather is good, maybe I’ll run my fastest time,” he said. “If the weather is good, I will try my best.”

He’ll be looking to beat out four-time reining race champion Gilbert Kiptoo, who trains with Chelimo and finally convinced him to enter the Ten Miler.

“I came to Thunder Bay because Gilbert is my friend. We train together,” he said at a news conference held at presenting sponsor Halfway Motors.

Kiptoo, a fellow Kenyan adopted by the local running community, said he’s not too worried about having a little extra completion in the field next week.

Kiptoo said he’s not approaching the event with winning on his mind. Sure, he’d love to cross the finish line first, but after injuring his hip in Vancouver, he’s not going to fret long and hard about where he winds up in Thunder Bay.

“It’s about the friendship of the community,” Kiptoo said.

“I wanted to bring some new guys to the community so they can see there are other guys who can do it. In my head, I just want to run in Thunder Bay. It’s not the prizes. That’s why I asked Luka. I know he’s a fast guy and he’s been a friend of mine for a long time. I’ve wanted to bring him here.”

Race organizer Meghan Shanks said seeing the record fall would be awesome.

It’s stood for a long time, she added.

“The 1970s was a very impressive time for running in Thunder Bay,” she said. “It would be really exciting if we could start seeing some records fall.”

Since Pairvaranta set the standard four decades ago, no one has really come close.

In fact, only three times has a runner completed the course in less than 50 minutes – Bruce McKay in 1987, and Kiptoo and Eric Hartmark in 2010.

One person who most certainly won’t challenge the record is firefighter Joe Grzelewski. Running for the 32nd time, he was given bib No. 32 on Saturday as the honourary participant.

Grzelewski, who took the firefighters torch from the late Kevin Kennedy, who challenged him to enter his first Ten Mile Road Race in 1981, said it was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.

“To this day I reap the benefits of his intervention in my life,” Grzelewski said.

“It’s going to be a great day and I look forward to it.”

Registration for the race is open until Tuesday at 5 p.m. on the Ten Mile Road Race website. It’s open to runners of all ages and abilities.