A winning approach to Beach to Beacon | Letter

Here’s something cheerful, for a change. No complaints, no controversy, not a strongly
worded letter to anyone.

My grandson Preston and his friend Luca decided, on rather short notice, to run the Beach to Beacon road race on Aug. 1. Being competitive teenagers, they naturally wanted to finish near the front. Unfortunately, their planning horizon was considerably shorter than the race registration period. They were disappointed to learn: “No more bibs — and the waiting list may outlast the race itself.”

Did that stop them? Of course it didn’t.

They developed a creative strategy: get up at 2 a.m., begin running at 3 a.m., and finish the race
before the registered runners even looked for parking spaces.

They ran the course in complete darkness, with no spectators, no cheering crowds, no water
stations and probably no one awake — except a few confused raccoons.

Their unofficial time was less than 50 minutes, which would have placed them in the top 22%. More importantly, they can now truthfully say they finished first and second — several
hours before everyone else. Creative initiative beats video games any day.

Laurenz Schmidt
Scarborough

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