On Sunday May 19^th, the seventh annual Inspirational Steps event involving runners and walkers was held between Gurdwaras across Toronto. Marathon participants started out at Gursikh Sabha Canada in Scarborough in two waves – 4:30am for first timers and walkers, and 6am for runners and joggers. Half marathon participants joined in from Ramgarhia Gurdwara on Rivalda Road at 7:50am. The 12km participants began from Sikh Spiritual Centre at Rexdale at 8:35am and joined the marathon/half marathon participants along Finch Avenue. The last and largest group started in four waves from 9:10am to 9:20am from Malton’s Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara. Because of the number the participants, they were started in four groups to avoid congestion and spill over onto the vehicle-travelled portion of the road. Peel Police assisted in this community event to keep the participants safe. This was particularly helpful as one participant, Jagmeet Singh, was in a wheel chair and their assistance meant he was able to participate.

In total there were over 700 participants, the exact number not able to be confirmed as some non-registered participants also joined in, and some younger children were assisted by parents. The fastest in the different distances were as follows:

Marathon – Fastest man Bahadur Shocker 3h 39m 57s and the fastest women were Khushwin Dhaliwal and Taranjit Kaur in 9h 23m 6s
Half Marathon – Fastest man Harjot Bains 1h 50m 1s and the fastest woman was Rupinder Dhillon 2h 21m 29s
12km – Fastest man Jatinder Jaswal 50m 41s and the fastest woman was Kiran Battu 1h 5m 4s
5km – Fastest boy Jasvir Sandhar 20m 35s and the fastest girl was Ameet Kaler 27m 29s
There was also a 1km race for those six and under but this was not competitive

The marathon was completed by 11 participants and some of these were delighted to completed their first marathon. The fastest man and woman were presented the Ajmer Cup of Inspiration which they will hold for one year and on which their names will be added. The winners of the marathon and half marathon receive a free entry into the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (STWM) to be held in October, courtesy of the Canada Running Series. This year, timing chips were used to record the finish and results were available online and the linked to the ggscf.com web site. Final results after verification will be posted, similar to the results posted for previous Inspirational Steps events. In addition to the winners, awards were presented to first place winners in different age categories, provided there were at least 5 participants in that category. Supporting organizations that took part were: TPAR Club members, Skylark Team, Gagan Team, Ontario Khalsa Darbar Soccer Team, Honouring late Surjit Singh Mann Team, Dad’s Cookies team. Other organizations chose to assist with the event like first-aid assistance from the Stop Diabetes Foundation, and water stations set up by the En-Light team, Surinder Singh’s Rexdale sevadars, Tarsheel Society, and C-SASIL. In addition, the following Gurdwara Committees supported the event by allowing for the starting of the various distances from Gursikh Sabha Canada, Ramgarhia Sikh Society, Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Malton and Ontario Khalsa Darbar who hosted the finish and provided langar/fruit to the finishers. Alan Brookes race director for the STWM also attended, presented awards to some of the winners, and congratulated the GGSCF on their 20^th Anniversary and its efforts to increase fitness in the community in keeping with Baba Fauja Singh Ji’s wishes.