Prairie Inn Harriers Runner of the Week

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/

February 28
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
Hatley Castle 8K.

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.