No trains, 10-mile organizers promise

There’s only one certainty in this year’s Firefighter’s Ten Mile Road Race: there will be no interruption from passing trains on the 100^th anniversary of the Victoria Day event.

Last spring, just as the leaders were hitting their stride, a train snaked across the course, halting runners in their track for a few minutes.

It’s not going to happen again in 2010, said race organizer Mark Smith.

"We certainly didn’t take that lightly this year. We know we won’t have a train on the tracks. We’ve said to the railway that whether we have to put boxes of kittens or tie damsels in distress down to the tracks (we’ll stop them)," Smith said with a tongue-in-cheek smile.

"And if that doesn’t work, Mark is going to lay down," chimed in an anonymous voice from a lunchtime audience Tuesday that had gathered at the Knights of Columbus Hall on May Street as race officials officially kicked off the event six days before it’s scheduled to take place.

While tradition plays a monumental role in the race, officials haven’t rested on the laurels of any of the 76 previous Ten Mile races held over the past century. This marks a number of notable changes, the most talked-about being the addition of prize money for the first time in the race’s history.

Smith said it will certainly help attract a better quality of runner to Thunder Bay, something five-time champion Jon Balabuck said it will make it that much more difficult to regain his crown, last won in 2008.

"Let’s just face the facts. The guys that are coming up now (from the States) are solid, especially that we have $1,000 on the table," he said. "I’ve been in contact with quite a few runners and it looks like the talent is just going to increase again."

One of those runners is two-time defending champion Erik Hartmark, who has yet to officially file an entry, but who Balabuck said has indicated has every intention of making the journey north of the border in search of a third title.

Katie Koski is the two-time defending champion in the open female division.

The second-place finisher will get $500 and third place receives $250.

Money isn’t the only change on the horizon. Commemorative finishing medals will be presented to the first 1,200 participants to cross the finish line, and a new trophy, dedicated by the Thunder Bay Professional Firefighters Association in honour of Edward Foekens will be awarded to the first junior firefighter to finish the race.

Also, said Smith, they’ve adjusted the start to allow single runners a 10-minute head-start over relay racers to help avoid congestion.

Firefighter Paul Penna will be one of those relay racers, though he’ll be running his mile-long segment a little bit differently than most of the other competitors, dressed in full firefighter regalia.

With temperatures expected to hit the mid-20s, it won’t be an easy task, but it’s certainly one he’s up for.

"Our gear is designed to not let any bad stuff in, all the smoke and poisons, but it also doesn’t let anything out. So it’s going to be like running inside a little sauna. It will be very, very hot," Penna said, adding the backpack alone weighs about 13.6 kilograms.

"We’re trying to maybe draw a little bit of attention to the race itself. But it’s also like a challenge to us, because people said it couldn’t be done with our half-hour (oxygen) bottles, to actually run a mile and have enough air to do it. We want to prove the naysayers wrong."

The deadline for entries is 5 p.m. on Saturday.