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What happens when you put a dozen Olympic hopeful marathoners in one house? They get faster.
Add in medical support, equipment, a vehicle and travel, along with the housing, and the talented group can focus solely on their running -- up to 170 kilometres per week -- with hopes of qualifying for the Olympics and world championships.
That's the idea behind the Brooks Canada Marathon Project, launched in 2007. A $1.5-million commitment from Brooks Canada founders Mike and Paul Dyon, including the purchase and renovation of a house on High Park Ave. in Toronto's west end, backs the program.
"We're quite enjoying seeing their successes, and are glad to help out the sport that's been good to us over the years," said Mike Dyon, himself a four-time national marathon champion in the 1970s and 1980s. "It's really in the last six months it's started to gel."
Indeed. Momentum is building and last weekend in Montreal was what Dyon called the "coming out" of the marathon house athletes, as the married couple of Andrew Smith and Tara Quinn-Smith, both aged 28, won the men's and women's divisions at the Canadian Half Marathon Championships. In doing so they earned the right to represent Canada at the World Half Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in October. Four other Brooks project athletes placed among the top four Canadian men and women.
Next goal: The marathon. Specifically, the ING Ottawa marathon on May 25, which will serve as the national championships, and a chance to make the Olympic time standard.
"To feel as good as I did tells me I am exactly where I need to be and gives me a great deal of confidence heading in to Ottawa," said Smith, a grad of Birchmount Park Collegiate in Scarborough. "I feel like the support we're getting is going to allow us to perform up to our potential."
What's unusual about this is that neither husband nor wife has ever run a marathon before -- they were admitted to the marathon house based on their potential.
Tara previously specialized in the 10,000 metres (with a personal best road time of 32:32) while Andrew focused on both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. They met at the University of South Florida, started dating in 1998 and married in 2004.
Both work occasionally as supply teachers for the Peel School Board.
This past year, since joining "the project," as they call it, they've been putting in the mileage required to make the transition to racing the marathon distance of 42.2 kilometres.
They already have run that far in practice, but not at race pace.
"You don't become a marathoner overnight," head coach Hugh Cameron explained. "It's about being consistent, increasing your mileage slowly, and working hard on the hard days and taking it easy on the easy days. Every day counts in the building of a marathoner. So far they're right on track."
If the Smiths or any of their teammates -- including defending national marathon champion Matt McInnes -- can post an Olympic qualifying time in Ottawa, there would be cause to cheer. Canadian marathon performances have been stalled for a good while. In fact, national records date back to 1975 for men (Jerome Drayton in 2:10:08) and 1985 for women (Silvia Ruegger in 2:28:36).
It doesn't help that Athletics Canada has set time standards that are even harder than those required by the international federation (IAAF), but you won't hear the athletes grumping about that. What's the point? Their only response is to get better.
"I understand they want people to perform well and make Canada proud and focus towards making podiums," said Quinn-Smith. "If anything it just encourages us to try that much harder."
Brooks Canada has committed to supporting the project until 2012, when the Olympics will be held in London, England. Coach Cameron acknowledges that qualifying someone from his group for Beijing 2008 will be a long shot -- the 2009 world championships are more attainable. But, he noted, you can't rule it out, either. The marathon is unforgiving, but also open to brilliance.
As for the High Park house, renovations are finished and include a garage turned in to a gym with a stationary bike and stretching area. An official opening is planned for May 6.