Son sprinted past father this weekend.
Steve Matyas finished the annual The Gathering five-kilometre run/walk, hosted by the Prince George Roadrunners Club on Sunday in a time of 18 minutes, 38 seconds, while son Zach completed the race in 18:36.
"It's always been a thing where he's been trying to catch up to me," said Steve. "I knew the day would come where he would catch up to me and pass me. I guess that day's come now. It was a lot of fun today because we were fairly close together so I was talking with him as we were running."
The Matyas were third and fourth in the men's race which started and finished at Masich Place Stadium. Brian Nemethy of Vanderhoof placed first in 17:55, while Prince George secondary student Austin Bartell was second in a time of 18:31. About 45 participants took part in the event.
The women's five km run was won by Jacqui Bensen (18:42) with Shar Jackson placing second in 19:00.
Steve said his son may have the speed to best him in the short distances but it's a different story in anything more than 10 km.
"It's fun running with him because he's really quick in the short stuff, but I'm more the endurance side of things," said Steve. "He doesn't have the endurance like I do."
The elder Matyas has competed in 18 full marathons since 2003, including Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmonton, Calgary and Smithers. Steve also ran the Boston Marathon in 2007, completing the course in three hours, seven minutes.
Zach started joining his dad on runs about five years ago, starting to take it more seriously in the last two years. At the North Central District Track & Field event last Thursday, Zach qualified for the high school provincial meet in Burnaby, June 1-2, in the 1,500 metre and 3,000m senior boys events. The 16 year old scored personal best times in both events - 4:37.43 in the 1,500 and 10:23.47 in the 3,000.
"I've been trying to qualify since Grade 8 so it's exciting to finally make it this year," said the Grade 11 student at Duchess Park secondary. "It's one of my two senior years so I thought it was time to step it up a bit this year and just move up in the rankings."
Brian Martinson, Zach's middle-distance coach with the Prince George Track and Field Club, said it's impressive has Zach has improved in the past 12 months.
"He did other sports before, but now he's really focused on running," said Martinson. "He ran well through the winter and he's probably our best endurance guy right now. He's just put a lot of work into it."
The Matyas' men will likely be out at various Roadrunner and other Prince George running events this summer, while Steve decides if he'll travel out of town for another marathon this year.
The next P.G. Roadrunners Club event is the Family Y Road Race, June 3 - 8 a.m., with distances of five, 10 and 21 kilometres. Preregistration is required, call Marcia Leiva at 250-562-9341.
