Busy Saturday near home

Saturday was a busy day … but all of it was close to home so I didn’t have to run around too much. First thing in the morning was the “Emilie Mondor road race”. This is a 5k road race in memory of Emilie Mondor – a talented yaoung Canadian athlete who was killed in a car accident several years ago. The race is for women only and has many fast athletes competing. Women only events are a rare opportunity for female athletes who, in most normal mass start events have to fight there way through the middle of a men’s pack of runners. This event has grown in leaps and bounds in the few years it has been put on. As the start line is only a couple hundred meters from my front door (starting near the Aviation museum) I decided to go check it out. It was a beautiful morning with cool temps and sunny skies – perfect for running – and the competition was good well worth the walk over to the startline.

After the racing I wandered over to the Rockcliffe airport where the Ottawa Jaguar club was having their annual “Coupe D’Elegance” car show. A friend at work – Lyndon – was showing his new Jaguar in the competition and invited me to stop by to check out the cars and enjoy a picnic lunch as he sat around waiting for the judging to take place. Jaguar is an interesting and storied auto nameplate that has been, at times, one of the most innovative in car manufacturing history. Along with numerous technical innovations they also have some of the most beautiful (and a few of the most ugly) cars ever created. I guess when you take design chances sometimes you score big and other times you strike out.

True to form a little of everything was represented at the show (the beautiful and not so). Some rare (and beautifully restored) old gems like the XK120’s from the 1940’s were the standouts but of course the 1960’s E-types (arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever constructed) also shone. There were also a few Jaguars created during the more modern “Ford ownership years” (dark days indeed) but perhaps we’ll say no more of these. Of much discussion amongst the club members was the recent sale of Jaguar to an Indian car manufacturer…. How the pendulum of colonialism has swung (no doubt to the delight of Indians). We’ll have to see what TaTa motors does with the venerable Jaguar nameplate. More photos from the show here.

To his credit, Lyndon’s XK8 convertible won best in class… although it was a small class (of 1) for his car type. There was some talk that if his car didn’t score high enough in the judging (meeting a minimum standard) then he would be placed 2nd (in a group of 1) but thankfully he was able to avoid this indignity. With the day winding down I headed home to prepare for a hike on Sunday. Fun day – and all just steps from my door.
The dog rides in the "other" family car