Dave MacLennan, one of the top runners in the province since the 1980’s, is a big fan of the Antigonish Highland Games 5-Mile Road Race. This week his unparalleled success in the 5-Miler will earn him induction into the Highland Games Hall of Fame.

Dave MacLennan’s interest in competitive running was sparked by listening to radio updates on the Joe Earle Race that was run each year not far from his home in Scotsburn, Pictou County. Without any training he began to enter races of any distance. It wasn’t until he joined the Pictou County Road Runners that Dave found a community of runners and a new world opened up to him. It was then, he says, that “I got hooked on the long stuff.”

Dave has many marathon wins to his credit. He has won the prestigious Johnny Miles marathon in New Glasgow twelve times in his career. He’s taken first place overall five times in the biggest long-distance race in the province, the Bluenose Marathon. His most satisfying win, occurred just seven years ago when he broke a record that had stood for 25 years in winning the 50-59 age category in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

With all the many courses that Dave has run, it might surprise some to know that his favorite race is the Antigonish Highland Games Five-Mile Road race. Dave likes everything about the Five-Miler. “It’s well organized, the atmosphere is terrific, and the competition is strong. I look forward to it every year.”

The course itself is also a lot of fun, says Dave, noting the variety of surfaces that make up the course: the dirt track at Columbus Field, the pavement around the Greenwold Loop and the gravel path on the Landing Road. Another feature he enjoys is the ‘out and back’ nature of the course, which allows you to see everyone who is racing. He also likes the little one-on-one duels that take place in the friendly atmosphere of the racecourse.

Dave has been running the 5-Miler since its inception, missing only a couple of races in the 25 years it’s been contested. He started at age 35 running against younger athletes in their prime and was able to take two second place finishes in his first few years of running against a very competitive field. Overall, Dave has fourteen top-10 finishes in the race.

What really makes Dave stand out in the annals of the 5-Miler are his victories in his own age group. In every race he has entered, he has taken first place among his peers. While in In his thirties, then in the master class, usually running in a field of thirty or forty runners, and now in the senior master class, he’s won them all. Twenty-three runs, twenty-three victories.

Dave says victories are fine, but he always races with a certain time in mind and this gives him his primary objective. He sets his goal based on the training he has done and what that should allow him to reach for.

For the past fourteen years Dave giving back to the sport he loves by coached middle distance runners with the Pictou County Athletics Club. One of his runners, Jack MacNeil, has his sights set on joining the St.F.X. cross country team this year.

Dave continues to run marathons and shorter races like the Highland Games 5-Miler. Asked how many years of racing he plans to do, Dave says “I’ll run til I drop.”

And as a code to this story, we can add the Dave MacLennan, has again won his age group. Dave won his male senior masters category in a time of 31.42. Congratulations Dave of winning your age group title in for the 24th time.