When the 2018 edition of the Sheila Poole 10K was over, the event had a new men’s champion in Hudson Grimshaw-Surette, but it was a familiar face on the women’s side, with Denise Robson capturing her 12th title.
Grimshaw-Surette, the 19-year-old from Chebogue, who was running his first 10K road race, covered the course in 35:23, followed by Bryan Hipson, 52, also of Yarmouth County, who ran 36:52. (Hipson had won the race the past three years.)
Taylor Muise of Sluice Point was third overall and second among runners 19-and-under in 37:59.
For Robson, by crossing the line first among women – in 39:17 – she increased her total of Sheila Poole titles to an even dozen. This was her seventh straight victory here.
A Yarmouth native living in Cole Harbour, the 49-year-old Robson finished a little more than two-and-a-half minutes ahead of the second-place woman, who happened to be her daughter, 20-year-old Ashley Robson, who posted a time of 41:57.
Asked about the race moments after winning yet again, Denise Robson said she was pleased with how things went, particularly given the trouble she has had the past year with tendinitis.
“I’m running six days a week, just started doing speed work about three weeks ago, a month ago,” she said. “I actually wore my racing flats for the first time in a year and I felt excellent out there today.”
Her goal for this year’s race was to break 40 minutes, she said, so she felt good about her time.
“I felt consistent and was able to push it home, so I’m on cloud nine right now,” she said.
On the men’s side of this year’s Sheila Poole race, Grimshaw-Surette was making his 10K road-racing debut, although he had run the distance in cross-country.
“It was good,” he said of his first Sheila Poole experience. “It’s a tough course, but it was good.”
Coming off a stellar season in his first year of running for Dalhousie University – where he was rookie male athlete of the year – Grimshaw-Surette had run a good number of track races prior to the Sheila Poole event.
“This is the end for me for the season,” he said after his victory on Saturday. “I’ll take a couple of weeks off and come back for cross-country.”
There were 84 finishers in this year’s Sheila Poole race.
It was 20 years ago that the event – previously known as the Human Race – was renamed in memory of Poole, a former Human Race champion who died of cancer in 1997 at the age of 35. Event organizers marked the anniversary by awarding some special prizes.
A special moment for Denise Robson was seeing her daughter Ashley run so strongly, setting a personal best.
The older Robson laughed when she recalled what she’d said to her daughter.
“I told her I hope I make it to age 50 before she beats me,” she said.
To see complete race results click here.
