from the December 1993 issue of ORA Roadrunner Magazine
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Many of those who began running as adults over the past twenty years, have tried to instill in their children an appreciation for the benefits of long distance running, and other aerobic activities. Unfortunately, few of us have been successful in raising our offspring to dedicate their every waking moments to running, as we have ourselves. Many children simply learned from watching us that humans were capable of running long distances with little effort, but saw no need to prove it every day. They have also learned from us that running is just one of many physical activities that they can master, and thus they tend to take it for granted.
Still, there are some notable exceptions to this trend, and second generation runners who do lake the sport seriously generally seem to be more successful on less mileage than their parents, who learned running strategies like LSD (long - meaning very long - slow distance) and "no pain - no gain." One of these two generational running families is the Barbers of Owen Sound. Doug Barber and his daughter Tracy, both enjoy considerable age category success and Tracy is also very competitive in open women's running. What makes the Barber family possibly unique, however, is that Doug who has been a masters runner for almost seven years, is himself a second generation runner, while Tracy represents the third generation of very successful long distance runners in the Barber family.
The running patriarch of this family is Doug's father, Robert, or "Bert" Barber, who is now 87 years old. Bert is not running much these days, but he was active until well past his eightieth birthday, often running in the same races as his son and granddaughter. At 75 and with a pacemaker in his chest courtesy of a cancer operation two years earlier, he ran 27:34 in a 5 km race in his home town of Owen Sound. The race represented something of a comeback because Bert had retired from running at 60, still almost 15 years before the running boom started. From that point on, Bert could be seen running on the backroads around his farm outside Owen Sound on a daily basis until well into his 80s. Even when he became less active, he could be found volunteering at aid stations in local races,
As good as he ran in his 70s and 80s however, Bert was even better in his youth. Born in 1906 he started running in elementary school and became successful at a sport that most people followed, but in which few participated in those days. By his late teens, Bert was the best runner in the Owen Sound area, winning the local three mile race three consecutive years with a personal best of 14:27 in the standard canvas running shoes of the time. Bert also won a five mile race in Collingwood in 27 minutes and was second in an eight miler in Midland. Steadily improving in his twenties, Bert joined the Gladstone Athletic Club in Toronto, and placed fifth in the 10,000 metre provincial championships in 1932. The championships were apparently on a par with Olympic trials because the first three runners broke the existing Canadian record.
Eventually Bert returned to the farm, married Vera Gordon in his late thirties and Doug, like most running boomers, was born just after World War Two. Bert didn't stop running then, however. In 1952, at the age of 46 and when the term "master" had not yet been coined, Bert placed eighth overall in the 8.1 mile Oliphant to Wiarton Race across the Bruce Peninsula. (This race is still an annual event for those looking for tradition, without the crowds of Around the Bay or Boston). That Bert could retire from running a couple of times and still return to such success is testament not only to his fitness and athletic ability, but to the accessibility and training value of the sport itself.
Interestingly, it was Doug who brought his Dad out of retirement and back onto the roads. Doug himself started running in 1978 and watching him apparently revived Ben's interest to the point that he occasionally joined him on training runs. But, Doug soon became obsessed with the marathon and four months after his first run, he managed to finish the Toronto Marathon in 4:04:31. Within two years, he was under 2:50 and by 1984, he could regularly run around 2:40. In fact, in one five week period in the fall of that year, Doug ran marathons of 2:41:30, 2:39:23 and 2:39:20.
Since his first taste of the marathon, Doug, a former steel-worker who now has three part-time jobs that add up to about one and a half full time jobs in recession-plagued Owen Sound, has run another 99, fifteen of which were ultra marathons. He has finished as high as second in a marathon and won several-ultras outright. He holds Canadian masters records at 50 km (3:21:22) and 60 km (4:09:19) and has run 50 miles in under six hours. Until 1991, he could be found at any race in the province and any marathon from Boston to Detroit, and he ran at least one race almost every weekend of the year.
In 1991, injuries finally caught up with him and he spent the next two summers plagued with Achilles problems. In 1992, for the first time since he started running, he suffered the indignity of not running a marathon. However, surgery and a lot of cycling brought him back this year to the point that he completed three marathons and four ultras. His marathon time is back down to 2:54 and on October 16, he completed his 100th marathon or ultra by finishing the tough Slough of Despond 50 Km Race in fourth place at 3:43:34. Running only a little slower than his PRs of 34:04 for 10 km and 16:57 for 5 km, Doug Barber remains a threat in his age category at any distance.
Running right behind Doug and occasionally in front of him is his 21 year old daughter Tracy. Like many of the children of serious distance runners, Tracy ran several of the races that she attended with Doug and her mother Joanne who has also been running for many years. Also like other children of runners, this experience by itself did not sell her on running. Instead, it was high school cross-country running that attracted her and by the time she was 16, Tracy was a regular competitor at provincial cross-country championships. She won OTFA championships as both a juvenile and a junior and has placed high as a senior at OFSAA championships. She has also made it to national championships placing as high as 23rd against the toughest of competition.
Tracy has also been attracted back onto the roads where she now finishes among the top women at any distance from a mile to the half-marathon. This year alone, she won two 10ks, one 8k, one 5k and a one mile race in Orillia with a PR of 5:19. Like her father and grandfather, Tracy seems destined to be successful at distance running for long time.
And while neither Tracy nor Doug are likely to match Bert's record of training six days a week for 13 consecutive years (sometimes on snowshoes because the roads were not always plowed in those days) the love for the
roads and trails and the competitive spirit are just as strong.