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Toronto Challo!
Let's Go To Toronto!

NEWS REPORT

 
 
 

Sardar Fauja Singh and his Sikhs In The City (SITC) team will be visiting Toronto, Ontario, Canada between 12 and 18 October, 2011, to take part in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Series.

Fauja Singh has requested that at least 100 Sikhs join him in whatever part he plays at the event on Sunday 16 October - in the past few years, he has run the 5km race.

His coach, Harmander Singh, will lead a team of twelve SITC members in a community event on Thursday 13 October in downtown Toronto (the venue to be announced) where Fauja Singh will take part in a series of gentle training runs. 

The SITC team will also include Harbhag Singh (68) who has completed 111 marathons - all in the United Kingdom and each of them under four hours (the best being under 3 hours), and his wife Nachhatar Kaur - also in her 60's, who has run more than 20 half-marathons. The husband and wife team will take part in the half-marathon race.

Manjit Singh, who is the current fastest SITC marathon runner, will try to beat Harmander Singh's personal best time of 3 hours 11 minutes 36 seconds (set about 25 years ago). Manjit Singh achieved 3 hours 17 minutes in his last race.

Father and son team of Kanwaljit Singh and Amritpal Singh will also be returning to Toronto for the fifth consecutive year where Kanwaljit Singh will run his first full marathon but 14 year old Amritpal Singh will try to beat 27 minutes in the 5 km event.

Lakwinder Singh will also be running his first marathon abroad, having run the London Marathon several years ago - he will be accompanied by Ghanaya Singh Talewar who has run more than half a dozen marathons to date.

The SITC Ladies InterFaith team members Sandhia Jobanputra, Shilpa Sunderji and Rajinder Sinhmar will all be running their first full marathon.

Fauja Singh's Deputy Coach, Nirmal Singh Lotay, a veteran of 20 full marathons, will also be coming with Harmander Singh. For the latter, this will be his 55th full marathon. Harmander Singh has a unique record of having run both of the two biggest mass participation races in the United Kingdom: the London Marathon and the Great North Run (a half marathon) for the last 27 consecutive years. Harmander Singh has run a total of 190 half marathons to date. 

The draft itinerary for the week is as follows:

Wednesday, October 12

Fauja Singh, together with Harmander Singh, Nirmal Singh,  Rajinder Shinhmar, Sandhia Jobanputra and Shilpa Sunderji, land at 15:00 - book into hotel by 17:00 -  followed by Ghanaya Singh, Lakvinder Singh and Manjit Singh, landing at 18:00.

20:00 - Group evening meal.

Thursday, October 13

REVISED

The community jog / training event where Fauja Singh will go through the paces of eight different distances (100m 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, Mile, 3000m and 5000m) within five hours.

7:45 am to 12 Noon - NEW CONFIRMED VENUE - BIRCHMOUNT STADIUM.

Please note that if you wish to run alongside or simply come and support Fauja Singh during his training run, the venue has been changed from the Bloor Street Varsity Track to BIRCHMOUNT STADIUM in Scarborough.

Directions

The Birchmount Stadium is located just South of Danforth Avenue, just North of Kingston Road, and just East of Birchmount Road. DIRECTIONS BY CAR: From the West - Take QEW to the Gardiner expressway; follow until expressway ends, and take Lakeshore Boulevard to Woodbine Ave. Turn right on Kingston Rd. Follow Kingston Rd. until Birchmount Avenue. Turn Left on Birchmount and enter at first or second entrance for parking. From the East - Follow 401 West to Warden Ave. Go South on Warden until Eglinton Ave (or any of the other main intersections that go East West). Turn left (East) on Eglinton Ave and follow until Birchmount Ave. Turn right (south) on Birchmount Ave and follow, Birchmount Stadium complex is on left hand side, south of Danforth Avenue. From the North - Follow 404 south until 401. Take 401 East to Warden, Exit 401 at Warden Ave. Go South on Warden until Eglinton Ave. Turn left on Eglinton Ave and follow until Birchmount Ave. Turn right on Birchmount Ave and follow, Birchmount Stadium complex is on left hand side, south of Danforth Avenue. BY TTC: From Warden Station - Take #69 Warden South Bus to Birchmount. At Kingston Road, exit and stadium is on the left hand side. From Kennedy Station - Take #12 Kingston Rd West Bus; Follow until Birchmount and Stadium complex is on the right hand side.

Please join as participant or spectator! 

Friday, October 14

Free day for all except Fauja Singh, Harmander and Nirmal, who have media commitments.

Meal at 20:00

Saturday, October 15

9:00 meet at hotel for trip to Expo, with Harbhag Singh, Nachhater Kaur, Kanwaljit Singh and Amritpal Singh.

Lunch at 14:00 and free afternoon, except for Fauja Singh, Harmander and Nirmal.

Pasta party in evening.

Sunday, October 16

Race, media and after-party, then relax

Monday, October 17

Breakfast, shopping and media commitments till 15:00 - then, pack up to go to airport at 19:00.

Tuesday, October 18

Rest of team fly back at appropriate times.

Whilst it would be marvellous if there was a good local support from Sikh community to ebable to meet our target of 100 particpants, more than that would be brilliant. 

 

To register for the Toronto Marathon - part or whole - please visit www.TorontoWaterfrontMarathon.com

September 8, 2011

Conversation about this article

1: N. Singh (Canada), September 09, 2011, 10:26 AM.

Heartwarming! I wish him all the best. This simple, unsophisticated man has helped put Sikhs on the map in Britain.

2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), September 09, 2011, 12:29 PM.

Fauja Singh has been the face of Adidas ... holds several records ... a SuperSikh! Could men or women a quarter of his age run as many marathons? Sikhi produces special humans.

3: Harmander Singh (London, United Kingdom), September 09, 2011, 1:33 PM.

Come on, Canadians (or even the Yanks), there are thirteen of of us traveling thousands of miles to come over and run in your backyard - we are looking forward to meeting the other 87 to venture out of your comfy homes and join us in the races - just log on to www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com and register on-line for one of the three races - 5km, the half or the full marathon. If Fauja Singh can do it, you can! Why miss out on a chance to run with him?

4: Harpreet Singh (Delhi, India), September 09, 2011, 1:43 PM.

If Sikhs can invest funds to encourage poor Sikh boys and girls to learn and participate in games, I think the results will be good. In January this year there was news of four Sikligar Sikh youths in Pune, India who were working as caddies or helpers at a local golf club; they achieved a great feat when all these four started playing good golf and this news appeared in all the media. Similarly at the women's marathon in Alwar, Rajasthan last year, nine out of ten winning girls were Sikligar Sikh girls. This way these boys and girls will become the pride of Sikhi.

5: Tajinder Singh  (Bangkok, Thailand), September 14, 2011, 9:07 PM.

Does anyone know how to contact Fauja Singh and his agent? We are organizing a marathon in Bangkok and would really love to have his presence there! A truly heartwarming and inspiring figure! Do let me know. Thank you very much.

6: Sunu Decuta (Colchester, England), September 16, 2011, 7:43 AM.

Is your race in Bangkok approved by the the National Jogging association of Thailand? Please provide details.

7: Harmander Singh (London, United Kingdom), September 16, 2011, 10:03 AM.

Dear Tajinder Singh (Comment # 5 above): I am Fauja Singh's coach - he does not have an agent. The Bangkok Marathon is on 20 November 2011. It clashes with a prior commitment Fauja Singh has for that weekend but the organizers have yet to give final confirmation. I am awaiting definite word from them. You may contact us via our website, www.sikhsinthecity.org. I must point out that Fauja Singh will not be able to compete in the full marathon so soon after his trips to Toronto and Frankfurt.

8: Amar Singh Sandhu (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), September 19, 2011, 7:23 PM.

I too am training to complete the Toronto Waterfront Marathon this October. See you at the start line!

9: Harmander Singh (London , United Kingdom), September 20, 2011, 3:41 AM.

Amar Singh ji: Good to hear that you are also running the Toronto Marathon. Look forward to seeing you at the finish line too, eh? lol. Please inform everyone that the "Sikhs in The City" (SITC) team will be training on Thursday (13 October) morning where Fauja Singh will run eight different distances (with rest periods in between each) and non-runners are encouraged to come and watch. We are looking for 100 runners - with you joining us, we only need 86 more!

10: Manvir Kaur (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), September 28, 2011, 11:38 AM.

Just signed up. I'm not a runner, but am greatly inspired by S. Fauja Singh. Not sure how the tally is kept for the race, but you now need 85 more!

11: Harmander Singh (London, United Kingdom), September 29, 2011, 2:46 PM.

Manvir Kaur: That is great. We need more women to come and join us - it will put the men with big bellies to shame and hopefully get them to do something about it. I have asked the Race Director to let me know how many participants with the name Kaur or Singh have registered to date and am waiting for the reply. I will share it with everyone on this site.

12: Harmander Singh (London, United Kingdom), September 29, 2011, 2:56 PM.

The target of 100 Sikhs can be made up of those running ANY of the three distances - the 5km, 1/2 Marathon (am told that the limit has been reached) or the full marathon. For those who are being stubborn by not taking part, maybe you would consider making a donation to a charity instead - by jogging the eight distances on Thursday, Fauja Singh will have covered 12,609m - how about trying to raise one dollar for every meter run - as a total, - this can be given to charity from the Sikh community. If Fauja Singh covers the full marathon, that will be another $42,195 well be able to raise. So why not run instead?

13: Harmander Singh (London, United Kingdom), October 05, 2011, 3:41 PM.

Dear Manvir Kaur (messages 10 & 11): I have just learnt that the total number of entrants in the three distances (5km, 1/2 marathon and full marathon) with SINGH in their name is 27 and the number with KAUR is 4. A total of 31, of which ten are part of the SITC team from the United Kingdom. While it is acknowledged that there may be some Sikhs who are shy of using Singh or Kaur in their name, it is unlikely that they amount to 69 in number - which is what is required to meet Fauja Singh's wish of having 100 Sikhs in the races on 16 October. With ten days to go, it is still possible and we all live in hope.

14: Harmander Singh (London, United Kingdom), October 06, 2011, 6:17 PM.

FAUJA SINGH'S TRAINING RUN ON THURSDAY, 13 OCTOBER - 7:45 am to 12 Noon - NEW CONFIRMED VENUE. Please note that if you wish to run alongside or simply come and support Fauja Singh during his training run, the venue has been changed from the Bloor Street Varsity Track to BIRCHMOUNT STADIUM in Scarborough. The Birchmount Stadium is located just South of Danforth Avenue, just North of Kingston Road, and just East of Birchmount Road. DIRECTIONS BY CAR: From the West - Take QEW to the Gardiner expressway; follow until expressway ends, and take Lakeshore Boulevard to Woodbine Ave. Turn right on Kingston Rd. Follow Kingston Rd. until Birchmount Avenue. Turn Left on Birchmount and enter at first or second entrance for parking. From the East - Follow 401 West to Warden Ave. Go South on Warden until Eglinton Ave (or any of the other main intersections that go East West). Turn left (East) on Eglinton Ave and follow until Birchmount Ave. Turn right (south) on Birchmount Ave and follow, Birchmount Stadium complex is on left hand side, south of Danforth Avenue. From the North - Follow 404 south until 401. Take 401 East to Warden, Exit 401 at Warden Ave. Go South on Warden until Eglinton Ave. Turn left on Eglinton Ave and follow until Birchmount Ave. Turn right on Birchmount Ave and follow, Birchmount Stadium complex is on left hand side, south of Danforth Avenue. BY TTC: From Warden Station - Take #69 Warden South Bus to Birchmount. At Kingston Road, exit and stadium is on the left hand side. From Kennedy Station - Take #12 Kingston Rd West Bus; Follow until Birchmount and Stadium complex is on the right hand side.

15: Daljeet Kaur Banwatt  (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), October 11, 2011, 3:45 PM.

I am a half-marathon runner.I would like to participate with S, Fauja Singh in the Waterfront Marathon. I will not be able to join in any of the scheduled events but would like to be on his team for the start of the race. Please let me know where we can meet. [EDITOR: S. Fauja Singh and the Sikhs in The City team is currently in transit across the pond. You will have to look at the schedule - check the sikhchic.com homepage on the far right for the itinerary and contact info - and figure out where you can meet up with an organizer, and then determine the location, etc.]

16: Jasvir Kaur (U.S.A.), October 15, 2011, 2:08 PM.

Fauja Singh, my hero! Because of him I was encouraged to run the marathon. May the Guru bless him with many more healthy, inspiring and blessed years.

17: Manvir Kaur (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), October 16, 2011, 9:41 AM.

I really hope we were able to achieve the 100 number. Though I don't know if there is any meeting ground for the 5 km (the one that I am running) to run with S. Fauj Singh if he is participating in that one. If anyone has any details on this, please let me know and I will make my way over accordingly. Otherwise, see you at the Start Line. The good thing is the 5 km shirt has Sikh colours! [EDITOR: At this stage all the info you need, you'll get at the run site itself.]

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Let's Go To Toronto! "









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