Latest news with #BostonMarathon
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Sydney Mines Heritage Festival brings hundreds to Main Street
Hundreds of people gathered in Sydney Mines, N.S., for the community's annual heritage festival. (Ryan MacDonald/CTV News) Hundreds of people filled the main street of Sydney Mines, N.S., over the weekend for the community's annual heritage festival. This year marked the fourth year for the Sydney Mines Heritage Festival, previously know as the Johnny Miles Festival until 2022. In recent years, the festival has been organized by New Deal Holdings of Sydney Mines. A section of Main Street was closed to traffic for the weekend, where vendors sold their goods and musicians performed on stage. Organizers said this year's attendance was the best with many people coming from others parts of the region. 'There's also a sense of pride when the folks come from away', said Dave Julian, a festival organizer and president & CEO of New Deal Holdings. 'They're home for the summer and they see this on the main street, and they say 'You know what? This is the way it was when I was growing up.' That's kind of what we're trying to do again.' Julian added that next year's festival will be a special one, as it will mark the 100th anniversary of Sydney Mines native Johnny Miles' first victory at the Boston Marathon in 1926 (he also won in 1929). He said plans are already in the works to make next year's heritage festival bigger and better, and to further incorporate Miles' memory and his accomplishments as an athlete and a citizen. The three-day event wrapped up on Sunday evening. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Belacan maker Jin Kuang stirs up a storm in Taiping
KUALA LUMPUR: Ow Yong Jin Kuang and Vivien Ng stole the spotlight at the Taiping Half Marathon on Sunday, powering through heat and hills to win the men's and women's 21km races. Jin Kuang, 38, clocked 1:15:55s on the scenic but challenging AIMS-certified course that wound through Taiping's colonial streets and Lake Gardens. It marked a strong return to form for the Perak-born, who had only recently recovered from an injury. "I'm happy with my timing today, especially since I only just recovered in May," said Jin Kuang, who runs a belacan-making business. "To be back at this level and clock 1:15:55 feels really satisfying," he said. "My PB is 1:14, and I don't have big goals now as I'm entering the veteran category, but if I can break 1:13, I'd be thrilled." Jin Kuang, who plans to race abroad next year, had extra reason to celebrate. Hs wife Yee Pei Ni won the women's 10km category just months after giving birth. "Usually, after childbirth, many women stop running. But my wife is very patient and disciplined. We support each other and take turns to train. Running is our shared passion," said Jin Kuang In the women's 21km race, 27-year-old architect Vivien was a class apart, crossing the line in 1:39:41, just three weeks after completing the Gold Coast Marathon in 3:22, which qualified her for next year's Boston Marathon. The former student of a Taiping high school now lives in Hong Kong. Her participation was a spontaneous decision during a visit home. "I hadn't planned to race but saw a post about it from my friend's dad, and the medal design caught my eye. " It was so beautiful I signed up right away," she said. Despite limited training due to post-marathon recovery, Vivien was pleased with her performance. "This was my first half-marathon in such intense heat and humidity, so I started conservatively. It's not a PB, but I'm really happy," she said. Vivien, who also won this year's Taiping Endurance Challenge's six-hour category with a record 60km, is now eyeing sub-1:30 in the half-marathon and hopes to complete all six World Marathon Majors. 21km Men: 1. Ow Yong Jin Kuang 1:15:55s, 2. Rizan Firdaus Rohaizad 1:20:03, 3. Danish Norhisam 1:20:19. Women: 1. Vivien Ng 1:39:41, 2. Chuah Joo Khim 1:42:52, 3. Yeoh Zi Kean 1:44:12. 10km Men: 1. Joshua Loh 34:45, 2. Izul Amirul Mukmim 35:36, 3. Luqman Nurhakim Mohamad 37:08.
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Globe and Mail
For Alice Kearns, running was an expression of joy and resilience
Alice Kearns: Runner. HR leader. Mother. Mentor. Born Jan. 22, 1942, in Dublin; died April 21, 2025, in Ottawa, of complications from Norovirus; aged 83. Alice Kearns crossed her final finish line the day the Boston Marathon was run. It was a poetic departure for a woman who qualified for the race an astonishing 16 times and competed in it three times. She died at 2:05 p.m. – uncannily close to this year's winning race time of 2:04:45. For her family, it was a quiet, symbolic close to a life lived with spirit and relentless motion. Born Alice Heaney in Dublin to blind parents, she learned resilience and independence early. One of her favourite stories was about her father bringing home a roast from the butcher, only to discover it was mostly fat. Her childhood was shaped by hardship, but also by determination. Alice, a gifted student, had to put her education on hold to support her family. She later resumed her studies in Canada, completing a joint program between the transportation industry and the University of Toronto. Like many from Ireland seeking a better life, she immigrated to Canada in 1967, settling in Toronto. She met Jack Kearns at a Dublin dance hall in her early 20s. Just months earlier, Jack had made a life-altering decision: to leave the seminary after years of training to become a Catholic priest. Instead, he began retraining as an optician. That choice, that dance, changed everything. It was the beginning of a partnership that would last more than 60 years. They championed each other's ambitions, raised a son, Alan, and found their shared rhythm not just in marriage, but on the roads and trails where they trained side by side. Running became a metaphor for their life together: steady and always in stride. Alice built her career in the offices of the male-dominated transportation industry. She was known for her wise counsel, quiet strength and no-nonsense standards. She became a trusted administrative and HR advisor to executives. As a working mother in the 1970s and '80s, Alice faced challenges she would later reflect on honestly. 'I don't think I could be both a great mother and a great employee,' she once told her son. 'It might have been easier to choose one.' But she led by example. Her legacy was less about lunches packed or school pickups, and more about what it meant to live with conviction. She modelled excellence, persistence, intellectual curiosity and integrity. Running became her spiritual practice. She joined the Markham Centaurs and the Running Room, where she found her second family. Her mornings began with long runs and ended with bagels and coffee in the company of her running tribe. From her 40s onward, she regularly ranked near the top in her age group across 5ks, 10ks, half and full marathons. She and Jack travelled the world to combine racing and exploring – Dublin, Iceland, Chicago, China, Greece. Races were expressions of joy and resilience. Even a serious accident in her late 60s didn't stop her. Though her stride slowed, her spirit never did. Running remained, for her, an act of connection between people, places and the inner voice that said 'keep going.' She could be candid, strong-willed and fiercely loyal. Her friendships were long and deeply rooted. Her conversations were unfiltered and honest. During her final weeks in palliative care, her two grandchildren, Aidan and Aine, sat by her bedside, asking life's big questions and soaking up her presence. Just a week before she died, Aine completed a half-marathon. She called her grandmother right after the finish line. Alice told her, 'It's not about the time you get – it's about taking in the moments you have while you're in the race.' That was Alice in a sentence. Alice died of complications from Norovirus. It was a short journey from diagnosis to death – unwelcome and fast – but also mercifully gentle. 'I was in a hard race,' she reflected in her final days. 'I told myself I wanted to finish it – just for me.' Alan Kearns is Alice Kearns's son. To submit a Lives Lived: lives@ Lives Lived celebrates the everyday, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who have recently passed. To learn how to share the story of a family member or friend, go online to
CBS News
6 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Somerville woman survives 9/11, two cancers to ride first Pan-Mass Challenge
Almost 22 years after Kathy Ball-Toncic ran barefoot from the North Tower on 9/11, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. While her team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute cannot, definitively, link her disease to the toxic dust she inhaled as she fled the World Trade Center site, she is part of the WTC Health Program. To date, it says more than 44,000 people who were exposed to the WTC site-on or after 9/11--have been diagnosed with cancer. In 2001, Kathy was commuting between Boston and New York and working on Wall Street. The morning of September 11, she had helped organize a conference at Windows On The World and was in a meeting in the lobby when the first plane hit the tower. At first, no one knew what had happened. She remembers a roar that sounded much like a subway train and flickering lights. She and her colleagues were standing up, pushing papers into their bags, when she heard a BOOM! She remembers the explosion and the glass shattering in businesses along the first-floor concourse. Kathy and her colleagues were "dressed up" for their meeting. In the moments after the explosion, one of them didn't feel that Kathy was moving quickly enough-probably because she was in shock. He urged her to take off her heels and run from the building. With bare feet, over broken glass, she did. Blocks later (she thinks they were about halfway to Broadway) they stopped. "We stopped and turned around just in time for the second plane to hit. And my memory of that morning is a little bit like a film that's missing a few frames," Kathey said. "But I vividly remember when we turned around and the building in flames... I pointed to it and said, 'We were in there.'" By the time the group arrived at their office, Kathy's feet were bleeding, and she was covered in a thin layer of dust. She remembers feeling fortunate to have escaped and that night, to have been able to return home to Boston. Processing the trauma of the attacks took a lot of intentional, emotional work. There was also a physical component to Kathy's emotional healing. After 9/11 Kathy, who'd been a runner for years, began running marathons for charity. "It really felt like a wonderful way to be able to give back, to do something meaningful," Kathy said. The 2002 Boston Marathon was her first. Running was a way to celebrate her health, nourish, friendships, process difficult emotions, and raise money for organizations she believed in. In 2014, the year after the Boston Marathon bombings, she ran for Dana-Farber. Her breast cancer diagnosis in 2023 was shocking enough. Kathy was treated at Dana-Farber for a full year. The following February, right around her birthday, she celebrated being cancer free. In a photograph with her son Henrik and daughter Maja, she is beaming as she holds a cupcake. That sense of elation, though, was short-lived. Two weeks later, she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. (Breast cancer and colorectal cancer are two of the almost-70 cancers that have been traced to 9/11 exposure.) She had surgery and chemotherapy. As someone for whom exercise and physical activity are so important, Kathy recalls her exhaustion at the end of 2024. "The chemo took everything out of me ... I remember lying on the couch thinking, I'm a business owner who's not working," Kathy said. "I'm a chef who can't eat. And I'm an athlete who can't make it up a flight of stairs who am I?" She answered that question by focusing, minute-by-minute, on healing and small victories. Knowing when to give herself grace. Knowing when to ask for help. "I'm someone who's fighting and I'm someone who is visualizing health and wellness," she said. During radiation, she visualized that the treatments were working. In early 2025, still healing from those treatments, Kathy knew that running a marathon was out of the question. But desiring a goal, she asked her doctor (Dr. Brandon Huffman) and physical therapist whether she could ride the Pan-Mass Challenge, an event to which she had donated for years. "They both emphatically said yes and were super supportive!" she said. Kathy, who works as an executive leadership coach and facilitator, is riding the two-day PMC route from Wellesley to Provincetown. She hopes, with some nervousness, that she will be able to ride the entire route. Those who know her have little doubt. Henrik is a registered volunteer in Bourne and Provincetown. Asked about his mother's decision to take on this new challenge on her bike, he says what she brings to the ride makes him proud. "Grit and determination and perseverance and love and honor and all these wonderful characteristics that make her who she is," Henrik said. While she does not miss cancer treatment, she does miss her team at Dana-Farber. "They are so extraordinary," Kathy said. "I think it's a part of cancer. People don't talk about a lot, that you finish your treatment.... And there's a bit of 'now what?' And you are not regularly seeing your care team." She says she will think about them while she is riding. Kathy is again cancer free. She has regular check-ups, and her team promises to watch her "like a hawk." The colorectal cancer she survived has a high recurrence rate. But she says smiling, "it doesn't know who it's messing with." A few weeks before the PMC, Kathy enjoyed an experience that offered a new feeling of community. Smiling and flexing a well-toned bicep in a PMC t-shirt at Fenway Park, she was among the Living Proof riders (cancer survivors) who rode the warning track and paused for the national anthem and a standing ovation. It was PMC Night at Fenway and the ballpark was full of fans. "They announced, 'These are the cancer survivors riding the PMC.' I almost wanted to look around and say, 'Who-like--who are the cancer survivors?' And it's like, it's me!" That realization came with a flood of emotions. "I burst into tears at first. And then I just, I thought I want to be here. I want to take this moment in." She now looks ahead to the ride and imagines it will feel like a victory lap. "It's a way to celebrate all the people that have supported me. It's a way to celebrate my health," she said. "And it's a way to do whatever I can to make sure people don't have to go through this by raising money for research." "We are all touched by this horrible thing called cancer," Kathy said.
Business Insider
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Business Insider
A former NFL champion shares his daily routine to stay fit at 37 — with open water swimming and 200 grams of protein a day
When James Develin retired from the NFL in 2020 after seven seasons (and three Super Bowl wins) with the New England Patriots, it wasn't long before he started looking for the next big challenge. To stay in elite athlete shape after retirement, Develin knew he needed some structure to replace the typical training cycle of the NFL and giving him something to work toward. That meant a marathon and, most recently, a Navy SEAL-style open water swim — grueling events to inspire his multiple workouts a day. "I didn't have a season to start preparing for, so it was a little bit harder to put myself through two-a-days and three-a-days," Develin told Business Insider. As a 37-year-old father of four, Develin is conscious about retaining his strength in a sustainable way. He shared his daily routine with Business Insider — a regimen of running, swimming, and lifting, along with a high-protein diet worthy of his NFL days. From NFL training to Navy SEAL swims Less than a year after retiring from pro football, Develin took on distance running, completing his first Boston Marathon in 2021. In 2023, Develin met an even more ambitious match for his athletic aspirations when his father-in-law signed up for the Navy SEAL Foundation NYC SEAL Swim. The annual fundraiser is held honor of veterans and lives lost in the September 11, 2001 attacks. "I can run, I can lift, I can do all that stuff, but swimming was not my forte and it still isn't. It's been fun to push my own personal limits," he said. The event combines strenuous open water swimming through the turbulent waters of the Hudson with multiple rounds of push-ups and pull-ups, scenic views of the Statue of Liberty, and a race to the finish at the World Trade Center. The SEAL Swim requires grit, endurance, and discipline to complete. Develin decided to join in, despite limited swimming experience and only a month to prepare. "It's such a great patriotic event, but it's also a great test of one's physical prowess, so it checks a lot of boxes for me," Develin said. There's no secret to training for the SEAL swim besides hours and hours of work in the water, according to Develin. "I just started swimming as much as I could every single day. Through the soreness, through the rain days, the day I don't want to do it," he said. Develin, who lives on the Jersey Shore with his wife and four kids, practices in a pool as well as the nearby bay to get experience managing the unpredictability of open water. Develin works out daily for around two or three hours a day, split between shorter sessions of cardio, swimming, and weightlifting to allow him to spend time with his family, too. "I need to sweat before I can really get on with the rest of my day," he said. "I don't really feel like a day was productive unless I get some sort of workout in." Here's a typical day in his routine. Wake up around 5:30 a.m. Hydrate first thing in the morning with a tall glass of water. Supplements: Develin said he goes through phases of trying supplements to find what works, and currently takes amino acids and NAD+ which help with energy and recovery. A morning smoothie provides some protein first thing in the morning. A cardio workout is first on the agenda, typically a long run. After his workout, Develin wakes up his kids and gets them ready for the day before sitting down to breakfast of high-protein staples such as eggs. For a midday workout Develin hits the gym to lift weights for 45 minutes, sometime between 11 am and 2 p.m. Lunch is often a casual, on-the-go option like sandwiches. Often Develin fits in an evening workout to practice swimming, if he can find the time For dinner, Develin gets to sit down and "live a little" since his wife is Italian and loves to cook. The evening meal is often pasta with homemade sauce and more protein (like chicken or beef). Develin is in bed by 10:30 p.m. most nights to get a solid s even hours of sleep. In total, he aims to eat more than 200 grams of protein daily, about a gram of protein per pound of body weight, to help maintain muscle and strength. In the NFL, Develin's job was to absorb and deliver tremendous amounts of force as a fullback. "You have to go out there and be ready for impact constantly," he said. He's kept the same mindset of pushing himself ever since, aiming to stave off aging with constant movement and new challenges, even when his body is a little slower to bounce back than it used to be. "I recover eventually. It just might take a little bit longer now than it did when I was 30, but I just keep grinding," Develin said. "It's good for your endurance, it's good for your mental fortitude, and that's what works for me."
