"Usually I am a couple of places (ahead of) Nick but this time he kept up with me," said Matt Walters, who had a winning time of 19:59 in the six-kilometre run in a field of 105 athletes from across the province.

"Today I followed him the whole way," said Nick Walters, who finished just six seconds behind his brother.

The two laughed and said they are accustomed to hanging out and doing most things together.

The brothers will now move on to the national championships. Both enjoyed Brockville's Laurier Hill, calling it small in comparison to the hill they run in Northern Ontario.

"Ours are huge, massive," said Matt Walters.

But the twins from North Bay were also happy to see that Brockville's Matt Leeder was not running in the juvenile division with them. Leeder decided to move up to the junior men's division, for runners 19 and under, to try the longer eight-kilometre run in preparation for the nationals in B.C.

"When we looked at the entries, we just wanted to place in the top five," said Matt Walters, adding the absence of Leeder in the race boosted their confidence.

"They've always competed against your guy, Matt Leeder," said the twins' father, Doug Walters.

"They like to run, and this is kind of a gift to me," said North Bay coach Art Gabor of the Walters twins.

The 78-year-old Gabor has coached the North Bay Legion team for 40 years. Seeing the Walters boys cross the finish line within seconds of each other was icing on the cake for Gabor and his coaching team.

Other top local runners in the juvenile boys division were Brockville's Jacob Smith (20th), Kyle Milks (33rd), Josh George (68th), and Zachary Boyd (105).

Despite the muddy trails and the chill in the air, it was a great day for a number of runners, including the Walters twins, Leeder, and many more.

In the junior men's under-19 division, the 16-year-old Leeder crossed the finish line a full 39 seconds ahead of Oshawa's Mathew Hughes, Leeder's challenger at the high school provincial championships. Leeder had a time of 25:53.16.and proved he could go up against older, university-aged athletes, and still come out on top.

Brockville's Geoff Millard was 22nd.

The Brockville Legion's bantam boys team had a stellar third-place finish overall in a field of 49 athletes. Timmins-Porcupine runner Jeremie Bourget finished first in the three-kilometre run to aid in his team's first-place finish. For Brockville, Robbie Deeks placed fifth, followed by Andrew Hodge (16th), Eric Wynands (31st), Ian King (34th), Rob Cooper (42nd) and Stanley Laforty Cirne (48th).

"That's a big result for a small town," said running coach Randy Givogue.

Brockville's Loreena Dobson had an outstanding fourth-place finish in the midget girls field of 93, including the winning team from the University of Toronto. The young Dobson had one of the best races of her life. She was followed by teammates Melissa Jones (24th), Shelby Kent (62), and Lindsay Osso (65th).

In the large juvenile girls division field of more than 100 athletes, local running sensation Emma Norman placed fifth. Norman ran the four-kilometre race in 15:27.91, about 30 seconds behind the first-place winner Sheila Reid. Other Brockville Legion runners in this event were Jenn Wynands (30th), Grace Keenleyside (47th), Kimberley Kallio (62nd) and Kaleigh Knox (81st).

In the midget boys race, the Brockville Legion team placed fourth overall, behind Niagara Olympic in first, Windsor and South Simcoe Dufferin in second and third. Top runners for the Brockville Legion were Alexander Hinton (15th), Nick Thomas (24th), John Wynands (28th), Adam McGregor (34th), Shawn Walters (55th), Scott Bahm (63rd) and Tyler Nolan (64th) in a field of 115 athletes from across Ontario.

Missy Schutten was the lone Brockville runner in the bantam girls run. Schutten placed 32nd in a field of 60.

The five-kilometre Masters Cross Country run attracted about 100 runners in various age groups. Several members of the Brockville Road Runners club competed.

In the over-45 men's run, Tim Norman placed 11th and Patrick Powers was 15th. Nancy Norman was third in the women's over-45 race. Tom Marshall was third in the over-50 category while Ed Wynands was sixth. Rick Swift and Randy Frith were third and sixth respectively in the under-55 event.

Eithne Dunbar was the lone runner in the over-55 division. Tony Dunbar, Liam Cullen and Wil Steacy ran in the over-60 division, placing second, third and fifth. John Raiswell was third in the over-65 run.

The Road Runners, TISS students, parents and volunteers helped make the event possible. Brockville was hosting this event for the first time. Meet director Bob Tucker said there were a few small glitches but the event went well.

"We want to get a reputation for running high-quality meets," said Tucker. "We already have a great reputation at the (high) school level but we have to broaden ourselves to be recognized as a track and cross-country city."

Brockville is expected to host this event again next year.

Published in Section B, page 1 in the Monday, November 20, 2006 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
Posted 4:30:30 PM Monday, November 20, 2006.