Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - 04:00 PM

Maybe I should get married and run faster too...

Toronto's Danny Kassap, a Nike-sponsored athlete, caught wind of some last-minute news out of Montreal last week, and decided to take a chance at the Montreal International Marathon and secure a decent pay-cheque. "He was informed on the Friday prior to race weekend, that several top-flight Kenyan runners were unable to secure travel Visa's", says his Manager, Jamie Black, another top-class Master's Runner here in Toronto. Less competition could mean a hard, long-run and money to boot.

Despite a very strong training week, which consisted of 3 interval workouts, 2x daily runs and a 1-hour hilly run Friday morning, Mr. Kassap was tempted to take the advice of fellow runner and Montreal native, Bagdad Rachim (who came 2nd in the 10km). Mr. Rahim called Danny friday morning, urging his friend to enter the Marathon. One of those workouts included 13, 1-km repeats, while another featured 3 x 5km tempo sessions. Working till 11:00 pm Friday nite, Danny awoke at 4:00 am, and left with his wife, hoping to grab a nap in Montreal. A flat tire later, Mr. Kassap arrived in Montreal, staying with some local runners and hoping to steal a victory while not wearing himself out too much - yet another race weekend in search of elusive prize money.

This would be the same Danny Kassap who made headlines in 2004, winning the ScotiaBank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in his debut at the 26.2 mile distance. This year, Danny is not the defending champion, and he'll have his work cut out for him as the field for this fast-growing race is threatening to break course, national and all-time Canadian Marathon records on the weekend of September 22-14th. www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com.

The Montreal International Marathon provided a perfect backdrop for Danny, who speaks fluent french and has performed well in la Belle Provence, winning the 2005 Quebec City Half-Marathon and placing among the top 3 finisher's in the Montreal Half-Marathon each spring. According to John Meagher of the Montreal Gazette, conditions were ideal and "perfect weather for a long jog".

But not an easy jog, as two Morroccans worked together to try and defeat the interloper from Toronto. Mr. Kassap even knew of the $500 time bonus for crossing the ½ way point first, in 1:11:52, and it was here where the visiting athletes knew they were in for a tough fight. Mr. Kassap managed to remain strong the rest of the way, and recorded a difficult negative split, running the second half in 1:08:29, good enough for a 1:21 second victory over Essemali Elhoussine, with Mouhcine Akhoudaoui third. It looks like the top-level coaching has been paying off, as legendary Marathon Coach Hugh Cameron from Newmarket has been advising Mr. Kassap on how to race, and win, something Danny has lacked in the past.

“Danny has learned how to run conservatively, waiting for the right moment to make a move, like at the water stations” is how Jamie Black described the “move in Montreal” that would seal the win. Hugh Cameron is one of Canada's top distance coaches, and although he retired Coach Cameron has decided to help Danny as he sees something here that he hasn't seen in a long while. His staple of athletes included Silvia Ruegger, still the Canadian Record-Holder in the Marathon (women's), and Dave Edge, a 2:10 marathoner.

The winning time was 2:20:19, a pretty fast pace for most marathoners, but for Danny a fast tune-up for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in two weeks, a risky move to be sure but the $10,000 in prize money offered up in Montreal was too tempting to pass up. The race was not without controversy, as Clint Tashereau of nearby Lac St. Jean stumbled across the finish line after Kassap, but race officials were wary of this and knew the runner had not run the full distance. Clint would vanish among the crowd and never be seen again....

The winning time was well off Mr. Kassap's personal best time of 2:14, when he won Scotia in 2004, but added, "that's a little slow for me, but no one set the pace so it became a battle for first". Mr. Kassap hopes to defend his title next year, "if they invite me, I'll be back", he added, with his now customary smile flashing in victory.


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