Running in the Family


	story Chad Hackl photographs Steve Uhraney In all honesty, I didn’t train to run the Starbucks Hazel 5K as part of the eighth annual Mississauga Marathon. In fact, I’m new to this whole running thing. But after that run, I may be well on my way to raising the stakes for the half or full marathon in next year’s race. Sure, it was damp, rainy and a little on the colder side, yet for someone who doesn’t run, I enjoyed myself. For seven-year old Khalilullah Khan and older brothers Obaidullah, 9, Asadullah, 11, Saifullah, 12, and Abdullah, 13, the experience they brought to the table for their first Mississauga Marathon Starbucks Hazel 5K was unmistakable. The Khans were five of the 1,380 that took part in the Hazel 5K on Saturday May 14 which saw runners (including myself) start on Front St North in Port Credit before crossing the finish line at Lakefront Promenade Park, the end of the line for the weekend’s seven different races. All four brothers, with the exception of Khalilullah, were running in their third 5K race. Khalilullah ran his fifth. He set an unofficial 5K world record for a six-year-old in March, at Slainte St. Patrick’s Day Five-kilometre in Hamilton with a time of 23 minutes, 33 seconds. “The boys love to run. It’s something they do together,” said their father Khizer, who was one of 4,148 who took part in the half marathon the following morning. “They often partner up to relax and talk or sometimes push each other when feeling a little tired.” Khizer trains his sons with the tutelage of Steve Keating who owns Du Tri And Run on Queen St in Streetsville. Keating, who started running in 1972, describes it as “a specialty running store with a serious interest in Triathlon.” He coaches nearly 100 athletes with training programs at his store and through online training. Keating boasts two Canadian records, 18 provincial titles, two national titles, Streetsville Bread and Honey 5K winner in 1999 (almost 40 when he won), ran the Boston Marathon in 2007 and took part in the inaugural Mississauga Marathon in 2004. “A big family like that is certainly unique,” said Keating, who has operated a store in Streetsville for 13 years. “I might have husband and wife teams or father-son but a father and five sons, that has never happened.” Keating says that he designs a program for Khizer to implement with his five boys. This will enable them to work towards becoming much stronger runners and to be able to gauge their progress. “If a youngster receives the proper guidance, they can have a very long career,” said Keating. “To be able to run that long takes a lot of discipline but it also requires a lot of knowledge about what to avoid. That’s what’s missing from coaching today, that most people don’t know what to avoid.” Keating’s business took part in the Mississauga Marathon’s running expo at Port Credit Arena, which caused some grief based on the circumstances. “This year was an anomaly because Toronto and Mississauga happened on the same day,” he said. “I had to have a team go to the Mississauga expo while I worked the Toronto one.” Just over 10,000 participated in the weekend races which featured a 2K, Hazel 5K, 10K, 10K Student Relay, Half Marathon, Full Marathon and Corporate Team Relay. The numbers were well below last year’s record setting 14,000 partly because of the Good Life Fitness Toronto Marathon. Toronto’s numbers also dropped from 15,000 to 10,000. “The Toronto Marathon on the same date is a City of Toronto decision we will never understand,” said Elliott Kerr, President and Founder of Landmark Sport Group, who organized the Mississauga Marathon. “It does not serve the running community, nor either event and most importantly does not at all satisfy residents of Toronto that requested and desperately needed a reprieve from the inconvenience of two Marathons.” “The reality is we dropped from 14,000 runners to 10,000 because of Toronto scheduling on the same date,” Kerr added. “Until the Toronto event disappears or is moved a month before or a month after, neither event can survive.” The Mississauga Marathon didn’t go without controversy either as an investigation by organizers determined that potentially confusing signage was a factor causing two competitors to inadvertently stray from the course, which resulted in their subsequent disqualification. Dagim Yeshitela, of Mississauga, and Predrag Mladenovic finished first and second, respectively, in the 42-kilometre May 15 race, but were disqualified by officials for leaving the route. As a result, Josphat Nzinga, of Toronto, was declared the winner, with Jacob Mengich (Brampton) and Jon Dow (Barrie) awarded second and third place, respectively. “We discovered a technical glitch on our behalf and we’re taking responsibility,” said Ben McCarty, Mississauga Marathon acting race director. “We take this very seriously and we realize this is a mistake on our behalf. But we have discussed it with everyone and we hope to see them all back next year.” Well you can count on the Khan family coming back. “We hope to attend every year, as it is our home town race weekend,” said Khizer. And I’ll be back too. GL	Khizer Khan, (far right) and his five sons, Khalilullah 7, Obaidullah, 9, Asadullah, 11, Saifullah, 12, and Abdullah, 13, lace ‘em up in Streetsville. Khalilullah Khan, 7, (left) set an unofficial 5K world record for a six-year-old in March at Slainte St. Patrick’s Day Five-kilometre in Hamilton with a time of 23 minutes, 33 seconds.