THE DR. JOHN P. WILLIAMS AWARD

Presented in memory of Dr. John P. Williams to the Tely 10 participant who has inspired others through enthusiastic and spirited participation in the annual Telegram 10 Mile Road Race.

Citations for Recipients

(2015) Recipient: D’Arcy Hart
Citation

The winner for this year has been described as “a runner at heart.”

Running was not a choice for him, but a necessity. It is who he was, and the lifestyle of a runner flowed into every aspect of his life.

Growing up, some of his family’s earliest memories are of family outings - to road races. Sunday mornings, bright and early. The whole family remembers watching eagerly as the runners lined up and the gun was fired, cheering him on across the finish line, and the award ceremonies afterward, where there was always felt a rush of pride to hear the winner’s name called when he medaled in his age group.

He first started running in high school. By the age of 22, he had run his first marathon (he’d go on to run over 20 marathons, including the Boston Marathon). At the age of 35, he’d run his best marathon in Toronto with a time of 2:51:11, and at 44 years old he entered the “JFK 50 mile Ultra- marathon” in Maryland.

He ran his first Tely 10 in 1996. This experience made such an impact on him that he went on to run in a total of 18 Tely 10s, and with a Personal Best of 57:55 (a 5:48 min/mile)! In the month leading up to the race he would quote statistics and best times, and speculate on who might win. He never tired of talking about running…..

He lived the runner’s lifestyle: up at dawn and out the door by 6 am each morning, except rest day, even in the most daunting weather conditions. Words like "surrender" and "quit" were not in his vocabulary.

While he switched up a lot of the races he did each year, the Tely 10 was always a constant. He loved this race. Thus, it is no surprise that he would become the reason that his family would one day run the Tely 10, too... he has inspired his family and countless others to join the Tely 10 community. His family is very proud of this inspiration and encouragement he provided for others.

This year’s winner was regularly involved in the running community: racing, marshalling, joining running clubs, developing personalized training plans, and coaching numerous members of his very well known “Athletics North East” group.

A good friend and mentor for many local runners, he was known within Athletics North East group as “the Rocketman”, because of both his speed and his work with NASA and the International Space Station.

We are proud to announce that the Dr. John P. Williams Award for 2015 is posthumously awarded to well-known runner D’Arcy Hart.

As his nomination noted: D’Arcy Hart was an active member of the Tely 10 community with a passion for running and who would share that passion with anyone who would listen.

Presenting the award are brother and sister Peter and Patricia Williams.

Accepting the award are D’Arcy’s family – his wife Luc, and daughters Kathleen and Shannon.

To be eligible for this award, the candidate:

must have participated in the Tely 10 road race at least once
must have specifically motivated others to participate in the Tely 10, either by walking or running or as a wheelchair participant
must by participation in the Tely 10 have inspired and motivated others to become physically active

The candidate may be someone who:

began regular exercise at an advanced age
overcame a serious emotional or physical challenge in life
or began exercising while recovering from a serious or life-threatening illness

Submission deadline

Nominations must be sent to Patricia Williams by Monday, June 3, 2024.
Please send the nomination via email in Microsoft Word format or Portable Document Format (PDF). Please ensure that the following information is submitted along with the nomination:
1. Nominee
  - Name
  - Address
  - City/Town
  - Province & Postal Code
  - Telephone
2. Nominator
  - Name
  - Address
  - City/Town
  - Province & Postal Code
  - Telephone
  - E-mail
3. Reason for the nomination
4. Date & Signature of Nominator

Nominations