For the average runner, claiming a spot among the top 35 finishers in the Seven Mile Bridge Run is no easy feat.
For the Bursas, it’s just another day on the roads.
The family of runners made their mark on this year’s race, with Helena Bursa and her three sons Vaclav (“Vance”), 14, Jakub, 17, and Antonian (“Tony”), 12, claiming four of the top 33 spots. Helena (33rd overall), Jakub (13th) and Antonian (32nd) all earned top honors in their respective age divisions, and Vaclav continued the recent tradition of Marathon High School runners earning at least one top-3 overall berth. With a blazing time of 41:29 – that’s basically a 6-minute mile for nearly seven straight miles – he narrowly edged fourth-place finisher Toren Rohde by a mere five seconds to snag the race’s overall bronze medal.
Born in the Czech Republic, Helena and her husband Ales moved to Key West 23 years ago. Now residents of Big Pine Key, all three of their boys were homeschooled until this past year. When Jakub and Vaclav were accepted into dual enrollment classes at FKCC, Antonian decided to forego uninterrupted attention from his mother in favor of attending Marathon Middle School.
Shortly after the bridge run, the family sat down with Keys Weekly to discuss their strong finishes and the family’s running roots.
Keys Weekly: Were you always a runner, Helena?
Helena: In high school in the Czech Republic, I was a long jumper, but in the middle of high school I developed scoliosis. The doctor said I couldn’t jump any more, so I started swimming to develop endurance. I still wanted to be on my dad’s team in track, so I started running the 400- and 800-meter races. I didn’t start running 5Ks until my son Jakub was born. The first year I ran the Seven Mile Bridge, I didn’t train much, but I was first in my age group. Then I met wonderful people from the Big Pine Running Club, and 17 years later, we’re still running together.
KW: How was this race different from the 5Ks the boys are used to running?
Tony: When I was running it, at the 3-mile mark, I thought, “Well, this is a short 5K.” But after the hump, I thought it’d be way shorter. I was so tired, but I think it was the nicest race I ever ran.
KW: Vance, what was it like up in the lead pack?
Vance: I started out the race with Pedro (Zapata), but he has really bad shin splints. I saw the fourth-place runner catching up to us, and he passed us, so I hooked on to him and passed him on the hump. From there, I just tried to go as fast as I could so he wouldn’t pass me. At mile 5, I thought I was going to die. I made it to the finish, but I almost fell and got really lightheaded, and they put me in an ambulance for a while to cool me down.
KW: You have a lot of strong runners from the high school. What was it like to have your friends on the bridge with you?
Jakub: The race started going faster and faster, and at one point people started passing me. Then I actually passed Pedro. I was really surprised to see him, but he just gave me a fist bump and told me to go full-out. And I passed some people who passed me when I got burned out.
KW: With all three of you running so well, are you all competitive with each other? Supportive? A mix of both?
Jakub: It’s both. During training, when it’s longer runs, we usually stay together. If it’s a middle distance race like the 800, we’re extremely competitive. When it comes to 5Ks, Vance is usually a little faster, so I stay with him for the first mile and a half and then he just goes.
KW: Helena, do the boys get their competitiveness from you?
Helena: They have it from me, but my husband is a great athlete too. He just doesn’t like running. I used to push the races to the point where I’d get nauseous, but I lost that about five or six years ago, so now I just want to have fun with it. Tony was running in front of me the entire race, and I said to myself, “This is the last time you could actually beat him,” but I just didn’t have it.
KW: Tony, did you know your mom was right behind you?
Tony: No. (Laughs). I knew I was in front of her, but I didn’t know she was only 30 seconds behind me.Helena: He was running with a woman, and I wanted to beat that woman. I felt like that was my goal. But on top of the hump, she started walking, so it was just Tony. And I lost my interest.
