Thornhill father, son heading to Boston Marathon

Thornhill Liberal
April 16, 2014
BySera Wong

Keijo Taivassalo, a 75-year-old masters runner from Thornhill with high ambitions and a passion for running, aims to compete in the 2014 Boston Marathon, Monday.

While growing up in Finland, Mr. Taivassalo discovered his interest in running in elementary school. Since then, he spends summers running and cross-country skis in winter.

In 1979, at the age of 40, he ran his first marathon and continued to run marathons worldwide, including Berlin, Helsinki, Montreal, and - his personal favorite - New York.

He has upheld almost every age record in Canada from 60 to 70 years old, and represented Canada at the World Masters games in 2012, winning a bronze in the half marathon.

Just last year, Mr. Taivassalo confessed to his son, Petja Taivassalo, head of physical education at Langstaff Secondary School in Richmond Hill, that running in the Boston Marathon was on his so-called bucket list. His son agreed to run the 2013 Toronto Goodlife Marathon alongside his father, to ensure he qualified for Boston.

The duo ran side by side, finishing in an impressive 3:42, about an hour under the qualifying standards for Boston.

Mr. Taivassalo senior has been preparing for the long-anticipated Easter Monday Boston Marathon by cross training, eating a healthy diet and putting in his mileage.

“He always said to himself that when he turns 75 that he wanted to, if he could, run Boston, so he is very excited,” said his proud son.

Last April, following the Boston Marathon bombings, Petja Taivassalo ran 22 kilometres from his home in Newmarket to his Richmond Hill school wearing a T-shirt reading “Honk 4 Boston” as a tribute.

His actions were designed to spread awareness throughout the school and the wider community.

For many reasons, he feels this year’s Boston Marathon will be a special race.

Petja Taivassalo and his wife will be running the 5 kilometre race, Saturday and will watch the marathon Monday along with family to cheer on Keijo Taivassalo as he makes a dream come true.