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Canadians Rule In Wheelchair 15k

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

TAMPA - When the Gasparilla 15k wheelchair race started with the national anthem, perhaps they should have included "O, Canada" as well, because the top finishers for both the men and women hailed from the our neighbor to the north.

Mark Ledo, 30, of Maple, Ontario, and Diane Roy, 36, of Notre-Dame-Du-Lac, Quebec, finished ahead of their respective groups in the first physically challenged elite race at Gasparilla in more than a decade. For Ledo, Saturday's win was extremely special because it was the first time he had beaten Canadian countryman Michel Filteau in a road race - ever.

"I was dumbfounded when I crossed the line before he did," Filteau said. "It was amazing."

Ledo finished first in 32:55, one second ahead of Filteau's second-place finish. Tyler Byers took third, also just a second behind Ledo.

The race was Ledo's first this season and his first ever in the 15k. He will try to qualify for the Paralympics in Beijing during his next race, which will be a marathon in Italy.

"Our Canadian standards are ridiculous, it's like an hour and 26 minutes for the marathon, and I got to knock off like eight minutes off my time," Ledo said. "I don't see it happening, but I'll try."

Like Ledo, Roy will also be vying for a spot in Beijing. The Canadian native finished sixth overall in 39:02, and was quite satisfied with the event and happy to see the race back in Tampa.

"I did the Gasparilla about 10 or 12 years ago, but then I was just beginning," Roy said. "Today was my second race of the year, and good preparation for the upcoming Paralympics."

The top local winner for the wheelchair race was 53-year-old Scott McNeice from St. Petersburg, who placed 13th in 41:04.

A JEWEL OF A RUNNER: Another day, another first-place finish for Tampa's Emory Jewell. The 82-year-old Jewell won his 80-84 age group of Saturday's 15k with a time of 1 hour, 46 minutes, 16 seconds, beating out 82-year-old Walter White of Bradenton by more than two minutes.

Jewell has now run 10 of Gasparilla's 15k races and has 13 marathons to his credit. He started running late in life - 63 - but credits that for being relatively injury free. In that time, Jewell says he has won 485 trophies from finishing in the top three of his age group at various distances.

More impressive than all that is the role Jewell played in history. A former Navy corpsmen, Jewell took part in the allied D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach on the Normandy coast of France on June 6, 1944.

ANOTHER RECORD: For the second consecutive year, Gasparilla's 5k established a record for entries. According to race director Susan Harmeling, approximately 8,400 people signed up for this year's 3.1-mile race, eclipsing the mark set last year by more than 300.

The 15k also enjoyed a strong turnout, Harmeling said, where a field of 4,600 runners signed up for the race. Since the introduction of the marathon and half marathon to the same race weekend, that is the highest turnout ever for the 9.3-miler, Harmeling said.

Harmeling also reported that just one runner in that crowd suffered any sort of medical problem during Saturday's events. She said the individual was transported to Tampa General Hospital and was in stable condition.

MASTERS OF THEIR SPORT: The area's top masters runners (age 40 and older) turned in some impressive showings in Saturday's 15k race.

In the men's masters division, 40-year-old Dror Vaknin, a coach at the University of Tampa as well as his own private team (Progressive Training), broke into the local prize money with his sixth-place overall finish in 50:19. That earned him $500 as the fourth-best local. Had he not come down with a serious flu bug last week - one that caused him to have a fever of 103 degrees - Vaknin believes he could have contended for the top three overall.

Also in the men's 15k, 41-year-old Robert Skaggs, one of the area's top triathletes, showed his talent once again with an 18th-place overall finish in 53:04. Skaggs is coming off an Achilles' tendon injury that required surgery and set his training back for an extended period but he is regaining his form and should be a factor in April's St. Anthony's Triathlon.

In the women's 15k, 42-year-old Karol Withrow of Safety Harbor broke one hour with her mark of 59:59. The top female masters 15k runner was 49-year-old Bev Docherty of St. Paul, Minn., who went 59:47. St. Petersburg's Denise Skinner, 52, was the No. 5 female masters finisher in the 15k at 1:04:23.

Bill Ward, Jeffrey Jones

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