As we continue to remember the passing of Dan Kimmerer, Brent Workman and Al Cantlay; both long-time KRRA members have shared some insight to whom Dan was as a friend, athlete and coach.
“Even though we moved to Kingston around the same time the Kimmerers did, I did not meet him until the early 2000s when my good friend Dave Ruggles came to town and started to train with the Cataraqui Optimists.
I eventually started to come out for workouts and Dan was our fearless leader and coach. The thing I really appreciated about Dan was that, as a coach, running partner and friend, he had your back. He really believed in ones ability to achieve great things. Even if you were doubtful of it he would convince you that you could. I remember how excited Dan was for me when I ran my personal best in the half-marathon in Toronto in 2003 finishing 4th. The first thing he said was, “we’ve got to get that in the paper”. We went on to have many adventures in running together including the Tely Ten in St. John’s and the Boilermaker 15k in Utica. As a competitor he was talented and gritty. With Dan, the race was never over until the finish line.
I chuckled at Al’s comment about there never being enough hours in a day for what Dan wanted to get done. Any scheduled meeting times were affectionately suffixed with “DKT”, Dan Kimmerer Time, as he was more often that not late. That was OK. Within our circle we knew Dan was getting things done.I think one thing that wasn’t outlined by Al was, in addition to his involvement in organizing elementary school running events, he was a KRRA race director for the half-marathon least once as well as other races. If he wasn’t a director he was heavily involved in race setup at numerous events. He was meticulous in his attention to detail – he would make sure that things were done right. One year at the elementary school XC championships his lead cyclist didn’t show up. He promptly convinced me, 5 days pre-marathon, to run and lead out the races. I lasted three races!
I also had the pleasure of raising a family along side Dan and Marie’s family. Our kids would see each other at various running and social events and eventually would play sports together as they got older. Chris and Ben would go on to become good friends, worked at Runners’ Choice together, become residence-mates and house-mates the University of Guelph where they both were on the track team. I very much admired Dan’s devotion to his family. They meant the world to him. He was their biggest fan and supporter in all of their endeavours. And to our kids as well! He was always excited to see them and find out how they were doing. I very recently sent a message to Dan and Marie for their 30th-anniversary celebration that commended them on raising three wonderful human beings.Dan will be missed by so many – he has had a positive impact on so many people through his teaching and the running community. He had a big heart and a zest for life. Like Al, I regret not being in touch with Dan as much in recent years – I will miss him and I am blessed to have had him as a friend.” “
— Brent Workman (Brent Workman and family are long-time members of the KRRA and Brent was a teammate on the Cataraqui Track club with Dan.)
“I want to pay my respects to the Kimmerer family as a result of another unexpected death from the Kingston Running community.
Dan Kimmerer a devoted husband and father to 3 wonderful children is gone at 59. He would have celebrated his 30th wedding anniversary to Marie, his wife on July 24th. I am ashamed to say that I had not stayed in closer contact with Dan in the last few years even though I considered him a close friend. The fact he was at Kevin Dunbar’s wake last month makes this even more painful.
The characteristics between them are the same. They promoted the same tools; Education and Athletics.
Dan a devoted family man, loving husband, a respected teacher and coach, a former elite athlete and age-grouper. He was a tenacious competitor as an elite athlete but also like me had a hard time accepting that we had become “broken down old warriors”. I promised his daughter Savannah this morning that “We will get the story right” about Dan for those who didn’t know him.
I first met Dan in November 1994 when Dan and Marie came in Kingston to house search. As two new teachers they would be moving to Kingston the following spring. He won the KRRA anniversary 7mile race on that visit to Kingston defeating me, the previous year’s winner. I shook hands with him and we became life long friends that day.
He taught at different elementary schools over his teaching career and established a strong x-country and track program, coaching basketball as well as other sports wherever he went.
He founded the Joe Goodfellow Memorial Race at Hinchinbrooke Public School to honour a young high school student killed in a car crash. This race was held annually for over a decade. He organized the elementary championship races with fellow teacher and friend Mark Ryan for many years.
As an elite athlete he formed the now defuct Cataraqui Track Club and competed with this small club. At the club he trained with Jeff Taggart, Dave Ruggles, Mike Myers, Derrick Spafford, Brent Workman, and Mike Keller. He won the Glen Tay 14.7km block race in a time of 49:16 in 1996 and again in 2000. He finished in the top ten at Beat Beethoven numerous times. In the 1999 Beat Beethoven he was runner-up to 21-year old future Olympian Simon Whitfield, by one second. He was also the overall KRRA race series winner in 1996.
He became a member of the KRRA board and was president before or after his good friend William Macdonald. He competed in the KRRA Running series doing well in his age-group but had a hard time avoiding injuries.
There were never enough hours in a day for Dan to complete everything that he had committed to doing each day. I can’t say that I ever saw Dan “relaxed”, he was always on the go.
Though running was his passion, it brought out the good, the bad, and ugly as his wife Marie said to me yesterday. Dan could be stubborn and could rant, even on a run, if he felt you were giving unwise advice.
As he said to me once when we were having a heated discussion. “Sometimes you don’t pick your friends, they pick you”.
Through it all, the one thing Dan loved the most were all the training partners and friendships he made along the way.
Marie, Christopher, Savannah, Roddy I am so sorry for your loss, Dan was a good man.”
— Al Cantlay
Read the Kingston Whig-Standard article:
Kingston running community loses another leader
The Kingston running community has lost another leader within its ranks. Dan Kimmerer, a retired teacher and active running coach, died peacefully in his sleep on July 18. He was 59. His death comes just two months after the passing of Kevin Dunbar, who was also heavily involved in the running community. – read the full article here.
