August 19
Maurice Tarrant
BC Inductees into the Canadian Master's Athletic Association Hall of Fame - 2010.
Since the start of Maurice Tarrant's running career as a master in the late 80s, he has broken more than 50 Canadian records, most of them in races on Vancouver Island. The average age-grading for these records has been 90%, with a high of 93%. He did travel to the WAVA/WMA meets in Eugene and Buffalo, where he won gold and bronze medals; and to the World Masters Games in Edmonton, where he won three golds in the M75 category. But it's for a series of races held each year on the Island that he can claim a unique accomplishment. The Island Races Series comprises eight races from 5K to the Half, and Maurice has won his age category EVERY YEAR since 1988, notching over 200 consecutive victories from age 55 to 80! No wonder he's the most revered runner on the Island. But Maurice doesn't just run. Every spring he coaches a training group for the Victoria TC10K. He's coordinated the course marshals for the Royal Victoria Marathon for many years, and directed his club's Pioneer 8K race in the Island Series. |
June 27
Steve Osaduik, Herb Phillips and Garth Ball
Steve was the top Harrier, finishing fourth overall in 1:07:45, Herb crushed the M65 competitors with an amazing 20-minute margin of victory in the M65 division in 1:31:28, and long-time club member, Garth Ball, captured the M70 division in 1:46:41 at the Scotiabank Half Marathon today in Vancouver. There were 3,761 finishers and Herb clocked in at 158th position while Garth was 671st. Herb is just 2 weeks shy of his 70th birthday where he will undoubtedly plaster many new provincial and national age-class records to his already impressive wall of accomplishments. Other Harriers running well at the event were Scott Simpson, 6th overall in 1:08:42, Nixon Kiprotich, 8th overall in 1:09:45, and Keith Mills, 17th overall with a P.B. of 1:15:23. Eric Kiauka made a rare appearance finishing 35th in 1:19:26. Defending champion Kip Kangogo, of Lethbridge, and Calgary veteran, Lisa Harvey, made it a good morning for Alberta as both earned comfortable victories in the 12th Annual Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon, breaking the tape in 1:03:51 and 1:17:46, respectively. A record total 5,471 runners contested the half marathon and 5k events. They were drawn from 11 countries, 21 American states, and 8 Canadian provinces and combined to raise $524,000 for 29 charities in the Scotiabank Group Charity Challenge. The successful race is directed under the leadership of Clif Cunningham, a valuable member of the Road Running Board of BC Athletics. |
June 27
Shawn Nelson, Gary Duncan, Claire Morgan and Shannon Coutts
Shawn demolished the field of 72 finishers in the long course today at Royal Roads, Gutbuster #3 in the series of 5 races. His winning time was 53:18 for a comfortable 2:19 margin of victory over Westwood's Shelby Drope, of Nanaimo. Claire was second female overall in 1:07:22, 5:35 behind race winner Care Wakely, who had a stunning performance of 1:01:47 to finish 5th overall. Gary had one of his best-ever placings, nailing a sixth overall, top M50, in 1:02:08 after battling tooth-and-nail with Care and John Dutchak for 4th place for most of the way. Shannon was top master, 25th overall in 1:10:48; she was also 5th female to finish. Larry Nylen had a great run, finishing just behind Claire in 1:07:35; he took silver in the M40 division, and Louise Proulx claimed gold in the F50 division in 1:11:49. There were 72 finishers in the 13.8K long course and 61 in the 6.7K short course for a total of 133 including 24 Harriers at the Royal Roads Gutbuster. This was a slight decline of 26 runners compared to 159 finishers last year. |
June 20
Paddy McCluskey, Cheryl Murphy and Kirsten Sweetland
Paddy and Cheryl were the top Harriers in the New Balance Half Ironman Victoria International 1.9K, 87K, 20K Triathlon today and "Sweets" took third overall in 59:28 was the top female in the 500m, 20K, 5K Sprint Division. There were 207 finishers in the Sprint Division, won by Kelly Guest, in 56:26. Paddy was top master, third overall of 399 finishers, with a time of 4:15:47 and Cheryl was 14th overall, first female in 4:36:35. The Half Iron was won by Adam O'Meara in 4:04:54. |
June 20
Gary Duncan, Claire Morgan, Wendy Davies and Don Moffatt
Gary, Claire and Don placed 1st, 2nd and 5th overall and Wendy was second female finisher at age 51 as they were all the top Harriers today leading the field of over 600 runners and walkers at the Canada Safeway Do It For Dad 8K on the challenging, but beautiful trails of Royal Roads University. It was a 2-minute improvement for Claire over last year's time. The event generally raises over $100,000 for prostate cancer research. Here is a race report from Master Mo:
G won - again! - at today's Prostate Cancer run at RRU in 33 minutes and small change. Claire easily won the women's race and was 2nd OA in 35 minutes. I yoyo'd between 3rd and 6th place and wound up 5th in 37 minutes (pulling ahead on downhills and on the flat sections but sucking badly on the hills). Thanks to Dr. A. for his positive attitude before the race telling me to go for the win, but I'm still not 100%.
The course was a blast, as always, and if you missed it today you can do something similar at the 11.7K Gutbuster which is also staged at Royal Roads next Sunday. |
June 19
Ian Akroyd and Cara Obee
Ian and Cara were the top Harriers today at the 7th annual 13.8 mile "Are You Tough Enough?" Kusam Klimb in Sayward, running up and down over 5,000 feet of elevation change. Ian was fourth overall of the 305 "tough enough" finishers in 2:53:46 and Cara was second female, 13th overall, in 3:10:13. The event was won by Rob Fontaine, of Campbell River, in 2:36, and the top female was Victoria's Antonia Grady, 6th overall in 2:57:55. Last year two Harriers, Shane Ruljancich and Jo Rosen set Kusam course records of 2:26:51 and 2:53:25 and these records still stand. |
June 18
Steve Osaduik, Scott Simpson, Richard Mosley and Natasha Wodak
Steve, Scott and Richard were 1-2-3 overall in 14:28, 14:31 and 14:38 and Tash was the top female in 16:40 in the Longest Day 5K at UBC tonight. Willy Langat placed 5th in 15:09, Shawn Nelson was 7th in 15:15 (a big P.B.), Herb Phillips topped the M60 division in 19:30 and won by over a minute over John Caruso. On the women's, side Kristina Rody was second to Natasha in 16:55, only 15 seconds behind the Harriers female champion. Harriers Kirsty Smith was 7th in 18:12 and Shannon Thompson was 8th in 18:32. There were 234 male finishers and 283 female finishers for a record total of 517 in the Longest Day 5K, only 5 shy of the 522 finishers at the Twilight Shuffle 5K held in Chemainus three days earlier. Combined, these two 5 kilometre events attracted 1,039 finishers proving they are very popular early-summer road races. |
June 15
Willy Langat, Lucy Smith and Herb Phillips
The 26th annual Legion Twilight Shuffle 5K attracted its usual large and enthusiastic crowd of 522 finishers for this Tuesday evening race around the picturesque town of Chemainus. Kenyan Harriers Willy Langat and Nixon Kiprotich moved quickly to the front, and passed the first mile together in 4:53 before Willy broke away to win in 15:42 to Nixon's 15:47, for which they earned $250 and $150 respectively. Third place and $50 went to Harriers Sean Chester in 16:04. His mile split was 5:05 along with team mate Nick Walker recording the same time through one mile.
On the women's side, Lucy Smith of Sidney was unchallenged, cruising to victory in 17:23. Ceri Jakobsen took second in 19:09, with Andrea Galloway third in 20:00.
Lucy doubled up on her winnings, to earn a total of $500 by also being the top master as well as top open female. The top master male was Kevin McGinnis, of Ravensdale, WA, in 16:39, narrowly beating out Harriers Paul O'Callaghan, 16:48, and Walter Cantwell, 16:53 for the top $250 prize. They were 7th, 8th and 9th overall and Paul earned $150 and Walter collected $50.
The race was a Pacific Northwest Masters 5K Championship, other age category winners were Gary Duncan (M5059), Janice Ross (F5059), David Hoskins (M6069), Marcia Stromsmoe (F6069), Garth Ball (M70+), and Marian Fortin (F70+). The top age-graded male runner of the 522 finishers was 69 year-old Herb Phillips with an 87.45% age-graded ranking followed by Kevin McGinnis, 84.66% and David Hoskins, 84.58. Lucy was the top age-graded female with a rating of 89.14% followed by Julia Cutt, 76.42%, and Marcia Stromsmoe, 76.01%. |
June 13
Shawn Nelson
Shawn won the Edge to Edge Half Marathon in Tofino today with a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 1 second finishing over 7 minutes ahead of runner-up Ernie Lucas, of Campbell River, who was clocked at 1:23:04. Care Wakely had an extremely fine race finishing third overall of 342 finishers with a half marathon personal best time of 1:23:25. She was a staggering 15 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of the second place female, Katie McIntosh of Duncan. Courtenay's Jud Levirs won the marathon in 2:5:55 while the top female was April Eryou, of Port Alberni, in 3:37:47. There were 172 finishers in the marathon, 342 finishers in the half marathon and 53 teams in the marathon relay for a total of 779 runners at the Edge to Edge event today. |
June 6
Scott Simpson, Natasha Wodak and Herb Phillips
White Rock was the venue for the latest race in both the Timex BC and the Steve Nash Sports Club Lower Mainland Road Race Series, hosted by the Semiahmoo Sunrunners. The point-to-point course may have a significant net elevation drop, but there are a number of ups and downs before the final descent to the finish on the waterfront.
Pre-race favourite, Harriers Scott Simpson, quickly moved to the front, closely followed by Tristan Simpson, with the chase pack some distance behind. Scott, from Victoria, ran alone most of the way, to come home a clear winner in 31:01. Tristan, from Vancouver, settled for second in 32:12. A much closer battle ensued for third, with first master Kevin O'Connor ducking under 33 minutes to edge out VFAC teammate David Palermo, 32:58 to 33:03.
Harriers Natasha Wodak, like Scott Simpson, was looking to pick up points for the provincial series, and was equally successful. Never challenged, Tash ran out a comfortable winner in 35:32. This was good enough for 10th place overall of the 295 finishers. Triathlete Martina Wan held off BC 5K Champion Catherine Watkins for second, clocking 37:45 and 37:53 respectively. Top master was Stephanie Kieffer in 41:50. Harriers Herb Phillips, 41:09, was the top age-graded runner and 52nd overall to win the M65 division by 1:18 over Victoria's Frank Towler. Fittingly, race organizers issued Bib #1 to Herb, the 69 year-old running legend! He continues to excel and impress all other younger and older runners race after race. |
June 5
Farisha Arensen, Paul O'Callaghan and Keith Mills
Farisha continues to dominate the under-15 mixed division with her third consecutive victory in the 1,000 metre race at the Victoria Track Series, Meet #3 at Oak Bay Track tonight. She finished in 3:25, which was 16 seconds faster than second place finisher, Anna Letkeman. 46 year-old Paul O'Cal topped 11 runners in the Open Mixed Mile with a time of 4:55. Second place went to Harriers team mate, Mike Lord, in 5:04. Keith Mills probably delivered the most inspirational and riveting performance of the evening by moving from 7th place to 3rd in the last lap to record a personal best time of 4:36 in the Elite Men's Mile won by Dylan Haight in 4:26. Doug Oxford came second in 4:30. It was a satisfying podium-standing race for Keith, who narrowly edged team mate Nick Walker by 3 tenths of a second. There were 54 finishers in 7 different races. |
May 30
Steve Osaduik
Following his second place finish at the Canadian Half Marathon Championship last month, Steve Osaduik recorded a similar result at the Canadian Marathon Championship. Osaduik finished second in 2:21:59, only 12 seconds behind the Canadian Champion Stephen Drew, of Ontario, who won in 2:21:47. The women's Champion was Krista Duchene, also of Ontario, in 2:39:08. Duchene was winner of the Vancouver Half Marathon earlier this month, and was also second at the Canadian Half Marathon Championship.
The Canadian Marathon Championship was held in conjunction with the Ottawa Marathon, where the overall winners were Arata Fujiwara of Japan in 2:09:34, and Merima Mohammed of Ethiopia in 2:28:19.
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May 30
Stephen Kilshaw, Aaron Thomas and Scott Dagnall
Today record numbers turned out to Shawnigan Lake to kick off the 2010 Subaru Western Triathlon Series. Athletes from 6 countries, and of all abilities, raced across 3 race distances; the Sprint, the Olympic, and the Half Ironman.
In the pro men's field of the Half Iron, Harriers' Stephen Kilshaw held off American Chris Boudreaux to take the victory and retain his title from 2009. Kilshaw said, "Boudreau and I were racing head to head on the bike and I thought I would wait for the run, but at the run turn-around he was closer than I expected. He made me keep the pressure on the run right until the end." The Olympic Distance race was won by Carlos Lesser, of Mexico in 2:10:42, and Harriers' Scott Dagnall was second in 2:13:35. The Sprint event was won by World Cup Champion Paula Findlay of Edmonton and Harriers' Aaron Thomas in 59:02. |
May 30
Shannon Thompson and Herb Phillips
Shannon and Herb were the top Harriers in the Running Room Shaugnessy 8K Run and 5K Poker Walk in Vancouver today. There were 293 finishers running through a rich neighbourhood resembling Victoria's "Uplands". The race was won by Jay MacDonald in 25:06 and Katherine Moore in 30:04; she was 18th overall. Shannon was third female in 31:05 and Herb was first M60 and first age-graded runner in 32:32 (87.72%). He was 40th overall and Shannon was 28th of the 293 finishers at Shaugnessy. |
May 30
Mark Ritchie and Walter Cantwell
Mark was the second M40 in the Navy 10K Division in 38:10 and Walter was the top M40 in the Navy 5K Division in 16:265K in Ottawa today. The race is held in conjunction with the Ottawa Marathon, Half Marathon, Open 10K, 5K and 2K events. Walter was 16th overall of the 7,110 finishers in the 5K, won by Maya Aden in 14:55 and Mark was 91st overall of the 5,672 finishers in the 10K won by Lelisa Desisa in 28:08. |
May 30
Jason Loutitt, Nancy Baxendale, David Jackson and Kris Swanson
Harriers placed well at the Calgary Marathon on Sunday, taking first and second in the men's race, as well as third in the women's race. Graeme Wilson turned the tables on Jason Loutitt, who beat him earlier this month at the Vancouver Marathon. This time Wilson was stronger over the second half of the race after both runners went through halfway in under 1:15. Wilson ran out a comfortable winner in 2:32:14, to Loutitt's 2:38:38. Meanwhile Nancy Baxendale finished third, and top master, in the women's race in 3:00:38. David Hoskins won the M60 division in 1:31:04; he was 63rd overall of the 2,881 finishers - a new record for the Calgary Marathon.
In the supporting half marathon, Harriers were also dominant, with a similar 1-2 finish. David Jackson and Kris Swanson provided the front-end punch, finishing in 1:09:40 and 1:09:55 respectively. Stephanie Hamilton won the women's race in 1:24:39.
Scott Simpson failed to complete a clean sweep for the club, having to settle for third place in the 10K race, clocking 30:52, behind Vancouver Sun Run and TC10K winner Kip Kangogo.
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May 30
Herb Phillips and Shannon Thompson
Herb and Shannon were the top two Harriers at the Shaugnessy 8K in Vancouver today. Herb, 32:31, was 40th overall out of 293 finishers, top age-graded runner, and Shannon, 31:05, was 3rd female behind winner Katherine Moore, 30:04, and runner-up, Catherine Watkins, 30:38. There were 293 finishers at Shaugnessy 8K compared to |
May 30
Dylan Gant
One of our mainland Harriers, Dylan Gant, from Burnaby, finished second overall to race champion Oliver Utting, also of Burnaby, in the Iron Knee 25K Trail Race on Grouse Mountain today. Their times were 1:33:47 to 1:35:47. The top female was 3-time RVM winner Suzanne Evans; she was 10th of the 240 finishers in 1:47:13. |
May 30
Claire Morgan, Michael Lax, Garth Campbell and Louise Proulx
Claire was the first female in 2:05:11, Garth was the top M50 in 1:57:40 and Louise was the top F50 and first master to finish in 2:11:24 at the Colliery Dam Gutbuster in Nanaimo, Race No. 3 in the 5-race Series. The long course is a rugged and hilly half marathon on Mt. Benson. Michael was first to break the tape for an overall victory by a 50+ runner by finishing in 1:09:15 over the 6.2 mile short course. The first female was Nanaimo's Ceri Jacobsen in 1:16:10. There were 78 finishers in the long course, won by Shawn Nelson in 1:39:26, and 120 finishers in the short course. |
May 16
Jim Finlayson and Nancy Baxendale
It was a shade off his best time but Oak Bay KOOL Half Marathon champion, Jim Finlayson, sounded satisfied with his effort today at Oak Bay.
"It's fun because it's local, and I know these streets well. But having a couple of Kenyans here today made it pretty challenging," Finlayson said, referring to Gilbert Kiptoo and Philip Samoei, who wound up second and third, respectively in 1:08:36 and 1:13:20.
"They pushed really hard early in this one. We went out a lot faster than I'd wanted to go out. I sort of felt like I was hanging on for the early part."
Finlayson, who finished the 21.1K race in one hour, seven minutes, six seconds - his best is 1:06:45 in 2007 - sat eight to ten seconds behind Kiptoo until the 10K mark, when he started to make his move. He pulled ahead for good at about the 13K mark.
By the end Finlayson and Kiptoo had distanced themselves from Samoei. Rob Hasegawa wound up fourth overall, top master, in 1:16:28 and won the men's 45-49 age category.
The top female finisher was Care Wakely, the 2009 Island GutBuster Trail Running Series champion. Her time of 1:23:40 gave her a comfortable win margin over fellow Victorian Laura Malaudzinski, 1:25:17.
Nancy Baxendale, of Shawnigan Lake, who gave up 20 or so years to the top two female finishers, was the top master and third overall in 1:27:43.
The overall victory was Finlayson's fifth in the event in the past six years. He finished second in 2006 behind Steve Osaduik, but outduelled the Langley speedster the following year, winning by 31 seconds.
This year's win margin of 93 seconds was Finlayson's largest since 2005, when he beat Todd Howard by 2:24.
The event saw a record total of 962 registrants, which included 60 relay teams. |
May 1
Darren Froese and Audrey Stibbe
Darren was first male in 3:37:59 and Audrey was first female in 4:35:58 at the Canadian Championship 50K Division today hosted by the Harriers at the 23rd annual Island Runner Elk/Beaver Ultras. |
April 18
Steve Osaduik and Kristina Rody
BC athletes won silver and bronze at the Canadian Half Marathon Championships held in conjunction with the Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal. Harriers' Steve Osaduik placed second in the men's championship in 1:06:05, while Marilyn Arsenault of Victoria was third in the women's championship in 1:16:38. Behind Arsenault, PIH's Kristina Rody finished fourth in 1:17:13, Anne-Marie Madden was eighth in 1:21:02, and Gillian Gook ninth in 1:21:21. On the men's side Matt Clout was BC's other representative, finishing fifth in 1:08:30. The men's championship was won by returning champion Matt Loiselle, from Toronto, in 1:05:08, with Rejean Chaisson third, behind Osaduik in 1:06:14. The women's champion was Emily Tallen of Kingston in 1:15:42, with Krista Duchene second in 1:15:56. |
April 18
Nixon Kiprotich, Willy Langat, Claire Morgan, Angela Plamondon and Cathy Noel
Nixon and Willy placed 1-2 overall in the 2010 Frontrunners Island Race Series annual awards ceremonies today held following the Sooke River 10K, Race #8 in the series. They recorded 844 and 841 points as an average of their best five scores in the 8-race package. Both of them opted to run a 5K time trial today at Sooke, taking the leaders through the halfway mark in 16 minutes before retiring to rest for the TC10K next Sunday, the Vancouver Half Marathon the following Sunday and the Sun Run capping off a three races in three weekends with a focus on high performance opportunities, big prize money and large fields. Claire (773 points) was the Harriers top female in the Series finishing third overall, first in her age category, behind Melissa Ross (813 points) and Care Wakely (811 points). Angela finished fourth overall (741 points) to capture top master honours. Cathy was the General Manager of the Series and attracted many new sponsors in 2010, but perhaps her proudest moment was seeing her daughters, Robyn and Taylor, finish 1-2 in the under-15 division. Prairie Inn Harriers was the top team of 116 teams with 5,198 points. Frontrunners Westshore took second with 1,841 points and Comox Valley Road Runners were third with 1,817 points. There were 4,105 finishers in all events as seven of the eight races showed an increase of finishers over the previous year. |
April 18
Mark Nelson, John Cliff and Maurice Tarrant
Mark notched his first-ever victory in an Island Series race by sprinting away from teammates, Nick Walker and Shawn Nelson and Westwood's Simon-Pierre Landry to capture the Sooke River 10K win today in 33:25. Nick was second in 33:29, Simon-Pierre third in 33:30 and Shawn fourth in 33:36. Maurice won his 7th consecutive M80 division this year in 50:56, breaking Ron Welch's Sooke River 10K course record by 5 minutes, 48 seconds. John started Pioneer and Cobble Hill with third place finishes then improved to first place in Cedar, Hatley, Bazan, Comox and Sooke to take the M65 division title over Frank Towler, 648 to 644 points. Sooke River 10K saw its highest registrations ever (568) and highest finishers ever (415) in the ten years that Island Road Racers have been hosting this event. |
April 11
Jason Loutitt
The Sunshine Coast lived up to it's name as it hosted the 2010 BC Half Marathon Championship in conjunction with the April Fool's Run, hosted by Sunshine Coast Athletics. The point-to-point course from Gibsons to Sechelt has a net downhill, but there are a number of uphills along the way to test the competitors. This suited Jason Loutitt, a mountain running specialist, who finished second at this race two years ago. This year he was unchallenged, and ran out a clear winner in 1:11:21. Second place in the April Fool's Run went to an international entrant, Matthew Laye from Copenhagen, who finished in 1:14:56. Third place overall, and masters champion, was Kevin O'Connor of Vancouver Falcons in 1:15:39. Katrina Driver was the top female, 12th overall in 1:21:52 and Darcie Montgomery won the BC masters Championship, second female in 1:24:52. Nicole Akeroyd was third in 1:27:07. In the age groups there were notable performances from Ed Ansems, 1:31:57 in the M6064 division, and Herb Phillips, 1:35:30 in the M6569 division. The half marathon saw 418 finishers, with a further 100 on 41 relays teams. This was an increase of 32 runners in the half marathon and 60 runners in the half marathon relay over last year's totals. |
April 4
Maurice Tarrant, Willy Langat, Tina Connelly and Sonja Yli-Kahila
Simply unbelievable! Maurice, 1:13:28, set yet another M80 Canadian record by 16 minutes, 56 seconds today at the Merville 15K, race #7 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. That's more than a full minute per kilometre faster than the previous Canadian mark of 1:30:24, established by team mate, Jim Sargent, in 2005. Willy posted his first-ever overall victory in the Island Series, nosing out his Kenyan Harrier training partner Nixon Kiprotich by 5 seconds. Their times were 48:57 and 49:02, a full minute and a half clear of third place finisher, Nick Walker, of Frontrunners Westshore, who was clocked at 50:30. Tina, running her first race in one and a half years after being injured in the 2008 Royal Victoria Half Marathon, destroyed the women's field by finishing 14th overall of the 273 finishers to take first place by 2 minutes, 31 seconds, 55:24 to 57:55, over Frontrunners Westshore's Care Wakely. Tina should do well at the Boston Marathon on April 19 as 2:40 something is definitely in the cards for this talented 39-year old. Another Harrier, also running her first Series race of 2010, Fawn Whiting, finished third in 60:34. Sonja was fifth female overall and first in the F30 division in 64:32. It should be noted that Mark Nelson finished 5th at Merville today and he was 7th last year. More importantly, the two-position improvement resulted in almost a five-minute time improvement as he ran 56:08 in 2009 and stepped it up to 51:14 in 2010. Most runners are now gearing up for the Sooke River 10K on April 18, the TC10K on April 25, the Sun Run 10K on May 9, or all three races if they are non-fragile. |
March 27
Mark Bomba, Gord Christie and Herb Phillips
Today, at the Dave Reed 5K Spring Classic in Stanley Park, a great performance came from Herb Phillips bouncing back from a fall at the 20K mark of the Comox Valley Half Marathon 6 days ago, to win the M70 division today by nearly 13 minutes! His time was 19:50, good for 64th of 216 finishers. Mark Bomba was the top master, 6th overall, in 15:39 and Gord Christie was 3rd M45, 26th OA, in 17:36. It was a sweet victory for the 2009 Royal Victoria 8K Champion, Matt Clout, especially by beating the durable and talented Jerry Ziak 15:06 to 15:16. Matt Clout is coached by Jon Brown. Also, an outstanding performance was unveiled by Kelowna's Malindi Elmore, the only person of the 216 finishers to get a world-class # sign for her time of 16:33. Malindi is also a former Royal Victoria 8K champion; she won the women's race today by one minute and 36 seconds over Tanya Humenuik, a junior, who finished in 18:09. |
March 21
David Jackson, Todd Howard, Maurice Tarrant and Jane MacDonald
The sixth race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series series drew a record number 818 registrations, 618 starters and 601 finishers. David Jackson won comfortably in 1:08:25 over fellow Prairie Inn Harrier team mate Todd Howard (1:10:51), and soon-to-be master Craig Odermatt (1:11:22). Care Wakely, of Frontrunners Westshore, won her first ever Island Series race by a similar margin in 1:24:16, over top master Harriers' Nancy Baxendale (1:28:17), and Harriers' F35 gold medalist, Claire Morgan (1:30:13). Maurice Tarrant set another Canadian M80-84 age best of 1:51:30. It was Maurice's fifth consecutive M80 course record in the Series and his fifth consecutive Canadian Record. He lowered Hugh Clifford's time of 1:58:02, set 24 years ago, on Aug. 10, 1986 in Delta. Maurice improved the Canadian mark by 6 minutes, 32 seconds. Jane ran her sixth consecutive personal best in the Island Series with a clocking of 2:37:43. This was over 11 minutes, or almost one minute per mile, faster than her time at Comox last year. Jane's regular training with the Harriers at TNWs, Thursday Night Track (TNT) sessions and Thetis Lake Saturday mornings trail runs is paying off handsomely in her 2010 race results. |
March 17
Willy Langat, Wendy Davies and Elaine Galbraith
Happy St. Patrick's Day! 100.3 the Q hosted the second annual Green Mile at 6:11 pm from the Monkey Tree tonight and there was plenty of media interaction with Ed Bain MC'ing, Cliff LeQuesne, Tindy Bassi assisting and Daphne Goode, of Shaw Cable, directing the race. CHEK TV covered the event live. There were 70 registrations and Willy Langat led from wire to wire finishing in 4:44 over the accurately-measured out-and-back course on Lochside Trail. The next three finishers were all Harriers with Chris Callendar launching his patented, explosive finishing kick over the last 50 metres to blaze by Simon Pearson for second place. Their times were 5:23 and 5:26. Sylvan Smyth showed good form and a gutsy second half of the race to take fourth overall in 5:29. On the women's side, the PIH Oak Bay track training delivered huge dividends with Wendy Davies running in for the gold and Elaine Galbraith taking silver with times of 6:50 and 7:36. For Elaine, it was her first-ever podium performance. The Monkey Tree put on a huge spread of food and green beer to celebrate the event on St. Pat's Day and over 100 participants, spectators, race officials and media enjoyed the hospitality of the sold-out establishment. |
March 14
Carolyn Goluza
The first race in the BC Ultra Trail Running Series lived up to its name, as conditions for the Dirty Duo were wet, slushy, and very muddy. The clear winner of the feature 50km race was Jacek Domiec in 4:09:50. Nearly 30 minutes back, second place was much more closely contested, as the next three finishers were within 2 minutes of each other after over four and a half hours of running. Colin Miller took second in 4:37:14, ahead of Brandon Weber and Victoria's Rob MacKay. First female, and sixth place overall, went to Harriers Carolyn Goluza, who beat out three-time RVM Champion Suzanne Evans, 4:57:05 to 5:01:32. Third place was claimed by Samatha Drove in 5:10:51.
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March 13
Kristina Rody, Natasha Wodak, Scott Simpson and Willy Langat
New members, Kristina and Natasha, finished 1-2 of the 696 finishers at the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Stanley Park today, the second race in the 2010 Lower Mainland Road Race Series. Scott and Willy were the top Harriers finishing second and fourth overall. Both the men's and women's course records were broken with Ontario's Dylan Wykes, who has been training in BC for the past two weeks, showing the locals a clean pair of heals. He sped through the first mile in 4:40.4, to earn a $50 bonus. In the early running he was shadowed by Willy Langat from Victoria. But Langat was unable to maintain the pace, as Wykes opened up a significant gap by the end, coming home in 14:32. Scott Simpson passed Langat before halfway, to finish second in 15:01. And Oliver Utting came through strong in the second half to take third place in 15:30. The women's race was a much closer contest. Harriers Kristina Rody and Natasha Wodak were practically tied at the hip for the first mile, as both were timed at 5:18.1, with Kristina given the nod to win the $50 bonus. And like Wykes, Rody pressed on in the second half to come home a clear winner, also in a course record of 16:46. Wodak held on for second in 17:15, while Anne-Marie Madden passed Meaghan McCollum in the second half to take third in 17:34. The masters winners were Colin Dignum in 15:55, and Sheila Mullins in 19:20. PIH claimed four of the top eight positions overall with Simpson (2nd), Langat (4th), Kiprotich (6th) and Dignum (8th). |
March 7
Simon, Whitfield, Kyle Jones, Lucy Smith and Maurice Tarrant
Harriers and triathletes dominated the top placings at the Bazan Bay 5K in Sidney today, the fifth race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Having lost out in a sprint finish last year, Simon Whitfield was victorious this year in 14:36 - one second quicker than 12 months ago and a new course record for Bazan Bay! Kyle Jones, Simon's training partner who was third last year, improved to second place this year, in 14:38, one second slower that the course record of last year set by Harriers Scott Simpson and Simon Whitfield. Another triathlete, Andre-Paul Baillargeon-Smith also ducked under 15 minutes for third place in 14:57. On the women's side, Magali Tisseyre recorded her third victory in this years Island Series in 17:03. Top master Lucy Smith claimed second place in 17:21 which tied her for the F40 course record set last year by Marilyn Arsenault. Junior triathlete Christine Ridenour took third place in 17:45. Maurice Tarrant recorded another Canadian M80 record of 23:37; this was also a course record for Bazan Bay by 3 minutes, 26 seconds over Ron Welch's time of 27:03. It was the second fastest time in the M80 World Rankings behind Stephen Charlton, of Great Britain, who ran 22:41 in June, 2007. The Harriers collected an impressive 28 age group medals at Bazan Bay including 13 gold, 11 silver and 4 bronze. There were 613 finishers in the race, up three from last year's total. The race was marred with the tragic death of a long-time Series competitor, Karl Klein, from Campbell River, who collapsed and died of a heart attack at the one kilometre mark of the course. Our sincere condolences go to Karl's wife, Judy, and his three sons, Paul, Ehren and Kurt and his five grandchildren. He was 67. |
March 7
Scott Simpson, Mark Bomba, Kristina Rody and Herb Phillips
Scott and Kristina were the top Harriers and Mark and Herb had impressive master's age class victories at Harry's 8K Spring Run-off in Vancouver today. The race was won by Kenyan Willy Kimosop, 2009 Sun Run and TC10K champion, in 23:43, and Ontario's Dylan Wykes placed second in 23:45. Scott took third in 24:41 and Mark was sixth overall, top master, in 25:54. The women's race was won by Olympian Malindi Elmore, from Kelowna, in 26:49; Kristina took second in 27:35, two seconds ahead of third place female Marilyn Arsenault of Victoria. Herb was 48th overall of 823 finishers destroying the M65 competition by posting a time of 32:14. He was a clear 4 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of his closest M65 competitor, John Pickering. Other Harriers placing in the top-20 overall included David Jackson, 5th, Colin Dignum, 9th, Trevor Feeney, 12th and Natasha Wodak, 18th overall and fifth female in a closely-packed field of women placing 15th, Kristina Rody, 16th, Marilyn Arsenault, 17th, Lisa Harvey, and 18th, Natasha Wodak. |
March 6
Steve Osaduik
It was drizzling and 9 degrees at the start of the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan, but the rain intensified and the temperature dropped to 7 degrees during the course of the race. Steve Osaduik ran 2:18:29 to place 16th overall, top Canadian, an impressive time given the conditions, and less than 2 minutes slower than his best time of 2:16:49 at the Royal Victoria Marathon in 2006. The Lake Biwa Marathon is a prestigious invitation-only event and was won by Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay in 2:09:34. Tsegay's best time, set in Paris last year, is 3 minutes quicker.
Read Steve's account of his race here: http://steveosaduik.tumblr.com/
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February 27
Jason Loutitt
Jason was the top Harrier, top Canadian and third place North American at the World Snowshoe Invitational Championships held at Mount Seymour this morning. The race was won by Italy's Antonio Santi in 49:56 over the 10 kilometre course. Tarcis Ancay, of Switzerland, placed second in 50:01 while world mountain racing champion, Jonathan Wyatt, from New Zealand, took third in 50:29. Davide Olilesi, also from Italy, was fourth followed by Americans Joseph Gray and Peter Fain. Jason was next, 7th overall, in 52:36. His team mates also ranked high in the world snowshoe championships with Shaun Stephens-Whale, 8th in 53:29, Jimmy Gobeil, 10th in 56:19, and Neil Holm, 15th in 57:22. |
February 26
Annual Award Winners - 41 Club Members
The Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club hosted their annual awards night at the Cedar Hill Golf Club tonight and 41 members were honoured for running, race-walking, cycling, volunteering or leaving us with an amusing memory for 2009. Full details are on the website sidebar <<<<< over there. Click on Annual Awards. |
February 21
Nixon Kiprotich, Willy Langat and Sandy Mullen
The hard work and constant training paid off handsomely for Nixon and Willy as they led the field at the Hatley Castle 8K today by finishing 1-2 in 26:15 and 26:30. They defeated last years 1-2 duo, also Harriers Eric Findlay and Nick Walker, who settled for third and fourth today in 27:08 and 27:13. The top three women were Magali Tisseyre, 29:42, Melanie McQuaid, 30:54, and Care Wakley, 31:18. Sandy Mullen, running in the F45 division, won her first-ever Series masters championship with a time of 34:24. The top master male was Hugh Trenchard in 28:25. There were 462 finishers at Hatley Castle, 17 more than 2009. |
February 14
Sandi Heal
Sandi completed her first 20-mile training run at Elk/Beaver this morning in preparation for the 25,000-strong 114th annual Boston Marathon on April 19, 2010. Other Harriers running Boston this year include Camie Bentham, Garfield Saunders and Norman Dolan. Sandi invited club members to run a lap or two with her at the "Cupid Run" on Valentine's Day. She attracted 10 Harriers and 3 dogs to accompany her. Thanks to Suzanne, Steve, Sonja, Sisi, Sally, Sandy M., Lara, Jo, Elaine, Garfield, Holly, Java and Charlie for joining in with Sandi's 20-miler. |
February 7
Steve Osaduik
Steve collected his second victory of the year and nailed another personal best performance at the Surf City USA Half Marathon today in Huntington Beach, California. He cruised to a 1:04:52 P.B. win over some impressive Kenyans, Mexicans and Americans to top the field of an amazing 11,783 finishers. Second place went to Greg Costello in 1:06:12 and Manny Nuno took third in 1:09:16. Steve also won the Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K with a P.B. of 23:35 and his next race is the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in Japan on March 7. He is in good stead to run sub-2:15 and establish a third consecutive personal best performance in 2010. Lake Biwa Marathon is an elite, invitational-only event and is the oldest marathon in Japan celebrating its 65th year. It usually attracts some of the top marathoners in the world and, if Steve has a good run, he will establish himself as Canada's fastest marathoner so far this year. |
February 7
Jim Finlayson, Lucy Smith and Maurice Tarrant
Jim and Lucy were top runners and top Harriers at the Cedar 12K today while Maurice quietly demolished yet another course record by 11 minutes and 18 seconds! Jim led a clean sweep of 1-2-3-4-5 PIH finishers with a winning time of 37:54. David Jackson, 38:04, was second, Nixon Kiprotich, 38:49, was third, Willy Langat, 39:23, fourth, and Todd Howard, 39:30, placed fifth. Lucy was 21st overall of the 484 finishers with a time of 44:17; she was also the top master. Meaghan McCollum, of Vancouver, took second in 46:21 and Care Wakely was third in 46:29. Maurice dropped Jim Sargent's course record of 1:11:01 to 59:53 today. It was his third consecutive sizable course record in 2010 and would have been another Canadian Record, however Athletics Canada does not recognize 12K as a sanctioned distance. The Cedar 12K enjoyed an increase of 55 runners over last year. |
February 6
Shane Ruljancich
Shane had an outstanding victory today at the Orcas Island 25K Trail Race defeating the legendary ultramarathoner, Scott Jurek, by almost 8 minutes. Shane's time of 1:55:14 over a rugged, hilly mountain trail over Mount Constitution set a new course record by 5 minutes. The top female in the 25K race was Krissy Moehl, 17th overall, in 2:13:28. There were 191 finishers including 8 Harriers in the 25K and 124 finishers in the 50K with 4 Harriers. Seattle's Alex Henry won the 50K race in 4:18:50 and Shawna Wilskey, from Burlington, was the top female in 5:17:56. She was 11th overall. |
January 30
Nick Best, Carolyn Murray and Jason Loutitt
Nick and Carolyn were the top runners at the Mt. Washington Yeti 5K Snowshoe Series Race today, Canada's largest field ever assembled for a snowshoe race to date with 240 finishers, 165 in the 5K race and 75 more in the 10K. Nick won the short course in 33:54 and Carolyn won the women's division, finishing 10th overall, in 35:43. Jason finished second overall to Shaun Stephens-Whale, of Gibsons, in the long course 58:43 to 58:53. The top female was Ceri Jacobsen in 1:06:29. There were 13 Harriers at Mt. Washington, many running their first showshoe race ever, 8 were in the 10K and 5 more in the 5K, and all ran very well including Gary Duncan (silver), Alex Duncan (silver), Colleen Butler (silver), Mike Hucal (silver), Dianne Dennis (bronze), Kent Butler, Mark Ritchie, Dave Dennis, Kirsten Arensen and Jackie Hucal. |
January 24
Nixon Kiprotich, Claire Morgan and Maurice Tarrant
Nixon and Claire were the top Harriers at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race #2 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Nixon finished second overall in 32:24 and Claire was fourth female in 39:07. Andre-Paul Baillargeon-Smith won the race in 31:55 and the top female was Magali Tisseyre in 36:08. Both are top-level triathletes. Maurice smashed Jim Sargent's M80 course record by 11 minutes and 34 seconds. He lowered the Canadian 10K record in the M80 division from 53:48 to 48:23, a 5:25 improvement. There were 563 finishers at Cobble Hill, up 72 runners from last year's total of 491. |
January 24
David Hoskins
David topped his M60 age category by nearly 2 minutes and placed 68th overall of 7,140 finishers in the Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Half Marathon in sunny California today. There were 10,012 registrations for the event won by Kenyan Westley Korir in 1:04:04. The top female was also a Kenyan in Jane Kibii winning her second consecutive Carlsbad Half in 1:14:00. David was 11th age-graded of the 7,140 and finished almost 7 and a half minutes ahead of the bronze medalist in his age class. |
January 17
Juliette Christie and Herb Phillips
Juliette and Herb were the top Harriers and both won their age divisions at the Steveston Ice Breaker 8K in Richmond today, Race No. 2 in the Timex BC Road Racing Series. Juliette topped the F45 division and finished 26th overall of 191 finishers today with a time of 30:31. Herb was first M65, 43rd overall in 32:42. Shane Carlos, of Whitehorse, won the race in 25:07 and the top female was Meaghan McCollum in 29:29. |
January 10
Steve Osaduik and Maurice Tarrant
Steve won the championship today but it was a spectacular Canadian Record-setting performance by Maurice that captured the spotlight at the 31st annual Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K under ideal racing conditions. Steve fought a spirited battle against last year's winner and his Coquitlam training partner, Richard Mosley, finally overtaking him at the 6K mark and Steve pushed on to a personal best performance of 23:35. This was the identical time that Richard posted in 2009 when he unleashed a blistering kick to outrun Jon Brown to the finish line by 3 seconds. The top five men overall today were Harriers and three of the top five women were also Harriers. There were 121 club members racing and 75 more volunteering today. The top five in the men's race included Steve Osaduik, 23:35, Richard Mosley, 23:39, Scott Simpson, 24:02, Kyle Jones, 24:14, and Jim Finlayson, 24:31, while the women's front end of the field was Natasha Wodak, 27:51, Lucy Smith, 27:54, Kirsten Sweetland, 28:32, Cheryl Murphy, 29:11, and Magali Tisseyre, 29:24. Maurice's magnificent race lowered the M80 Canadian Record by an unthinkable 8 minutes and 9 seconds. His time of 38:13 toppled team mate Jim Sargent's M80 record of 46:22 set in 2004. This is the second fastest M80 time recorded in the world road race 8K rankings. Jim ran 1:03:17 today to set a new M85 Canadian Record which Maurice hopes to break in 2015! There were 748 registrations and 674 finishers at Pioneer, up 44 from last year's total. The Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K was the official BC 8K Road Racing Championships for juniors, seniors and masters divisions and kicked off both the 8-race Frontrunners Island Race Series and the 13-race Timex BC Road Running Series. |
January 1
Elaine Galbraith and Les MacNeill
Elaine and Les were closest to their predicted times at the 14th annual Harriers New Year's Day Memorial 10K Run today at Beaver Lake under rainy, then sunny conditions. The clock is set in a count-down mode at one hour and runners leave when they think they can finish closest to zero, then the clock starts counting back up again. Elaine hit the clock at exactly zero and won a beautiful basket of chocolates, coffee and biscuits. Les hit the clock at one second, meaning he was only one second slower than his predicted time. There were 70 runners and every one of them finished within a 5-minute span. Great estimating! More importantly, the 70 Harriers and friends donated $6,253.37 to the Harriers Foundation. Please hit the sidebar over there <<<<< to see how many important projects PIH has supported in the Greater Victoria area over the past 25 years. Simply outstanding! Happy New Year. |
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