Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, right, talks to Mayor Iordanis Louizos of Marathon, Greece, as Dimitri Koutras, 13, holds Marathon Torch at the Ottawa City Hall, May 23, 2013.  Photograph by: Jean Levac , Ottawa Citizen/Postmedia News

Let's hear it for the old duffers. This past week a Japanese man of 80 (admittedly a man who had previously proven his penchant for highly unusual physical stunts, having skied down Mount Everest decades earlier) had successfully summitted the world's most famous peak. This, despite having been burdened with some of the health problems that inevitably accompany old age, including heart surgery a scant six months earlier. More power to his determination and elderly spunk.

Photo: Ottawa Citizen   Bernice Wills, 88, is participating in the 10K walk at the upcoming Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend on Saturday, May 25, 2013.

This is the week-end that Ottawa Race Weekend occurs. A special emphasis this year on safety and security hasn't dampened racers' enthusiasm, despite the dreadful occurrence at the Boston Marathon, though that special emphasis on safety and security has obviously emanated from that terrorist attack. There are some elite names in competitors listed for the week-end, big on runners from Ethiopia and Kenya who have competed in previous marathons both in Ottawa and elsewhere; they tend to walk away with the titles.

Four generations of of Melanie Dompierre’s family is participating in Ottawa Race Weekend. From left, Elisabeth Rigden, (daughter), Melanie Dompierre, Jeannette Groulx (grandmother) and Rachel Groulx (mother). Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington , Ottawa Citizen

 

But among the competitors, or to put it more realistically, simply 'runners' are those who are octogenarians. Some compete or run in memory of loved ones who have succumbed to the devastating effects of dread diseases like cancer, stroke and heart attack. Among them whole families or spouses in memory of those they've lost. Some run for causes like funding research into diabetes.

Some who run in Ottawa go on to run elsewhere; Australia, the United States, Iceland, Brazil, even the Great Wall Marathon in China, and the Antarctic Ice Marathon, they are so utterly zealous about what they do.

El Hassan El Abassi won with a personal best time of 27 minutes 36.6 seconds. Photograph by: Ashley Fraser, The Ottawa Citizen

Able-bodied and those with disabling conditions alike, they run because they feel compelled to, including people without eyesight, determined to make their mark as well as to demonstrate that despite their physical deficit, they are still capable of performing normally.

Viola Turner, 80, has run the 10K for the past nine years in tribute to her late husband, Alan. Photo: Ottawa Citizen

This year an 80-year-old woman who has run the 10K event for the past nine years in tribute to her husband, runs again. An 80-year-old man who began running after age 60 will run the half-marathon on Sunday. And an 88-year-old woman will run alongside her daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the 10K walk, her ninth year of such participation.

Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun