That’s because Bazeley delivered her third child on July 1, a Canada Day baby for the four-time Tely 10 champ, and her husband, Dr. Peter Bazeley, who is also a competitive runner.
Not that she probably would not have given running Sunday’s race a shot — “I ran the day I delivered Anna (her second child),” she said — but a knee injury in February when she was five months pregnant ended any hopes of competing in this year’s Tely.
“I tore my meniscus walking the dog. Imagine, all those years running, and this is how I injure my knee,” she chuckled.
“Of course, being five months pregnant, no one would look at me for surgery. So I’ll be there at the race Sunday, but watching Peter and everyone else.
“I’ll miss running it very much.”
Which means the women’s field at Sunday’s Tely is wide open.
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Bazeley was the star of last year’s race with a history-making run, setting a new standard for women with a time of 55:34. That time broke Nicola Will’s course record of 55:47, which stood for 30 years.
Bazeley finished five minutes ahead of the second female finisher, Caroline McIlroy.
Because of her dominant win last year, the St. John’s resident — the family returned to the capital city in the fall after three-plus years in Corner Brook — admits feeling a bit disappointed having to sit out Sunday’s race.
“Yes and no,” she said. “Yes in that I know I could have built on my fitness from last year, but at the same time, we wanted to have another child and having them close in age is important (the oldest, Amelia, is four, followed by two-year-old Anna and Molly, the newborn).”
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