Print

E-mail

Text

An East York runner left his mark at the ultramarathon in Seoul, South Korea last month.

Jim Orr was the first-place finisher on the Canadian team finishing a distance of 194.127km in 24 hours.

"I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to run 200-plus kilometres, but there's always next year," he said.

Orr started running in 2002 at the age of 47 with a goal of running a marathon. He reached that goal and competed in marathons in Toronto, Niagara Falls and Boston. From there he moved into ultramarathons.

His very first one gave him a taste of winning.

"My first ultramarathon was a 50-mile trail race in Haliburton Forest in 2005," he said. "I finished in seven hours, 52 minutes, which was good enough for first place on that particular day."

Since then he has done about 20 ultras including 100-km road races, 100-mile trail races and 24-hour races.

Back in August he tried out for the Canadian 24-hour Ultramarathon team and made it when he ran 195km in a 24-hour trail race in Mansfield, Ont.

This year's ultramarathon race was held in Seoul. It is held in different countries each year.

The decision for Orr to compete in Seoul wasn't a hard one.

"I decided to go because it is an honour to be able to represent Canada at international events such as this and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity," he said.

Orr shows no sign of slowing down.

"I hope to qualify for the Canadian 24-hour team again in 2009 and to compete in the World Challenge in Italy and the Commonwealth Championships in England."