It’s not noted anywhere in the race results that the little guy flew around the downtown Calgary course in just over thirty-three minutes.
And there’s no mention of him in the Herald’s list of age group winners, which names Kyle Beatty (41:09) as the leading male finisher under the age of 15.
But before anyone starts feeling too sorry for the young speedster, it’s confession time.
You see, he didn’t do the entire 10k course. And according to witnesses, he slept through the entire race.
"The rule with my wife (and I) is that we have to take at least one of the kids when we go out, so when I go for a run, it’s usually pushing a chariot," explained Canmore resident and Calgary firefighter Lanny Mann, dad to three-and-a-half-month-old Timmy.
"I kind of got the idea to push it at the race from Jeremy Deere, who pushed his daughter last year. My wife had the stroller all ready to go about 50 metres from the start line. I just started up on the right and ran over. I actually ended up running 9.95-kilometres with the (stroller).
"It’s like a car seat — it just puts (Timothy) to sleep. I’m pretty sure he slept for the whole race."
Lanny, an elite local runner who has had several top-five finishes in the Mother’s Day race over the years, still managed to finished seventh overall on Sunday (with a time of 33:35) while pushing his son.
The proud papa, a former U of C Dinos track and field ace who has twice represented Canada at the world mountain running championships, figures pushing the stroller/chariot didn’t slow him down as much as you might think.
"About a minute," he said. "Those chariots roll along nicely.
"I was part of a second group of runners (behind eventual winner Geoff Kerr). We were kind of running together until at 5k you hit that hill. They opened up 15 or 20 seconds on me there and I was back to about 10th. Between seven and nine kilometres I caught up to them, one by one."
Much of the pre-race talk focused on whether Deere, the 11-time winner of the Mother’s Day race, would ditch his stroller and try to compete on an equal footing with the other elites.
In the end, the sentimental favourite decided to run without the chariot, and ended up fifth in 32:41. The buzz after the race ended up being Lanny’s incredible time, which beat the 35:16 um ... record Deere set in the 2009 race, when he pushed his three-year-old daughter, Megan.
"It’s fun and it’s something different," said Lanny, who didn’t feel like he was in good enough shape to contend for the top three and thought pushing a stroller would present a unique challenge.
"When he’s older, we can tell him all about the day."
Lanny said as well as presenting the obvious physical challenges, pushing his son through a race threw some mental hurdles his way.
"Typically, when you are racing all you are thinking about is yourself and your energy," he said. "When you are pushing a chariot, there are other things you think about — concerns about how he’s doing and not wanting to make the ride (too bumpy). You are cognizant of where the wheels are. And when there are five or six of you running in a tight group, it’s more of a concern."
Deere suggested after the race that he might like to go head-to-head with Mann next year in a new "stroller division." The 32-year-old Calgary firefighter says he’ll be ready for the 2009 chariot champ — and any trash-talk that comes his way from the other runners.
"I didn’t get any comments during the race," said Lanny. "Most of the (elite) guys knew that I would be pushing the chair.
"Before the race, I got comments along the lines of, ‘you’d better not beat me pushing the stroller.’ Afterwards, they said, ‘thanks for embarrassing me.’
"But it was all in good fun."
