Local realtor and cyclist Gary Chambers’ competitive drive has seen him branch out into running as he completed his timed running event.
And he did it in a convincing fashion, placing at the Banff marathon on Sunday, June 16.
Chambers posted a time of 3:17, good enough for fifth place out of 310 competitors, and 2nd in his category. He was surprised by the result.
“Especially never having done any formal timed events in a lot of years and having my focus on cycling, I didn’t have much for expectations,” he said. “My goal to just finish and see where I came out in the fields. To be fifth overall out of 310 racers, I was surprised by it for sure.”
For this race, he didn’t have the technology to help him pace. He laughs when he says his Garmin had a dead battery, so he relied on reading his body to set his personal pace.
“By the time I worked through the crowd and found my pace, I was up with the lead female runner for about the first 5 kilometres,” he said. “After I left her, I wasn’t certain where I was, I just knew I was very alone so I kept running.”
He enjoyed the race, especially the beauty of running in the National Park. There maybe more races on the horizons for Chambers.
“I think for this year I might do another half marathon somewhere just because I have the fitness,” he said. “ I think I will focus on trail running.”
“There are some events coming up that have a trail running component and then a mountain bike component, which would obviously be right up my alley.
You won’t see him put away his bike just yet.
“I’m still a cyclist at heart but when you get to a certain stage you become more adaptive to it. You become more efficient, so it becomes more fun. You can focus less on the pain and more on the enjoyment,” he chuckles.
