May 6
Ryan Day and Heather Bretschneider
Ryan placed third overall in 2:29:22 at the BMO Vancouver International Marathon today. Kenyans Gezahgn Eshetu, 2:21:51, and last year's champion, Benard Onsare, 2:22:16, swept the top two positions. The first three women in the race were Banff's Ellie Greenwood, 12th overall in 2:42:16, Mary Akor, of Hawthorn, CA, 21st in 2:46:01, and Victoria's 2010 GFVM winner, Catrin Jones, 34th in 2:52:11. Heather Bretschneider finished 744th overall in 3:44:53 which placed her 33rd of 314 in the F30 division; she was 144th of 1,837 females. More importantly, Heather raised $6,547 with her LaceUp4Lupus team to be used for lupus research. She over-achieved her goal of $4,200 or $100 per kilometre. There were 5,251 registrations in the marathon and 4,233 finishers including 2,396 men and 1,837 women. This was 892 more finishers than last year. Both the marathon (limit of 5,000 registrations) and the half marathon (limit of 10,000 registrations) sold out well in advance of race day. Both distances featured new point-to-point courses starting at Queen Elizabeth Park and finishing at the Vancouver Convention Centre. |
May 6
Jeremy Lawrence, Gary Duncan, Adena Cronk and Chris Callendar
Fresh off his 5K victory at the Peninsula Runners Free Run three weeks ago and his personal best of 35:34 at the TC10K last weekend, Jeremy continues to improve by winning the Sound and Silence 10K in 36:52 today on the Lochside Trail, starting and finishing at Michell's vegetable stand on Island View Road. Course measurer extraordinaire, Gary Duncan, placed second overall of 74 finishers in 39:31 and was the top master at the age of 54. Third place went to Daniel Girard, 40:34, and the first female was Stephanie Joyce in 46:49, she was 10th overall. Adena won the F60 division to go with her F60 gold medal achieved at the TC10K; she was 8th female overall in 52:22. In the accompanying 5K race, it was no contest as Chris destroyed the field of 35 finishers winning by over 7 minutes and breaking the tape in 17:31. Christy Simard, the top female, placed second overall in 24:54, while Eric Otergaard took third in 25:01. The combined total of 10K and 5K finishers was 109 which was 13 more than last year. Great prizes and a sunny day was enjoyed by all participants. |
May 6
David Jackson, Jim Finlayson, Natasha Fraser and Lucy Smith
One week after a stirring 4th place for David, 7th place for Jim, 1st place for Natasha and a 2nd place for Lucy of 10,015 finishers at the TC10K, our four outstanding high performance Harriers posted terrific race results at the BMO Vancouver International Half Marathon today under sunny skies. In both 2011 and 2010 Jim and David finished this event in 3rd and 4th place overall in 1:07 and change but today they were relegated to 4th and 5th overall behind three well-established Kenyans living and training in Lethbridge and Edmonton. The top five men in the BMO Half were TC10K champion Kip Kangogo, 1:04:48, Willy Kimosop, 1:05:07, Kibet Rutto, 1:06:28, David Jackson, 1:07:33, and Jim Finlayson, 1:08:53. Sixth place finisher, Kevin O'Connor, was the top master in 1:09:12, winning the M45 division by a staggering 8 minutes. Natasha finished 14th overall to win the women's crown in 1:15:12, narrowly edging out Allison Macsas, from Austin, TX, who finished second in 1:15:31. Lucy was the top master, 22nd overall, and 3rd female in 1:18:38. She won her F45 age category by a stunning 11 minutes and was more than 6 minutes clear of the 2nd place female master, Mary Walsh, who finished in 1:24:46. There were 10,186 registrations for the BMO Vancouver International Half Marathon and 8,329 finishers including 3,087 men and 5,242 women on a brand new point-to-point course today. |
April 29
Natasha Fraser, Lucy Smith and David Jackson
Natasha topped the women's field in 34:32, Lucy was the first master and second female overall in 35:14, while David, 30:34, was the top Harrier and first Canadian placing 4th of 10,015 finishers at the 23rd annual Times Colonist 10K today under ideal racing conditions. The first two men were Kenyans with Kip Kangogo winning in 29:51 and Willy Kimosop hitting the line second in 30:05. Third place went to American Joseph Gray in 30:23. Natasha and Lucy finished 28th and 29th overall while Lisa Harvey, 35:23, and Marilyn Arsenault, 35:33, were 3rd and 4th females and placed 35th and 36th overall. Several Harriers achieved personal best 10K times at the event including Jeremy Lawrence, 35:34, Ian Ackroyd, 36:02, Chris Callendar, 36:07, Happy Jaycox, 36:40, Dan Jacklin, 38:23, Julie Van Veelen, 38:49, Larry Nylen, 39:39, and Brent Chan, 43:41. The Harriers boasted eight gold medals for winning their age categories including Natasha Fraser (F30), Lucy Smith (F45), Nancy Baxendale (F50), Adena Cronk (F60), David Jackson (M35), Michael Lax (M55), Brian Connon (M65) and the amazing Maurice Tarrant (M80). Three more won silver and four Harriers took bronze medals. Prairie Inn Harriers claimed the top club honours of 25 teams. There were 12,300 TC10K registrations this year and 10,015 finishers including 4,048 men and 5,967 women. This was 67 more finishers than last year but 601 shy of the record of 10,616 finishers established in 2010. |
April 22
Shane Ruljancich and Sonja Yli-Kahila
Only six days after Shane and Sonja ran the Boston Marathon in extremely hot conditions, the the two talented Harriers were back racing again today at the inaugural Mountain Equipment Co-Op Legwarmer 7K starting and finishing at Lochside Elementary School. Shane was first overall in 23:25 and Sonja, 27:58, was second to Mary McGregor who was top female and 9th overall in 25:39. There were 98 finishers in the adult's race and another 25 in the kid's race. Other Harriers running well at the Legwarmer 7K included J.F. Gagne, 5th in 25:17, Michael Lax, 10th in 25:40, John Catterall, 13th in 27:46 and Chris Wille, 31st in 30:54. MEC is planning a second event to be scheduled in August. |
April 16
Shane Ruljancich and Sonja Yli-Kahila
Shane and Sonja were the top male and female Harriers at the 116th annual Boston Marathon today run in extremely hot conditions in the mid-80 degrees mark. The heat affected all runners in that the overall male and female winners were nearly 10 minutes slower than the Boston winners of last year. Boston uses chip (net) timing for all but the elite athletes who are sorted by gun time. Shane was 156th overall in 2:46:54 and Sonja was 170th female in 3:20:39. Other Harriers that survived the extreme New England heat to finish today included Chris Callendar, 1,242nd in 3:13:30, Chris Bowlby, 5,308th female in 4:30:39, Cathy Noel, 5,371st female in 4:31:19 and Martha McNeely, 7,994th female in 5:30:51. There were approximately 21,000 finishers including 12,300 men and 8,700 women. Registrations topped 27,000 and 4,500 runners did not start due to the high temperature. The race winner was Kenyan Wesley Korir in 2:12:40, compared to last year's winning time of 2:03:02 by Geoffrey Mutai. Kenyans swept the top three spots for both men and women. Levy Mateho was second in 2:13:06 and Benard Kipyego took third in 2:13:13. The top three women were Sharon Cherop, 2:31:50, Jemima Jelagat Sumgong, 2:31:52, and Georgina Rono, 2:33:09. |
April 15
Shannon Coutts
Known for her strong road biking skills and her trail running accomplishments in the Gutbuster Series, Shannon embarked on a new challenge this year and has posted three consecutive victories in the 2012 Vancouver Island Cup Mountain Bike Race Series. Her first win in the Beginner Division came at Victoria's Hartland trails on March 11 with a time of 36:43. Second place went to Sabrina McLeod in 39:52 and Monique Holmgren was third in 43:55. In Race No. 2 at Cobble Hill on March 18, Shannon took gold in 53:50, Sarah Mitchell took silver in 55:00 and Holly Henry took bronze in 59:36. Today, in her third race at Cumberland, Shannon was first in 53:20 in perhaps her best performance by dominating the Beginner Women's Division by over 10 minutes. Second place went to Monique Holmgren in 1:03:41 while Colleen Wtorek was third in 1:07:42. There were 114 riders in Victoria, 99 in Cobble Hill and 87 in Cumberland spread amongst six divisions including Beginner, Intermediate and Expert categories for both men and women. There are eight races in the Island Cup MTB Series with future races scheduled in Campbell River, Mount Arrowsmith, Powell River, Port Alberni and the final race is held in Port Alice on June 9 where double points will be awarded in all categories. |
April 15
Sean Chester and Claire Morgan
Sean and Claire were the highest finishing Prairie Inn Harriers when the Frontrunners Island Race Series wrapped up today in Sooke. Both secured their titles prior to the final Series race and both ran the Sun Run today with excellent performances. Sean won the overall Island Series title for the second consecutive year with an average points total of 840 for his best 5 races. Claire topped the F35 division with 811 points, second only to Care Nelson, 824 points, who won the female overall championship. Seven Harriers secured gold medals in their age categories including Sonja Yli-Kahila (F30), Claire Morgan (F35), Nancy Baxendale (F50), Maree Kennell (F70), Sean Chester (M25), Shane Ruljancich (M35) and John Woodall (M80). Five more Harriers claimed silver medals including Julie Van Veelen (F35), Valerie Bell (F50), Ian Ackroyd (M45), Yuki Otsubo (M50) and Gary Duncan (M55) while both Larry Nylen (M50) and Norm Dolan (M60) collected bronze medals. Honourable mention goes to four fourth place finishers Pamela Dinn (F30), Wendy Davies (F50), Brandon Willson (M16) and Happy Jaycox (M30). Prairie Inn Harriers won the Club Championship with 4,272 points followed by Comox Valley Road Runners, 2,761 points, and Frontrunners Athletic Club, 2,125 points. There were 3,609 finishers in all 8 Series races and 59 clubs participated. |
April 15
Natasha Fraser, Kris Swanson, Bruce Deacon and Nancy Baxendale
Natasha and Kris were the top Harriers finishers while Bruce and Nancy won their age categories at the massive Vancouver Sun Run today featuring 48,904 registrations and 38,936 finishers. Natasha, 34:13, finished FIRST overall of over 25,000 women and Kris, 31:53, placed 14th overall of over 20,000 men. The top three men in the race were Kelly Wiebe, of Regina, in 29:13, Lethbridge's Kip Kangogo, in 29:14, and Matt Loiselle, from Toronto, in 29:18. The top three women were Port Moody's Natasha Fraser, 34:13; she was 50th overall, Melissa Todd, from Timmath, placed second in 34:39 and Kate Bazeley, of St. John's, took third in 34:52. Bruce topped the M45 division of 1,762 master men in 32:18; he was 17th overall. Nancy was was 30th female, 199th overall, to win the F50 division of 1,943 master F50 women in 38:01. The first three master women were Marilyn Arsenault, 35:04, Lucy Smith, 35:25, and Lisa Harvey, 35:36, and the first three master men were Kevin O'Connor, 31:33, Bruce Deacon, 32:18, and Ian Hallam, 32:31. Other Harriers running well at the Sun Run included Dylan Gant, 18th in 32:24, Ian Hallam, 2nd M40, 20th overall in 32:31, Jeremy Watts, 9th M35 in 35:04, Gord Christie, 2nd M50 in 35:27 and Claire Morgan, 3rd F35 in 37:02. The 38,748 finishers today at the Sun Run was just 121 fewer than last year's total of 38,869. It is the largest 10K race in Canada followed by the Times Colonist 10K on April 29 which will feature over 12,000 runners. |
April 15
Julie Van Veelen, Sarah Daitch and Todd Nowack
Julie won her first-ever Series race, Sarah recorded her highest-ever Series position and Todd saved his best-ever Series performance for the Sooke River 10K today, the eighth and final event in the 2012 Frontrunners Island Race Series. The top three men were Bastion's Joel Deschiffart, in 33:28, Frontrunners' Shawn Nelson, in 34:09, and Jorge Para, from Courtenay, in 34:33. The top three women were PIH's Julie Van Veelen, 39:09, PIH's Sarah Daitch, 40:14, and Frontrunners' Isabelle Fillion, 40:18. Julie has completed 44 Island Series races in the past 6 years and her 784 points at Sooke today is her best performance and her first race victory. Todd has completed 10 Island Series races to date and his 775 points was his best performance by finishing 5th overall at Sooke. His previous highest position in a Series race was in 2008 where he finished 14th at Hatley Castle. Todd has run this race three times and has seen his times improve from 40:49 to 38:26 to 35:04 today, 5:45 faster than he ran it in 2005. There were 352 finishers at the Sooke River 10K compared to 359 finishers last year. |
April 13
Jeremy Lawrence
The inaugural Peninsula Runners 5K Free Run was an overwhelming success. The most beautiful day of the year was the backdrop for the initial race that had nothing but positive feedback for no entry fees. The event raised $2,000 for the BC Cancer Society and had just under 500 runners. It is impressive that 500 people had no idea where they were racing until they were emailed three days beforehand stating that the event would be hosted in Beacon Hill Park. Harriers swept the top three positions overall with Jeremy Lawrence winning the men's race in 18:23 followed by team mates J.F. Gagne in 18:30 and Mike Janes in 18:50. Riley McQueen won the women's race in 19:36. Second place went to Annika Todd in 20:23 and Katie Munro was third in 20:40. Participants said the course was slow and fast. "I wanted to come up with a course that beat people up, I didn't want it to be easy", said Race Director Dave Milne. He designed the course to be a "fun, relentless course with a tough finish." |
April 7
Jason Loutitt
Jason won his second consecutive "altitude" trail race within the last two weeks by capturing the championship in the Cedro Peak 45 Mile Trail Ultramarathon in Tijeras, New Mexico, today with a winning time of 6:30:47; he was the only Canadian of the 29 finishers in the first annual event. Second place went to Nick Pedatella, of Boulder, CO, in 6:43:27 while Durango, CO, runner Brendan Trimboli took third in 7:20:47. The top three women were Sara Crippen, Williamsburg, IA, 9:00:07, Abby McQueeney-Penamonte, Denver, CO, 9:32:22, and Olga Varlamova-King, Austin, TX, 10:15:45. Jason described his experience as, "On the race glass each competitor got, it says 'I love Rocks' and at first I was doubting how applicable it was but after racing it...it fits. The course is an ultimate test due to this rocky terrain and the altitude (6,000' at the lowest but mostly between 7,000' and 7,780'). I took off from the start but went 1.5 miles off course when leading and reaching an unmarked intersection. Seems someone took the markers down but luckily there weren't any more issues. It took me 30 minutes to get back into first place and I pushed hard from there. I loved this race and plan to return next year." Next up for Jason is the World 100K Championships in Seregno, Italy on April 22 as part of Team Canada. |
April 7
Camie Bentham
Camie won a bronze medal in the F40 division of 562 women in her age category today at the inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon in Los Angeles, CA. She described the course as very difficult with the last 4 kilometres uphill to finish with her time of 1:36:05. The winner of the F40 division was Ieng Klukken, from Huntington Beach, in 1:30:00. The overall winners were Kenyan Ondara Macdonald, in 1:04:47, and Malika Camaccho, from Albuquerque, NM, in 1:16:34. There were 6,103 finishers at the Hollywood Half Marathon including 2,290 men and 3,813 women. There was also a 10K and a 5K race associated with the new half marathon. |
April 6
Andrew Pape-Salmon and Dan Jacklin
Andrew and Dan were second and third masters to finish in the sixth annual Fletcher's Challenge 13K trail race today in Nanaimo, an event initiated to honour runner and Times Colonist sportswriter, Gavin Fletcher, who lost his life in a car accident in December, 2006. Andrew finished fourth overall in 59:40 while Dan placed 13th in 1:04:58. The race was won by a master, Mike Murphy, who crossed the line in 55:55. Second place went to Nanaimo's Byron Trajan in 57:24 and Brian Zurek took third in 58:26. The top three women in a very close finish were Ann Signorella, 1:09:03, Kristenn Magnusson, 1:09:09, and Kate Surguine, 1:09:36. There were 9 Harriers in the event and all of them placed well in their respective age categories including Gary Duncan (1st), J.F. Gagne (4th), Ian Ackroyd (4th), Valerie Bell (4th), Sara Pape-Salmon (6th), Kathleen Birney (6th) and Lara Wear (9th). Organizers had to be pleased with the new 13K course which featured 110 finishers today compared to the 11K course from last year which only attracted 67 finishers. Nearly 450 people participated in the event which included a family walk, children's run and Easter Egg hunt. All proceeds go to help kids take part in sports. |
April 1
Ian Ackroyd, Happy Jaycox, Julie Van Veelen and Valerie Bell
Ian and Julie were the top Harriers at the Merville 15K today, Race #7 of 8 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Ian finished in 8th position overall, his highest-ever Series standing, by completing the course in 55:21. He was second in the M45 division. Happy was 11th overall in 55:33 to achieve 753 points, a personal best ranking of 14 Series races completed in 2011 and 2012. He showed an improvement of over 3 minutes from last year's time at Merville and has improved by several minutes at every Series race this year. Julie was second female overall to race winner Care Nelson, 58:09, and she improved her time from 1:08:10 in 2011 to 1:00:32 today at Merville. She also jumped up in the overall rankings from 86th in 2011 to 24th in 2012, an improvement of 62 positions. Val had an outstanding race with a personal best time of 1:03:57 to win the F50 division by almost 4 minutes and claim the top master's crown; she was third female overall. Honourable mention goes to Larry Nylen, Gary Duncan and Julien Marceau who won silver medals in their respective age categories. The top three finishers were Aspire's Ben Brzezynski, 50:18, and Sean Chester, 50:31, followed by Mark Cryderman, of the host club River Runners, in 50:44. There were 16 Harriers at Merville of the 283 finishers. This was 49 less than last year's total of 332. |
March 31
Melanie McQuaid
Andy Potts led from start to finish to win his fourth title at Ironman 70.3 California, while three-time XTERRA world champion Melanie McQuaid proved that she can ride on the roads every bit as fast as she can ride on the trails to win her first California title today in Oceanside, CA. The top three men were Andy Potts, Colorado Springs, CO, 3:54:03, Richie Cunningham, Boulder, CO, 3:55:11 and Jesse Thomas, Springfield, OR, 3:55:22. Victoria's Stephen Kilshaw finished 9th overall amongst the professionl men in 4:02:33. The top three women were Melanie McQuaid, Victoria, BC, 4:19:13, Heather Jackson, Carlsbad, CA, 4:21:57, and Merideth Kessler, San Francisco, CA, 4:23:40. The event included a 1.2 mile ocean swim, a 56 mile road ride and a 13.1 mile road run. Melanie finished 32nd overall of the 2,131 finishers including 1,606 men and 525 women.Complete results http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/california70.3/?show=raceresults&year=2012&format=htm#axzz1rgBYY1EZ |
March 25
Juliette Christie, Gord Christie and Herb Phillips
Harriers master athletes continue to shine in the bright sunlight and perfect race conditions. On May 17 of this year, Juliette Christie turns 50 yet 150 finishers couldn't beat her to the line at the Diva on the Run 8K in Vancouver today. Juliette topped the field in the women's-only race with a winning time of 32:53. Second place went to 30-year old Tamasin Reno in 33:33 and Kathie Schellenberg, of Langley, took third in 35:11. Across town at Stanley Park, Gord Christie was the top Harrier, 16th overall of 1,021 finishers, with a time of 28:33 at Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K. Gord was third in the M45 division behind two very high performance masters - Kevin O'Connor and Carey Nelson. The top three men at Harry's 8K were Kenyan Kip Kangogo, in 24:00, Sam Pawluk, 24:37, and Kevin Friesen, 24:50. The top three women were Calgary's Lisa Harvey, 28:40, former-Harrier Sabrina Wilkie, 29:08, and Vancouver's Katherine Moore, in 29:35. Herb continues to dominate the M70 division in winning by 7 minutes, 14 seconds over second place Akram Khan, 33:06 to 40:20. It was the second consecutive weekend that Herb has triumphed at races in Stanley Park with incredible M70 victories. |
March 25
Jason Loutitt
Jason is currently training at altitude at Flagstaff, Arizona in preparation for the World 100K Championships at Seregno, Italy on April 22. His running is going very well as he topped the field in the Black Canyon XTerra Half Marathon in Black Canyon City, AZ, today with a time of 1:24:51. Second place went to Nick Coury in 1:30:38 and John Storkamp placed third in 1:34:47. Jenine Cordova won the women's race in 1:51:01. There were 225 finishers in the half marathon and another 173 finishers in the accompanying 9K trail race. The race is described as the Series' finale and is the newest venue with lots of climbing, river crossings, sandy beaches and endless single-track. 13.1 miles - a point to point half marathon. The race starts off of Table Mesa Road and follows the Black Canyon Trail to Black Canyon City and Rock Springs Cafe. 4 aid stations. Full results are here http://www.4peaksracing.com/results/202results_overall.htm |
March 18
Jim Finlayson, Bruce Deacon and Nancy Baxendale
For the second consecutive Series race, Harriers master athletes produced some commanding performances at the Comox Valley Half Marathon today, Race #6 of 8 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Jim (M40) won the race outright in 1:07:29, Bruce (M45) was second overall in 1:11:22 and Bastion's Stephen Struthers (M25) took third in 1:13:53. Nancy (F50) was the top female Harrier, fourth female overall, in 1:27:21 winning her age division by over 9 minutes. The top three women in the race were ORCA's Melissa Ross, 1:20:25, Care Nelson, Frontrunners Athletic Club, 1:20:58, and Sonja Futehally, Mercury Rising Triathlon, 1:27:30. Harriers' Melanie McQuaid finished fifth and topped the F35 division in 1:28:18. Honourable mention goes to Heather Bretschneider who finished third in the F30 division at the Comox Half one day after pacing her dad in his first race ever at the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Vancouver on Saturday. There were 431 finishers at the Comox Valley Half Marathon today compared to 509 finishers last year. |
March 17
Jeff Phillips, Herb Phillips and Claire Morgan
Jeff, 15:36, finished eighth overall of 1,315 finishers at the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Vancouver today, the 2012 BC 5K Road Race Championships. The top three men were Mike Sayenko, from Bellevue, WA, in 14:53, Newfoundland's Ryan Brockerville, in 15:02, and Kevin Friesen, from Coquitlam, in 15:14. The first three women in the race were Seattle's Lois Keller, 17:23, and Jane Larson, also from Seattle, 17:24, followed by Gillian Gook, of Vancouver, in 17:53. Friesen and Gook were crowned as 5K BC Champions. Herb continued his dominance in the 70+ division by running 20:15 and winning his age category by 4 1/2 minutes. Claire won the F35 division of 113 F35 finishers in 18:31; she was the eleventh female overall. There were 841 women and 474 men in the race for a total of 1,315 today. Last year the St. Patrick's Day 5K attracted 985 finishers. Many colourful costumes were displayed in a sea of green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. |
March 17
Adam Campbell
Adam took the lead with 2 kilometres to go to win the 20th annual Chuckanut 50K Ultramarathon in Bellingham, WA, today. His winning time was 3:48:55 besting 548 finishers to the line. Second place went to Sage Canaday in 3:49:28 and Jason Schlarb took third in 3:49:59. The top female was Ellie Greenwood, of Banff, AB, in 4:09:27, she was 22nd overall. Harriers' Jason Loutitt finished 9th in 3:55:37, Shane Ruljancich was 24th in 4:11:44 and Sonja Yli-Kahila was 20th female in 5:33:44. Chris Brower won the F50 division in 5:59:56 and Rob Smith was 36th M50 in 6:55:03. The final runner finished in 9:19:40. |
March 4
Ian Hallam, Paul O'Callaghan, Lucy Smith and Nancy Baxendale
Harriers dominated in many of the master's divisions at Bazan Bay 5K today collecting 8 gold medals in various 40+ age categories. Ian topped the M40 division and was the first master in the race in 15:31 finishing 13th overall of 679 finishers on a new out-and-back race course with a slight headwind on the outbound portion. Paul won the M45 division in 16:53; he was 39th overall. Lucy set a F45 course record of 17:01 and Nancy set a F50 course record and a British Columbia F50 Record of 18:35, breaking Catherine Irons' F50 B.C. mark of 18:47, also established at Bazan Bay in 2009. Other Harriers masters winning their age categories included Yuki Otsubo (M50), Gary Duncan (M55), John Woodall (M80) and Maree Kennell (F70). Premasters Shane Ruljancich (M35) and Claire Morgan (F35) also topped their divisions bringing PIH's gold medal total to 10. Today's Bazan Bay race attracted perhaps the most talented and competitive field in the 31-year history of the Island Race Series encompassing 258 races and a combined total of 105,206 finishers since 1982. Bolstered by several high performance, first-time Series athletes from the UVic Vikes, National Triathlon Centre, Point Grey Track Club and Speed River TFC a staggering 7 course records were set today. Geoff Martinson, a former Vikes star from Prince George, won the race in a blistering 14:20 to break Simon Whitfield's previous course record of 14:36 set in 2010. NTC's Brent McMahon placed second in 14:44 and Dylan Haight, of UVic, was third in 14:48. The women's field produced some even stronger results. In an absolutely stunning performance, Kelowna's Malindi Elmore shattered Lucy Smith's course record of 16:10 to win the Bazan Bay female championship in 15:48. Second place went to Hilary Stellingwerff, of Vancouver, in 16:32, while NTC's Ellen Pennock was third in 16:53. Malindi Elmore's outstanding effort propelled her to the top of the leader-board of all-time performances in Island Series races with 943 points, 3 more than Jon Brown's 1:03:57 accomplishment at the Comox Half Marathon in 2005. Malindi also moved ahead of several other high performance Vancouver Island athletes including Carey Nelson, Steve Osaduik, Jim Finlayson, Debbie Scott, Angela Chalmers, Ulla Marquette and Leah Pells. All of the spectators at Bazan Bay today were treated to an epic performance in Vancouver Island racing history with stellar times in all age categories. Bazan Bay was definitely the highlight of the 2012 Frontrunners Island Race Series in a field of depth and competitiveness for both men and women. |
March 3
Gord Christie
Gord was the lone Harrier at the Dave Reed 5K Spring Classic at Stanley Park today hosted by Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club. He won his age M50 age division in 17:36 and placed 18th overall. The race winners were Kevin Friesen in 15:38 and former Harrier Sabrina Wilkie in 17:40. BC Athletics 2011 Master of the Year, Kevin O'Connor, finished second overall with a tremendous 15:42 effort. There were 204 finishers at the Dave Reed 5K today compared to 240 finishers last year. |
February 26
Sean Chester, Claire Morgan and Ken Bonner
Sean won his first Series race of 2012 in 32:25, Claire topped her age category in 37:17 and was the second female to finish, while Ken, 49:15, earned his first gold medal since 2005 at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race #4 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Ken completed his 93rd Series race since 1996 and has finished 60 more between 1982 and 1995 prior to the VIRA database being established. Shane Ruljancich continued his outstanding string of race performances with a second place finish in 32:49 and Ben Brzezynski took third in 32:53. Catrin Jones won the women's race in 36:36 and Kate Scallion was third in 37:58. There were 40 Harriers at Cobble Hill and 6 won their age divisions including Claire Morgan (F35), Nancy Baxendale (F50), Sean Chester (M25), Shane Ruljancich (M35), Ken Bonner (M70) and Maurice Tarrant (M80). Nancy's time of 38:40 set a new F50 B.C. Record. The race was originally scheduled for January 22 but snow forced the organizers to reschedule it between Hatley Castle and Bazan Bay. As a result numbers were down substantially with 382 finishers today compared to 560 finishers last year. There were 587 registrations this year which meant that 205 runners did not pick up their race packages at Cobble Hill. |
February 19
Claire Morgan, Julie Van Veelen, Sonja Yli-Kahila
The third race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series, the Hatley Castle 8K, took place today and our Harriers ladies recorded a perfect 1-2-3 finish. The race, organized for the first time by the new Frontrunners Athletic Club, saw 405 finishers compared to 465 finishers from last year. Claire won the women's division in 31.01 while Julie and Sonja came second and third in a one-second sprint finish, 32:45 to 32:46. It was Claire's first victory at Hatley Castle and both Julie and Sonja recorded their highest-ever finishing positions from a combined total of 65 Island Series races completed to date. James Lander won the men's race convincingly in 25:26 over Harriers Sean Chester, second in 26:14, and Shane Ruljancich, third in 26:57. The Frontrunners Green Jersey for the fastest open male sprinter over the last 100 metres was a tie - both Harriers' Shane Ruljancich and Julien Marceau recorded a 13.20 second sprint to the line. Ten Prairie Inn Harriers won gold medals for topping their age categories at Hatley including Sonja Yli-Kahila (F30), Claire Morgan (F35), Valerie Bell (F50), Maree Kennell (F70), Sean Chester (M25), Shane Ruljancich (M35), Ian Ackroyd (M45), Yuki Otsubo (M50), Gary Duncan (M55) and John Woodall (M80). |
February 17
43 PIH Award Winners
The Harriers Annual Awards Night was an outstanding success at the Cedar Hill Golf Course Lounge tonight with many new winners in a variety of different categories. Names and accomplishments are shown on the sidebar over there <<<<< under "Annual Awards". Congratulations to all for an outstanding year in 2011! |
February 12
Steve Osaduik and Natasha Fraser
Perfect racing conditions led to fast times at the "First Half" Half Marathon in Vancouver today with Steve placing second overall of 1,982 finishers and Natasha placing 27th to win the women's race. There were 1,166 female finishers and 813 male finishers at the First Half Half. Former Harrier, Dylan Wykes, had set a goal of bettering his time from last year, and he did not disappoint. Leading from the gun, he ran a controlled pace throughout, picking it up slightly towards the end, to come home in 1:04:22, seventeen seconds quicker than his record time from last year. The race was part of Wykes' final preparations before taking aim at the Canadian Olympic Marathon qualifying standard of 2:11:29 in Japan on March 4. Steve Osaduik will also run the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan. Behind Wykes, who is a member of Athletics Ontario, Steve, 1:07:27, and Natasha, 1:16:18, were crowned the 2012 BC Half Marathon Champions.
Osaduik, who has been racing frequently, winning the first two races in the 2012 Timex BC Road Running Series, as well as the Surf City Half Marathon in California last weekend.
Fraser, who last year won the BC 5K, 8K and 10K Championships, added the 2012 Half Championship to her collection. |
February 5
Steve Osaduik
Steve collected his third victory of the year and turned in an excellent 1:06:34 performance beating an amazing 14,127 runners to the finish line at the Surf City USA Half Marathon today in Huntington Beach, California. He also won the race in 2010 with 1:04:52 P.B. over 11,783 finishers. Second place today went to John Gilbertson in 1:09:00 and Jorge Maravilla took third in 1:09:18. Steve took second the following weekend at the First Half Half Marathon in 1:07:27 with 1,982 finishers. His next race is the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in Japan on March 4 which usually attracts some of the top marathoners in the world. Steve and Dylan Wykes will be attempting to qualify for the third and final spot on the Canadian Marathon Team participating in the London Olympics. |
February 5
Simon Whitfield and Sisi Hallam
The second race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series - the Cedar 12K - took place today, with Simon winning in 37:36, just two seconds ahead of James Lander. The race, which saw 449 finishers down 29 from last year, was hosted by the Bastion Running Club. Sisi won both the Yellow Jersey by topping the master women's division in 47:28 and the Green Jersey for being the fastest master sprinter in 16.21 seconds. Whitfield and Esquimalt-based Lander were neck-and-neck for the entire race, and spectators saw a thrilling finish with Lander just being pipped to the post, finishing in 37:38. "The race was very hard. James knows how to hurt and pushed me the whole way," said Whitfield. "I could tell right away he was going to be very hard to shake, and he kept coming back every time I surged to test him." Third place was Harriers Sean Chester in 39:01. Two seconds also separated the top two women with Care Nelson, Frontrunners Athletic Club, winning in 45:06, and the 2010 GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon women's winner Catrin Jones second in 45:08. Third was Harriers Claire Morgan in 46:15. For the second consecutive race Harriers Sarah Daitch won the open female Green Jersey with a 100 metre sprint of 17.27 seconds. Six Harriers won their age categories at Cedar including Sean Chester (M25), Simon Whitfield (M35), Maurice Tarrant (M80), Claire Morgan (F35), Sisi Hallam (F40) and Nancy Baxendale (F50). Honourable mention goes to two Harriers that both had a terrific race, Happy Jaycox finished sixth in a very difficult M30 division in 46:09, and Julie Van Veelen who was second to Claire in the F35 division in 48:59. This vaulted her from 113th overall last year to 49th this year with a four and a half minute improvement in her time! |
January 29
Steve Osaduik and Shauna Skinner
Steve scored his second win today in the 2012 Timex BC Road Race Series, crossing the line first at the Kajaks Icebreaker 8K in Steveston. His winning time of 24:53 was seven seconds slower than he clocked at the Harriers Pioneer 8K three weeks ago. Sam Pawluk was 13 seconds behind Osaduik at the finish, improving both his time and his position from Pioneer, clocking 25:06. Jerry Ziak completed the podium in 25:18. The women's race produced a close finish, as Shauna Skinner held on to win in 28:44, just one second ahead of Catherine Watkins, who was also first master. Sabrina Wilkie was not far behind in 28:57. The top master was Kevin O'Connor in fifth place, who bested Graeme Wilson, 25:57 to 26:08. The Icebreaker was also the first event in the 2012 Lower Mainland Road Race Series. It attracted 228 finishers this year compared to 270 last year where Harriers' David Jackson and Sabrina Wilkie were the race winners. |
January 28
Sonja Yli-Kahila
Six Harriers participated in the Orcas Island 25K race today. It was a fantastic result for Sonja as she was the first woman to cross the finish line in 2:28:44 with a 4:16 lead over the second place woman, Georgia Daniels, of Tacoma, who finished in 2:33:00. This is Sonja's first-ever race victory, she was 13th overall of 198 finishers, 88 men and 110 women, and a big congratulations go to her! Larry Nylen ended up running 28K as he helped an injured runner but made up much of the time he lost by putting a great extra finishing kick in his efforts. He ended up in 26th position and was 4th in the M50 division in 2:41:00. Sara Pape-Salmon had the same finishing time as in 2010, 3:12:37, despite slower, more difficult, snowy and icy conditions at the higher elevations this year. She was 89th this year and 137th in 2010. Valerie Bell had a terrific race by finishing 9th in the master's division in 2:58:50. Andrew Pape-Salmon was second overall at the top of the mountain, but unfortunately sustained and injury and still managed to finish 9th overall, 4th master, in 2:22:34. Kathleen Birney did not finish, but thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic accommodations, hot-tub and all. The course is described as beautiful, soft and well maintained single-track trails through old growth forest with waterfalls, lakes, cascading creeks, and views of the Puget Sound, the surrounding islands, and on clear days, the Cascade and Olympic Mountain Ranges, including Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen's. There is about 3,500 feet of elevation gain on the loop course. There is a 50K "sister" race also held on Orcas Island at the same location in February. Both events are sold out with 280 registrations in the 25K race today and 291 in the 50K on February 4. |
January 15
Gary Duncan
Gary was the only Harrier to master the QWOP Foddy.net running simulation game on the Harriers Running Forum by covering 100.1 metres without falling down to become a national hero. There were several failed attempts by other club members to beat the game. |
January 15
Dylan Wykes
PHOENIX, AZ - One hundred metres into the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon today and the only race that was still going on was the one for second place. Harriers' Dylan Wykes, a 28-year-old Canadian currently training in Flagstaff, Arizona, separated himself from the sound of starter's pistol to win in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 38 seconds, nearly 6 minutes up on second-place finisher Tibor Vegh of Flagstaff, who crossed the finish line in 1:08:32. Jon Harmon of Phoenix was third in 1:08:53. "I was hoping maybe someone would be willing to go with me the first 5K or 10K," Wykes said afterward. "But it is what it is. I was prepared to run alone. I wanted to run hard. I really got up for this race." Going through the first mile in 4:47, Wykes was already 80 metres clear of the field and looked cool and confident as he time trialed through the streets of Tempe. Wykes came through the 5K mark in 14:50 and passed 10K in 29:42. Despite having no one to race against except the clock on the back of the press truck, Wykes easily held his metronomic pace all the way to the finish line. There were 15,663 finishers at the Rock 'n Roll Arizona Half Marathon, 6,185 men and 9,505 women. |
January 14
Jason Loutitt
Jason, 37, had a another strong performance in Hawaii today by winning the H.U.R.T. 100 Mile Trail race for the second consecutive year. His finishing time was 22:44:12 compared to last year's winning time of 22:27:35. Second place went to 46 year-old Dan Barger, of Auburn, CA, in 23:37:00, while Kihei's Paul Hopwood, 48, took third in 23:46:00. The top female, Tracy Garneau, 42, from Vernon, was seventh overall in 26:07:00. Jason and Tracy were the only two Canadians in the field and made a championship statement as to the strength of ultramarathoners north of the border. There were 125 starters and 46 finishers in the 100 Mile race and 34 finishers in the accompanying 100K Race. Many participants were forced to drop out before the 36-hour cut-off time. |
January 8
Steve Osaduik, Lucy Smith, Ian Hallam, Sisi Hallam
In the 33rd annual Harriers Pioneer 8K today it was a clean 1-2-3 sweep for Harriers athletes with Steve Osaduik, from Langley, winning in 24:46. It was Steve's sixth victory at Pioneer including his personal best 8K time of 23:35 set in 2010. Last year's winner, Jim Finlayson, came second in 25:03, and was the top master in his first-ever race as a master. Dylan Gant, of Burnaby, placed third in 25:10. Four-time champion, Lucy Smith, dominated the women's field finishing in 28:30, also making her the top female master. Lucy ran 26:29 to win the 2002 Pioneer 8K. Another master, Marilyn Arsenault, proved she was back on the competitive scene, placing second in 28:59. Care Wakely, of Frontrunners Athletic Club, took third in 29:25.
There was a large contingent of high performance runners from the Lower Mainland at Pioneer, claiming four of the top six positions overall and two of the female runners placed third in their respective age categories. Harriers athletes swept the four yellow jerseys for the race champions and the four green jerseys for the fastest sprinters over the final 100 metres of the race course. The champion Frontrunners Yellow Jerseys went to Steve Osaduik (open), Jim Finlayson (40+) and Lucy Smith for both the open and 40+ categories. The Frontrunners Green Jerseys for the fastest sprinters were won by Harriers' Chris Callendar (12.72 seconds) and Ian Hallam (40+) in 16.36 seconds. Sarah Daitch won the open female division in 17.05 and Sisi Hallam won the 40+ division in 18.68. There were 80 PIH finishers today and another 80 PIH volunteers under the leadership of new Race Directors Kathleen Birney and Heather Bretschneider who did an outstanding job. There were 629 finishers compared to 647 finishers last year.
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January 1
Yuki Otsubo
Yuki finished with a mere 3 seconds on the clock to win the coveted platter of fruit and cheese at the 16th annual Harriers Memorial New Year's Day Run/Walk. Claire Morgan and Jeremy Lawrence were 4 seconds off their predicted times to place second. The event was dedicated to four Harriers that we have lost in 2011 including Robert Bostrom, Jim Sargent, Jim Meadows and Ken Smythe. A new Cross Country Bursary was announced in honour of the 32 years of service that Ken Smythe has given to the Harriers. Nearly 100 club members and friends attended the New Year's Day Memorial Run/Walk and donated $2,400 to the Ken Smythe Bursary at the University of Victoria. |
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