Evan Bray: Looking back on 9/11 a quarter century later
On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Evan Bray is remembering his own experience ...
A Saskatoon man is part of the world’s fastest running team in his age category.
On Sept. 3, Canada won gold for the men’s 45- to 49-year-old 4×400 metre relay at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The competition is a two-week-long track meet featuring 7,500 athletes representing more than 100 countries.
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Canada’s winning team was composed of Marcus Skeet, Patrice Doucet, Luke Grinder, and Saskatchewan’s Trevor Jacek.
Jacek said it was the team’s anchor, Grinder, who pushed them into first.
“Guy took off like a bullet,” Jacek recalled.
“I ran towards the finish line. I was like jumping up and down. I’m like, ‘we got to do it. We’re going to do it,’” he said.
Jacek wasn’t the only one cheering on Canada. The stadium, built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, had room for roughly 65,000 people.
One section was full of Canadians.
“I could hear them cheering. It was pretty electric,” he remembered.
According to Jacek, Grinder came in so fast past the finish line that he ended up tackling him. Still, that moment was “just sheer joy,” Jacek said.
It was a close race, with only 0.22 seconds standing between Canada’s gold and Australia’s silver. The United States rounded out the podium, placing third.
From left: Luke Grinder, Patrice Doucet, Trevor Jacek and Marcus Skeete. The four men captured gold together earlier this month. (Trevor Jacek/Submitted)
Fighting Father Time
Jacek recalled choking up on the podium after his team’s gold-medal performance.
“It’s something I’ll remember forever. I would say it was a 10 out of 10 peak human experience,” he said.
While Jacek is a world-class athlete now, that wasn’t always the case.
Growing up in a small town, he said he played every sport but “wasn’t necessarily exceptional at anything.”
Jacek only began running competitively after turning 30.
Now, at 45, he said this win shows how “regular people can do pretty cool things.”
The results are secondary, though.
For Jacek, the training, making friends with people from other countries, and the community he’s involved in are why he keeps running.
As for what comes next, he hopes to build on what he’s already achieved.
“Obviously, I’m fighting Father Time,” he said. “Still trying to hit lifetime bests, but I want more. I want to keep going.”
— with files from 650 CKOM’s Scott Roblin
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