Athlete of the Week: Amy Harkness

Amy Harkness loves to run—she has loved it since racing in grade 2/3 at the age of eight. “For me, running is about seeing how good I can be. It’s about setting goals and doing everything I can to achieve them,” she said. “It’s my stress relief and my happy place.”

She has had many memorable runs, but the Oakville Nutrience 10K on September 30 is one that she will never forget. Harkness ran in the Female 30-39 age category and came across the finish line with a time of 36:34, a personal best that earned her first place in both her age group and for women overall. She also beat the course record.

“I have never had a run that just clicked like this one did. It felt amazing from start to finish,” said Harkness. “I often get through my speed workouts by picturing myself in a race, pushing to the finish and achieving my goal time, but this time it was real and I knew I was beating my goal. You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face that entire race.” Her finish line celebration photo shows the joy she felt knowing she did her very best.

If you haven’t already, you may see Harkness focused and training hard on the roads in Huntsville or at Motivations Fitness in preparation for her next goal: a 35-minute 10K. “I am always dreaming big!” she said.

Harkness has been training with her coach Dr. Lowell Greib from The SportLab to improve her running skills and to be able to run injury-free. “Amy is a phenomenal runner,” said Greib. “She has worked hard in the past couple months on improving her speed and keeping fit and race-ready. Her focus on race day paid off with great achievement. Without question, Amy is one of the fastest runners at this distance in Muskoka.”

Harkness did not achieve this success on her own. She has an amazing team working with her at The SportLab and Motivations, she said, and “I also couldn’t do it without the support of my family.”

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