{"id":10839,"date":"2015-05-28T01:16:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T05:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=10839"},"modified":"2015-06-17T18:58:26","modified_gmt":"2015-06-17T22:58:26","slug":"aurora-ultra-marathon-runner-sets-canadian-record-in-ten-day-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-ultra-marathon-runner-sets-canadian-record-in-ten-day-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora ultra-marathon runner sets Canadian record in ten-day race"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

62-year-old ultra-marathon runner George Biondic is showing no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

The Aurora resident\u2019s latest feat of endurance was a ten-day journey around a one-mile track in Queens, New York, home of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon.<\/p>\n

For ten days, Biondic, along with the encouragement and crucial support of his wife Erlinda, endured the elements, slept in a tent, and ran for as many as seventeen hours a day en-route to a sixth-place finish.<\/p>\n

The international race meant competition from all corners of the globe, with thirty participants representing seventeen countries. But what is even more amazing is the diversity of ages that competed. Biondic\u2019s sixth-place finish was in the open-age category \u2013 in his age category of 60-64, he set a new Canadian record, smashing the old record of 565 miles with five hours to go and adding another 22.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s roughly the equivalent of running to Quebec City from Toronto in a week and a half.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s been through the process before, the magnitude of his accomplishment is not lost on Biondic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe race has been going on for twenty years. In those twenty years, there have been competitors from all around the world. I set the record for men, my age, any nation\u2026it\u2019s amazing to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

A timed race, especially one that lasts for an astonishing ten days, must be handled differently than a distance race in both mind and body. While the seasoned veteran Biondic was well-versed in the timed race, a ten-day has been his ultimate challenge, previously going as long as six days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a marathon where you spend three or four hours, then go and eat and celebrate and all that,\u201d said Biondic. \u201cThis is a question of survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the start of the one-mile loop is what Biondic describes as a \u201ctent village\u201d, where he and Erlinda had a small spot for their tent, a table and a chair. He would spend about four hours a night sleeping, and admits it was quite difficult to find the energy to get up after a quick rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the survival is knowing the proper threshold of sleep. Four hours seems to be where I\u2019m not hallucinating, but I\u2019m not spending too much time resting.\u201d<\/p>\n

As one quickly learns when talking with George, a timed race is as much of a mental game as a physical one \u2013 and the same can be said for training.
\n\u201cThe proper amount of sleep, nutrition, your pacing, your breathing\u2026you have to think of every possible factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

For any normal man, this can be quite overwhelming. Biondic will be the first to point out that it\u2019s not just him out there, but Erlinda who plays such a crucial role as his crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been my crew for over thirty years,\u201d said Biondic. \u201cShe stuck it out through the rain, cold, and wind, for ten days, she was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he felt like quitting, she was there. In terms of strategizing, her input was highly appreciated. Erlinda wears many hats as part of the Biondic team.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my coach, which mentally is something you really need. Physically, any injury I would have, mostly blisters, she would take care of\u2026she was a registered nurse so she\u2019s great at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After hitting such a grueling goal, Biondic is now in the process of getting back into training mode. He\u2019s already got his training schedule set for the next seven months until the end of 2015. His next competitive step is planned for a six-day race in Phoenix, Arizona at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte 62-year-old ultra-marathon runner George Biondic is showing no signs of slowing down. The Aurora resident\u2019s latest feat of endurance was a ten-day journey around a one-mile track in Queens, New York, home of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon. For ten days, Biondic, along with the encouragement and crucial support of his wife Erlinda, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2OP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 06:32:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}