December 31, 2013
Craig Odermatt and Claire Morgan
Craig was the top male in 16:20 and Claire was the top female, 6th overall in 18:18, at the 25th annual Run Through Time 5K at the University of Victoria starting at 6:00 pm tonight. There were a total of approximately 300 participants in the 5K run, 3K walk and 1K kid's run, an event sponsored by Frontrunners and hosted by Runners of Compassion. Other Harriers placing in the top 10 overall included Chris Callendar, 4th in 17:44, Richard Knowlton, 8th in 18:23, and Gary Duncan, 9th 18:48. The runner-up to Claire was Saran Gross who finished 10th in 19:00.
December 26, 2013
Gary Duncan, Claire Morgan and Kirsten Arensen
Gary, Claire and Kirsten were the top Harriers today at the 15th Annual Prairie Inn Harriers Boxing Day 10-Mile Handicap race where staggered starts enable slower runners to start first and faster runners to start last based on their best race time in 2013. This year, however, most of the runners started at the same time. Gary and Claire, who started later near their assigned time, recorded the same time of 1:07:03 to finish in a tie for third place behind Randy Humble and Lance Watson who finished in a tie for first place in 1:06:17. Kirsten was second female and fifth overall in 1:13:25. Under the handicap system, Gary was fifth, Kirsten was sixth and Claire was seventh. The top three runners in the handicap system were Randy Humble, Alison Carruthers and John Sampson. There were 24 registrations and seventeen 10-Mile finishers, four 5-Mile finishers and eight Mount Newton trail runners for a total of 29 participants including 15 Harriers. A special thanks went to Lance Watson for overseeing the start, Brad Potentier for recording times, Gary Duncan for producing the results and Claire Morgan for assisting with results and providing prizes.
December 14, 2013
Kris Swanson and Claire Morgan
Kris and Claire emerged as race champions at the 10th annual Harriers Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge at Thetis Lake Park today. This was the third and final race of the Thetis Lake Triple Cross Country Series. Kris, running his first-ever Stewart Mountain event, showed his climbing prowess by powering his way to the summit and charging down the mountain to establish a new course record in the 10 Mile race. His time of 1:01:05 eclipsed the previous mark of 1:02:21 set by Jason Loutitt in 2008. Despite battling a cold and feeling not her best, Claire fought her way to the finish line in 1:14:09 to win her second Stewart Mountain 10 Mile race; she also won in 2011 with a time of 1:14:15. Second place in the men's race went to Nanaimo's Jeremy Clegg in 1:02:01 while Harriers' Logan Roots took third in 1:02:44. Former two-time champion, Melanie McQuaid placed second in the women's field in 1:19:19 and Nanaimo's Cheryl Davies was third in 1:19:21. Patricia Roney won the 5 Mile race outright by half a stride at the line as her time and Matthew Tompson's time were both 40:58 but Patricia was a fraction of a second ahead. Harriers' Bertrand Bozek placed third overall and was the top master in 42:52. There were 122 finishers in the 10 Mile race and another 37 finishers in the 5 Mile race for a total of 159. This was 56 fewer runners than last year's total of 215. Many thanks go to the 50 Harriers that volunteered at the event.
December 12, 2013
Jim Finlayson
Jim was selected as the Athletics Canada Master of the Month today. The following is the acknowledgement copied from the Athletics Canada website: "James Finlayson, BC, was the overall winner of the Masters race at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in Vancouver on November 30. He ran the muddy 8K course in 26:55. James is the top-ranked M40 runner in Canada in 2013 in the 5K, 8K, 10K, and Half Marathon distances."
December 7, 2013
Natasha Wodak, Juliette Christie and Craig Odermatt
Three members of the Prairie Inn Harriers received major awards at the BC Athletics Awards Ceremony held in Richmond tonight just prior to the BCA Annual General Meeting. Natasha was selected as the Senior Female Road Runner of the Year after a brilliant year racing in all disciplines over all distances from the 3,000 metre steeple chase to the marathon, Juliette was named as the Master Female Cross Country Runner of the Year and Craig was chosen as Master Male Cross Country Runner of the Year. Both Craig and Juliette won the BC Cross Championship race in Abbotsford on October 26. A complete list of all BC Athletics award winners can be found on this link to their Home Page: http://www.bcathletics.org/Recognition/. Click on 2013 Award Recipients on the side bar.
December 1, 2013
Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
One day after Claire's victory at Gunner Shaw in Victoria and Gary's M55 gold medal at the National XCs in Vancouver the durable duo were at it again today as part of a longer training Sunday run to finish in a tie for first place in the Merrython 8K at the Henderson Recreation Centre. Here is Gary's race report: "Claire and I both cruised in after doing separate 30 to 40 minute warmups from home, gave flat donations to Runners of Compassion who were there collecting food etc., and followed everyone out to the start line. We spotted Harriers Wendy D., Nancy B. and Brad P., Susan J. and Simon P. There may have been other club members. We basically continued our long runs chatting away about each others Saturday cross country race. A few runners started fast and pulled away while Nancy wasn't far behind us. In the final mile we passed the third and fourth place runners and realized that we were in striking distance of the lead two. Taking the challenge, Claire and I upped the pace only slightly over the last 300 metres and jogged in tied for first place. There was a lovely choir singing carols inside and some tasty Cobs scones, but we didn't hang around much before jogging another 30-40 minutes each mainly together to get home or for me the grocery store."
November 30, 2013
Shane Ruljancich, Claire Morgan, Andrew Pape-Salmon and Camie Bentham
Shane and Claire were the senior men's and women's champions while Andrew and Camie topped the master men's and women's categories at the 29th Annual Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic run under rainy, slippery, puddled and perfect racing conditions! Shane repeated his first place finish in 2011 by hitting the timing mats in 35:30 today. His winning time in 2011 was 34:57 and he took 2012 off with a new baby to allow Jasper Blake to win the event in 35:35. Claire repeated her 2012 first place finish by coming out of the lake in 40:36 today compared to her 41:57 victory last year. In 2011 she placed second to team mate, Melanie McQuaid; their times were 41:14 and 41:47. Andrew, 38:05, had a close M40 battle with Shay Averbush, 38:15, and Simon Reeves, 39:54, while Camie dominated the F40 ranks in 46:59, more than 2 minutes ahead of Patti Rogers, 49:10, and Tracey Cook, 49:22. The top juniors were Annina Lorenzo, 43:57, and Taylor Chan, 41:37. Shawn Nelson was runner-up to Shane today in 35:44 while Matt Cecil took third in 35:53. Patricia Roney was runner-up to Claire to win the F20 division in 42:18 and Harrier Kirsten Sweetland took third in 42:55; they were 27th and 28th overall and Claire was 18th. The strongest age category for the club was M50 where Harriers Garth Campbell, John Catterall, Brent Scott, Larry Nylen and Gary Barber placed 1-2-3-4-5. There were 298 registrations and 261 finishers at Gunner Shaw including 40 Harriers racing and another 46 volunteering with registrations, finish line, food/hot chocolate, awards and marshaling the race course. Complete results are shown on the Gunner Shaw Home Page along with a pre-race video featuring the 29-year history of the race, the benefits of scholarships/bursaries donated from race proceeds, and what founding member, Gunner, meant to the Harriers including the legacy that he left to our club. 6,974 runners have now experienced the Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic race. Gunner died in a car accident in 1984 and he will be remembered fondly and forever by all those that knew him and all those that didn't know him but keep up their tradition of running the GS Classic on the last Saturday of November each year.
November 30, 2013
Natasha Wodak and Jim Finlayson
Natasha won the Senior Women's race and Jim won the Master Men's race and were crowned National Champions at the Canadian Cross Country Championships held at Jericho Park, Vancouver, today on a rainy day featuring a muddy and slippery course. There were 15 club members at the National XCs and all of them ran very well. In the Senior Women's 7K race, Erin Burrett finished 7th overall to anchor Team BC to a second place finish behind Team Ontario and Team Alberta was third. Brittany Therrien was 28th in 27:38. In the Senior Men's 10K race, the PIH team of Geoff Martinson, 13th, Kris Swanson, 21st, Logan Roots, 46th, and Ian Searle, 51st, placed fourth in the very talented and deep Club Teams division. Geoff and Kris also helped Team BC to a silver medal performance behind Team Ontario in the Provincial Teams division. Third place went to Team Quebec. In the Master's 8K race, including both men and women, the M40 team of Jim Finlayson, Craig Odermatt and Bruce Deacon took the gold medal and the M50 team of Gord Christie, Gary Duncan and Mike Moon also took the gold medal in the Club Teams division. Harriers Master Men included Jim Finlayson who finished 1st overall in 26:54, Craig Odermatt was 3rd M40 in 27:35, Bruce Deacon was 4th M45 in 28:26 and Norm Tinkham was 4th M50 in 28:55. Team BC included Jim and Norm and they won gold medals in the Provincial Age-Graded Masters division with Team Alberta taking second place and Team Ontario was third. Juliette Christie took gold in the F50 division and Gary Duncan took gold in the M55 division. There were a total of 513 finishers in the 6 races including Community (58), Junior Women (117), Junior Men (137), Senior Women (54), Senior Men (71) and Master Men and Women (76). The following is the race report from the Athletics Canada website: "VANCOUVER - Six national champions were crowned today at the 2013 Canadian Cross Country Championships at Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver, B.C. Lucas Bruchet of Surrey, B.C., Natasha Wodak of Port Moody, B.C., Justyn Knight of Vaughn, Ont., Heather Petrick of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., James Finlayson of Victoria, B.C., and Maria Zambrano of Calgary, Alta., were all crowned 2013 Champions.
Lucas Bruchet took the senior men's Canadian title in the 10-kilometre race in a time of 31:38.39. Chris Winter of Vancouver, B.C won silver in 31:47.91 and Aaron Hendrikx of Parkhill, Ont., won bronze in 31:50.97.
Natasha Wodak won the senior women's national title in the 7-kilometre race in 24:30.80. Vancouver, B.C.'s Rachel Cliff was right behind her for silver in 24:34.00. Cliff, “It was a great race. Both Natasha and I wanted to go first-secondâ€. Also on the podium was Calgary, Alta.'s Jessica O'Connell in 24:48.07 for the bronze.
Justyn Knight won the men's Canadian Junior title finishing first in the 8-kilometre race in 25:43.30. Knight on his race; “I hate losing and I really felt strong running with Ben (Flanagan) and Mike (Tate).†Ben Flanagan of Kitchener, Ont., clocked 25:47.12 for the silver, “It was a great way to end the seasonâ€. Bronze was won by Mike Tate of Heatherton, N.S., in 25:53.89.
In the junior women's 5-kilometre race Heather Petrick won gold in 17:47.63. “I was able to get an early lead and it is awesome to get revenge after falling last yearâ€, explains Heather. “I am really happy with my trainingâ€. Defending Champion Jillian Forsey of Kippens, NFLD., was second in 18:02.45. “It was a great race and I was happy to be racing with a strong fieldâ€, said Jillian. Third place went to Kitchener, Ont.'s Jaimie Phelan in 18:13.13.
James Finlayson won the overall Masters men's title in 26:54.34. It was a British Columbia sweep in the men's Masters 8-kilometre race with silver going to Burnaby's Oliver Utting in 27:17.66 while bronze went to Victoria's Craig Odermatt in 27:35.00.
The Masters women's national title was won by Maria Zambrano in 30:15.98. Defending champion Catherine Watkins of Vancouver, B.C. raced to a time of 30:31.43 over the 8-kilometre distance. Third went to Rachel Ruus of Richmond, B.C. in 32:10.36. Check the complete results below for Masters age category champions.
For complete results visit www.xcountry.athletics.ca."
November 24, 2013
Lucy Smith and Maia Watson
It was a mother and daughter show at the XTerra Trail Run World Championship Half Marathon at Kualoa Ranch, Kaaawa, Hawaii, today with Lucy finishing 19th overall, second female and only 31 seconds behind race winner Polina Babkina, of Honolulu. Their times were 1:37:24 and 1:37:55. At the age of 46, Lucy was the defending champion as she won this World Championship, extremely rugged, trail half marathon last year. Meanwhile, 12-year-old daughter, Maia, was the third female and placed 14th overall of 340 finishers in the accompanying 5K trail race in 26:11. The 5K winners were Kevin Enriques, 20:55 and Nancy Hobbs, 24:26. The half marathon winner was Patrick Smith, of Salt Lake City, UT, in 1:16:38, followed by Joseph Gray, from Lakewood, WA, in 1:17:26, and Max King, of Bend, OR, in 1:20:53. Gray was also the second place finisher at the Harriers Pioneer 8K in January. There were 818 finishers today in the half marathon, 400 in the 10K and 340 in the 5K for a total of 1,558 finishers.
November 24, 2013
Claire Morgan, Gary Duncan and Andrew Gregg
Andrew was the first Harrier to finish in the 5K race, Claire was first Harrier in the 10K and Gary was first Harrier in the 15K as the MEC Race Series of six events concluded today with their final 5K/10K/15K at a new venue in Oak Bay. All three distances of races started on the Esplanade of Willows Beach with the 10K doing a southern loop, the 5K doing a northern loop and the 15K doing the south and north loops including Cattle Point. Unfortunately, one of the course marshals mis-directed the 5K runners so they only ran 4K which explains the fast times. There were 64 finishers in the 5K with Andrew placing 10th overall in 16:48. The 5K winners were Andrew Howard, 13:39, and Carlin Lindsay, 13th overall in 17:24. While in the middle of a 22K run, Claire started slowly and finished quickly to place 4th overall; she was the top female in the 10K with a time of 39:25. The 10K was the most popular distance with 96 finishers and the winner was Allan Roberts in 38:35. The winner of the 15K was Darren Tannas in 58:49 in a hard-fought battle with Gary who finished 7 seconds back in 58:56 after exchanging the lead many times over the course. The top two females were both in the F50 division and finished 4 seconds apart with Lois Klingbeil taking the victory in 1:10:12. There were 40 finishers in the 15K with Harrier Garrett Therrien placing 10th in 1:11:28.
November 23, 2013
Phil Nicholls and Cheryl Nicholls
Phil was 4th overall today, first M50, while Cheryl was 5th overall and top female at the 33rd Annual Turkey Trot 10K in Las Vegas. Both of their times were 40:09. The race winner was 16-year-old David Peters in 35:46 while Ruud Hadders, 27, placed second in 36:57 and Gamini Sugathadasa, 43, was third overall and top master in 37:07. The second place female was Rachael Robnett, 28 years old; she was 6th overall in 41:56, and Julie Bertoia, 36, took third in 44:41. There were 110 finishers in the 10K and another 124 in an accompanying 5K for a total of 234 finishers at the Turkey Trot hosted annually by the Las Vegas Running Team.
November 17, 2013
David Jackson
Abbotsford Harrier, David Jackson, won the New Balance Fall Classic Half Marathon in Vancouver today in 1:10:53. Second place went to Vancouver's Evan Elder, in 1:12:37, and Bryan Andrews, of North Vancouver, took third in 1:14:30. The top female in the race was Coquitlam's Courtney Powell, 12th overall in 1:23:51. There were 967 finishers including 333 men and 444 women. Today was David's fourth victory in 2013 half marathons with other overall wins in Whistler, Surrey and Abbotsford. He also placed 4th in the First Half Half, 5th at the GoodLife Fitness Half and 6th at the BMO Vancouver Half for a total of 7 half marathons this year recording excellent performances at all of them.
November 16, 2013
Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
Claire and Gary continued with their successful Fall racing programs by finishing fourth and sixth overall of 382 finishers at the challenging Bear Mountain 10K today, run on the concrete pathways of the Bear Mountain Golf Course in Langford and the Highlands. Claire's fourth place finish in 41:00 topped the women's field with second place going to Patricia Roney, fifth overall in 41:11, while Julia Tschanz took third; she was ninth overall in 42:54. Gary won the M50 division in 42:00, almost six minutes ahead of his closest age category rival, Patrick Desjardins, who finished 21st in 47:52. The top three men in the 10K were Vancouver's Larry Abbott, in 37:27, followed by Frontrunners Victoria runners Shawn Nelson, 38:49, and Eric Findlay, 39:36. Other Harriers running well included Julien Marceau, 4th M30 in 42:52, Rob Reid, 4th M50 in 47:37, Brandon Willson, 2nd M16 in 49:05, and Austin Willson, 3rd M16 in 52:04. In the accompanying half marathon, billed as "The Toughest Half Marathon in Canada", the winners were Nanaimo's Damian Allen, in 1:27:10, and Victoria's Catrin Jones, third overall in 1:27:40. There were 382 finishers in the 10K and 64 finishers in the half marathon for a total of 446. This was 46 fewer from last year's total of 492.
November 11, 2013
Lucy Smith and Larry Nylen
Lucy won the Solo Division and Larry celebrated his 52nd birthday with a gold medal and a merchandise prize at the 17th annual Thetis Lake 20K Relay today run under favourable, but cool conditions. Lucy finished first of five solo men and women in 1:18:55 and, more impressively, she finished 9th overall of 92 teams. She missed Judith Leroy's solo course record of 1:15:30 set in 2006 were Judith finished 16th overall of 115 teams. Larry's team comprised of himself, Gary Duncan, Garth Campbell and Kevin Searle finished first of three teams in the Veteran Men's Division; they were 12th overall in 1:20:23. His team received Harriers shirts and shorts as a prize for one of the Most Unique Names in the event - "Eight Balls of Fire". The top three teams were Dover Bay Lazerhawks, a junior team from Nanaimo, in 1:07:50, PIH - The Derek Zoolander Team in 1:08:06, a senior team from Shawnigan Lake, and Westwood Wolfpack in 1:08:08, a senior team from Nanaimo. This is the first time in the 17-year history of the Thetis Lake Relay that a junior team has won the race. The 92 finishing teams (350 runners) this year was 23 teams fewer than last year's total of 115. Since the inaugural Harriers event in 1997, the Thetis Lake Relay has attracted a total of 2,164 teams involving well over 8,000 runners.
November 11, 2013
Gord Christie and Ulla Hansen
Gord and Ulla were the top Harriers at the 32nd annual Remembrance Day 8K Cross Country race in Stanley Park today hosted by the Hershey Harriers. Gord finished 37th overall of 144 finishers in 33:45; he was 6th in the M50 division won by Mark Bennett in 28:30 to place third overall in the race. Ulla, making a comeback after over ten years of not racing, showed that she still has the speed and endurance by topping the F55 division in 36:58; she won her age category by 9 minutes over Ruby Ferguson, 45:58, and was the 8th female overall which included many fast junior and senior runners! Her report from Vancouver said that she was stiff as a board for the next 2 days. Nicholas Browne, 31, won the race in 28:15 and the top female was Lisa Brooking, 25, 7th overall in 30:09. In the battle of the M65 legends, Nanaimo's Arjan Gelling beat Vancouver's Jim Swadling 34:42 to 36:31. They finished 42nd and 51st overall. The 144 finishers this year was exactly the same number as the event attracted last year.
November 3, 2013
Yuki Otsubo
Yuki had a great race today clocking 3:39:07 at the New York City Marathon. At 53, he placed 613th in the M50 division and finished a respectable 7,351st of 79,662 registered runners of which 50,266 finished. The race was run into 25 kph headwinds most of the day so the winning time by the defending champion, Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai, was 2:08:24, more than 3 minutes slower than his course record time of 2:05:03 set last year. The top female was also a Kenyan, Priscah Jeptoo, in 2:25:07. The first Canadian female was top-level triathlete, Lisa Bentley, who finished as 29th female overall in 2:52:52. Three time RVM winner, Suzanne Evans, was second Canadian and well up in the master's standings in 2:57:02; she was the 39th female to finish.
November 3, 2013
Chris Callendar
Chris had a tremendous race today by setting a personal best time of 2:50:28 to win the 4th annual Boundary Bay Marathon, a race that goes from Tsawwassen to White Rock and back mostly on a flat gravel trail. He improved his time by over 9 minutes from his previous best of 2:59:45 which he ran at the North Discovery Marathon in Port Angeles in 2011. Tri Events were the organizers and several distances were offered at Boundary Bay including a Full Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, 10K and 5K. The route was on a beautiful, scenic, gravel, ocean side trail and all distances were an out and back design. Second place in the marathon went to Ivo Rytir in 2:54:11 and Sean Conner placed third in 3:06:48. The top three women were Jody Kennett, 3:38:28, Kimberly McLean, 3:44:26, and Evelyn Lee, 3:45:43. There were 90 finishers in the Marathon, 85 in the Marathon Relay, 257 in the Half Marathon, 170 in the 10K and 67 in the 5K for a total of 669 finishers at Boundary Bay today.
October 27, 2013
Shane Ruljancich
Shane continued his dominance at Mountain Equipment Co-op races by comfortably winning the MEC 10K today in 34:48, over a 3-minute margin of victory. Second place went to Luke Gjerdalen in 37:58 and Brodie Elder took third in 38:14. The top female was Navarana Smith, 13th overall in 40:53. Winners of the accompanying 5K race were Damian Allen, 17:27, and Claire Clarke, second overall in 18:47. The 15K champions were Craig Logan, in 58:45, and new Harrier, Penny Young, 5th overall in 1:06:26. There were 45 finishers in the 5K, 62 finishers in the 10K and 30 finishers in the 15K for a total of 137. Other Harriers running well included Chris Callendar, 4th overall and second M30 in the 10K race and Wendy Davies, 18th overall and first F50 in the 15K race.
October 27, 2013
Richard Mosley and David Jackson
Richard and David finished second and third of 840 finishers at the 43rd annual James Cunningham 5.9 Mile (9.5K) Seawall Race today at Stanley Park. Richard's time was 29:20 while David broke the tape in 29:44. The race champion was Vancouver's Kelly Weibe, in 28:39; he also won the GFVM Half Marathon two weeks ago in 1:04:59. The female James Cunningham Seawall Champion was Vancouver's Shauna Skinner, 18th overall in 36:02 in an extremely close women's race where the top three finished 18th, 19th and 20th and were only 3 seconds apart. Second place went to the top master, Helen Ritchie, of Vancouver, 36:04, while Lissa Zimmer, of Los Gatos, placed third in 36:05. Other Harriers running well included Kristina Rody, 2nd F35 in 37:18, and Julie Van Veelen, 3rd F35 in 39:52, one day after her silver medal performance at the BC Cross Country Championships in Abbottsford. Today's 840 finishers was 51 fewer than last year's total of 891. The JCSWR is one of the oldest running fixtures in British Columbia, starting in 1971 and continuing for 43 consecutive years. Next year, a brand new event will be hosted alongside of this prestigious 10K race - the Rock 'n Roll Oasis Vancouver Half Marathon. Here is a press release from yesterday: http://bcathletics.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/new-rock-n-roll-half-marathon-announced-for-vancouver/
October 27, 2013
Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
Claire finished second overall in 1:25:43 and Gary was fifth overall, first in the M50 division in 1:27:18, at the 38th annual Shawnigan-Kinsol Half Marathon today, one of the oldest continuous races in British Columbia. For Claire, this is the highest place ever for a female finisher at this storied Shawnigan Lake classic fall event. The race champion was Thomas Marrs, from Duncan, who was the only runner to break 1:20 by winning the event in 1:19:31. Third place overall went to the top master, Felipe Edora, in 1:26:53. The second and third females were Katie Hagen, 1:37:04, and Harriers' Dianne Dennis, who was also the top master by winning the F50 division in 1:39:41 to finish 19th overall. In the accompanying Half-a-Half 10.6K race, the champions were Yonden Sherpa in 41:44 and Myah Miranda in 45:08. There were 143 finishers in the Shawnigan-Kinsol Half Marathon and another 113 finishers in the Half-a-Half for a total of 256. Last year the event attracted 309 finishers.
October 27, 2013
Andrew Pape-Salmon and Matthew Salmon
Andrew not only claimed the top master's spot, but he also defended his championship from last year and won the race outright of 234 finishers in 52:06 today at the Perseverance 10.5K Mountain Run in Cumberland, just west of Courtenay. Second place went to Miguel Laroche in 52:14 while Andrew Howard took third in 53:30. The top female was Kelsey Knoll, 18th overall in 1:02:07. Matthew, Sara's brother, was second in the 19-and-under division in 1:00:42 at the age of 12; he improved his time by 7 minutes over last year's performance and moved from 41st overall last year to 16th overall this year. Sara's sister, Eva, was third in the F13 division, 12th overall, in the accompanying 3K race which attracted 88 finishers. The record total of 322 finishers today was 45 more than last year's mark of 277 as the race continues to grow each year.
October 26, 2013
Craig Odermatt and Juliette Christie
Craig and Juliette won gold medals in their respective M40 and F50 age categories and topped the master ranks at the BC Cross Country Championships in Abbottsford today. Craig finished first of 51 men competing in 7 age divisions in 26:57 while Juliette was first of 19 women in 32:54. Several other Harriers ran well at the championships including Geoff Martinson, 30:59, who was second overall in the Senior Men's 10K race to Point Grey's Lucas Bruchet, 30:45. The top female in the Senior Women's 6K race was GFVM 8K champion, Rachel Cliff, in 20:58. Erin Burrett was 4th in 21:31 while Brittany Therrien placed 13th of 39 finishers in 23:34. The PIH team of Geoff Martinson (2nd), Kris Swanson (6th), Logan Roots (16th) and Ian Searle (19th) of 37 finishers took silver medals in the team division with 43 points. Point Grey Track and Field Club claimed gold with 15 points and Trinity Western took the bronze with 44 points. Julie van Veelen was second F35 in 34:45 while Norm Tinkham, Mike Moon and Gord Christie placed 1-2-3 in the M50 division in 28:47, 30:40 and 31:01. Gary Duncan had a strong run in the M55 division placing second to Doug Alyward, 30:14 to 31:14; Gary was about a minute faster than his time on the same course last year. The BCXCs is comprised of 13 different races encompassing 36 age categories and several different distances from the 9-year-olds running 1.5 kilometres to Senior Women (20+) doing 6K and Senior Men (20+) running 10K. All masters competitors, men and women, run 8 kilometres as one large group. The event attracted 454 finishers. Next up is the Canadian Cross Country Championships at Jericho Park in Vancouver on Saturday, November 30 which is the same day as the Harriers host the 29th annual Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic in Victoria.
October 25, 2013
Maurice Tarrant
The Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club was formed in 1978 and, over the past 35 years, there has never been a greater master runner than Maurice Tarrant. He is a world-class marvel. Since joining the club in 1983, Maurice has set 65 Canadian age class records and many, many more British Columbia records in every distance from one mile to the marathon. The following is a tribute from his daughter, Claire, who ran with him in the GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K Road Race, which he won his age category by over 15 minutes! The article is compliments of today's Victoria News:
"Last Sunday (October 13) I had the privilege of running the GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K race with my dad, or as many refer to him, 'the running legend' Maurice Tarrant.
At 83, dad is a prime example of how keeping healthy and active can extend your life. A year and a couple months ago, he had heart valve replacement surgery. That took time and strength to recover from, but everyone agrees that his healthy running lifestyle going into that procedure helped him bounce back from it.
After all, dad is not just a casual runner. The January-February 2010 issue of Canadian Running magazine named Maurice Tarrant as its Age-Group Champion in the annual Golden Shoe Awards, writing that he had, "… steadily set Canadian age-group records for most of the last 30 years – some 58 of them!!"
Canadian Running reported that in 2010 alone, he set 10 records at various distances, including a world record for 15K (one hour, 13 minutes, 28 seconds). That required a pace of 4:54 per kilometre (7:54 per mile). Age-grading would make his time 45:21 using the World Masters Athletics system.
Eight months after his heart surgery, dad ran the TC10K, a sign he was on the road back to recovery. Then, as if to challenge him more, a couple months later he was affected by gallstones and had to have his gallbladder removed. Another surgery, another story of proof that nothing can keep him down and that being a runner has allowed him many more healthy years.
As dad and I arrived at the awards ceremony following the 8K race on the Sunday, we read the course records board and there was dad’s name five times in a row, for past 8K course records, in age categories from 60-64 up to his present 80-99.
In fact, at 63 he had raced through this 8K with an astounding time of 28:56.
His name was also listed three times under the half marathon age-class records, from 70-74 with a time of 1:33:40, up to his 80-84 division record. Of course he was relieved to find out that all eight course records still stood after this day.
As we stood there reading all this, a man approached dad, introduced himself and shook his hand. I recognized him. It was the legendary Tom Howard, who won the masters class in the marathon with a record time of 2:27:36 in 1988, and in past has won this Victoria Marathon race three times as an elite runner. His course record of 2:18:49 set in 1981 stood for 25 years.
He now appreciated even more what an amazing runner dad is. Going into the 8K race that day, Tom felt he might be able to beat dad’s record in the 60-64 age class. Yet he finished a substantial three minutes off that time.
As I watched dad accept his first-place medal, I marveled once again at all his achievements. Yet he continues to be the humblest man I know. His hundreds of medals and trophies are tucked away in stacks of shoe boxes in his storage room.
Everyone in the running world knows him and speaks of him as a kind and gentle man. He is supported by his wife of 63 years – my beautiful mum Phyllis – his five children and 10 grandchildren.
I was honoured to be able to share that day with my dad. How appropriate it happened on Thanksgiving weekend. I am thankful for his returning health and all he represents as a world-class athlete, a husband, dad and granddad. He truly is my hero!"
Claire Tarrant-Rowley is the daughter of veteran distance runner Maurice Tarrant. She lives in Saanich, while her father lives in Sidney.
October 23, 2013
Simon Whitfield
After a storied career in triathlon and many, many international victories over a 20-year span, Simon officially announced his retirement from competitive racing today. He was a tremendous ambassador for the sport of triathlon, road running and cross country and always tried to attend local events amid his extensive travel to competitions, sponsor endorsements, be a motivational speaker or special invited guest at an event. He participated in a number of Harriers-hosted races including recording overall victories at the Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic, the Songhees 5K Foot Race, the Thetis Lake Relay, both as a team member and as a 20K Solo Division winner, and at the BC Cross Country Championships with a thrilling sprint to the line against team mates Steve Osaduik and Mark Bomba. PIH hosted the BCXC Championships for two years at Lambrick Park and Simon's win anchored the Harriers Senior Men's Team to a gold medal performance. He also had podium performances at larger events including the TC10K, GFVM 8K and Sun Run 10K. Always wanting to give something back to the community and to the Harriers, Simon attended a Tuesday Night Workout session and afterwards he invited over 100 club members and their families to Cedar Hill Recreation Centre for an entertaining "Ask Simon" question and answer period. Over one thousand dollars in donations raised at that social function was given to a local charity. With his retirement Simon thanked a huge number of training partners, athletes, coaches, family members and friends that influenced and encouraged him along his amazing athletic journey. His "Thank You" report is here. http://simonwhitfield.com/ Cleve Dheensaw gave Simon a very fitting tribute in this morning's Times Colonist as follows:
After thousands of kilometres swum, cycled and run — and several podiums climbed — Simon Whitfield of Victoria is retiring from competitive triathlon.
The 38-year-old confirmed his decision to the Times Colonist on Tuesday, but said he won’t comment until the official announcement is made today.
Whitfield first landed on the world stage in the shadow of the Sydney Opera House as the then little-known athlete won a spectacularly unexpected gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He followed up eight years later with a gutsy silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In between was the gold medal at Manchester in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Whitfield carried the Canadian flag into the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games. But his fourth Olympics ended with a dramatic thud when his bike wobbled after riding over a TV cable cover and Whitfield crashed out of London with a broken collarbone.
He had already been ramping it back post-London, saying the most competitive he gets these days is by playing soccer in the Saanich Beer League against local chefs.
Whitfield has become involved recently in mentoring future Canadian Olympians and raising funds for them through the CIBC Team Next program and Gold Medal Meals, the Island version of which takes place Nov. 7 at the Victoria Conference Centre.
October 20, 2013
Natasha Wodak
Natasha ran a remarkable FIRST marathon today at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon by hitting the line in 2:35:16 in a star-studded field of Kenyans and Ethiopians both in the men's and the women's ranks. Her very structured training, under coach Richard Lee, was for Natasha to run a goal time of 2:36:00 and she was bang on pace every step of the way! Another Victoria runner, Marilyn Arsenault, was also shooting for 2:40:00 and ran 2:40:20 to win her age category. Natasha was 10th female and 35th overall of 3,599 finishers including 2,326 men and 1,273 women. Marilyn was 11th female and 44th overall. The following is a report from Athletics Canada which features several records including a new Canadian mark for Lanni Marchant and British Columbia Records for Natasha (Open Women) and Marilyn (F45 Women):
Toronto - Lanni Marchant of London, Ont., broke the women's Canadian marathon record today at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Marchant crossed the finish line in 2:28:00, dipping below Silvia Ruegger's performance of 2:28:36 set in 1985. Marchant was one year old when Ruegger set that mark. "The weather was perfect, the day was perfect. Both Krista and I ran perfect. I am ecstatic right now," said Lanni after the race. She added, "I think Silvia Ruegger was ready for Canadian women to take that jump and set a new record." Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ont., also ran below Ruegger's mark as she finished in a personal best of 2:28:32. "It's ideal - someone right beside you pushing you. It's phenomenal for women in this sport. I have no regrets, I left everything out there," said DuChene. Natasha Wodak of Port Moody, B.C., ran an impressive 2:35:16 in her marathon debut.
Eric Gillis of Antigonish, N.S., was the top Canadian male in 2:11:47 with Rob Watson of London, Ont., setting a personal best of 2:13:27. "I felt like the (men's Canadian) record was achievable up to 30K. Around 34K I just wanted a personal best," said Gillis after the race. A more detailed report on the race from the STWM website can be read here: http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/blog/2013/10/records-breaking-day-at-scotiabank-toronto-waterfront-marathon-by-paul-gains-2/
October 20, 2013
Mike Janes and Roger Plamondon
Mike finished third at the Miracle Beach 10K today and Roger won the accompanying 5K race, two events hosted by River Runners of Campbell River. The top three men in the 10K were Mark Cryderman, 34:14, Matt Mortimer, 36:34, and Mike Janes, 38:01, and the top three women were Cheryl Davies, 41:12, Josephine Simpson, 42:12, and Saram Runyon, 42:13. Honourable mention goes to 66-year old Arjan Gelling, from Nanaimo, who ran an incredible 40:12 to finish 7th overall of 116 finishers. In the Miracle Beach 5K it was Roger Plamondon winning in 19:26 with the top female, Carmen Christiansen, coming second in 21:25 and William Clyde took third in 21:37. There were 116 finishers in the 10K and 88 finishers in the 5K for a total of 204.
October 13, 2013
Ken Bonner, Rintje Raap and Gary Duncan
For the feature race, the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, the club is honoured to salute three LEGENDS in the sport. Ken has competed in every single Victoria Marathon, this year marking his 34th consecutive performance where he finished in third place in the M70 division in 4:57:26. In the first Royal Victoria Marathon in 1980, Ken was 390th overall and 171st M35 in 3:38:11. Rintje has an equally impressive string of excellent Victoria Marathons by finishing his 28th event today; he has only missed 6 RVMs. After undergoing complete hip replacement surgery 15 years ago, Rintje placed second in the M75 division today in 4:59:59. Ironically, he was second in the M40 division in the inaugural 1980 race where he placed 15th overall in 2:39:47. Another club legend, Gunner Shaw, was 7th overall in the first RVM in 2:33:36. What more can be said about the indestructible, incredible, Gary Duncan. He is a running machine. For the first time in the 34-year history of the GFVM, Gary competed in TWO events and reached the podium in both of them with an M55 gold medal performance in the 8K Road Race followed one hour later by an M55 bronze medal performance in the full marathon. He placed 19th overall of 2,605 finishers in the 8K in 29:37 and 135th overall of 1,693 finishers in the marathon in 3:15:21. If you do the math, you will find that he raced 50.2 kilometres in less than 3 hours and 45 minutes today. Coupled with the fact he spent countless hours measuring and marking all three race courses and attended numerous Organizing Committee meetings, Gary is genuinely worthy of PIH "Legend" status as he stands proudly beside Ken, Rintje and Gunner! Other Harriers running well in the marathon included Ian Hallam, 15th M40 in 3:00:26, Norm Dolan, 4th M60 in 3:31:13 and Julie Van Veelen, 4th F35 in 3:12:36. The race winners were Kenyan Lamech Mokono, with a new course record of 2:13:42, and Victoria's Catrin Jones, with a new personal best of 2:43:03. She also won the event in 2010. There were 11,768 registrations in all four events with a total of 10,255 finishers including 1,693 in the Marathon, 4,657 in the Half Marathon, 2,605 in the 8K Road race and 1,300 in the Thrifty Foods Kids' Run.
October 13, 2013
Geoff Martinson, David Jackson, Jim Finlayson and Lucy Smith
With more than 20 Harriers competing in the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon today, the PIH cream of the crop rose to the top with Geoff's second place performance and a P.B. of 1:05:18, David's fifth place performance, first M35 in 1:08:22, and both Jim, 1:09:47, and Lucy, 1:17:54, topping the master's ranks. Jim was 8th overall and Lucy was 30th overall and 4th female of 4,657 finishers. Several other Harriers placed in the top five in their respective age divisions including Logan Roots, 3rd M19 in 1:12:59, Garth Campbell, 3rd M50 in 1:20:59, Mike Arensen, 3rd M40 in 1:22:51, Claire Morgan, 3rd F35 in 1:23:28, Dianne Dennis, 4th F50 in 1:37:28, Garth Ball, 1st M75 in 1:59:13 and John Woodall, 2nd M80 in 2:21:40. Club members running close to, or improving, their personal best times were Jeremy Watts, 1:17:27, Chris Callendar, 1:19:51, Garrett Therrien, 1:32:59, and over a 3-minute P.R. for Lisa Cantwell, 1:42:43. The Harriers team of Jeremy, Chris, Claire and Garrett placed second of 25 teams in the team competition with an average time of 1:23:24. VFAC won the team category with an average time of 1:16:59 and Vancouver Frontrunners came third in 1:41:44. The overall GFVM race champions were both running their first-ever half marathon and had outstanding debuts with Kelly Wiebe, from Vancouver, winning the men's race in 1:04:59 and Victoria's Hilary Stellingwerff winning the women's race in 1:16:11, she was 21st overall of the 4,657 finishers.
October 13, 2013
Craig Odermatt, Brittany Therrien and Cheryl Nicholls
Masters members and new members were the top Harriers finishers at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K Road Race today which started at 7:15 am. Craig and Cheryl won the M40 and F40 age categories in 26:01 and 31:38; Craig was 4th overall of 2,605 finishers and Cheryl was 7th female to the line. Brittany was the top female Harrier in 30:20; she was the third female overall behind race champion Rachel Cliff, 27:50, and runner-up, Patricia Roney, 29:41. Brittany won the F20 age division by two minutes. The top three men in the race were all from Victoria and included Olivier Collin in 24:40, Nick Walker, 25:25, and Trevor Schiavone, 25:53. Other Harriers performing well and reaching the podium in their respective age categories were Farisha Arensen, 2nd F16 in 34:14, Martha McNeely, 2nd F60 in 40:31, Todd Howard, 2nd M30 in 26:48, Bruce Deacon, 1st M45 in 26:10, John Catterall, 1st M50 in 30:26, Phil Nicholls, 2nd M50 in 31:32, Gary Duncan, 1st M55 in 29:37, John Cliff, 1st M70 in 35:32 and the phenomenal Maurice Tarrant, 1st M80 in 46:09, more than 15 minutes ahead of his next M80 rival. The team of Gary Duncan, Shirley Elm, Martha McNeely and Jane McDonald won the gold medal in the team category with an average time of 39:49, closely followed by Salt Spring Sneakers in second place, 39:53, and Bob's Mob took third in 48:36. See other marathon ROTW report on Gary's incredible "double" today.
October 6, 2013
Natasha Wodak, Erin Burrett and Richard Mosely
Natasha, 1:14:39, and Erin, 1:17:03, were first and fourth females and Richard, 1:07:24, finished 8th overall today at the massive Rock 'N Roll San Jose Half Marathon featuring 10,237 finishers. Natasha narrowly missed her P.R. of 1:14:06 set last year at GFVM and Erin did achieve a sizable P.R by almost 3 minutes. Her previous best of 1:21:55 was set in Eugene, OR, in 2010 and last year she improved her best time to 1:19:57 at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon. Point Grey's Sabrina Wilkie was three seconds behind Erin in 1:17:06 to claim fifth place in San Jose. Megan Deakins, from Mountain View, CA, was the second female in 1:16:33 while Ramona Sanchez, Sparks, NV, took third in 1:17:02. Natasha, Erin and Sabrina placed 19th, 29th and 30th overall in a very deep and competitive field. The top three men in the race were Ryan Vail, from Portland, OR, in 1:02:46, Fernanco Cabada, 1:03:14, Boulder, CO, and former Harrier from Vancouver, Dylan Wykes, took the bronze in 1:03:47. The event was so large with well over 10,000 finishers that the race results encompassed 410 pages. A link to the BC Athletics more detailed report on the race can be found here http://bcathletics.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/wodak-wins-in-san-jose-dylan-wykes-3rd/
September 29, 2013
Ian Searle
Ian was the top Harrier and third overall in 28:06 at the Whistler 8K Spirit Run at Whistler Olympic Park today in a small but very talented field of 45 men. The top two runners were Chris Winter, repeating as champion from last year, in 26:14, and first master Kevin O'Connor, in 27:09. There were 55 women in the 6K race with the top three positions going to defending champion, Rachel Cliff, 21:23, Victoria's Hilary Stellingwerff, 21:36, and Alechia Kallos, 23:37. There were 91 in the School Runs (U13, U16, U18), 55 Women, 45 Men and 52 Corporate runners for a total of 243 finishers, down 10 from last year's total of 253.
September 29, 2013
David Jackson and Lucy Smith
David and Lucy were the top Harriers and overall champions of the second annual Surrey International World of Music Half Marathon today. Their times were 1:11:14 and 1:20:32 and Lucy placed 7th overall in the field of 818 finishers. She was the top master and won the F45 division. Second place in the men's race went to Surrey's Drew Nicholson, in 1:14:55, while Nicholas Browne, from Vancouver, took third in 1:17:30. Three-time Royal Victoria Marathon winner, Suzanne Evans, was second female in 1:24:45 and Karen Warrendorf placed third in 1:31:37; all three females were masters. There were 180 finishers in the accompanying marathon won by a 45-year-old husband and wife team of Tatsuya Hatachi and Rika Hatachi from Coquitlam in 2:47:18 and 2:59:41. Rika was third overall. Gillian Gook won the 5K race out rignt in 18:14 followed by the top male from Victoria, Devon Liversidge, who finished in 18:46. There were 205 finishers in the 5K.
September 22, 2013
Jeremy Lawrence
Jeremy finished his first MOMAR (Mind over Mountain Adventure Race) with a time of 6:34:23. He teamed up with Sarah Newman of Maple Ridge and their Co-ed team of "Blind Date" was 17th overall out of 123 teams to finish in third place in the two person Co-ed category. Other Harriers performing well in the MOMAR Enduro 50K included Hayden Earle with his team mate Roger MacLeod as they were 6th overall and 3rd in the two man teams in 6:01:11 and Shane Ruljancich and Garth Campbell who were 4th in the two man teams in 6:01:55. The duo of Nick Walker and Eric Findlay from Frontrunners Westshore were 6th in the two man teams in 6:21:41. The overall champions were Nanaimo's Justin Mark and Jeff Riemer in 5:04:00. The race had 475 participants including 123 teams in the 50K Enduro Course and another 87 teams in the 30K Short Course. The event consisted of kayaking, trail running with navigation and mountain biking. The MOMAR was held in the historic mining town of Cumberland and is the only one scheduled in 2013.
September 21, 2013
Sara Pape-Salmon and Addrew Pape-Salmon
For the second consecutive year Sara and Andrew traveled to Manning Park between Hope and Princeton and both came home with impressive performances at the Mount Frosty Trail Races. Sara placed 5th overall and was the top female in the 13K race with a time of 1:06:44; she was also the first female in this race last year where she set the course record of 1:05:55. Once again, Andrew was runner-up to race champion, Jamie Dunnett, as he was second overall and top master in 2:34:13 in the 27K race. Other Harriers ran well in the 27K including Jeremy Watts, 7th OA in 2:58:54, Larry Nylen, 11th OA and first M50 in 3:07:46, Valerie Bell, 21st OA and first F50 in 3:40:01, Lisa Cantwell, 37th OA and third F40 in 4:06:47, Elaine Galbraith, 47th OA and 9th F40 in 4:42:00, and Andrew Galbraith, 51st OA and 9th M40 in 4:49:55. There are three race distances (50K Ultra, 27K Endurance, and 13K Lightning) to choose from. The Ultra distance is a one-loop, two-mountain run and it was won by Alex Guigue in 5:24:46 and Sara Elias, who was the top female, and finished 10th overall in 6:15:29. The Endurance distance is a one-loop, one-mountain run won by Jamie Dunnett in 2:29:15 and the Lightning distance is a one-loop run around Lightning Lake won by David Lee in 59:10. There were 56 finishers in the 50K race, 57 in the 27K and 28 in the 13K for a total of 141 Frosty Mountain runners.
September 21, 2013
Kris Swanson and Erin Burrett
Kris and Erin did double duties for the Harriers and for Team BC today as both of them counted towards the mixed team and, as a result, British Columbia made it a clean sweep by winning the Senior Men's, Senior Women's and Senior Mixed titles at the Timex Provincial Team Championships at the Oasis Zoo 10K Run in Toronto, Ontario. The average winning time for Senior Men was 32:50 and the BC Team roster was comprised of Kris Swanson, 32:20, Kevin Friesen, 33:03, Dylan Gant, 33:08, and Harriers' Craig Odermatt, 33:50. They finished 12th, 15th, 17th and 22nd overall. Craig was the second master of 105 in the M40 division. Nova Scotia was second with an average time of 35:53 and Saskatchewan took third in 36:07. Team BC members for Senior Women were Erin Burrett, 35:53, Sabrina Wilkie, 36:28, Catherine Watkins, 36:59, and Harriers' Claire Morgan, 38:39. Their average time was 36:27. Saskatchewan placed second in 39:14 and Nova Scotia was third in 41:55. The Mixed BC Team averaged 34:26 and members included Kris Swanson, Kevin Friesen, Erin Burrett and Sabrina Wilkie. Reid Coolsaet, 29:50, of Hamilton, ON, and Lanni Marchant, 34:07, of London, ON, earned Canadian titles at the Oasis Zoo Run which served as the Canadian Championship for the 10-kilometre road race distance. Rounding out the podium for the men were Eric Gillis, 29:56, of Antigonish, NS, and Dylan Wykes, 30:11, of Kingston, ON. Second and third for the women were Krista DuChene, 34:37, of Branford, ON, and Lioudmila Kortchaguina, 34:52, of Thornhill, ON. A travel-weary Harriers' Natasha Wodak was fourth in 35:13 as the top four women placed 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th overall of the 2,362 finishers including 892 men and 1,470 women. There were an additional 1,375 finishers in an accompanying 5K race. The 10K event also served as the Finale for the annual Timex National Road Race Series, comprised of 84 races across the country starting with the Harriers Pioneer 8K in January and concluding with the Oasis Zoo 10K in September. Kip Kangogo, of Lethbridge, AB, Kris Swanson, of Victoria, BC, and Kevin Friesen, of Coquitlam, BC, finished as the top three in the men's individual category. The top three women in the Timex Series Finale were Natasha Wodak, of Port Moody, BC, Rachel Hannah, of Toronto, ON, and Erin Burrett, of Nanaimo, BC.
September 15, 2013
Kris Swanson
One week after his strong performance at the World Mountain Running Championship in Poland where he anchored Team Canada to their highest-ever finish of tenth place, Kris was back at it again on the tough slopes of North Vancouver. He ran 30:21 and placed seventh overall of 181 finishers at the ClearlyContacts.ca Grouse Grind Mountain Run today. The Grouse Grind champion was Joseph Gray in 26:23; he was the second place finisher at the Harriers Pioneer 8K in January. Second place went to Michael Simpson, 28:00, while Nick Elson placed third in 28:40. The top three women were Morgan Arritola, with a winning time of 31:22, Melanie Sakowski, in 33:35, and Brandi Heisterman, in 33:55. They were 9th, 16th and 19th overall. Kris was second in the M30 age category and Harriers team mate, Richard Knowlton, was 8th in that division and 21st overall in 34:20. It has been an ambitious racing schedule for Kris as he has competed in a track race, two difficult mountain races and a road race on four consecutive weekends. On August 31, he finished 4th at the 10,000 metres in the Q's Victoria Run Series, on September 8, he placed 36th in Poland at the World Mountain Running Championship, today he finished 7th in Vancouver at the Grouse Grind and next Saturday he will represent Team BC in Toronto at the National 10K Road Race Championship. He also won the Emporer's Challenge in Tumbler Ridge on August 10 and placed third at the Summerfast 10K on July 21 in Vancouver to secure fourth spot overall in the Timex BC Series.
September 14, 2013
Richard Mosely, David Jackson and Bruce Deacon
Canadian Olympian Dylan Wykes and Toronto's Lioudmila Kortchaguina, the current Canadian Women's Marathon Champion, recorded impressive victories at today's inaugural Vancouver Eastside 10K, a new Canada Running Series event. Wykes and Kortchguina each collected one thousand dollar bonuses for their new course records of 29:42 and 33:57 respectively, on top of the eight hundred dollars first-place prize money. The race, directed by Clif Cunningham, attracted more than 1,500 competitors from five provinces and six countries. Harriers' Richard Mosley, from Coquitlam, finished second in 31:34 and came off best in a 2-man battle with team mate David Jackson, from Abbotsford, taking third with a time of 31:55. Bruce Deacon proved he still has some speed in his legs at the age of 46 as he finished seventh overall of 1,257 finishers in 33:07. He was the second master to Vancouver's Kevin O'Connor who took fifth place in 32:23. Rachel Cliff, who raced so well for Canada at the World Cross Country Championships in Poland last March, came in second in the women's field in 35:16 on her 10K debut. Sabrina Wilkie, from Vancouver, was third with a time of 35:31. "We were thrilled with the turnout today," said Canada Running Series president Alan Brookes, "What a fabulous first edition. We can't thank everyone enough for getting the inaugural Vancouver Eastside 10K off to such a wonderful start. We are very proud to be able to race the Eastside and look forward to building this event into a big, national 10K." The Eastside 10K had 1,495 registrations and 1,257 finishers including 574 men and 683 women.
September 14, 2013
Erin Burrett
Erin was the top Harrier of only two club members today at the Run for the Mountain 6K in Nanaimo. She was the first female overall in 12th position of 271 finishers with a time of 21:53. Second place female went to Wendy Simms, 24:51, and Madison Heisterman took third in 24:53. Simms was top master (40 and over) while Heisterman was top junior (under 20). The first three men in the race were Peter Oxland, 20:56, Shelby Drope, 21:00, and Anthony Serbon, 21:10. Peter Oxland was the top junior while Port Alberni's Royd Burkart was the top master. Burkart finished 5th overall in 21:16. Harriers' Dee Ogden finished as 4th master with a time of 31:57 after a long lay-off due to injuries. Congratulations, Erin, and welcome back, Dee! Erin has just returned from a 3-week session of altitude training in Flagstaff, AZ, and is currently preparing for the National 10K Road Race Championship in Toronto next Saturday as part of Team BC. She will be joined by Harriers team mates Natasha Wodak and Claire Morgan.
September 13, 2013
Natasha Wodack
Natasha finished 10 seconds under the Women's 10,000 Metre Record but missed a podium position by 11 seconds recording a fourth place finish in a star-studded field at the Francophone Games in Nice, France today. Her time was 33:31. The top three women shattered Zhor El Kamch's record of 33:41 set in 2005. Diane Nukuri, from Burundi, won the race in 32:29 followed by Morocco's Khadija Sammah in 32:38 and Claudette Mukasakinda, of Rawanda, in 33:20. Victoria's Catrin Jones finished sixth in 36:08. Natasha has run faster twice on the track, this year in Moncton and the Canadian T&F Championships where she ran 33:21, and last year she finished in 33:03 in Sacremento, CA, at the Payton Jordan Invitational Track Meet. Natasha will stop at Toronto on her return trip from France to compete in the National 10K Road Running Championships at the Oasis Zoo 10K Run on September 21. Four of the eight team members are Prairie Inn Harriers with Kris Swanson and Craig Odermatt being named to Team BC on the men's side and Claire Morgan and Erin Burrett being named to the women's team.
September 8, 2013
Shawn Nelson
The Nelson brothers continued an impressive string of 16 consecutive victories at the Metchosin Days 5K today. Shawn won the race in 16:16 compared to his winning time of 15:50 last year. It was Shawn's fifth consecutive championship after brother Mark posted victories for the first 11 years of the Westshore event. Second place today went to teenager Jericho O'Connell in 16:11 and Alexander McKay was third in 18:10. The top female was Courtney Cameron, 9th overall in 20:57. The second place female was Shirley Elm, 22:19, and Debbie Preston took third in 22:48. There were 178 finishers at the Metchosin Days 5K today which was 19 more than last year's mark of 159. This was a good total considering the Zoot 10K was being held in Oak Bay and the MEC 5K/10K/Half Marathon was being held in Saanich on the same day. Zoot had 117 finishers and MEC had 162 finishers in all three of their events.
September 8, 2013
Kris Swanson
Kris was the top Canadian claiming 36th position of 129 finishers at the 29th annual World Mountain Running Championship in Krynica, Poland today. His time was 1:00:55 over the 13.6 kilometre course that included 838 metres of elevation gain and 828 metres of elevation loss in the up-and-down route. There were 329 athletes representing 39 countries at the championship which had team competitions for senior men, senior women, junior men and junior women. The senior men's team comprised of Kris Swanson (36th), David Le Porho (42nd), Jean-Francois Gosselin (68th), Mark Vollmer (69th), Harriers' Sean Chester (92nd) and Calum Neff (102nd) finished tenth of 19 national teams with the top four scoring for each country. Uganga dominated the front-end of the field with Philip Kiplimo winning the senior men's race in 54:22 followed by team mates Geoffrey Kusuro, second in 55:06, Nathan Ayako, third in 55:19, and Peter Kibet, fourth in 55:27. The 1-2-3-4 finish gave Uganda a perfect total of 10 points on the reverse scoring system. Italy finished second with 40 points followed by Turkey, third with 82 points, United States, fourth with 99 points and France, fifth with 107 points. Anchored by Kris's stellar performance, Canada's tenth place finish with 215 points was the highest in the country's history of sending teams to the World Mountain Running Championships. Canada edged Ireland and Russia by one point in a very close battle. Both Ireland and Russia scored 216 points to finish eleventh and twelfth of the 19 national teams.
September 8, 2013
Geoff Martinson and Brittany Therrien
Geoff and Brittany were the top male and female Harriers at the inaugural Zoot 10K in Oak Bay this morning hosted by Island Runner. Geoff finished first overall in 30:08 closely followed by Matt Clout in 30:24 and Harriers' Ian Searle took third in 33:02 with a personal best 10K effort. The female champion was Hilary Stellingwerff who had an amazing fifth place finish overall with and impressive 33:45 on her first road race on Vancouver Island this year. Brittany was second female in 38:20 to win the F20 division and Cheryl Nicholls (formerly Cheryl Murphy) ran her first race since giving birth to a baby girl, Sabrina, in April. Cheryl was the third female to finish and top master in 38:59. Harriers' Ian Hallam was the top male master, finishing fourth overall in 33:36, by tagging his 10K race at the end of a 2-hour tempo training run in preparation for the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon on October 13. Other Harriers running well at the Zoot 10K included Martha McNeely, first F60, Penny Young, first F19, and Wendy Davies, fourth F50. There were 125 registrations in the Zoot 10K and 117 finishers including 12 Harriers running and 8 Harriers volunteering. The new Zoot 10K replaced the McNeill Bay Half Marathon and Litespeed 5K held on the oceanfront course in Oak Bay.
September 8, 2013
Cathy Noel and Doug Noel
Cathy and Doug made the trip across Georgia Strait and were two of only three finishers from Victoria at the 33rd annual Coho 14K Run in Vancouver today. Both were the top Harriers as Cathy,1:10:14, finished 77th overall and Doug, 1:11:02, was 81st of 528 finishers. Cathy placed 7th of 100 women in the F40 division and Doug was 15th of 43 in the M40 division. The top three men were all from Vancouver with David Palermo winning the Coho 14K race in 49:02 followed by Aaron Weldman in 51:02 and Skeets Morel in 52:37. The top three women were Vancouver's Mary Edgar, 18th in 59:14, teenager Nicole Dye, from West Vancouver, 28th in 1:02:12, and Celia Clare, of Roberts Bank, 28th in 1:02:25. The 528 finishers today was an increase of 60 runners over last year's total of 468 finishers.
September 1, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Brian Martinson and Dave Baroff
After taking some time off running over the summer Geoff bounced back with a vengeance in winning the 8.5 mile race by over 7 minutes in 43:35 while his father, Brian, and new Harrier from Victoria, Dave, finished second and third in the M50 division (11th and 12th overall) in 58:34 and 58:54 at the 41st annual Labour Day Classic in Prince George today.Second place in the 8.5 mile race went to last year's champion, Brian Nemethy, in 50:47, while Nick Bartell took third in 51:39. The top female was Shar Balogh, who finished 7th overall in 56:46. There were 60 finishers in the 8.5 mile race, 23 in an accompanying 17 mile race, 59 in a 5K race and 18 in a 3x3 mile relay for a total of 160 finishers in all four events. The winners of the 5K race were Zachary Matyas, 18:14, and Angela Wheeler, 21:04, while John Hagen, 1:53:21, and Jacqui Benson, second overall in 1:57:57 were the male and female champions of the 17 mile race. Next up for Geoff is the Zoot 10K in Oak Bay on September 8 followed by his marathon debut at GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon where he will guide a blind runner, Amy McDonaugh, mother of three from Irmo, South Carolina, in an attempt to break 2 hours 50 minutes on October 13. Despite her lack of sight, McDonaugh has run several marathons including Boston last year and the California International Marathon in 2011 where she recorded a personal best time of 2:49:28.
September 1, 2013
Adam Campbell and Jason Loutitt
Adam and Jason finished second and fifth overall of 105 starters and 75 finishers at the 2013 Solomon Meet Your Maker 50 Mile Trail race in Whistler today. Their times were 7:46:07 and 8:53:47 over the seven-stage rugged trail course. The race champions were Jakub Sumbera in 7:38:19 and Nadyia Fry, 6th overall in 9:00:38. There were also 33 relay teams participating with 2 to 7 runners per team. The race website describes the course as follows: "On September 1st 2013 Solomon will host the ultimate challenge in the form of a 50 mile ultra trail marathon and a relay race. Winding participants along an awe-inspiring 90% single track course, all senses will be engaged to reach for the finish line in Whistler Village after venturing through the picturesque nooks and crannies of the corridor. Whether you are an elite athlete vying for the chance to access the spectacular pristine terrain, or ready to band together with teammates to defeat your collective goals, Meet Your Maker is sure to deliver."
August 31, 2013
Jim Finlayson, Bruce Deacon and Craig Odermatt
Two age-group records were broken tonight at The Q’s Victoria Run Series’ final track meet of the 2013 season. The event took place at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium. Harriers master athletes topped the field in the 10,000 metre BC Championship race with a 1-2-3 overall podium performance led by Jim Finlayson, first in 31:31.12, Bruce Deacon, second in 31:55.92, and Craig Odermatt, third in 32:20.60. Another Harrier, Kris Swanson, preparing for the World Mountain Running Championships in Poland next weekend, finished fourth in 33:13.49.
Marilyn Arsenault won the women’s 10,000 metre event at the Maude Hunter’s Pub BC 10,000m Championships by running to a Canadian age-group record time of 34:18.21. Two-time Olympian, Bruce Deacon, broke the BC 45-49 age-group record for the distance, finishing in 31:55.92. There were three races on the evening’s schedule including two 5,000 metre events. The first 5,000m race started at 6:30 pm and was won by two athletes who compete in the 60-69 age-category, Frank Towler and Harriers' Martha McNeely; they won the men’s and women’s division in 21:44.99 and 26:54.70.
In the second 5,000m event of the night, Chris Galley won the men’s race in the time of 17:01.74, while Courtney Cameron won the women's race in 19:56.19
August 25, 2013
Richard Knowlton
In his first-ever full distance Ironman Triathlon, Richard finished a very respectable seventeenth overall of 2,500 athletes, including 2,166 finishers, at the Canadian Ironman Championships in Whistler today. His time was 9:35:01 including a 2.4 mile swim in 1:08:50, a 112 mile bike ride in 4:57:45 and a 26.2 mile run in 3:21:13. It was a picture-perfect day of racing in Whistler that featured exciting battles amongst the mountains and glacier-fed lakes that line the course. Competitors had little time to take in the rugged Canadian scenery, though, as they worked through the tough course within the majestic Coast Mountain Range. Bryan Rhodes (NZL) was the first man to scramble out of Alta Lake with Dominik Berger (AUT), Andy Russell (CAN) and Jonathan Caron (CAN) following the Kiwi into transition. A pair of race favorites, Trevor Wurtele (CAN) and Matt Russell (USA) found themselves well off the pace—Wurtele was 5:42 behind the race leaders, while Russell was almost 10 minutes behind starting the bike.
Out on the bike, Rhodes rode hard and would eventually win the Timex bike prime, but the effort would prove to be too much. That left Dominick Berger (AUT) out in front through the opening half of the ride, while Andy Russell worked his way into third. Matt Lieto and Paul Amey were just under five minutes behind, biking in fourth and fifth, with Wurtele and Matt Russell fading back and finding themselves over seven minutes behind.
Over the final 50 miles Matt Russell found his legs, moving towards the front of the race, as did Wurtele and Lieto. Coming into T2, Lieto, Matt Russell and Wurtele were together and headed out on the run to determine the winner.
It was apparent from the beginning that the winner would be either Matt Russell or Wurtele, as Lieto quickly fell off the pace. The lead pair ran together for five miles before Wurtele started inching away from the defending champion. By seven miles Wurtele's lead was almost a minute. The lanky Canadian continued to extend his lead, taking the 2013 Subaru IRONMAN Canada title with a 5:42 winning margin over Matt Russell. In the women’s race Christina Jackson (USA), Christine Anderson (USA) and Keiko Tanaka (JPN) exited the swim and headed to their bike within six seconds of each other. American race favorites Uli Bromme and Lisa Ribes found themselves almost eight minutes behind the leading trio.
Early on the bike, Anderson and Tanaka exchanged leads as Bromme stormed towards the front of the race. Bromme powered her way to the lead by the halfway point of the bike and was seven minutes ahead of Anderson and Christine Fletcher at the conclusion of the 112 mile ride.
Out on the run, Bromme dominated the field as she powered her way over the two-loop run course. Bromme was never pressured over the 26 miles as she took the Subaru IRONMAN Canada title in 9:28:13. Ribes ran her way into second in 9:38:34, while Gillian Moody (CAN) finished off the podium in 9:49:09.
August 25, 2013
Jason Loutitt and Ryan Day
Today was the day for two of our mainland Harriers to shine as Jason, from Squamish, and Ryan, living in Cache Creek, finished second and fifth overall at the Edmonton Marathon with times of 2:34:35 and 2:42:35. The race winner was Toronto's Lucas McAneney in 2:26:22 with Brendan Lunty, from Camrose, claiming third in 2:35:35. The top female was Alisa MacDonald, from St. Albert, in 2:51:31. Adela Salt placed second in 3:06:57 and Laurie Olson was third in 3:11:26. There were 528 finishers at the Edmonton Marathon including 319 men and 209 women. The accompanying races at Edmonton included 552 finishers in the 10K event and 1,478 finishers in the Half Marathon.
August 24, 2013
Adam Campbell
Adam continued his dominance at long distance mountain races by winning the 10.6K Enduro Division of the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series at Whistler today. His winning time was 57:42. Second place went to Silas Wiefelspuett, from Squamish, in 58:40, while Delta's Justin Hains took third in 58:43. The top three women were Morgan Arritola, from Ketchum, 10th overall in 1:00:59, Whistler's Tara Gorman, 18th in 1:06:31, and Vancouver's Anne-Marie Madden, 21st in 1:07:27. There were 210 finishers in the 10.6K Enduro race and an additional 161 finishers in the 6.5K Sprint race with 17 in the Kids' 3K race for a total of 388 finishers at the three Whistler events today.
August 18, 2013
Nancy Baxendale
Nancy was the only Harrier at the Richmond Oval 10K today and she placed admirably as the second female to the finish line in 40:47. She was first in the F50 division by about 8 minutes and 19th overall of 141 finishers including 89 men and 42 women. The top three men at Richmond were Surrey's Drew Nicholson, 34:07, followed by two Vancouver runners, David Palermo, 34:36, and Chris Napier, 35:31. The top three women were Melissa Ross, from Errington, 7th overall in 37:30, Nancy Baxendale, of Shawnigan Lake, 19th in 40:47, and Suzanne Bedford, from Vancouver, 37th overall in 44:32.
August 17, 2013
Claire Morgan
Claire and her family ventured to Port Alberni today to attempt a new challenge - The Number 7 Challenge, a unique 10K race where runners raced against a steam train. She won the race outright in 41:17 with second place going to Lonny Johnston in 44:04, Todd Daradics took third in 45:28, organizer Brian Callendar was fourth in 45:51 and The No. 7 Train finished 7th of 33 total finishers in 49:05. Claire was 10 minutes ahead of Isabel Ostrom, who was the second female, 10th overall in 51:16. Here is her account of the event: "Brian Callendar, a Port Alberni local (recently returned from 10 years living Down Under), put on this event - the 'First annual' No. 7 Challenge. No. 7 is the local, restored steam train than runs between downtown Port Alberni and the restored McLean Lumber Mill, which also runs on steam. Both are very cool artifacts that are now well taken care of and open to the public. Brian was inspired by a similar format race he took part in near Melbourne called the Puffing Billy race. The train pulled out of the station at 10:00 am. It crept ahead about 200 metres then stopped near the runners' start line. The conductor hopped down from the train and gave us a short safety briefing. The train whistle sounded and we were off. The conductor ran back to the train and it started off, albeit much slower, being a heavy steam train. Normally the ~10k train route takes the No. 7 about 35 minutes. Not great odds for the runners, since we would also cover 10k on the roads, but with a net uphill course. Luckily, a few "handicaps" for the train meant that it took over 45 minutes to reach the mill, which allowed six of us runners to arrive before it. The course was very well marked, which was great, since I took the lead at the beginning and was the first to the finish line. I had no problems staying on course, and got the honour of breaking the tape well ahead of the train! (by about 8 minutes). The train crossed the race course on two occasions and crossing guards stopped the runners who did not reach the crossing soon enough so the train could go through. The runners resumed their race after the train had crossed the road. Fortunately for Claire and the 5 runners behind her, they all reached the check points before the train and were able to run continuously for the entire 10K. For my low 10 dollar entry fee, my family got a return trip on the train and I got a one-way trip back to the start line. We all got entry into the historic mill site, we got a well-marked course, water stop, great organizing, and medals to those who beat the train (stamped with "Faster Than a Train") and medals for male and female winners. Draw prizes were also generous and I went home with a bottle of local wine, plus an engineer's hat and souvenir key chain for my win. What a great deal!
Here is a link to another participant's blog with some photos and race results of the event.
http://daveandjackierun.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/a-fun-10k-run-racing-against-port-albernis-no-7-steam-train/
August 11, 2013
Gary Duncan and Larry Nylen
Gary and Larry placed first and third in the M50 division and were 5th and 13th overall of 67 finishers at the Mount Washington Gutbuster today, the fourth and final race of the 2013 GB Series. They were the top two Harriers in 52:41 and 57:04 coupled with the fact that they had raced a very difficult 23K trail run in Squamish the day before where they placed 2nd and 3rd in the M50 division and 5th and 14th overall of 130 finishers. Other Harriers running well today were 16-year-old twins Brandon and Austin Willson, who finished 4th and 5th in the M19 division in 1:08:51 and 1:09:35 and Eva Salmon, 13, 2nd F19 in 1:18:24. Master runner, Mike Haponiuk, won the 8K race in 44:29 followed by Eric Findlay, who was second in 49:26, and Kevin Garneau took third in 50:48. The top three women were Kathy Rung, 1:01:52, Kyla Beattie, 1:04:29, and Shelagh Germyn, 1:05:38. The 67 finishers today was one more than the first Mount Washington Gutbuster held in 2008. In 2009 there were 73 finishers, 2010 attracted 98, 2011 had 94 and 2012 was the record year with 122 finishers. Over the years the distances have varied at Mount Washington depending on snow conditions and trail availability from 3K uphill to 5.5K uphill to 8K uphill and downhill staged this year.
August 10, 2013
Lucy Smith
Lucy was the first female, top master and first Harrier to the finish line at the second annual Lulu Lemon Sea Wheeze Half Marathon in Stanley Park today. She was 11th overall of 7,607 finishers with a new women's course record of 1:20:35 lowering Natasha Wodak's mark of 1:21:08 set last year. Second place female was Albuquerque's Liz Turner in 1:22:44 while Helen Wong, from Edmonton, took third in 1:23:24. Victoria's Lulu Lemon Assistant Manager, Care Nelson was 9th female in 1:27:15 and Victoria GoodLife Fitness Victora Marathon General Manager, Cathy Noel, ran well in the F45 division finishing in 1:50:35. The top three men in the race were Zachary Cater-Cyker, from Houston, in 1:11:48, Blue Benaduim, of Los Angeles, 1:12:54, and Verdo Gregory, from Chicago, 1:14:02. Cater-Cyker and Benadium both bettered their times by about 3 minutes as they finished 1-2 in the inaugural event last year in 1:14:35 and 1:15:25. The unique Lulu Lemon Sea Wheeze Half Marathon was dominated by women with 8,422 female registrations and 1,724 male registrations for a total of 10,146. Their race slogan was "Yoga. Run. Party".
August 10, 2013
Kris Swanson
The Emperor's Challenge has become one of the biggest mountain-running events in North America. The men's race featured a star-studded line-up including Harriers' Kris Swanson, who grew up in Tumbler Ridge. Kris won the event in 1:25:18 for the fourteenth time out of fifteen races, one of the most astonishing feats in the annals of Canadian mountain running. He was the only runner registered from Victoria of the 1,181 finishers (591 men and 590 women). There were also 24 runners in the Kid's 2K race and 25 runners in the Kid's 4K race. Two minutes behind Kris was Sean Stephens-Whale, 1:27:43, from Roberts Creek; both Kris and Sean have represented Canada on the National Mountain-Running Team at World Championships. In third place was ultra-marathoner Jonathan Heinz, 1:36:14, of Calgary, ahead of Gilles Delmee, 1:40:42, an international entry from Belgium.
Sharleen Balogh, 1:47:19 to place 9th overall, and Jacqui Benson, 1:50:17 to place 10th overall, both of Prince George, took gold and silver in the women's race, followed by Kayla Hardy of Grande Prairie in 1:57:53; she was 20th overall. Accolades have been pouring in, to the effect that this unique race is one of the finest on the running calendar. Almost 1,500 runners pitted themselves against Babcock Mountain near Tumbler Ridge on Saturday and over half were doing the Emperor's Challenge for the first time.
It was one of the hottest days of summer, with temperatures close to 30 degrees, and minimal wind. This created significant challenges for many participants, especially those towards the back of the pack, as they had to endure the heat for longer. Taking into account also the shorter race time limit (4 1/2 hours as opposed to previous 5 hours) there was a larger number of non-finishers than in previous years.
The cloudless weather made for fantastic views, and most runners were in awe of the scenery. The route was changed between 12K and 13K to take runners along the edge of the mountain, yielding even more spectacular scenery than before. This added 200 metres to the race length, making it more difficult for runners to set records or achieve personal best times for the 20K course.
August 10, 2013
Garth Campbell and Claire Morgan
Garth and Claire were the top Harriers at the Arc'teryx Squamish 23K trail race today while 8 team mates all placed very well on the rugged and most popular Harriers distance of the single-track courses. The Arc'teryx Squamish included distances of 50 Miles, 50 Kilometres and 23 Kilometres. Garth was fourth overall in the 23K in 2:08:19, a mere 6 seconds off the podium, and Claire was the second female placing seventh overall of 130 finishers in 2:13:30. The race winners were Brad Schalles, 1:51:25, and Anne-Marie Madden, 3rd overall in 2:08:13. Gary Duncan, 5th overall in 2:09:59, and Larry Nylen, 14th overall in 2:26:31, also had outstanding performances to join Garth to dominate the M50 placings of 1-2-3 almost 40 minutes clear of the next M50 finisher, Ernest Urbanovich, who hit the line in 3:04:54. Other Harriers ran extremely well in the 23K race including Valerie Bell, 2nd F50 in 2:54:51, Lisa Cantwell, 2nd F40 in 3:00:02, Kathleen Birney, 5th F50 in 3:27:44, Elaine Galbraith, 10th F40 in 3:42:02, Dena Carroll, 7th F50 in 3:59:01 and Andrew Galbraith, 19th M40 in 4:01:15. There were 149 registrations, 104 finishers, 2 Harriers in the 50 Mile Division, 209 registrations, 160 finishers, 2 Harriers in the 50 Kilometre Division and 157 registrations, 130 finishers, 10 Harriers in the 23 Kilometre Division bringing the grand total to 515 registrations, 394 finishers and 14 Harriers at the Arc'teryx Squamish races today.
August 10, 2013
Adam Campbell and Jason Loutitt
With only two Harriers in the longest race, they placed an incredible first and second overall of 104 finishers at the Arc'teryx Squamish 50 Miler today. Adam Campbell took the win in 7:37:23 and last year's champion, Jason Loutitt, placed second less than 3 minutes back in 7:40:09. Ed McCarthy was third, almost an hour behind in 8:38:52. Last year Jason won the 50 Miler in 7:25:22 while Adam won the 50K race in 1:53:51. The top female, Kristin Moehl, was 6th overall in 9:37:13. Long-time Harrier from the 1980's, Moe Beaulieu, was third in the M60 division of the accompanying 50K race in 9:55:14 and Andrew Ambery returned after a long injury to place 10th in the M30 division of the 50K race in 7:07:56. The Arc'teryx Squamish 50 is a TOUGH RACE and a truly unforgettable trail ultra experience. With over 85% singletrack and more than 12,000 feet of climbing and descent topped off by stunning sweeping vistas across glaciated snow-capped peaks that jut straight out of the Pacific Ocean, this course may will your breath away. The first six miles and the final mile are relatively flat. There is over 12,000 feet or 3800 meters of climbing jammed into approximately 43 miles of terrain. The largest individual climb is 2,500 feet or 760 meters. This is an exceptionally difficult course made tougher still by the technical nature of a majority of the terrain. Throw in the fact that the back half runs much more difficult than the front half and you have yourself a nice little day of suffering.
August 4, 2013
Richard Knowlton
Richard continues to improve month-by-month in large event triathlons and he just had his best-ever overall finish of 2013 at the 34th annual Self-Transcendence Triathlon at Elk Lake today. In May he was 10th overall at the Subaru Shawnigan Lake Triathlon, in June he moved up 4 positions with a 6th place finish at the Subaru Victoria Half Iron Triathlon, in July he improved to 5th overall at the Subaru Vancouver International Triathlon and, in August, Richard finished in 4th position, only two seconds off the podium with a time of 2:04:16 at the Self-Transcendence Triathlon. This was an improvement of almost 7 minutes from his time of 2:11:00 last year. The top three men in the Olympic Distance (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) were Victoria's Carlos Lesser, 2:00:46, Graeme Roche, from Seattle, 2:01:48, and Vancouver's Ryan Smiley, 2:04:14. The top three females were all from Victoria with Sonja Futehally, first in 2:14:24, Janet Nielsen, second in 2:14:35, and Brit Cooper, third in 2:23:54. Richard's brother, Andrew Knowlton, was first in the M35 division in 2:24:35 while Harriers' Bill Scriven was first in the M65 division in 2:46:22 and Cathy Noel was 8th in the F45 division in 2:56:58. Clay Ward, 1:07:42, and Lenka Fanturova, 1:13:59, won the Triathlon Sprint Division (750m swim, 20K bike, 5K run) while Hugh Trenchard, 2:03:36, and Lauren Babineau, 2:08:54, won the accompanying Duathlon (5K run, 40K bike, 10K run). Other Harriers in the Duathlon were Will Boothman, 2nd M45, 2:25:35, Mike Ellis, 1st M75, 2:51:37, and Kim Abraham, 2nd F50, 3:05:59. There were a total of 408 finishers in all 7 divisions including 186 in the Olympic Division, 60 in the Olympic Relay, 90 in the Sprint Division, 13 in the Youth Divisions, 53 in the Duathlon and 6 in the Duathlon Relay. The 408 finishers was 54 more than last year's total of 354.
July 30, 2013
Natasha Wodak
Paul Gains, Canadian Running Magazine.
Canadian 10,000m champion Natasha Wodak says she'll take her first crack at the marathon distance at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 20.
"I'm 31 years old and I have done a lot of stuff on the track," Wodak says. "I feel I'm ready to try something new, a new challenge. I'm excited for it. I feel like when I do a longer distance, I'm getting better at it so I wanted to just go for it."
Wodak has a string of strong recent performances on the road, in cross-country and on the track. She set a Canadian record of 25:28 in the 8K with a win at the Pioneer 8K in Saanichton, B.C.
In Bydgosczyz, Poland, Wodak was the top Canadian at the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing in 24th place, despite suffering from bronchitis.
She went on to win the Vancouver Sun Run 10K in 32:42, but unfortunately wasn't able to achieve the qualifying standard for the world championships 10,000m.
Now that she has decided to run the marathon, Wodak has also decided to leave her longtime coach, Brit Townsend.
"That was very, very difficult for me," Wodak says. "I have been with Brit for 12 years. She has been an amazing coach and I have accomplished everything that I have so far because she has been so good to me."
The Toronto Waterfront race felt like a good fit for her debut, Wodak says. "Race director, Alan Brookes, takes really good care of the Canadian athletes. It's generally a fast course. It's a good time of the year, there will be a lot of support for me I am going to have some pacers probably out there. And, you really get treated like an elite in Toronto. There will be a lot of competition for me."
Wodak has been training in Vancouver with coach Richard Lee, whose also coaches Canadian Olympic marathoner, Dylan Wykes, who ran a PB 2:10:47 at the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon.
July 28, 2013
Ryan Day
Adam Williams, Kamloops Daily News.
There was a feeling of déjà vu at the Kamloops Marathon on Sunday, as both the men's and women's champions were repeat winners.
Harriers' Ryan Day of Cache Creek and Victoria's Catrin Jones successfully defended their titles, crossing the finish line on MacArthur Island in two hours 42 minutes 19 seconds and 2:50:48, respectively.
"It was a pretty rough go today," Day said, after struggling with gastrointestinal issues over the race's first half. "It was kind of a come-from-behind as I didn't get to the front until maybe 32K."
Despite his setbacks, Day's time was just under seven minutes slower than his winning time last year. It was an impressive victory considering that because of how he was feeling he had to stop to rest for a few minutes at the 18-kilometre mark.
Day, 30, is a member of the St'uxwtéws (Bonaparte) Indian Band and is registered as a Prairie Inn Harriers member with BC Athletics. He lived in Esquimalt for a while before moving to Cache Creek. His heritage makes the Kamloops marathon an important race for him and one he'll compete in every year that he is able.
"This is my traditional territory, so I've got to represent," he said. "It's like anybody on their home turf, they want to represent and be a role model for young kids out there who are running. We were good runners way back, too."
Hans Aabye of Merritt led the race for the first 32 kilometres, before Day caught up in his second half recovery. Aabye, who tweaked a muscle before the race, ended up fifth, in 2:50:03.
On the women's side, Catrin Jones, 34, won in commanding fashion, finishing almost 19 minutes ahead of the second-place runner, Rika Hatachi, of Coquitlam who ran 3:09:17. Jones was the only woman to finish in less than three hours and improved on her winning time from 2012 by almost two minutes.
"For me, especially starting at such an early hour, it takes me a while to kind of wake up and get going," Jones said of the race that began at 6 a.m. "I found in the second half I was able to pick it up a bit and feel a bit more comfortable, find my pace and rhythm."
She described the victory as a bonus but added that winning always is the hope heading into any race. The second annual marathon weekend attracted about 400 participants across both days' events, the five kilometre and ten kilometre races were run on Saturday with the half marathon and the full marathon events run on Sunday. That was on par with what was seen in 2012, but with more participants at the full marathon and half marathon distances. The weather was cool, temperatures were in the low 20s, which was ideal for runners looking to take advantage of the marathon's newly minted status as a qualifier for the 2014 Boston Marathon.
Victoria's Jamie Dunnett, 2:43:36, and Sheldon Manchur of Williams Lake, 2:46:26, rounded out the podium in the men's marathon while Marie-Josee Bedard, of Merritt, 3:24:22, finished third in the women's race.
July 28, 2013
Bertrand Bozek
Fresh off his first place finish in the Sprint Division of the XTerra Victoria Triathlon at Durrance Lake two weeks ago, Bertrand finished 9th overall of 248 finishers and was third master in the Sprint Division of the U.B.C. Point Grey Triathlon in Vancouver today. His time was 1:07:47 including a 12:22 swim (10th place), 35:29 bike (17th place) and a 19:58 run (9th place). The top three men were Mason Jeffrey, 1:01:04, Matt Feildwalker, 1:02:12, and Adam Ward, 1:05:09. The top three women were Laura Thompson, 1:08:18, Tiffany Bilodeau, 1:12:47, and Michelle Heneghan, 1:12:48. There were 248 finishers in the Sprint Division, 57 finishers in the Short Sprint Division, 42 finishers in the Duathlon and 39 finishers in the Relays for a total of 386 at U.B.C. today.
July 21, 2013
Natasha Wodak, Erin Burrett, Kris Swanson and Jim Finlayson
The record books were completely rewritten at the Summerfast 10K, hosted by the Vancouver Falcons today. The final race in the 2013 Timex BC Road Race Series and Race #8 in the Lower Mainland Series attracted a competitive field. Warm, calm conditions, and a flat course produced fast times for many.
Leading the way was Kelly Wiebe. The former Vancouver Sun Run winner, recently relocated to Vancouver from Saskatchewan to train under Richard Lee, proved he was the class of the field, leading from gun to tape. Through the first mile he was 100 metres clear, and he continued to extend his lead all the way around the Stanley Park seawall, bettering the previous course record of 30:58 by a full minute. His winning time of 29:57 earned him a one hundred dollar bonus.
Behind Wiebe, a three-way battle developed, and was not settled until the final sprint to the finish. Theo Hunt edged out two Harriers, Kris Swanson by 3 seconds, 31:34 to 31:37, with Jim Finlayson a further 3 seconds back in 31:40. Jim's time was a masters 40+ record, also by over a minute, and earned him a fifty dollar bonus.
Harriers' Natasha Wodak was next to claim a one hundred dollar course record bonus, as she also led wire-to-wire, though her margin of victory was much less, winning in 35:01. The surprise of the day was in second place, as Kimberley Doerksen, from Gibsons, produced a huge PB, bettering her previous 10K best by about 4 minutes. A recent switch to train under John Hill clearly paid dividends for her, as she beat many more fancied rivals in 35:22.
In the battle for third place, Harriers' Erin Burrett and Point Grey's Sabrina Wilkie repeated their tussle from the Longest Day 5K at U.B.C., with a similar outcome as Burrett out-sprinted Wilkie 35:39 to 35:41. Behind them Catherine Watkins made it a clean sweep of records, establishing a new masters 40+ mark of 35:55, to take the fifty dollar bill. After 15 races, the top four men in the Timex BC Series were all PIH members with Geoff Martinson first, Jim Finlayson second, David Jackson third, and Kris Swanson fourth. Erin Burrett finished second in the women's field to Series Champion Sabrina Wilkie. Katherine Watkins took third and Victoria's Catrin Jones was fourth.
July 21, 2013
Geoff Martinson and Erin Burrett
Geoff and Erin were the top Harriers in the Timex BC Series which concluded in Vancouver today. PIH placed 5 men in the top 10 overall and 2 women in the top 10 women. The 2013 Timex BC Road Running Series comprised 15 races on Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and in the Interior, starting with the Harriers Pioneer 8K in January, and wrapping up at the VFAC Summerfast 10K today. Participants had to run a minimum of 5 races to place in the series rankings, and further had to be Junior, Senior, Masters or Road and Trail members of BC Athletics to qualify for series prizing.
The top four men and women qualified to represent BC at the Timex National Finale to be held in Toronto on September 21 in conjunction with the Canadian 10K Championship, and also received prize money of one thousand dollars, five hundred, three hundred and two hundred dollars respectively.
Places 5 through 7 won a Timex Run Trainer and places 8 through 10 won a Timex Ironman watch.
The top 10 winners were:
1. Geoff Martinson Prairie Inn Harriers 4477 points
2. Jim Finlayson Prairie Inn Harriers 4400
3. David Jackson Prairie Inn Harriers 4395
4. Kristopher Swanson Prairie Inn Harriers 4285
5. Ryan Huff Point Grey Track Club 4230
6. Mark Wilkie Point Grey Track Club 4184
7. Craig Odermatt Prairie Inn Harriers 4167
8. David Palermo Vancouver Falcons 4080
9. John Machuga Okanagan Running Club 4055
10. Nick Browne Vancouver Falcons 4049
1. Sabrina Wilkie Point Grey Track Club 4394
2. Erin Burrett Prairie Inn Harriers 4370
3. Catherine Watkins Vancouver Falcons 4319
4. Catrin Jones Unattached 4315
5. Jen Millar Unattached 4276
6. Claire Morgan Prairie Inn Harriers 4178
7. Shannon Thompson Unattached 4088
8. Jen Moroz Point Grey Track Club 4074
9. Helen Ritchie Vancouver Falcons 3955
10. Tracy Wakaluk Vancouver Falcons 3928. 2014 will see the 25th year of Timex sponsorship of the BC Road Running Series.
July 14, 2013
Richard Knowlton
Richard was the top Harrier and only club member to finish the Subaru Vancouver International Half Iron Triathlon today. He placed an outstanding 5th overall of 355 finishers with a time of 4:12:50. The top three men were Victoria's Andrew Russell in 3:50:57, Chris Beaudreau, from Portland, OR, 3:54:53, and Richard Pearson, Coffs Harbour, AUS, in 4:00:41. The top three women were Vancouver's Rachel McBride, 4:11:56, Victoria's Sara Gross, 4:16:49, and North Vancouver's Gillian Moody, 4:18:55. There were 355 finishers in the Half Iron Division, 280 in the Olympic Division, 299 in the Sprint Division and 138 in the three Relays for a total of 1,072 finishers. The Subaru Vancouver International Triathlon is event #4 of a 5-Race Series with other races completed in Shawnigan Lake, Victoria and Saskatoon. The final event is the Banff International Triathlon scheduled for September 7.
July 14, 2013
Mike Arensen, Kirsten Arensen and Farisha Arensen
It was a matter of keeping it all in the families today as the top Harriers in the Cowichan Challenge Triathlon were the Arensens and the Dennis's collecting six medals. The event at Fuller's Lake featured a 1K swim, 34K bike and 9K run while the sprint division had a 500 metre swim, 16K ride and 5K run. Mike and Kirsten Arensen were 8th and 9th overall of 102 finishers in the main race while Farisha was 6th overall of 93 finishers in the sprint. Kirsten (F40) won the gold and Mike (M40) and Farisha (F19) both took bronze medals. Not to be outdone, Dianne Dennis (F50) was second, husband Dave (M55) was third and daughter Rachel (F20) was also third. Other Harriers performing well at the Cowichan Challenge were Will Boothman, first M45, Mike Ellis, first M70, Buddy Bhandar, second M55, and Sandy Mullen, third F50. The feature race winners were Dave Trill in 1:42:25 and Kirsten Arensen in 1:59:36. The Sprint Division winners were Chris Eidavic, in 1:06:07 and Holly Henry, in 1:06:55. There were 102 finishers in the main race, 93 in the sprint race and 48 in two relay divisions for a total of 243 at the Cowichan Challenge Triathlon. This was an increase of 87 participants over last year's total of 156 finishers.
July 14, 2013
Melanie McQuaid, Shannon Coutts and Bertrand Bozek
Melanie (F40) and Shannon (F45) both won their age categories at the XTerra Victoria Triathlon, Championship Division, today and were awarded an entry to the XTerra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii, on October 27. Bertrand finished first overall in the shorter Sprint Division after the leader went off-course during the run portion. Bertrand was the first swimmer out of Durrance Lake and was the top master of the 1K/12K/4K Sprint Distance event. The Championship Division was comprised of a 1,500 metre swim in Durrance Lake, a 24K mountain bike ride on the Hartland Trails and an 8K run on the Partridge Hills trails. The overall winner was Brent McMahon in 1:50:55, Melanie was the first female and 6th overall in 2:09:17 while Shannon placed 31st, 7th female, in 2:45:22, despite struggling in the swim with a tender shoulder after falling in a practice mountain bike ride just 3 days beforehand. Derek Vinge, 2:03:11, was second in the Championship Division and Ian Crosswaite, 2:07:26, placed third. Katie Button, 2:22:15, was runner-up to Melanie even though bike marshals directed her 3K off course while Jennie Aitken took third place in 2:37:21. There were 54 athletes in the Championship Division, 22 in the Sprint Division and 5 in the Youth Division for a total of 81 finishers. There were a few mishaps throughout the day including new Harrier Jamie Sparling double flatting on the bike portion perhaps costing him a podium position and several runners in the Sprint Division went off-course causing the organizers to not publish results at all for the Sprint. The five Youth Division riders were also misdirected and ended up riding an extra rugged 7 kilometres on a Hartland black diamond trail; they were supposed to go 8K and they went 15K! A nervous and worried Harrier, Lucy Smith, anxiously waited about an extra hour for her daughter, Maia, to return from the bike portion before their finishing 2K run. The Youth Division results were also not published because of the extra long ride for the kids, however, Maia was the top girl in the division.
July 7, 2013
Shane Ruljancich, Claire Morgan, Matthew Salmon and Sara Pape-Salmon
Shane and Claire were the top Harriers on the long course and Matthew and Sara were the top Harriers on the short course at the Holland Creek Gutbuster today in Ladysmith, Race #3 of the 4-Race GB Series. Shane placed second overall to race winner Shawn Nelson, their times were 1:09:52 and 1:14:22. Port Alberni's Royd Burkart took third and was the top master in 1:15:43. Claire finished 8th overall in 1:24:00 and was followed by Ann Signorella, 16th in 1:27:37, and Dee Orrell, 20th in 1:33:20. The short course champions were Clay Ward, 41:06, and Kaylee Beales, 46:11. Matthew was the top junior runner, 10th overall in 48:14, and Sara was the top master runner, 25th in 58:16. Other Harriers running well at the long course included Gary Duncan and Larry Nylen who finished 1-2 in the M50 division as did Wendy Davies and Valerie Bell finishing 1-2 in the F50 division. Lara Wear won the F40 division and Andrew Pape placed second in the M40 division. At the short course, Eva Salmon was second in the F15 division and the ever-improving Colleen Auringer took 4th in the F40 division. There were 67 finishers in the short course and 67 finishers in the long course for a total of 134. This was 33 fewer than last year's total of 167 participants at Ladysmith.
July 7, 2013
Bruce Deacon, Robbie Deacon and John Deacon
Bruce was the overall champion, top master and first Harrier while sons Robbie, 14, and John, 11, placed first and second in the M15 division at the inaugural Spinnakers 5K, Race #5 of the Q's Victoria Run Series. Had Rosemary run the event, it would have been a clean sweep of 4 medals for the Deacon family. Bruce's winning time was 15:52 and he was followed by Lehm Maguire, 16:10, and Nick Walker, 16:27. The top three women were Harriers' Sarah Daitch, 10th in 19:34, Shannon Bennett, 17th in 22:26, and Harriers' Wendy Davies, 20th in 23:14. Robbie Deacon finished 14th in 21:41 while John Deacon was 32nd in 26:33. There were 57 finishers at the Spinnakers 5K. Other Harriers receiving honourable mention were Sean Chester, 1st M20 and 4th overall, 17:29, Mark Ritchie, 4th M40 and 8th overall, 18:52, Sarah Daitch, top female and 1st F30, Wendy Davies, 1st F50, Marcia Stromsmoe, 2nd F60, Garfield Saunders, 1st M70, Martha McNeely, 3rd F60, Jane McDonald and Christine Thate, 2nd and 3rd F50. Hats off to Wendy and Jane who ran both the Gutbuster in Ladysmith and the Spinnakers race in Victoria today. The Harriers "Drafters" team comprised of Garfield Saunders (1st M70), Frank Towler (1st M60), Jackie Eddy (1st F60), Marcia Stromsmoe (2nd F60), Doug Miller (2nd M70), Gary Donoghue (2nd M50), Jane McDonald (2nd F50) and Martha McNeely (3rd F60) won the team division with a score of 7 points on the reverse scoring system with 5 points being a perfect score.
June 23, 2013
Richard Mosley and Natasha Wodak
Richard and Natasha were the top Harriers at the popular and very competitive Scotiabank Half Marathon in Vancouver today, starting at U.B.C. and finishing in Stanley Park. Richard finished sixth overall in 1:07:12 and Natasha was third female, 15th overall of 4,098 finishers. Here is a quote from the BC Athletics Website: "It's been a busy week for Wodak. On Thursday, she was on the other side of the country, where she won the 10,000m at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Moncton, NB. "I'm happy I was still able to get under 1:15, all things considered," she said after just squeezing in at 1:14:59." The men's race featured Kenyan Kip Kangogo, from Lethbridge, winning for his fourth consecutive Scotiabank Half title in 1:03:33 followed by a strong performance from Vancouver's Rob Watson, second in 1:04:28. The next three competitors were Kenyan Paul Kimugul, 1:04:58, Terrance Attema, from Guelph, 1:05:25, and Kenyan Willy Kimosop, 1:06:30. The women's field was treated to brilliant performances including a new course record by 2 minutes from Krista Duchene, of Brantford, winning in 1:10:52; she was ninth overall. Close behind in tenth position was her Ontario team mate, Lanni Marchant, in 1:11:38. Natasha took the bronze medal in 1:14:59 followed by Natasha Yaremczuk, from Paris, CA, in 1:17:21 and Vancouver's Sabrina Wilkie with a respectable P.R. of 1:18:28 to place fifth. Victorians Catrin Jones and Care Nelson were the seventh and eleventh females to finish in 1:19:15 and 1:23:04. There were 4,098 finishers in the Half Marathon and another 1,603 finishers in the accompanying 5K race for a total of 5,701 including 2,320 men and 3,381 women. There must have been nearly 1,300 DNSs and DNFs as the website offered this closing statement: "This year's event was their most successful yet, with a sell-out crowd of 7,000. The race also raised over seven hundred thousand dollars for seventy-one different charities." All in all, it was a tremendous event under the leadership and direction of Clif Cunningham.
June 23, 2013
Mike Arensen and Kirsten Arensen
Mike and Kirsten were the top Harriers today at the CFB Esquimalt Navy 10K, an event for both military personnel and civilians. Mike finished fourth overall in 37:26 and Kirsten was 14th overall of 325 finishers in 40:24. More importantly, she was the top female in the race by almost 3 minutes. The first three men in the 10K were Jonathan Gendron, 33:25, Felipe Edora, 36:17, and Mathieu Rocheleau, 36:38, while the first there women were Kirsten Arensen, 40:24, Mary-Jil Coude, 43:15, and Jessica Loughhead, 44:19. Strong performances were recorded by Harriers' Mark Ritchie, fifth overall and top master in 38:07, and Mike Janes, sixth overall and third M25 in 38:31. In the accompanying 5K race, Andrew Patterson, from Belle River, was first to the line in 16:45 and the first female was Vancouver's Catharine Farish, sixth overall in 19:28. Harriers' Jane McDonald won a silver medal in the F55 division. There were 325 finishers in the 10K race and another 171 in the 5K race for a total of 496 finishers at Esquimalt.
June 23, 2013
Kyle Jones and Kirsten Sweetland
Kyle won the Canadian Championship and Kirsten was the third female at the Edmonton World Cup Triathlon today in an injury-interrupted career for the 24-year-old star triathlete. With the assistance of Cleve Dheensaw's article, the following story was written in Tuesday's Times-Colonist: "Kirsten Sweetland of Victoria was the rising prodigy of female triathlon before injuries sidetracked her career, and she seemed to disappear from view. Now, the 24-year-old Stelly's graduate is fashioning a comeback storyline with a resurgence that continued Sunday with a third-place finish at the Edmonton World Cup race for her first podium finish in three years. Compromised by a stomach virus, former world junior champion Sweetland fought it off for her fourth career World Cup podium in 1 hour, 3 minutes and 29 seconds. Canada swept the medals with Amelie Kretz of Quebec first in 1:03:18 and Ellen Pennock second in 1:03:29 as the road to Rio 2016 suddenly got a lot more intriguing for Canadian women's triathlon. Although based in Victoria, Pennock was raised in Calgary and the devastating flooding disaster there wasn't from from mind. "It has been a tough week for Calgarians," said the University of Victoria sciences major, in a statement. "My heart goes out to all the people in Calgary, and this performance by us Canadian girls was for the all those people back home." But her mind also had to be focused on the race, which meant being focused on the resurgent and battle-tested Sweetland, who showed no effects of having missed two weeks of training due to the stomach illness in pulling along her Canuck teammates. "Kirsten was an animal on the bike today," said Pennock. "She did so much work, and we [top-three Canadians] were able to pull away on the run. It is unbelievable." Olympian Kyle Jones of Victoria was silver medallist in the Edmonton World Cup race in 57:46 behind men's winner Greg Roualt of France, 57:39, and ahead of bronze-medallist Ivan Ivanov of Ukraine, 58:01. Because the event also stood as the National Championship race, Kretz and Jones were crowned Canadian women's and men's champions."
June 20, 2013
Natasha Wodak
On the opening night of the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Moncton, NB, Natasha won a gold medal in the 10,000 metre race with a time of 33:21. It was British Columbia's first gold medal in the 4-day National T&F Championships. Second place went to Leslie Sexton, of London Running Club, in 34:50. Natasha's personal best for 10,000m on the track was achieved in April at the Payton Jordan Invitational Meet in Stanford, CA, where she ran 33:03. At the University of Victoria, she also won the British Columbia 10,000m Championship last September at The Q's Victoria Run Series where she posted a 33:44 against a strong women's field including Lucy Smith and Marilyn Arsenault. Natasha's personal best for 10K on the roads is 32:42 and was established at the Sun Run on April 21 amongst 38,900 finishers where she finished 33rd overall. This was her second consecutive Sun Run victory but was a big improvement over her 2012 time of 34:13 and overall position of 53rd.
June 18, 2013
Nancy Baxendale and Gary Duncan
Nancy and Gary were the top Harriers at the 29th annual Twilight Shuffle in Chemainus tonight in a 5K race that started at 7:15 pm with a cloudburst! There were 150 registrations and 141 finishers and all participants looked like drowned rats as the race began with rain pounding down and puddles forming everywhere sending spectators and volunteers scurrying for cover. Masters dominated the top positions with 5 of the first 6 finishers in the over-40 or over-50 divisions. The first three men to hit the tape were Neil Holm, of Courtenay, Richard Light, from Duncan, and Saltspring Island's, Peter Holmes. Their times were 17:16, 17:55 and 18:37. Gary was fourth overall in 18:50 and Nancy placed sixth overall in 19:23. She was the top female and top master. Second place in the women's division went to Angela Etherington, 7th overall in 19:50, and 12-year-old Miranda Nyah took third in 20:39; she was 11th overall. Other Harriers running well were David Hoskins, 2nd M60 in 21:42, Garth Ball, 2nd M70 in 26:49, and Christine Thate, 13th of 24 in the F50 division in 30:44. The Legion Twilight Shuffle 5K will be hosted in Chemainus one week later next year on June 24, 2014 with many special new features to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the event.
June 16, 2013
Shannon Coutts
Shannon finished third in the women's field today at the 12-Hour "Ride as far as you Can" mountain bike race in Cumberland to wrap up the Island Cup Racing Series. She covered 126 kilometres by completing 21 six-kilometre laps in a race which started at 8:00 am and finished at 8:00 pm. Last weekend she was second female in the Campbell River mountain bike race to capture the Intermediate title of the 2013 Island Cup Race Series. In 2012 she competed in the Beginners Category and won that division handily. This year she has been upgraded to the Intermediate Category and her next step is the Expert Category perhaps in 2014 or 2015. Beginners usually cycle one lap of the course, Intermediates do two laps and Experts do three laps. Shannon has reached the podium in all five Island Cup events. On March 17 at Hartland in Victoria she placed third, on April 7 at Maple Mountain in Duncan she was first, on April 14 in Cumberland she was second, on April 21 in Cobble Hill she was first with her best race of the season and on June 9 in Campbell River she was second to win the Series Intermediate crown. There is an average of between 80 and 120 riders in all three categories with men's and women's races going separately. Her goal race is XTerra Victoria at Durrance Lake on July 14 where she is trying to qualify in her age category for the World XTerra Championships in Maui on October 27. Before that, however, she will tackle the 270 kilometre Victoria Gran Fondo this weekend on Sunday, June 22. This is a classic circle route up the wild West Coast, across the spine of the Island and back through wine country with 3,500 meters of climbing and paved all the way around. This ride really has it all with ocean-side views, remote landscapes, epic forested corridors, abundant wildlife, and idyllic wine country vistas. Riders start in Victoria and pass through Sooke, Jordan River, Port Renfrew, Lake Cowichan, Duncan, Cobble Hill and Shawnigan Lake before returning over the Malahat to Victoria, a ride in which Shannon hopes to finish in 9 hours.
June 16, 2013
Sarah Daitch and David Baroff
On a busy Father's Day with the Subaru Victoria International Triathlon taking place at Elk Lake and the Canada Safeway Prostate Run being held at Royal Roads, Mountain Equipment Co-Op staged their third series of races at Sooke Potholes and attracted 214 finishers including 64 in the 5K, 95 in the 10K and 55 in the half marathon. Sarah placed second overall to the 5K race winner, Tommie Grant, a mere 12 seconds behind, finishing in 20:08 while Grant's time was 19:56. More impressively, she won the women's title by 4 minutes and 22 seconds over a distant Thea Kimm who finished in 24:20 followed by Fawn Whitins, third in 25:03. Neal Beattie, a tremendous runner in his younger days, took second place in the men's division in 22:12 and Corey Vautour claimed third in 22:53. David was second overall in the half marathon to win the M50 division in 1:30:57. The half marathon champions were Jordan Joye, 1:30:26, and Etta Degnan, 1:45:00. The 10K winners were Drew Dodington, 44:35, and Mell Russell, 45:20. Gary had a lengthy and unfortunate experience when measuring and marking the three MEC courses in Sooke. Here is his report: "I spent all day last Sunday (11 hours door to door) laying down a calibration course and measuring the three courses with the aid of race director Katie Mills. When I went back yesterday to make the final minor adjustments, drive in the permanent spikes,and take documenting offset measurements from identifiable fixed landmarks, almost all of our markings had been removed - nails with labelled flagging on the trail gone, flagging in the trees/bushes off to the side gone, and spray chalk scuffed out. Fortunately, with some close looking, I was able to find bits of gravel with spray chalk to make the final adjustments of the three turnarounds and drive in the 10" spikes. I will have to redo most of the splits though. All in all, a few long days to set-up these MEC courses."
June 16, 2013
Richard Knowlton
Richard was the top Harrier today at the Saunders Subaru Victoria Half Ironman Triathlon at Elk Lake under warm temperatures in the mid-20s. He finished sixth overall, second in the M30 division, in 4:17:08. The Half Iron race champions were Vancouver's Elliott Holtham, with a new course record of 3:48:41, and Victoria's Karen Thibodeau, 10th overall in 4:22:38. Other Harriers performing well in the Half were Bob Janicki, 87th of 321 finishers and 4th M55 in 5:07:37, Garrett Therrien, 102nd, 4th M24 in his first Half Iron race, 5:16:53, Brent Chan, 107th, 20th M40, 5:18:47, and Buddy Bhandar, 195th, 13th M55, 5:45:43. In the accompanying shorter distance races the winners were Robert Johnson, 2:13:36, and Cheryl Orlovsky, 2:35:10, in the Olympic Division and Jack Toland, 59:24, and Chelsea Raymond, 1:08:25, in the Sprint Division. There were a total of 944 finishers at the Saunders Subaru Victoria Triathlon including 321 in the Half Iron, 243 in the Olympic, 236 in the Sprint and 144 competitors on 48 Relay teams in all three distances.
June 15, 2013
Shane Ruljancich and Heather Bretschneider
Shane and Heather were the top Harriers with Shane finishing fourth overall in 2:31:07 and Heather finishing as ninth female in 3:41:01 in a record field of 424 finishers at the 9th annual Kusam Klimb 13.8 mile extreme mountain race today near Sayward. It is a race that climbs 5,000 feet and is billed, "Are You Tough Enough?". The Kusam Klimb is a wild and rugged 23K loop heading up and over Mount H'Kusam and down the Stowe Creek watershed. Starting at sea level, participants pass through some of the most spectacular scenery on Vancouver Island with views of mountain peaks and the Johnstone Strait as they negotiate their way over the well-developed trail. The race winners were Nick Elson, 29 years old from Squamish, with a new course record of 2:14:44, and Nanaimo's Cheryl Davies, 13th overall in 3:03:20. Harriers' Jo Rosen still holds the women's Kusam Klimb course record of 2:53:25 set in 2009. There were several excellent performances by Harriers including Garth Campbell and Lary Nylen finishing 1-2 in the M50 division in 3:00:20 and 3:12:50; they were 10th and 23rd overall. Andrew Pape was top master and 5th overall in 2:46:01 and Dan Jacklin was 6th master in 3:09:29. Other Harriers dominated their age categories and finished with personal bests or strong first-time efforts. They included Hayden Earle, 3:16:33, Frank Wille, 3:28:02, Franck Germain, 3:29:26, Adrian Low, 3:42:33, Valerie Bell, 4:15:34 (silver F50), Lisa Cantwell, 4:19:20, Elaine Galbraith, 5:00:53 and Andrew Galbraith, 5:55:27. The final contestant crossed the line in 13 hours, 41 minutes and 33 seconds. There were 488 registrations, 440 starters and 424 finishers at the 2013 Kusam Klimb, all records for this grueling event. 14 Harriers finished the race.
June 15, 2013
Chris Callendar, Claire Morgan and Mark Ritchie
Chris and Claire were the top male and female Harriers in the 800 metre open race tonight and Mark finished second overall in the 800m, 5,000m and one mile races at Oak Bay Track in Event #4 of The Q's Victoria Run Series. Chris won the 800m outright in 2:15.8, Mark was second in 2:23.5 and Claire was the top female, placing 7th overall of 14 finishers in 2:34.3. Mark placed second in the mile in 5:18.3 to race winner Jin Quan who finished in 4:48.7. Mark was also second in the 5,000m open in 18:19.9; Brett McCollough won that race in 17:57.4. There were 8 races attracting 59 runners in distances of 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m and one mile. 12-year-old Michael Barber continues to shine with a 5:29.1 clocking in the mile to finish 5th of 15 participants. Next up for the Victoria Run Series is Event #5, a 5K Road Race sponsored by Spinnacres taking place on Sunday, July 7 from the Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence on Interurban Road.
June 14, 2013
Craig Odermatt and Erin Burrett
Craig was the top master and placed fifth overall of 682 finishers in 15:39 at the Longest Day 5K at U.B.C. tonight, Race #13 of the 15-Race Timex BC Series. Erin ran a big P.B. of 16:47 to top the women's field over Sabrina Wilke, second in 16:50, and Catherine Watkins, third in 17:10. It was Erin's first sub-17 performance and moved her to second place, within 7 points of the Timex BC overall women's title behind Sabrina Wilkie, 878 points to 871 points. The top three men in the Longest Day 5K were Kelly Wiebe, in 14:23, Kevin Friesen, 14:51, and Jerry Ziak, 15:08. There were 280 men and 402 women in the race. The Timex BC Series is part of the National Timex Road Racing Series. The British Columbia Series consists of 15 races from January to July in the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island, and in the Interior. To date, 13 races have been completed with the final two being the Kelowna Midsummer 8K on July 7 and the Summerfast 10K in Stanley Park on July 20. Geoff Martinson leads the men's division with 895 points while Harriers' high performance masters Jim Finlayson and Craig Odermatt rank third and sixth with 878 points and 833 points. The top four men and women in the Timex BC Series will receive cash prizes of 1,000/500/300/200 dollars and will be invited as part of Team BC to the National 10K Road Race Championships in Toronto on September 21.
June 8, 2013
Shane Ruljancich, Richard Knowlton, Gary Duncan and Claire Morgan
Shane, Richard and Gary finished second, third and ninth overall of 96 finishers at the Mount Tzouhalem Gutbuster 13K long course today, Race #2 of the 4-race GB Series. Their times were 1:02:44, 1:03:41 and 1:11:15. Gary topped the M50 division. The winners were Race Director, Nick Walker, in 1:02:08, and Harriers' Claire Morgan, 12th overall in 1:13:57. Jenesa Tomich took second in the women's division in 1:16:32 and Kelsey Knoll placed third in 1:17:01. Shane was the race champion in 2011 with a time of 59:52 and Care Nelson topped the women's field that year in 1:08:08. The race at Mt. Tzouhalem was not held last year. Other events in the Series will be held at Holland Creek, Ladysmith, on July 7 and the final one will be staged at Mount Washington, Courtenay, on August 11. There were 96 finishers in the long course and 57 in the short course for a total of 153 finishers. See separate ROTW report for the short course.
June 8, 2013
Natasha Fraser
Natasha was the top Canadian and finished 18th overall of 5,595 finishers in the women's-only Oakley New York Mini 10K, one of the most prestigious runs for women in North America. Her time was somewhat a disappointing 34:44 where she felt she was just "flat" for the race. Tash's landmark 10K this year was the Sun Run in 32:42, today that time would have placed her second overall to Ethiopian race champion, Mamitu Daska, who hit the line in 31:47. Second place went to Kenyan Linet Masai in 32:46 and Gemma Steel, from the UK, took third in 32:59. Here is the race report from the New York Mini 10K website: "With the field so full of U.S. and international champions, it was tough to predict who’d make it to the podium at this year’s Oakley New York Mini 10K. At the media event on Friday morning, the day before the race, U.S. Olympian Desiree Davila said she was thrilled to be here again; the field’s traditional depth was illustrated by her 11th-place finish last year. "The history of this race goes back so many years, and this is always a fun event," Davila said. "Having run the course really helps me know what to expect." With more than 5,500 runners lined up behind them, the pros took off on Central Park West this morning for a mile-plus slightly uphill battle for the lead, before bearing right into the park at 90th Street. Early in the race, two-time Mini champion Linet Masai, of Kenya, and Ethiopia’s Mamitu Daska turned up the heat and left the rest of the pack behind. In the fourth mile, Daska made her move and built a 50-meter lead on Masai, which she never gave up. In her third Mini, Masai took second. "Once I dropped them, I figured I had the win," said Daska, who also won the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon this year. "It was very competitive out there, which encouraged me to run better." She finished in 31:47. British cross-country specialist Gemma Steel wasn’t sure what to expect in such a competitive road race. "I thought maybe top-five, so top-three is so surreal," she said after earning the final spot on the podium. "I’ve seen other athletes on the telly with their flag wrapped around them, and I’ve thought, 'That could be me one day.' It’s my day today." Mattie Suver, runner-up at the 2013 USA 25K Championships, was fourth today, leading an unusually strong performance by the American contingent, who placed five women among the top 10. Suver was followed by Stephanie Rothstein Bruce (fifth), Davila (sixth), Brianne Nelson, who is Suver’s training partner (eighth), and Liz Costello, the first local finisher, who represents the New York Athletic Club (10th). Davila, who runs for the Hansons-Brooks team and is sponsored by Oakley, was pleased with her return to the Mini. "I felt like I was competing out there," she said afterward. This was her first race back since she dropped out of the 2012 London Olympic Marathon due to a femoral stress fracture; she’d also planned to run the Boston Marathon in April, but her persistent injury prevented her from starting. "Now I know where I’m at to go home and work. The America side of this race was really strong, so it was great that I was able to stay with them today," she said. When asked if she’ll return to run in NYC again this year, Daska said, "I will not be running in New York soon, unless I decide to try the marathon—you never know." Anyone watching these women, each carrying a flower and finisher’s medal, would bet that the champion—like so many other women—will try to return next year."
June 8, 2013
Brandon Willson, Heather Afford and Sara Pape
Brandon, Heather and Sara all claimed gold medals in their respective age categories at the Mount Tzouhalem Gutbuster 7K short course in Duncan today. Brandon finished 6th overall to win the M19 division in 45:45 while Heather was the top female in the race to win the F20 division; she finished 10th overall in 50:44. Sara was the first master to hit the finish line, 14th overall of 57 finishers, to win the F40 title in 53:01. The male race champion was Julien Marceau, from Frontrunners Athletic Club, in 40:41. Other Harriers placing well in the short course were Austin Willson, 2nd M19 in 50:19, Kathleen Birney, 2nd F50 in 57:50, and Colleen Auringer, 7th F40 in 58:12. Women dominated the field in the short course with 36 finishers compared to 21 men in the race.
June 8, 2013
Adam Campbell
Adam finished second to race champion, Nick Elson, from Squamish, at the 5 Peaks Trail Run Series at Alice Lake Provincial Park near Squamish today. Their times were 47:02 and 48:43 in the Enduro Division. Vancouver runners Mike McMillan placed third in 49:26 with Andy Owens taking fourth, 50:34, and Victoria's former Ironman Canada Champion, Jasper Blake was fifth in 50:43. The top female was Morgan Arritola; she was 7th overall in 51:16. There were 158 finishers in the Enduro race and another 221 in the shorter Sport race for a total of 379 finishers down 28 from last year's total of 407 finishers.
June 2, 2013
Cathy Noel, Robyn Noel, Taylor Noel and Camie Bentham
On a bright sunny day in Langford, the three Noel girls shone brightly at the second annual Goddess Run today. With 3,202 registrations and 2,777 finishers, Cathy directed an amazing event including 250 volunteers, 60 course marshals, 4 aid station crews and many RCMP officers and Island Traffic Control crossing guards for three different distances - half marathon, 10K and 5K. Everything went flawlessly and she had help from a good deal of experienced GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon venue coordinators. Meanwhile, on the race courses, Robyn, Taylor and Camie were the top three Harriers, all running different distances. Robin, 14, had an outstanding race finishing 7th overall of 1,372 finishers in the 10K while Taylor, 12, was 58th of 846 finishers in the 5K event. Camie ran the half marathon in 1:36:07 to hit the line in 5th place overall of 559 finishers and finish as second master, a mere 2 seconds behind former UVic star, Julie Pinel, who was 4th in 1:36:05. Unfortunately, a few of the lead runners in the 10K race were directed off course causing them to run an extra 400 metres. One of these was Harriers Sandy Mullen who recovered to finish in 44:25 which would have put her in 5th place overall and first in the F50 division by over a minute ahead of Diane Walker who finished 9th in 45:43. All in all it was a very successful day at Bear Mountain Stadium with over 3,000 women and many, many more supporters and volunteers enjoying the warm conditions. The Goddess Run featured a popular Expo on Friday and Saturday and the post-race activities and extra touches on Sunday were enjoyed by everyone that attended. The Half Marathon was sponsored by Red Barn Markets and attracted 670 registrations and 559 finishers. The title sponsor of the 10K race was Westhills; it was the largest event with 1,561 registrations and 1,372 finishers while BMO sponsored the 5K race with 971 registrations and 846 finishers.
June 1, 2013
Kris Swanson
Kris finished third overall today at the Asics Xtrail 11.8 kilometre race at Mount Sutton, Quebec, at the Canadian Running Championships, earning him a place on the National Team participating at the World Mountain Racing Championships in Poland in September. Here is his summary of the race: "Thanks again to you and the Harriers for the travel assistance support to Nationals. I had a great race in the end with less than ideal circumstances. I strained my hamstring on the Wednesday before the race doing a 200 metre stride. I didn't run until the race, except for 10 minutes the night before, and gave it my best shot, finishing third and making the team for Poland." David Le Porho (QC) and Meggan Franks (QC) were crowned Canadian Champions in the men's and women's races, respectively.
Le Porho, who represented Canada at the 28th World Mountain Running Championships in Italy last year, won his first national title in mountain running in a time of 1:01:49. Le Porho finished ahead of Jeff Gosselin, 2nd in 1:03:22 - QC, and multiple-time national team member Kristopher Swanson, 3rd in 1:04:09 - BC.
In the women's race, first-time mountain running competitor Meggan Franks won her first Canadian Mountain Running title. A veteran of the roads, Franks won the race in a time of 1:18:32 ahead of Sarah Bergeron-Larouche, 2nd in 1:19:52 - QC, and 2012 national team member Shannon Penway, 3rd in 1:20:26 - BC.
The top three competitors in each race automatically qualified for the Canadian Team which will compete at both the 29th World Mountain Running Championships in Poland in September and the 10th NACAC Mountain Running Championships in New Hampshire in July.
Also qualifying for the World Championships team which will compete in Poland are Calum Neff, 4th in 1:06:00 - AB, and Alister Gardner, 5th in 1:06:27 - QC. There were 40 finishers in the championships from across the country including 29 men and 11 women.
June 1, 2013
David Jackson and Geoff Reid
Two of our Mainland Harriers were the cream of the crop at the North Face Whistler Half Harathon and 10K today. David, from Abbotsford, topped the field of 791 finishers in the Half Marathon with a time of 1:11:24, three minutes and fifteen seconds clear of second place finisher Nicolas Browne, 1:14:39, and three minutes, fifty-nine seconds ahead of third place finisher Ed McCarthy, 1:15:23. The top master was Tom St. Clair, from Tumwater, WA, 8th overall in 1:21:41. Geoff, from Vancouver topped the field of 404 finishers in the accompanying 10K race finishing in 37:47. Second place went to Alex Katzer-Dunn, of Whistler, in 38:25, and Vancouver's Christopher Drozda took third in 39:04. He was the first master. Two of the top three women in the Half Marathon were from Victoria with Catrin Jones winning in 1:20:21; she was sixth overall, and Care Nelson taking third, 10th overall in 1:24:47. Vancouver's Anne-Marie Madden was second in 1:23:46. The first two women in the 10K were both from the host city of Whistler and included Tara Gorman, 41:40, and Laura Bestow, 41:53. Pemberton's Emma Chadsey was third in 43.25 and she was the top junior runner. The first three 10K women were 5th , 6th, and 7th overall. Karen Elliott was the top master in 44:50; she was 9th overall.
June 1, 2013
Craig Odermatt, Gary Duncan and Sean Chester
Craig won the 5,000 metre "A" division race in 15:34, Gary won the 5,000 metre "B" division in 18:30 and Sean won both the 400 metres in 56.6 and the 800 metres in 2:06.4 at The Q's Victoria Run Series, Meet #3 at the University of Victoria. Here is Gary's account of the evening: "Smaller numbers tonight with the varsity Vikes out of town, but lots of entries for the 5000 open so it became two races. Racing order was 800, 1500, 400, 5000A and 5000B. The 400 was a last minute addition. A good solo 5000 for Craig Odermatt and that may be a P.B. of 16:50 for Jeremy Watts who finished fourth. Farisha Arensen had a good 1500 of 5:18 as did her mom, Kirsten, in the 5000B paced by Mark Ritchie; their times were 19:54 good for third and fourth overall. Jeanette Van Den Bulk was extremely fast in the 400 finishing second to Sean Chester, 56.65 to 58.70. Derek Vinge took third in 60.90. Kudos to Martha McNeely for racing all four events. So did Brett McCullough and V.R.S. newcomers Derek Vinge and Clay Ward running four back-to-back events. Martha and I at least got a extended break before our 5000B fourth. My 5000 went better than expected given I'd also done the PIH Prior Lake club run and the Mad Hatter 3K earlier in the day. I managed even 89-second laps with a final lap of 85 seconds. None of my times or efforts were spectacular."
ROTW Note: G's effort was spectacular enough to cap off SIX runs on Saturday including five races!
June 1, 2013
Chris Callendar
Chris Callendar handily won the 5K division of the North Olympic Discovery Marathon today in Port Angeles. He has now won three of the four distances, starting with a Marathon victory in 2011, then he won the 10K in 2012. The Half Marathon is his target next year to complete a four-race victory sweep. Chris finished the 5K in 17:25, 53 seconds clear of second place finisher, Jack Metcalfe, 18:18, and 2:39 ahead of third, Nathan Kruse, who finished in 20:04. Brian Maher won the marathon in 2:53:19, Joshua Klimec won the half marathon in 1:11:45 and Tim Van Riper won the 10K in 43:26. There were 336 finishers in the marathon, 981 in the half marathon, 186 in the 10K, and 157 in the 5K for a total of 1,693 finishers. The North Olympic Discovery Marathon and Half Marathon takes place on a unique point to point course that incorporates the beautiful Olympic Discovery Trail with stunning views of the Olympic Mountains and a five mile finishing stretch along the shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This rails-to-trails course is a wide, mixed/hard surface trail. The marathon starts at Carrie Blake Park in Sequim and the half marathon starts half way between Sequim and Port Angeles at the Agnew Soccer Fields. All four races finish at city pier in downtown Port Angeles.
May 26, 2013
Richard Knowlton
Richard was the top Harrier today at the Shawnigan Lake Triathlon held under extremely wet and cold conditions where the bicycle portion of the race was downright dangerous experiencing many crashes and injuries. Richard finished 10th overall in the Half Iron Division with a time of 4:34:29; he was 4th in the M30 age category. Six days earlier Richard placed 4th overall of 340 finishers in the North Shore Triathlon in Vancouver in 58:58. Dylan Gleeson won the NS Triathlon in 57:11 and the top female was Lauren Babineau, 12th OA in 1:04:02. At Shawnigan Lake the Half Iron race champions were Penticton's Justin Birks, 4:07:17, and Victoria's Tenille Hoogland, 4:37:05. Penticton's Wade Carlson, 2:09:39, and Victoria's Brit Cooper, 2:28:13, won the Olympic Division and Robert Johnson, 1:00:48, and Megan Kinghorn, 1:09:54 won the Sprint Division. There was a total of 434 finishers in the three main events including 75 in the Half Iron, 152 in the Olympic and 207 in the Sprint. Several other athletes participated on Relay Teams and in the High School Super Sprint where 35 schools from 3 provinces were involved. Desirae Ridenour of Cowachan Bay and Noah Beglaw of Keremeos were crowned as the Western Canada High School Champions.
May 26, 2013
Jim Finlayson, Claire Morgan, Gary Duncan and Michael Barber
Jim, 1:09:13, was the first male and Claire, 1:23:18, was the third female of 689 finishers at the 9th annual Oak Bay KOOL Half Marathon today under pouring rain and cold conditions. In the nine years of Peninsula Runners hosting this race, Jim has won the event six times and finished second twice; he holds the course record of 1:06:45 set in 2007. Today, he was also top master and had a handsome lead of 6 minutes, 22 seconds over Seattle's Brett Withers, who finished second in 1:15:35. Third place went to Victoria's Jamie Dunnett in 1:16:04. The top two women in the Half Marathon were Marilyn Arsenault, 7th overall in 1:17:33, and Jen Millar, 8th overall in 1:19:33. Claire placed third and was 10th overall in 1:23:18. A new KOOL division of 10.73K was introduced this year and it attracted 234 finishers. Mark Trottier won this new event in 39:53 and Gary took second overall, only 5 seconds back in 39:58. It was Gary's fourth gold medal performance in a 12 hour span where he finished first in the M50 age category in three events of the Victoria Track Series on Saturday night and followed up with another M55 victory on Sunday morning after measuring three race courses and placing out all the kilometre signs for the Half Marathon, 10.73K and 5K Oak Bay courses. John Catterall had a good 10.73K race by finishing 5th overall to win the M50 division in 42:12. The first female in the 10.73K was Mell Dawn Russell, 8th overall in 45:43. Harriers Gemma Handley was fourth female, 2nd F30, in 48:32. Also running his second race within 12 hours, our 12-uear-old phenom, Michael Barber, placed 6th overall of 193 finishers in the 5K event with a time of 20:10. Mary McGregor won the 5K outright in 19:00 followed by the top male, Michael McCue, who finished second in 19:13 and Peter Kachan, third in 19:17. The Oak Bay KOOL Half Marathon had 689 finishers and there were 234 in the 10.73K, 193 in the 5K, 160 in the Ekiden Relay and 100 in the Kid's Run for a total of 1,376 finishers, up 71 runners from last year's total of 1,305.
May 26, 2013
David Jackson and Chris Callendar
David easily won the inaugural Abbotsford Run for Water Half Marathon today in 1:10:53 outdistancing the second place finisher, Russ Esau, by 10 minutes and 22 seconds as Esau finished in 1:21:15. The top female was Jennifer Moroz, 4th overall in 1:22:15 and one minute behind Esau. The event also had a marathon won by Vancouver's David Palermo in 2:35:10 and the top female was Yu Tsuchida, from Greensboro, NC; she was 12th overall in 3:02:19. There were 183 finishers in the marathon, 535 in the half marathon and 1,029 in the accompanying 10K with 2,519 in the 5K for a total of 4,266 finishers in the first year for Abbotsford Run for Water. Chris narrowly missed the 10K victory by a mere 2 seconds and had to settle for second overall. In doing so, he had 1,027 runners behind him. The 10K winners were Yue-Ching Cheng, 35:40, and Anita Campbell, 37:59, while the 5K winners were Jeremy Vanwoerdan in 17:07 and Olivia Moody, 10th overall in 20:45. Here is a report from Chris:
"It was nice to see and hear Paul O'Callaghan doing the race announcing, he brings a lot of energy to the event!
The marathon was won by David Palermo in 2:35, who I believe dropped out of the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 5 part way, just edging out Ryan Prachnau today in 2:37. I heard that Jason Loutitt was running the marathon, but I didn't see him finish so maybe he dropped out. Mike Janes had a great marathon, too, finishing in 14th overall in a time of 3:06:02. That is a wicked result for him after having bad luck at BMO Vancouver a few weeks ago, redemption!
The Abbotsford Half Marathon was won by David Jackson again, easily cruising to victory in a time of 1:10:53. It was his 4th race in six weekends, and he said he plans on racing Whistler next weekend too! What a machine. Care Nelson had a great race in a strong women's field, placing 2nd in 1:22:40.
The 5K, which is called a 'competitive fun run', was run through the trails around Mill Lake Park. I don't think there were any runners from Victoria, but the 5K did have some fast times for a windy course with 3 people finishing between 17 and 18 minutes.
I ran in the 10K and for the first 4 kilometres I ran side by side with two other guys in the lead pack, before the defending champion, Yue-Ching Cheng, surged ahead and established a decent lead. At the turnaround, about the 7K mark, the volunteer wasn't paying attention and Yue-Ching ran way past the turnaround. When I got there the volunteer realized what was going on and yelled at us and so we all turned around at the same time and suddenly I was in the lead! But not for long as Yue-Ching and the other guy, Jin Kwon, from Seattle, quickly made up the ground and passed me on the uphill back towards the finish line. With about 1.5 kilometres to go I surged past Kwon moving into second place, but still at least 60 or 70 metres back from the leader. The road to the finish is long and straight and I inched my way closer with the help of many spectators cheering, "You can catch him!". With 400 metres to go I was about 40 metres back and put in a sprint to pull along side, but Yue-Ching easily upped his pace and won the race by 2 seconds.
Definitely a pity about the rain. It would be a great place to hang out on the grass post-race with live music, lots of food, etc. Instead I was freezing and went back to my car and turned on the heat full blast.
Full results are here: http://abbotsford.runforwater.ca/run/race-results."
May 26, 2013
Adam Campbell, Shane Ruljancich and Heather Bretschneider
Adam placed second overall in 1:37:20, Shane was 5th in 1:45:30 and Heather was the 7th female to finish in 2:20:46 at the Iron Knee 25K in Deep Cove today, part of the 2013 Run the North Shore Series. Harriers' Lara Wear was 11th female, 4th in the F40 division, in 2:25:12. The Iron Knee winners were Rickey Gates, from San Francisco, in 1:36:18 and Vancouver's Stephanie Hamilton in 2:00:42; she was 16th overall of the 166 finishers. There were an additional 105 finishers in the accompanying Tender Knee 12K won by Nicolas Utting, teenage son of Oliver Utting, in 58:46. Melanie Sakowski, from Toronto, was the top female in the Tender Knee, 4th overall in 1:02:54.
May 25, 2013
Natasha Fraser, Erin Burrett and Mark Ritchie
Natasha and Erin ran the 10K race at Ottawa Race Weekend tonight and placed 9th and 12th in the women's field in 33:35 and 35:21; they were 3rd and 4th Canadians to finish in a field of 5,565 women and 3,425 men for a total of 8,990 finishers. The following day there were 4,813 finishers in the Ottawa Marathon and 8,902 finishers in the Half Marathon. Kenyans and Ethiopians dominated every race by winning the men's and women's division in each event. The marathon champions were Ethiopians Tariku Jufar, 2:08:04, and Yeshi Esayias, 2:25:30; she was 14th overall. Mark Ritchie came agonizingly close to breaking that magic 3-hour barrier, missing it by a mere 15 seconds with a 3:00:15 performance. The half marathon winners were Josh Karanja, 1:07:47, and Laura Durno, 1:24:56. The 10K winners were also Ethiopians as El Hassan El Abbassi won the men's race in 27:36 and Malika Assahah won the women's race in 31:45. The marathon was the Canadian Championship and two runners from BC took gold and silver in a race where 20 of the top 25 runners were Africans. The bright light was Vancouver's Rob Watson who finished 10th overall in 2:18:33 to take gold in the Canadian Championship. Victoria's Catrin Jones ran a personal best of 2:44:11, she was 12th female and 2nd Canadian to finish claiming the silver medal in the Canadian Championship. Here is Erin's report on the event:
"There were some great results in Ottawa this past weekend. The 10K on a windy Saturday night featured Natasha Fraser finishing as 9th female and 3rd Canadian in 33:35 and myself finishing as 12th female and 4th Canadian in 35:21. Then in the marathon on Sunday morning, Mark Ritchie finished in 3:00:15 for 163rd overall and 16th of 453 in his M45 age group. Results are on Sportstats."
May 25, 2013
Michael Barber and Gary Duncan
Michael ran a personal best and Gary did the triple at Meet #2 of The Q's Victoria Run Series under perfect, mild and windless conditions tonight at Centennial Stadium. The meet featured six different races of three distances attracting 73 finishers. The elite men's and elite women's 800 metre races were exciting and blazingly fast with Thomas Riva wining the men's 800 in 1:50.1 and Kendra Pomfret winning the women's 800 in 2:07.8. There were 10 finishers in the men's race and 11 in the women's race. The 800 metre Open Division is where both Michael and Gary showed their talent. Michael was the youngest competitor of 14 runners and, at 12-years-old, he finished fourth overall with a new P.B. of 2:26.6. Gary, running his third race of the night, stepped up his pace to 79 seconds per lap in the 800 to win the M50 age category in 2:39.5. Previously G had run 83 seconds per lap for 3.75 laps in the 1,500 metre race to finish with another gold in 5:14.2 and 86 seconds per lap for 7.5 laps in the 3,000 metre race for his third gold in 10.50.4. The 3,000 metre winners were Nathan Wadhwani, 8:42.3, and Melissa Ross, 10:17.9, and the 1,500 metre winners were Isaac Wadhwani, 4:14.7, and Erica Deschiffart, 4:50.6. Other Harriers performed well at the second of four track meets with Craig Odermatt claiming the top master honours by winning the M40 division of the 3,000 in 8:54.7; he was third overall of the 13 finishers in that race. Jane McDonald and Christine Thate finished 1-2 in the F50 division in all three races to join Gary Duncan, Julien Marceau and Frank Towler as the only five athletes to tackle all three distances in the evening, starting with the longest race of 3,000 and progressing to the 1,500 before finishing with their fastest effort in the 800. Next meet is also at UVic on Saturday, June 1 and will feature races of 800 metres, 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres. The Q's Victoria Run Series is comprised of 8 races including 4 track meets, 2 road races and 2 cross country events.
May 25, 2013
Christine Thate
Christine showed great courage tonight at The Q's Victoria Run Series, Meet #2 at UVic. She first ran the 3,000m race and then started the 1,500m race right afterwards. With 200 metres to go she fell on the track, laid there for awhile, got up and finished the race with a bloody nose, a swollen lip and track burn on her shoulder, elbows and knees. After about two minutes of first aid, she jumped into the final race of the night, the 800m, to complete her hat-trick by finishing all three races.
May 22, 2013
Geoff Martinson, David Jackson, Jim Finlayson and Erin Burrett
The Timex BC Road Running Series is BC's premier road race series, featuring 15 of the most competitive events in BC. With 10 events complete including four on Vancouver Island, competition for places is intensifying. Island races included Harriers Pioneer 8K, Bazan Bay 5K, Comox Valley Half Marathon and TC10K. Participants must complete a minimum of 5 races to qualify for series prizing, as well as being a Junior, Senior, Masters or Road & Trail member of BC Athletics.
After 10 events, Geoff Martinson has a clear lead with 4,477 points. Second and third places are extremely close with David Jackson (4,395) just one point ahead of Jim Finlayson (4,394). It is a clean 1-2-3 sweep for Harriers. Ryan Huff, of Point Grey T&F Club, is fourth with 4,222 points.
On the women's side Sabrina Wilkie leads with 4,371 points. Only 7 points cover second to fourth places, with Catrin Jones (4,304) edging Harriers' Erin Burrett (4,301) and Catherine Watkins (4,297).
This year series prizes will be awarded to the top 10 qualifiers, with prize money of $1,000, $500, $300, $200 awarded to the top 4 men and women, and Timex merchandise awarded to places 5 through 10. In addition, the top 4 men and women will be invited to represent BC at the Timex Series National Finale and National 10K Championship in Toronto on September 21.
The remaining 5 races in the 2013 Timex BC Road Running Series are:
Sunday, May 26 (8:30am) – Running Room Shaughnessy 8K, Vancouver
Sunday, June 9 (9:00am) – Sandcastle City Classic 10K, White Rock
Friday, June 14 (6:45pm) – North Shore Credit Union Longest Day 5K, UBC
Sunday, July 7 (8:00am) – Midsummer 8K, Kelowna
Saturday, July 20 (8:00am) – Summerfast 10K, Vancouver
The Running Room Shaughnessy 8K also serves as the 2013 BC 8K Championship, with additional Championship prize money available to BC Athletics members.
Complete Timex BC Road Running Series details, individual race details, and the latest rankings can be found on the series website at http://www.bcathletics.org/RRSeries/
May 18, 2013
Kathleen Birney
Kathleen ventured to California to tackle the 22K XTerra Malibu Creek Trail Challenge, the seventh and final race of the rugged Southern California XTerra Trail Series. She had an excellent performance by winning the F55 division handily with a time of 2:55:17, more than 20 minutes ahead of the second F55 runner, Erin Fry, who finished in 3:15:38 followed by Mec Moss in third place in 3:32:31. The overall race winners were Patrick Baldwin, 1:39:01, and Maggie Shearer, 1:54:55. There were a total of 706 finishers including 432 in the 22K race and 274 in the accompanying 6K race for beginner trail enthusiasts. The web page describes the event as follows: "Race #7 takes place at the breathtaking Malibu Creek State Park, located in Malibu/Calabasas, CA. The event field is limited, so enter early! This is the Grand Mama event - the 22k goes up Bulldog (oh so fun), but what follows is some of the most amazing scenery in Malibu. The 6k is a great introductory trail run with single track and fireroad trails.
All participants get a great (seriously, it's not a plain white one) race t-shirt, cool finisher medal, hot breakfast with all the fixin's, coffee, entry into the raffle of swag, and the satisfaction of completing one of the best races around!"
May 18, 2013
Gary Duncan and Joanne Rosen
The Kilted Mile went off very well today with Gary and Jo finishing second and third overall and beating the field of 7 men and 5 women to the line, six of which were Prairie Inn Harriers. Here is Christine Thate's excellent account of the race:
"Gary Duncan was out early laying out the course, with the finishing touches being put on between noon and 1:00 pm with the aid of Cathy Noel, when the lower gates, and sheep were herded out. Kilted Runners soon to replace sheep.
We all started in a pretty even row as there was a gradual incline up the hill. We were to do the course 4 times, so 1/4 mile per lap up to the dancer's performing stage, beer gardens and back down again. Just after the first slight incline was another very much worse incline which then had to be repeated four times, one for each lap. Very challenging all in all. Gary Duncan was second overall for the men, and Joanne Rosen was the first the women finishing third overall behind Gary. Second place for the women was Cathy Noel, third was Martha McNeely, fourth was Christine Thate, and Susan Jones was fifth, looking gorgeous and coming up very close to almost catching fourth place. I am not too sure who the men were that followed Gary Duncan. Best Dressed was won by a dashing chap in authentic kilt wear, who got the most applause. He won a $25 gift certificate to the Running Room. It was a wonderful day, the rain holding off for the mile and not appearing until a good hour later. Several people ran into Prince Andrew, I was not lucky enough though. Age category prizes were awarded as well, with 60 and older being won by Martha McNeely. The medals were beautifully en scripted with the Commemorative 150 years, with the traditional gold, silver and bronze and lanyards this year as well. Next category was 46 to 60 won by Joanne Rosen, Cathy Noel second, and yours truly in third. I've been to the Kilted Mile at least three times that I can remember and have never been lucky enough to win anything but a bottle of scotch for best dressed, so I consider myself fortunate today. Gary Duncan won his category for the men and I am not familiar with the other lads names that finished behind him and topped other age categories. It was truly a Royal Event!"
Gary adds the following report:
"The top laddie honour in the Kilted Mile went to some young guy who may also have been competing in some of the amateur heavy events. He started out quick and I fell in right behind, expecting that he would soon fall off pace, but he did not. I did manage to overtake him near the end of the second lap, but shortly after he whipped off his shirt, which according to my wife elicited some strong encouragements from the crowds and he managed to retake the lead and put on a strong finish to finish a few seconds ahead of me around 5:35. I'm sure the tight back and forth made for a crowd pleasing race as after all we are more entertainment than competition.
Jo was third overall with a sizeable gap before and after. Coach Ron was there and also helped with last minute setup. He also called out finishing times, but I'm not sure if anyone was recording them. I have queries out. I'd measured and marked the Kilted Mile course Friday, but did some refreshing and laying out of the cones just before the race. Five or six men ran altogether. One, up from Seattle on a stag, won the best dressed based on the cheers from his friends. Another, whose name escapes me, but I've seen around a lot, said his legs quickly reminded him of his earlier run that day doing the Goddess Half Marathon course. Cathy and I did encounter him and a number of women while we were measuring the Half course. We started before 6:00 am. She rode support and Jonathan drove safety, but it was still scary going along Latoria in the wrong lane. We finished just in time to join the PIH regulars at Evadars for breakfast, and I talked Cathy into doing the Kilted Mile. She quickly called to borrow her daughters tartan skirt, had a blast, and came away richer with her $75 winnings more than covering the late $35 admission & entry."
May 12, 2013
Kris Swanson, Andrew Pape, Shannon Coutts and Brandon Willson
In a rare GB appearance, Kris topped the field to win the long course of the inaugural Gutbuster #1 at Western Speedway today with a time of 53:10. Second place went to Shaun Stephens-Whale in 54:18 and Harriers Richard Knowlton took third, also running 54:18, in a tight race to the wire with Stephens-Whale. Andrew, 56:49, was the top master and placed fourth overall of 67 finishers. Shannon and Brandon were the top Harriers in the short course finishing third and fourth overall. The short course winner was Justin Raycraft in 26:04 with Balint Falvai placing second in 28:26 and Shannon taking third in 28:32. She was the top female and won the master's category by exactly 6 minutes. Brandon was the top junior and placed fourth overall in 29:10. The other half of the Harriers Willson twins, Austin, struggled today to finish 31st overall of 44 finishers in 36:04. The top three females in the long course were Dawn Anderson, 1:05:19, Kathy Rung, 1:11:00, and Sarah Mitchell, 1:11:36. Behind Shannon in the short course were Malinda Queen, 31:03, and Christine Heckley in 32:08. Gary Duncan and Larry Nylen had a good race finishing 1-2 in the M50 division of the long course in 1:03:20 and 1:07:26. Wendy Davies won the F50 division in 1:18:27, closely followed by her daughter, Becky Kendrick, who won the F20 division in 1:19:49. There were a total of 111 finishers including 12 Harriers in both courses with Gutbuster Victoria kicking off a successful start to the four-race Series. The second race is Gutbuster Duncan on June 8 followed by Gutbuster Ladysmith on July 7 and the Series wraps up on August 11 with Gutbuster Mount Washington where the final age category awards will be presented.
May 11, 2013
Lise Wessels
Lise completely dominated from start to finish by winning the 50K division outright at the 26 annual Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras sponsored by Island Runner. I met Lise in 2003 when she first moved to Victoria and won the Landsend Half Marathon by defeating two top-level Harriers in Joan McGrath and Nancy Baxendale. Lise ran 1:21:24, Joan was second in 1:22:44 and Nancy took third in 1:25:33. I invited Lise to join the Harriers and she accepted and has been a member for the past 11 years. Later in 2003, Lise won the Harriers Boxing Day 10 Miler beating all of the men and women with a finishing time of 1:02:15; she is the only female to win that race overall in the 34 years of the event. Over the next five or six years Lise started and raised a family and more recently has been hit with a series of long-term injuries that curtailed her racing for almost 10 years. At the age of 39, she made a return to the scene by running the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon last year in 2:53:56 and placing 28th overall of the 1,724 finishers. She was 5th female and second in the F35 division. Today, running her first-ever ultra, Lise looked effortless as she glided around 5 laps of Elk and Beaver Lakes in 3:55:41, with an average of 47 minutes per 10K circuit, to win the 50K race by 6 minutes and 16 seconds over David Cull. Even more impressive was her gap of 19 minutes, 9 seconds between the next female, Danielle Mennie, who finished fifth overall in 4:14:50. There were 33 registrations, 27 starters and 24 finishers in the 50K division, the largest and most popular category in the E/B Ultras. Although the 100K wasn't the largest division today, it was the feature event as the Association of Canadian Ultramarathoners designated the 100K as a National Championship. It attracted 20 registrations, 16 starters and 12 finishers. The Canadian Champions were crowned as Dave Proctor, 7:51:12, and Bonnie Reszel in 10:59:05. Both were awarded large ACU perpetual trophies and attractive PIH/Island Runner championship plaques. The winners of the 50 Mile division were Steven Johns and Laura Heaney in 8:19:46 and 9:24:12. The First-Time Marathon winner was Gord Chilton in 3:59:37. There were no starters in the 40K Walk. In all five divisions there were a total of 68 registrations, 53 runners started and 46 finished before the 12-hour cut-off time of 6:00 pm. All 46 finishers received a finisher's medal and the top five open and masters men and women were awarded ribbons and plaques. A special congratulations goes to Race Director, Carlos Castillo, who not only managed and directed a very successful event, but he also ran the 50K race and finished in 5:05:35 to place 9th of 24 finishers. His son, Carlos Jr., and wife, Norma, played huge roles throughout the day with live computer timing results every lap and overseeing the food/refreshments with both of them logging 14-hour shifts. Key volunteers with timing, food, refreshments and marshalling also included Harriers Matthias Schoek, Kandise Froese, Eric Davies and Martha McNeeley.
May 11, 2013
Claire Morgan, Michael Barber and Gary Duncan
The Q's Victoria Run Series' first meet of the 2013 track season took place today at Oak Bay High School's Jack Wallace Memorial Track. The meet included two races each of three distances, 800 metres, 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres. Claire broke the BC provincial F35-39 age-group record of 17:48; she finished the 5,000 metre race in 17:37.90. "I am pleased with the result, although it was not a personal best. It is a pleasant surprise to get the record," said Claire. The mother of two is a long-time Victoria runner who represented Canada and the World Mountain Running Championships in Alaska and is a former competitive Mountain Bike racer. Julien Marceau of Performance Running finished first overall in the open 800 metre event, finishing in 2:18.30. Second and third male finishers were 12-year-old Michael Barber, 2:27.10, and 55-year-old Gary Duncan, who finished in 2:32.60. Barber is the son of former Commonwealth Games competitor Gary Barber. The 1,500 metre open race was won by 50-year-old Darren Skuja who represents the Comox Valley Road Runners. Skuja finished in 5:00.40 ahead of fellow 50-59 age-group competitor Gary Duncan, who completed the distance in 5:16.90 with a furious kick. Third place went to Michelle Bernardo in 5:20.70. Julien Marceau, Christine Thate, Jane McDonald, Michelle Bernardo and Gary Donahue raced all three distances on the night. Gary Duncan also won his age category on the long course of the inaugural Victoria Gutbuster at Western Speedway the following day to complete his 3-race durability extravaganza, all within 17 hours. The next meet in The Q's Victoria Run Series is Saturday, May 25th at the University of Victoria's Centennial Stadium.
May 5, 2013
Jason Loutitt, Tina Connelly and Andrew Ambery
Jason was the top Canadian, finishing 7th overall in 2:38:32, Tina hit the line in 3:06:41 and was the 3rd master of 323 in the F40 division. Andrew ran a personal best time to finish 89th overall, 14th of 393 men in the M45 division, in 3:06:31 at the BMO Vancouver Marathon today under very hot, brilliant, sunny conditions. In its 42nd year, the Vancouver Marathon welcomed runners from 43 countries with 16,390 runners registered to participate in four events. A record fell, new titles were awarded, spectators flocked in numbers to cheer in 12 Vancouver neighbourhoods, and over four thousand volunteers contributed to the success of the event. There were 3,876 finishers in the marathon, 8,564 in the half marathon and 723 in the 8K for a total of 13,163 finishers in 2013. The top five men were all Kenyans as were the top two women. Thomas Omwenga won the race for his fourth time in 2:24:09 followed by Benard Onsare, 2:24:11, and Gezahgn Eshetu, 2:25:23. The top three women were Lucy Ngeri, 2011 GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon champion, in 2:40:34, Alice Ndirangu Waruguru, 2:47:20, and Victoria's Catrin Jones was the first Canadian and placed third with a personal best time of 2:48:19.
May 5, 2013
Geoff Martinson, David Jackson and Natasha Fraser
Geoff, David and Natasha all had super runs finishing 4th, 6th and 17th overall of 8,564 finishers under sunny and extremely hot conditions at the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon today, the most popular distance of the three adult races with over 9,000 registrations. Geoff battled five Kenyans throughout the day to finish ahead of two of them in 1:07:07 but he was behind the three leaders which were much more suited to the uncomfortably hot conditions. The top three men in the BMO Half were Paul Kimaiyo Kimugil, in 1:04:18, followed by countryman Kip Kangogo, 1:04:52, and Willy Kimosop, 1:06:30. David's time was 1:08:28 and he was the second Canadian to finish behind Geoff. Natasha, once again, destroyed the women's field with a convincing 2 minute, 26 second victory over Ontario's Dayna Pidhoresky; their times were 1:15:17 and 1:17:43. It was Natasha's second consecutive BMO Half Marathon championship as she also won the event last year in 1:15:12. Third place went to Vancouver's Catherine Watkins in 1:20:15 finishing nearly 5 minutes behind the leader. The top masters were Graeme Wilson, 9th male overall in 1:11:55, and Harriers' Lucy Smith, 6th female in 1:22:48.
April 29, 2013
Natasha Fraser
Although Tash has to be disappointed with her 33:03 at the Payton Jordan Invitational Track Meet in Stanford, CA, on Sunday, she looks forward to another low 32-minute 10K performance in Ottawa in about a month's time. Here is a report from Athletics Illustrated written by Paul Gains yesterday.
Although the 2013 racing calendar is not even half way through, it is fair to say Natasha Fraser has already caught the attention of road racing aficionados everywhere. Moreover, she has also established herself as a strong contender for the Ottawa 10k on May 25 - an IAAF Silver Label race.
The 31-year-old resident of Port Moody, B.C. began the year with a stunning victory at the Harriers Pioneer 8k in Victoria. Her time of 25:28 smashed the course record, which had been held for 27 years by Canadian Olympian Debbie Scott and caused much chatter on running forums across the continent.
She handily won the NACAC cross-country championships in Jamaica before finishing a credible 24th in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Just days before the race, she was suffering from bronchitis. Most recently, on April 21st, she recorded her second consecutive Vancouver Sun Run victory in 32:42.
It's an impressive start to what is being viewed as something of a breakout year. Up next is a return to Ottawa. Asked to explain the incredible string of results she laughs.
"I don't really have a firm answer for that," she says. "I just think it's a whole bunch of things coming together at the right time: being healthy and having a nice block of consistent training, being happy in my life and not being injured."
Fraser graduated from Simon Fraser University in 2006 but was disenchanted with running mainly because she had a series of injuries, shin splints, an inflamed ilio-tibial band and, at one point, a stress fracture in her leg. For three and a half years she didn't compete, preferring instead to run recreationally or go to her local gym when the spirit moved her. Being reunited with her original training group sparked a return to serious running about three years ago.
"I was living about 30-40 minutes away from my training group and then I moved closer, about 5 minutes away," Fraser explains. "I was still good friends with the girls that trained there and with my coach, Brit Townsend. I thought 'maybe I will start going out for some sessions just for fun since I am so close.'
"I quickly saw improvement and enjoyed being with the group again, and running and doing the intervals. I realised I had missed it. Then all of a sudden I was running faster than before and I thought maybe there is something left to accomplish like maybe I have more in me that I didn't realise. I just kept at it and here I am."
Townsend should be credited with developing her athlete carefully. The former international 1,500m runner, who was 7th in the 1984 Olympic 1,500m final, has been both coach and mentor for the past 12 years now. At present, Fraser runs roughly 100 kilometres a week while holding down a part-time job as a server in a local restaurant. She also finds time to lead weekly running clinics for Kintec, a footwear and orthotics company. Great care is being taken to avoid injuries.
"I have been getting regular massage and physio and I have been working hard with strength training and core training with Innovative Fitness," she reveals, "and it's all those things coming together and I am seeing these improvements."
A conversation with Fraser is punctuated often with a laugh demonstrating her gregarious personality. Spending time socialising with her husband or with friends takes up the majority of her spare time. Of course living in one of the more beautiful areas of the country, she says, helps her positive outlook on life.
Fraser is looking forward to returning to Ottawa and has her fingers crossed her streak of world-class racing continues.
"You know, I raced there last year and I didn't have a good race," she recalls of her eighth place finish, "and I just kind of want to go back and be able to compete with some of those top girls.
"I feel I am in pretty good shape. It's exciting to be able to run in a race of that calibre, I am just hoping to run with some of the best women in Canada and the international ladies as well. I haven't seen the start list but I am assuming there will be some fast girls there."
The field is indeed fast. Among those she will face is the Ethiopian trio of Malika Assahah (32:15 personal best), Worknesh Alemu and Firehiwot Dado as well as Hellen Jemutai of Kenya.
The defending Ottawa champion, Lindsey Scherf of Westchester, New York who won last year's race in 33:13, also returns with revenge on her mind. The tables were turned in Vancouver April 21st as Fraser beat the American by 19 seconds.
All in all, the race holds promise for a spectacular competitive affair and we can only wonder what Natasha Fraser has up her sleeve this time around.
April 28, 2013
Geoff Martinson, David Jackson, Simon Whitfield and Jim Finlayson
Geoff, David, Simon and Jim were the top four Harriers to hit the line in a race featuring eight Kenyans and Ethiopians at the 24th annual Times Colonist 10K today. Geoff placed fourth overall in 30:17 with a new 10K personal best for the roads. David was eighth in 31:12 closely followed by Simon, ninth in 31:16. Jim was thirteenth overall in 32:48 and won a tense and hard fought battle in the masters' race with Bruce Deacon, fourteenth, 33:01, Craig Odermatt, fifteenth, 33:01, and Kevin O'Connor, sixteenth, 33:06. The top three men at the TC10K were all Kenyans, Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul, 29:44, Kip Kangogo, 29:48, and Willy Kimosop, 30:02. The top three women were Kenyan Jane Murage, 27th overall in 34:28, followed by Victorians Catrin Jones, 37th in 35:21, and Jen Millar, 40th in 35:46. There were 12,288 registrations, including 962 in the 1.5K Kid's Run, and 10,743 finishers at the TC10K. Harriers boasted seven of the top fifteen finishers with Geoff, 4th, David, 8th, Simon, 9th, Kris Swanson, 12th, Jim, 13th, Bruce, 14th, and Craig, 15th. Twelve other club members had great races by winning their respective age categories at the largest and most competitive road race on Vancouver Island. These Harriers included gold medal performances by Brittnay Therrien (F20), Claire Morgan (F35), Nancy Baxendale (F50), David Jackson (M35), Jim Finlayson (M40), Bruce Deacon (M45), Garth Campbell (M50), Gary Duncan (M55), David Hoskins (M65), John Cliff (M70), Mike Ellis (M75) and John Woodall (M80). A shout out goes to Jeremy Watts and Sarah Daitch for breakthrough races. Jeremy improved from 35:12 in 2011 to a new P.R. of 34:39 today to place 30th overall and Sarah won a bronze medal in the F30 division; she was 100th overall in 38:40.
April 28, 2013
Andrew Pape and JF Gagne
Andrew and JF were on the winning Master Men's team and placed second overall of 170 teams at the Royal LePage Snow to Surf Adventure Relay Race at Mount Washington today. The unique event features 8 different sports including Alpine Skiing (5K), Nordic Skiing (8K), Snowshoeing (7K), Running (8.8K), Mountain Biking (12K), Kayaking (5K), Road Biking, (30K) and Canoeing (5K). Andrew did the running portion and JF did the Kayaking portion and their Team Name was Ski Tak Hut Tsunami captained by Rupert Wong. They finished the race in 3:43:38. Open Men's teams claimed first and third spots overall with Flying Canoe Comox Valley Nissan winning the event in 3:38:45 and North Island Tanks placing third in 3:47:10. There were numerous race categories including teams in the Open Men's Division (41), Open Women (20), Open Mixed (39), Master Men (16), Master Women (7), Master Mixed (17), Grand Master Men (6), Grand Master Women (5), Grand Master Mixed (9), Great Grand Master Mixed (3), Junior Mixed (2) and Military (5). Besides the 170 teams to finish, ten teams were disqualified for rule infractions.
April 21, 2013
Shannon Coutts
Moving away from long distance road rides last year, Shannon, 2012 Harriers Cyclist of the Year, has returned to mountain biking and is doing very well in the 2013 Island Cup Race Series. Last year she competed in the Beginners Category and won that division handily. This year she has been upgraded to the Intermediate Category and her next step is the Expert Category perhaps in 2014. Beginners usually cycle one lap of the course, Intermediates do two laps and Experts do three laps. With 4 races completed to date, Shannon has reached the podium in all four events. On March 17 at Hartland in Victoria she placed third, on April 7 at Maple Mountain in Duncan she was first, on April 14 in Cumberland she was second and on April 21 in Cobble Hill she was first with her best race of the season. There is an average of between 80 and 120 riders in all three categories with men's and women's races going separately. Next up for Shannon is the final Island Cup race on June 6 in Campbell River where she stands a good chance of winning the Island Series Intermediate Category this year. Her goal race is XTerra Victoria at Durrance Lake on July 14 where she is trying to qualify in her age category for the World XTerra Championships in Maui on October 27. She will also be riding with a Harriers Team of 5 others on August 24 at the first annual Sullivan Shakedown 44K Mountain Bike event in Kimberly, BC.
April 21, 2013
Natasha Fraser, David Jackson and Jim Finlayson
Natasha boasted a huge personal best of 32:42 to win the women's Sun Run for a second consecutive year improving her time from 34:13 last year and improving her overall position from 51st to 33rd of over 38,000 finishers including several top-calibre international athletes. David was the top male Harrier in 30:36 placing ninth overall and first in the M35 division while Jim was 15th overall and first master in 30:54. Several other club members had outstanding efforts recording personal bests or high age class placements including Richard Mosley, 2nd M30 in 30:48, Simon Whitfield, 3rd M35, 31:01, Bruce Deacon, 1st M45, 32:19, Craig Odermatt, 3rd M40, 32:20, Erin Burrett, 3rd F30, 34:42, Chris Callendar, 35:18, Claire Morgan, 2nd F35, 36:11, Gary Duncan, 1st M55, 36:59, and Andrew Ambery, 39:03. The Vancouver Sun Run was the official 2013 BC Athletics 10K Road Race Championships and it was a clean 1-2-3 sweep for the Harriers with Jim, Bruce and Craig dominating the master men's podium. Victoria's Cliff Childs won the senior men's division in 30:09, sixth overall in his first 10K race, followed by Coquitlam's Kevin Friesen, eighth in 30:32, and David Jackson, ninth in 30:36. The senior women's BC Champion was Coquitlam's Natasha Fraser, 33rd in 32:42, and the master women's BC Champion was Victoria's Marilyn Arsenault; she was 91st overall in 34:59. There were approximately 50,000 registrations and 38,900 finishers in the Sun Run, only 46 less compared to 38,946 finishers last year. The final runner today was Helle Pita, of Maple Ridge, she crossed the line in 4 hours, 10 minutes and 38 seconds.
April 21, 2013
Logan Roots, Shane Ruljancich, Richard Knowlton and Sarah Daitch
Logan, Shane and Richard were the top three Harriers to cross the line finishing 3rd, 4th and 7th overall in 34:01, 34:18 and 35:00 of 389 finishers at the Sooke River 10K today, the eighth and final race of the 2013 Frontrunners Island Race Series. Sarah had a strong run, finishing second in the women's division to race winner, Sara Gross. Their times were 37:03 and 38:55 and they placed 18th and 26th overall. Third place went to Julia Tachanz in 39:20. The top two men in the race were Nick Walker, 32:45, and Jonathon Gendron in 33:38. There were 34 Harriers at the Sooke River 10K and the PIH team collected their 30th title in 32 years of the Series starting in 1982. 388 finishers today was 36 more than the 352 finishers in 2012.
April 21, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Claire Morgan and Logan Roots
Geoff finished first overall with 883.8 points, Claire was fourth with 825.4 points and Logan placed sixth with 812.8 points to lead the Harriers to their 30th club title in 32 years of VIRA staging the the Frontrunners Island Race Series. All three of them won a gold medal in their respective age categories. Claire was the second female behind Jen Millar, who compiled 847.0 points to finish second overall behind Geoff in the men's and women's combined standings. There were 323 runners that ran a minimum of 5 races to qualify for age category awards. Nine Harriers won their age divisions including Geoff (M25), Claire (F35), Logan (M20), Garth Campbell (M50), Binder Kelsall (F45), Gary Duncan (M55), Wendy Davies (F55), Maree Kennell (F70) and John Woodall (M80). Three more Harriers won silver medals for finishing second including Julie Van Veelen (F35), Dan Jacklin (M45) and Norm Dolan (M60) while four PIH members took bronze with new member Gemma Handley (F30), Larry Nylen (M50), Alan Osland (M35) and Garfield Saunders (M75). The Series showed an increase of 477 finishers over last year with totals for 2013 being 4,087 runners and for 2012 being 3,609 finishers. Every one of the eight races recorded an increase this year, Pioneer (+27), Cobble Hill (+149), Cedar (+3), Hatley Castle (+50), Bazan Bay (+69), Comox Half (+81), Merville (+36) and Sooke River (+36). Congratulations are in order to all Harriers for a successful early season of racing in the Island Series. Many club members will continue to record personal best 10K times in the upcoming Sun Run and Times Colonist feature races in April and the BMO Marathon and Half Marathon in May.
April 21, 2013
Gary Duncan
In his typical Ironmanlike, indestructible, competitive and durable fashion G completed five tough runs/races in eight days including the Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile on the Galloping Goose, the Feat for Food 5K in Nanoose Bay, TNW at Bethune/Camulet, the Free Run 5K at Beacon Hill Park and the Vancouver Sun Run. On Saturday, he placed third in the M50-59 division of the MM in 5:32.5 and followed it up with an overall victory on Sunday at the FfF 5K, winning the race by 2 minutes on an out-and-back Northwest Bay Road course. On Tuesday he ran the TNW hard and followed it up with a third place overall performance on Wednesday at the Free Run 5K hosted by Peninsula Runners. He saved his best for last, however, by running an outstanding 36:59 to win the M55 division of the Sun Run and place 164th overall of 45,755 finishers including 20,378 men and 25,755 women. His time of 36:59 was only 7 seconds off his absolute 10K personal best set in 2008 and translates to an age-graded 30:55 which is an all-time best 10K time by one minute and 12 seconds! Durability and big mileage leads to BIG performances and Gary has just demonstrated this with five outstanding efforts just in one week.
April 17, 2013
Mike Arensen
At the Beacon Blast 5K Free Run tonight, in his first race back after a long injury, Mike powered his way to second place overall, just a few seconds back from young winner Matt Smith. He'd shadowed Gary Duncan as they worked their way up through the field outbound then Mike passed and pulled away from Gary inbound leaving him about 25 seconds back in third place by the end after the loop up the hill. Brock Olson, of Strathcona Hotel fame, offered a free Somersby Cider to everyone who passed him in the race. Even with his three-minute head start, Mike and Gary caught him just before the half way point and each of them won the coveted cider.
April 14, 2013
Shane Ruljancich, Matthias Schoek and Gemma Handley
Shane made it four consecutive victories in the first four events hosted by Mountain Equipment Co-Op by winning the 10K event in 35:31 over Austin Barber, who placed second in 38:16 and Joel Bryan, third in 39:22. Matthias Schoek, returning after a year-long injury was the top master and eighth overall in 42:40 of the 53 finishers in the 10K. Gemma was the third female in 46:30, behind race winner, Sarah Mitchell, 42:56, and runner-up, Jessica Loughead, who finished in 45:40. In the accompanying 5K race, the winners were Anton Rabien, 17:13, and Beth Venables, 21:33. There were 44 finishers in the 5K and 53 in the 10K for a total of 97 participants at the MEC events today starting and finishing at Lochside Elementary School.
April 13, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Brittany Therrien, Jo Rosen and Gary Barber
Geoff and Brittany posted the fastest senior mile times of 4:14.38 and 5:07.26 and Gary and Jo posted the fastest master mile times of 5:18.75 and 6:09.49 at the first annual Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile which took place on the Galloping Goose in Victoria today under variable spring-like conditions. Runners of all abilities raced in a staggered start format over a schedule of nearly three hours. The event was the Pacific Northwest Road Race Championships for all age categories. There were outstanding performances from several other Harriers to win their respective age categories, each of which was a separate race. Lori Bowden, Ulla Hansen and Debbie Scott made it a clean sweep by finishing first, second and third in the Celebrities Mile while Claire Morgan, 5:19.74 in the F30 Premasters Division, Camie Bentham, 6:13.51 in the F40 Masters Division, Marcia Stromsmoe, 7:29.23 in the F60 Super Veterans Division and Garfield Saunders, 8:01.74 in the M70 Legends Division all took home gold medals and Pacific Northwest Championship plaques. Many of the top athletes in the junior and senior divisions represented the University of Victoria Vikes past and present including former Vikes Clifford Childs and Geoff Martinson as well as current members Brittany Therrien, Karl Robertson, Shauna McInnis and Thomas Riva. "It was a really fun race! The format definitely took any kind of tactics out of it. The only tactic was to run hard!" said Childs, who was happy with his result having trained primarily for the 10K distance in the upcoming Vancouver Sun Run next weekend. Child’s added, "I am in the best 10K shape ever, so I haven't been running at the mile pace much at all." Childs was seeded second behind Martinson and ahead of Thomas Riva. The three finished in that order, however, fourth seed UVic Vike Karl Robertson surpassed Childs and Riva to claim second position overall. In the senior women’s category, six of the eight runners represented the University of Victoria Vikes including first overall Brittany Therrien in 5:07.26, who was seeded third. Second went to teammate Shauna McInnis in 5:12.40 and third to Melissa Ross who runs for Oceanside Running Club of Parksville, BC. Ross finished in the time of 5:15.26. The wins secured Therrien and Martinson each with a beautiful painted rendition of Roger Bannister and John Landy’s Miracle Mile from their famous Commonwealth Games duel in Empire Stadium in 1954. In the Junior men’s and women’s races a pair representing the UVic track club each won their respective races including men’s first overall Thomas Getty who crossed the line in 4:37.75 and Emma Bibault in 5:29.74.Winners in the 30-39 age-group (pre-masters) were Claire Morgan in 5:19.74 as well as Byron Trajan who completed the course in 4:44.93. The out-and-back course was run on a paved commuter trail with the first 800 metres run on a fairly straight and flat section, with small rolling rises leading to a minor increase in elevation. The return 800 metres, after a 180 degree turn-around, provided a good negative split opportunity as runners retraced their steps downhill. The event got under way with a kid’s krazy kilometre on a 500 metre out-and-back course and moved up through ten-year age groups. The staggered start required athletes to submit predicted mile times at registration. The starting order was determined by the predicted time, where the fastest runner started first, second fastest went second and the format continued through the field. Each runner was started five seconds behind the other. "This was a really well organized and fun event! I think there will be even more interest in subsequent years, as people come to appreciate the accessibility of this distance and format," said Morgan. Overall prize money totaled $5,400 for the top three open and master runners, male and female, and $1,000 bonuses are awarded for sub-4 minute males and sub-4:36 females. Prize money for the top three open men and women was $1000, $700 and $400 and for the top three master men and women was $300, $200 and $100. There were 119 registrations and 79 finishers in the inaugural event. "All of the runners in the Magical Mile had a great time and will be back next year," said Reid. "I wish to thank the 40 PIH volunteers that helped today and I look forward to hosting the second annual event on April 12, 2014."
April 7, 2013
Logan Roots, Garth Campbell, Gary Duncan and Binder Kelsall
Logan placed fourth overall to win the M20 division in 51:58, Garth was 10th to capture silver behind Dan Smith in the M50 age category in 56:10, Gary won the M55 division in 57:49 and Binder was 7th female and captured first place in the F45 category in 1:05:47 at the Merville 15K today, Race #7 of the Frontrunners Island Race Series. The top three men in the race were Nick Walker, 50:12, Derek Vinge, 51:18, and Mark Cryderman, 51:29 and the top three women were Cheryl Davies, 1:02:43, Jayne Struch, 1:03:29, and Lindsey Chamberlain, 1:03:23. There were 345 finishers at Merville, 42 more than last year's total of 283.
March 29, 2013
Andrew Pape and Lara Wear
Andrew and Lara were the top male and female Harriers at the sixth annual Gavin Fletcher 13K Trail Challenge in Nanaimo today, a unique fund-raising event that features only three age categories - Under-20 (Freshly out of the Womb), Under-40 (Seasoned and Experienced Trail Runners) and 40+ (One Foot in the Grave). Andrew finished sixth overall and second in the OFITG division in 1:04:24 while Lara was 13th female, fourth in the OFITG division in 1:26:24; she placed 72nd overall of 187 finishers including 13 Harriers that traveled north for the Good Friday race. The overall winners were Nanaimo's Travis Pirozzini in 59:16 and Ann Signorella, from Victoria, in 1:10:18. The top three Harriers men were Andrew Pape, Dan Jacklin and Gary Duncan and the top three Harriers women were Lara Wear, Sara Pape and Colleen Auringer. A shout out goes to two stellar performances where 13-year-old Matthew Salmon finished third in the FOOTW division in 1:15:32 (he was fourth Harriers' finisher) and Lisa Ceroni who finished DFL and 37th in the SAETR division in 2:23:24 - she must have gone off course several times! There were well over 500 finishers including 186 in the 12K Challenge and 330 in the Kid's and Family Division. Last year the 12K attracted 110 finishers and 300 more finished the Kid's and Family Run. The event raised over $6,000 for charity.
March 24, 2013
Natasha Fraser
Bydgoszcz, Poland - All four Canadian teams finished in the top ten at today's International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cross Country Championships. The senior women's team placed eighth, the junior men and senior women placed ninth while the junior men's team placed tenth. In the senior men's 12km race Mohammed Ahmed, of St. Catharine's, ON, led the team to a ninth place finish, Ahmed crossed the finish line in 22nd place overall in 33:56. "I got out waiting, the pace was slow which was awesome, I felt great until the final two laps." He adds: "The hill in the last couple laps was the toughest and I was moving backwards but slowly; I was battling hard but it was impossible to make up ground at the end of the race with the slippery conditions and pace of the leaders. It was a good performance but I am disappointed as I was aiming for a top-16 finish." Chris Winter of Vancouver, BC, was the second Canadian to cross the finish line in the men's senior race placing 33rd in 34:15. "The entire week was amazing, the confidence the team showed going into this event definitely helped drive my performance. I was able to stay relaxed and execute my job. I never felt this good in my life, 10km felt easy and the race really started in the last 2km." Cam Levins, from Black Creek, BC, was third Canadian to hit the line; he was 41st overall of 96 finishers in 34:27. The top three men were Japhet Kipyengon Korir, Kenya, 32:45, Imane Merga, Ethiopia, 32:51, and Teklemariam Medhim, Eritria, 32:54. The senior women's team surprised themselves with individual 24th and 25th place finishes over 8km by Natasha Fraser, of Coquitlam, BC, and Rachel Cliff of Vancouver, BC, both finished in 25:30. The team met their objective with an 8th place finish overall in the team standings. "Individually, I am super stoked and excited", comments Natasha Fraser. She adds, "To finish in the top 25 is amazing and I am so excited." Rachel Cliff, winner of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K in 2012 adds, "I am shocked and so excited for the team and for Natasha and I. We are from the same area and worked together aiming to go hard and push for a top-50 finish. To be in the top 25 makes me speechless, it all came together." Third Canadian was Rachel Hannah, 58th of 96 finishers in 26:35. The top three women were Emily Chebet, Kenya, 24:24, Hiwot Ayalew, Ethiopia, 24:27, and Belaynesh Oljira, Ethiopia, 24:33. The junior men's team placed 10th overall. Benjamin Flanagan, of Kitchener, ON, led the junior men's 8km race with an individual finish of 34th in 23:21. "I couldn't be happier with mine or the team's performance", explains Flanagan. He adds, "It was a fast race and I was aiming for a top 50 performance." Kingsville, ON, Ryan Sleiman, finished in 43rd with 23:32 and Troy Smith, of Grimsby, ON, in 53rd with 23:40. In the junior women's 6km race the team finished 9th overall. Madeline Yungblut, of Wroxeter, ON, led the women finishing in 46th with 20:34. Madeline McDonald, of Toronto, ON, was 47th in 20:36 and Jillian Forsey, of Kippens, NFLD., was 49th with 20:40.
For complete results visit: http://www.athletics.ca/page.asp?id=664.
March 24, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Jim Finlayson and Craig Odermatt
The Comox Valley Half Marathon took place today under cool, breezy conditions with a light drizzle. The top three runners overall of 513 finishers were all Harriers with Geoff Martinson winning his sixth consecutive Island Series race without a defeat, in 1:07:01, followed by the top two masters in the race, Jim Finlayson, 1:07:10, and Craig Odermatt, 1:12:19. Claire Morgan was the top female Harrier, placing 36th overall, 4th woman, in 1:22:33. Geoff is a 1500 metre specialist, who has recently turned to the roads and has been competing successfully in distances from 5K to the today's Half Marathon. After the race he said, "Under the conditions I probably couldn't have gone much faster." He was helping by pacing Harriers team mate and second-place finisher for most of the race as Jim Finlayson was seeking the Canadian master's half marathon record of one-hour and six minutes and thirty-three seconds. Jim entered the race as the course master's record holder of 67:25 and today he improved that standard to 67:10, less than 40 seconds off of the national record, which is currently held by Steve Boyd of Kingston, Ontario. Jim won the race outright last year in 1:07:29 and improved by 19 seconds today. The open Comox Valley Half Marathon course record is 1:03:57, set by three-time Olympian and Harrier Jon Brown from the 2005 event.
Catrin Jones took in the half marathon after having landed the previous night after two days of travel from the Rift Valley in Kenya. She was on a mini-training stint while taking in the inaugural Rift Valley Marathon, which she ran in 2:51 on Saturday, March 16. Jen Millar led the race for over 17 kilometres, before Jones took over for good. Millar finished in 1:20:05, while Jones finished in 1:19:48. Third place went to Errington's Melissa Ross in 1:21:48.
Geoff and Jim started off running the first kilometre in 3:14, a little slower than intended, and continued to run conservatively through 3 kilometres. At the half-way point, they picked it up and had come close to the pace they needed to break the Canadian Master's record, however, a steady headwind after the 14K mark, coupled with cool temperatures tempered the pace.
Jim will continue to chase the half marathon record if a suitable course is available this spring. Additionally, he will be racing the Vancouver Sun Run and the Time Colonist 10K as will Geoff, Craig and Claire. The Canadian 10K record is 30:09 and was set by Graeme Fell at the Vancouver Sun Run. Jim said, "I knew going in that with my fitness I would be close on the right day, but it was just a little cool and windy today."
The Comox Valley Half Marathon is the eighth race of the BC Timex Road Race Series and race number six of the Vancouver Island Race Series. Today's 513 finishers was 82 more than last year's total of 431 but 88 shy of the all-time record of 601 finishers set in 2010.
March 24, 2013
David Jackson
Lethbridge's Kip Kangogo and Athletics Toronto's Kate Van Buskirk got Canada Running Series 2013 off to a flying start with convincing victories in today's Vancouver Harry's Spring Run Off 8K, the first event of the new season. Just over 1,000 runners took off at 10:00 am for a clockwise circumnavigation of the world-famous Stanley Park Seawall, under ideal running conditions: 6 degrees, overcast with some sunny breaks and zero wind. Kangogo, who finished 2nd overall to Reid Coolsaet in the 2012 Series Overall Standings, successfully defended his title here, with a 24:23 victory. Van Buskirk, made a rare cameo appearance on the roads before returning to the track. She crossed the line in front of the Stanley Park Pavilion in 27:40. It was Springtime in Canada's most-famous park today, complete with daffodils, hyacinths, catkins and pussy-willows, plus a palpable energy that conveyed the feelings of rejuvenation, of pent-up enthusiasms breaking out from another Northern winter.
It was another command performance by the wily Kenyan-Canadian veteran, Kangogo, who followed an identical script to last year. From the Start he remained content to sit in with Harriers' David Jackson, of Abbotsford, and Point Grey's Sam Pawluk, before moving up a gear at the 3K mark, and gradually drifting away as they passed Siwash Rock and under the Lions Gate Bridge. By the finish he had opened up a 25-second gap over Jackson, with Pawluk a further 26 seconds back. “It was a perfect race for me. And perfect weather,†said Kangogo. “I just wanted to get the season off to a good start with Canada Running Series. The first 3K I just wanted to warm up. Then at 3K I wanted to shake things up a bit. That was the plan. After that, I was just enjoying the ocean and moving.â€
Kate Van Buskirk, from Toronto, won the women's race in 27:10; she finished ahead of Sabrina Wilkie, of Vancouver, who crossed the line in 28:22 and the first master, Lisa Harvey, of Calgary. She is the defending champion and finished in 28:29. There were 890 finishers at Harry's 8K, down 131 runners from last year's total of 1,021.
March 16, 2013
Geoff Martinson, David Jackson, Erin Burrett and Claire Morgan
Geoff and David were the top male Harriers finishing 1st and 7th overall today in 14:38 and 14:53 and Erin and Claire were the top female Harriers finishing 2nd and 6th in the women's division in 17:16 and 18:04 at the St. Patrick's Day 5K which was the official BC 5K Road Race Championships sanctioned by BC Athletics at Stanley Park. There were 2,000 registrations and 1,807 finishers including 657 men, 1,150 women and 14 Harriers. Geoff narrowly missed Dylan Wykes's course record of 14:32 set in 2010 by a mere 6 seconds. Second place in the men's race went to UVic's Cliff Childs in 14:42 while teammate Forrest Simpson placed third in 14:47. The top three men overall were from Victoria and 7 of the top 15 finishers were Victorians. The female champion was Sabrina Wilke of Point Grey Track Club in 17:07, 41st overall, Erin Burrett took the silver in 17:16.1, 46th overall, and Catherine Watkins claimed bronze in 17:16.4, 47th overall in a very tight women's race. Harriers' Kristina Rody's set the course record of 16:46 in 2010 which still stands after today's race. Other Harriers at the event performed very well for, besides Geoff (M254), David (M35), Erin (F30) and Claire (F35) topping their age categories, Kris Swanson won the gold medal in the M30 division in 15:00, 10th OA, Gary Duncan took gold in the M55 division in 18:15, 65th OA, and Juliette Christie topped the F50 division in 19:04, 97th OA, leading to seven age class BC champions from the Harriers. Also on the podium from the club in their respective age categories were Richard Mosley, 2nd M30 in 15:05, 12th OA, Kristina Rody, 2nd F35 in 18:27, 72nd OA, and Logan Roots, 3rd M19 in 15:52, 26th OA. Rounding out the Harriers at St. Pat's were Ben Brzezynski, 8th M20 in 16:03, 29th OA, Ian Searle, 9th M20 in 16:08, 31st OA, Dylan Gant, 9th M25, 23rd OA, and 13-year-old running in the Under-20 division, Mikayla Tinkam, 5th in 20:47, 148th overall of 1,807 finishers. Mikayla is the daughter of the famous and very fast master, Norm Tinkham, from Maple Ridge. Gary gave his account of the tremendous Harriers weekend as follows, "It was a successful trip to St. Patrick's Day 5K BC Championships for PIH. Fast start and a first mile prime but with a light rain, puddled and changing surfaces, some headwind along the water, a few tight turns and an uphill finish, times were a bit slower than Bazan Bay. Logan, Ben and Ian finished within 16 seconds of each other, with Logan picking up a bronze in the U20 division, while Ben and Ian were 8th and 9th M20 with half the people ahead in each UVic Vikes. Claire, F35, and I, M55, both won our divisions, but it was other Harriers in attendance who really shone. Geoff Martinson won his M25 and also overall, Erin Burrett won W30 and was second woman overall, Kris Swanson won M30, 10th overall, Dave Jackson won M35, 7th overall, and Juliette Christie won the F50 division by an outstanding 3 minutes and 40 seconds."
March 11, 2013
Natasha Fraser
Natasha was sick for the Bazan Bay 5K yesterday, let's hope for a speedy recovery for the World XC at the end of the month as she is one of Canada's finest runners. The following press release was issued from, Athletics Canada today:
"Twenty-three Canadians will travel to Bydgoszcz, Poland for the 40th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cross Country Championships taking place Sunday March 24. The Canadian contingent will depart March 16 for a training camp in Walcz in Poland before heading to Bydgoszcz on March 22.
The event will get underway with the junior women's 6-kilometre race at 12:00pm local time (6:00am eastern time) on March 24. The junior women earned their spot at the World Championships by winning the team title at the North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in February.
At 12:30pm local time (6:30am eastern time) the junior men take off in the 8-kilometre race. Kingsville, Ont.'s, Ryan Sleiman led the junior men at the NACAC Championships with an individual 4th place on their way to a team title.
The senior women will be led by a couple of World Cross Country Championship veterans in Maria Bernard of Calgary, Alta., and Lindsay Carson of Cambridge, Ont. Bernard competed in the junior category at the 2011 edition while Carson ran as a junior at the 2008 World Cross Country Championships. The senior women's 8-kilometre race begins at 1:15pm local time (7:15am eastern time). This same group took team gold at the NACAC Championships led by Natasha Fraser of Port Moody, B.C., and Rachel Cliff of Vancouver, B.C., who won individual gold and silver respectively.
The senior men's entry is led by a pair of 2012 Olympians in Mohammed Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ont., and Cameron Levins of Black Creek, B.C. These will be Ahmed's fourth World Cross Country Championships, notably he competed as a junior at the 2010 edition which was also held in Bydgosccz. Ahmed isn't the only member of the senior team who brings World Cross Country experience; Lucas Bruchet (2010) of White Rock, B.C., Levins (2011) and Kelly Wiebe (2011) of Regina, Sask., have all run at cross country Worlds. The senior men's 12-kilometre race begins at 2:10pm local time on March 24 (8:10am eastern time).
Follow Team Canada leading into and throughout the event on Facebook and Twitter. You can also follow these World Cross Country team members on Twitter: Mohammed Ahmed (@Moh_Speed), Maria Bernard (@maria_bernard), Lucas Bruchet (@lucasbruchet), Rachel Cliff (@Dangerous_Cliff), Jillian Forsey (@jillianforsey), Natasha Fraser (@tasha_fraser4), Rachel Hannah (@RachelHannahRD), Cam Levins (@CamLevins), Gabriella Stafford (@GabrielaMariaS), Mathew Walters (@WaltersM17), Chris Winter (@cwinter3)."
March 10, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Jim Finlayson, Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
Geoff won the race in a thrilling fraction of a second victory, Jim was the top master finishing ninth overall with a magnificent time of 14:55, Claire scored a lifetime best score by 28 points and sported a huge 5K personal best time of 17:23 and Gary scored his best-ever age-graded result of 86.85% (equivalent of 14:51) at the Bazan Bay 5K today, Race #5 of the Frontrunners Island Race Series and Race #5 of the Timex BC Series under overcast and perfect racing conditions. In the most competitive and largest field in the 32-year history of the Island Series, 9 men ran under 15 minutes, 27 men were under 16 minutes and 51 runners, including the top 3 women, finished under 17 minutes. All three women recorded personal best 5K times on the flat and fast course in Sidney. The overall winner was former University of Victoria Vikes star athlete, Geoff Martinson, of the Harriers, who finished in a near dead-heat with Vancouver’s Ryan Brockerville, a Simon Fraser University grad, with times of 14:32.2 for Martinson and 14:32.8 for Brockerville, who was running his first race ever on Vancouver Island. Third place went to former University of Victoria Vikes Clifford Childs in 14:40. "I was hanging on, there was a much more competitive group this year," said Martinson, who set the current course record in 2012 with his time of 14:20. Childs led the race for the first two and a half kilometres before giving away to Brockerville, who led until the final 150 metres, where Martinson and Brockerville dueled to the end. "I led early because I wanted to take it out at a strong pace, we had such a competitive field," said Childs. Also in the race were Vikes teammate Forrest Simpson who finished in 14:44, which was six seconds faster than four-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist Harriers' Simon Whitfield and Vikes' Patrick Psotka who also finished in a virtual dead-heat at 14:50. They were followed closely by NTC's Matthew Sharpe in 14:52 and Kevin Friesen of Point Grey Track and Field Club who finished in 14:54. Masters (40-plus) winner was Harriers' Jim Finlayson, who finished in 14:55, however, the master’s story of the day was Vancouver’s Kevin O’Connor, of Point Grey, who demolished the provincial 45-plus age-group record of 15:32 with his blazingly fast time of 15:15 today. O’Connor was second master overall and first in his five-year age-group; he was followed in by Harriers' Craig Odermatt, M40, in a time of 15:40 as well as two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon, of the Harriers, who finished in 15:53 to place second to O'Connor in the M45 division. The women's race was led by NTC's Ellen Pennock in 16:29, Sabrina Wilkie, of Point Grey, took second in 16:41 and NTC's Alexandra Coates placed third in 16:58. Gary continued his 20 points streak of 5 races where he has won the M55 division collecting a grand total of 100 points for the Harriers and Claire notched another 20 points at Bazan Bay by winning the F35 division and moving her grand total to 98 points for the club this year. There were 748 finishers, including 59 Harriers, at Bazan Bay today, up 69 runners from last year's total of 679. The race was bolstered by 8 Vikes signing up on race day, along with 6 athletes from the National Triathlon Centre. Twelve top-level runners from the Point Grey Track Club in Vancouver traveled across the water and all of them raced well. Look for the top ten men and the top ten women from today, along with a host of other Olympians, to be toeing the line for the inaugural running of the Harriers Magical Mile on the Galloping Goose on April 13, a Pacific Northwest Road Race Championship and the first road mile staged in Victoria since 1986.
March 2, 2013
Debbie Scott
Debbie returned to run with the 40 or more Harriers today at Thetis Lake Park and enjoyed her experience to the point where she plans to make it a more regular part of her life. She sent me the following message: "Thank you for the warm welcome back, again I am out of shape but I had such an enjoyable run on Saturday at Thetis with a great group of people as always! I have missed running so much and have been swallowed up by my family responsibilities. I am starting to feel better now and want to run more consistently to take care of myself. I am not fit but have made a commitment to take time for myself to do something I love."
Debbie and I go back 37 years to where we both ran the Shawnigan Lake Half Marathon together in 1976 and, as an 18-year-old, she won the women's division and almost beat all of the men. Four years later she won the inaugural Pioneer 8K in 1980 in 26:50 and, in 1986, she established a Pioneer course record of 26:08 that stood for 27 years until Natasha Fraser bettered it to 25:28 this year. Debbie also recorded a victory at Pioneer in 1994, the year that Victoria hosted the Commonwealth Games. Ten years later, in 2004, she made a comeback to racing in the Island Series as a master at the age of 45. That year she went on to record six consecutive F45 victories by substantial margins.
Debbie started her racing career at the University of Victoria where she specialized at 1,500 metres and 3,000 metres. Her personal bests for these distances are 4:05 and 8:43. She has represented Canada in the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles in 1984, at Soeul in 1988 and at Barcelona in 1992.
Welcome back to running, Debbie!
February 26, 2013
Herb Phillips
After 30 years of excellent, in fact brilliant, performances, Herb Phillips officially announced his retirement from racing today. Here is the message he sent me:
"Thank you very much for honouring me at the Prairie Inn Harriers Annual Awards last Friday evening with the Maurice Tarrant Award. Maurice is an athlete who has always inspired me. He is a great athlete, a fine gentleman, and a good friend. My running began after I turned 40 so I've only ever been a masters competitor.
It didn't take long for me to develop a keen interest in ten-year age group competition for athletes 40 years and older. Over the years I fully supported masters athletics and age group competition. The age groups dropped to five-year segments and I continued to race frequently greatly enjoying the spirit of masters age competition. I think I have finished first in my age group for the past eleven or so years. In fact I have won my age group in my last 275 races. I don't hold that as of any great achievement. It's just what I was able to do at my age. I really enjoyed the sport and loved to compete. That was it! For me running has always been about a healthy life style. If it was all about winning, I could have left the sport long ago completely satisfied with what I had accomplished as an athlete. Plenty of athletes run well in their later years and like these folks I hung in there. Whether I came first or last does not much matter. In my late-50's I had one race I'll always remember as the most exciting and probably my best effort. I actually came 7th in my age group in that race. I was not motivated that much by age related recognition but rather by competing in a sport that I could still enjoy as I got older. By good luck (or what ever) I was basically injury free for thirty years and running remained a healthy endeavour. I'm not sure of what specific BC or Canadian age records I may have accomplished but I probably bettered somewhere between 40 and 50 of the listed best results at one time or another. I rarely ever acknowledged them and especially in the later years. I knew full well that any of my best results would be bettered if they were even in fact records. For a number of reasons, age group record keeping is not all that accurate. I'm not sure "record" is an appropriate term anyways. I much prefer "age best result". At any rate, over the past couple of years I think the governing bodies have changed the reason that masters athletics was implemented for and I stopped supporting these associations or receiving any recognition from them.
If running and particularly racing was no longer fun or satisfying and it was not going to benefit good health then I was ready to forget about it, and find something that does have those qualities. A while back I had a non-running injury (5 broken ribs and 2 compressed discs) and took time off. After coming back and running with some pain I continued to be very competitive in my age group but I began to wonder if it was time to hang up the racing shoes. You eventually know if it is time and by the end of the summer last year I called it a day after the Senior Games. Giving up wasn't so much due to injury or health issues, it was due to losing the fire. Once the desire is gone and you haven't raced for a while it does not bother you that much if at all. You enjoy other things instead. I thought about taking one more try at kindling the spirit and put the three PIH races on my calendar. The desire is not there! I'm done, Bob. I want to thank you for your kind friendship and all your support over the years. It has been very much appreciated. Bob, I believe you are the greatest ambassador this sport has ever known. You have served the running community so well for so long and I greatly admire you. I was honoured to be a Prairie Inn Harrier and wish you and all the PIH club members all the very best. Best regards,
Herb."
February 24, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Logan Roots, Claire Morgan and Binder Kelsall
Geoff, Logan, Claire and Binder all posted impressive performances at Hatley Castle 8K today as the Frontrunners Island Race Series reached its midpoint with four races completed and four races remaining. Geoff notched his fourth victory in four attempts with first place finishes at Pioneer, Cobble Hill and Hatley Castle this year and a win at Bazan Bay last year. He has established new overall course records at Bazan Bay and Cobble Hill and narrowly missed breaking Jon Brown's mark at Pioneer and Steve Osaduik's course record at Hatley. His time today was 25:23 good for 844 points on a difficult, hilly and half-gravel course. He averaged 5:06 per mile or 3:10 per kilometre. Runner-up was the Stewart Mountain 10 Mile champion, Derek Vinge in 27:17, and Logan was 10 seconds back, third overall in 27:27, to record his highest-ever finish in 14 Series races completed to date. He achieved 781 points at Hatley after notching over 800 points at his first three Series races this year and Logan recorded his fourth consecutive M20 gold medal even though he doesn't turn 20 until June 12, 2013. The Island Series uses December 31, 2013 as the eligibility date to determine age categories. Claire finished as third female today behind race champion, Catrin Jones, who was 11th overall in 29:17. The second place female was Vancouver's Rachel Ruus, 17th overall 30:23. Claire was 19th of 453 finishers only 13 seconds behind Rachel and achieved her highest-ever point count after running Hatley Castle 7 times in the last 11 years. Her first attempt in 2003 resulted in a time of 34:15 for 709 points while today she improved to 30:36 and 795 points. Claire has finished 53 Island Series races since 1999. Binder is having the Series of her life with an F45 gold medal at Hatley Castle by demolishing all others in her age category. She was 3 minutes, 21 seconds ahead of Christina Stoher today, 34:58 to 38:19. At Cedar, Binder finished with another gold, 6 minutes, 15 seconds clear of runner-up, Anette De Boer, 51:54 to 58:09. She saw her Hatley Castle time and points improve to 34:58 (696 points) compared to last year, 37:18 (652 points). There were 453 finishers, including 39 Harriers, up 48 runners from last year's total of 405.
February 22, 2013
47 Award Winners
Tonight the Prairie Inn Harriers acknowledged their 2012 award winners in a number of categories with about 90 people attending the annual Awards Ceremony. Here is the complete list of winners:
PRAIRIE INN HARRIERS
2012 AWARD WINNERS
PERPETUAL AWARDS
1. Prairie Inn Harriers
Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner – 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Natasha Fraser, Claire Morgan
2. Prairie Inn Harriers
Robin Pearson Most Improved Runner – 2012
Happy Jaycox, Lisa Cantwell
3. Prairie Inn Harriers
Alex Marshall Master of the Year – 2012
Andrew Pape, Nancy Baxendale
4. Prairie Inn Harriers
Maurice Tarrant and Rosamund Dashwood Veterans of the Year – 2012
Herb Phillips, Martha McNeely
5. Prairie Inn Harriers
Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award – 2012
Gary Duncan
6. Prairie Inn Harriers
John Thipthorpe Durability Award – 2012
Gary Duncan, Natasha Fraser
7. Prairie Inn Harriers
Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier – 2012
Jane McDonald, Wendy Davies
8. Prairie Inn Harriers
Stewart Fall Junior of the Year – 2012
Logan Roots
9. Prairie Inn Harriers
Bob Reid Bright Shining Light Award – 2012
Jean-Francois Gagne
10. Prairie Inn Harriers
Glenn Jaques Race Walker of the Year – 2012
Susan Boyle
11. Prairie Inn Harriers
Dave Reed Trail Runner of the Year – 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Andrew Pape
12. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Members’ Choice High Achievement Award – 2012
Gary Duncan
13. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Cyclist of the Year – 2012 (2 Perpetual Trophies)
Steve Bachop, Shannon Coutts
14. Prairie Inn Harriers
Island Race Series Runner of the Year – 2012
Sean Chester, Claire Morgan
NON-PERPETUAL AWARDS
15. Prairie Inn Harriers
Excellence in Adventure Racing – 2012
Hayden Earle
16. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Triathlete of the Year – 2012
Bill Scriven, Julie Van Veelen
17. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Fittest Couple – 2012
Larry Nylen, Valerie Bell, Andrew Pape, Sara Pape
18. Prairie Inn Harriers
Excellence in Administration and Race Direction – 2012
Bob Reid, Cathy Noel
19. Prairie Inn Harriers
Excellence in Volunteering – 2012
Mike Emerson
20. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Ultramarathoner of the Year – 2012
Jason Loutitt
21. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Excellence in Marathoning – 2012
Ryan Day
22. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Super Veteran of the Year – 2012
John Woodall
23. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Humanitarian Award – 2012
Eugene Leduc
24. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Lifetime Membership Award – 2012
Brian Turner, Anita Carter
25. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Courage to Come Back Award – 2012
Garfield Saunders, Joanne Rosen
26. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Webmasters of the Year Award – 2012
Doug Bakewell, Lara Wear
COMICAL AWARDS
27. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Moaners and Groaners Award – 2012
SeaChest and the Turtles
28. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Runway Award – 2012
Lisa Cantwell
29. Prairie Inn Harriers
Harriers Trailside Transformer Award – 2012
Elaine Galbraith
February 10, 2013
Logan Roots, Garth Campbell, Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
Logan, Garth, Claire and Gary were the top four Harriers to finish of 34 PIHers at the Cedar 12K today, Race #3 of the Frontrunners Island Race Series and all of four them convincingly won their age categories. Logan won the M20 division and finished fourth overall of 452 finishers in 41:08 behind the top three runners Andrew McCartney, 39:04, Nick Walker, 40:35, and Derek Vingte, 41:01. Garth placed 19th overall to win the M50 division comprised of 24 runners in 44:52 while Gary topped the M55 division comprised of 23 runners in 46:30; he was 28th overall. Claire ran a 59 second course best in 45:16 to place 22nd and was the second female to race champion, Jen Millar, who hit the line in 44:17. Third place in the women's field went to Patricia Roney in 46:01. Besides Logan, Garth, Claire and Gary winning their age categories, Alexandra Coates (F20), Binder Kelsall (F45), Wendy Davies (F55), Maree Kennell (F70), and John Woodall (M80), also won gold medals at Cedar. Honourable mention goes to two M50 Harriers, Larry Nylen, ran a 42 second course best of 48:50 to place 4th and, John Catterall, was 5th in 49:46 and John was the fastest sprinter in the club covering the final 100 metres in 16.56 seconds. The total of 452 finishers was up three runners from last year's mark of 449.
February 10, 2013
Daivd Jackson and Jim Finlayson
David placed 4th overall of 1,890 finishers in 1:07:02 while Jim was 5th overall and top master in 1:07:03 today at the First Half Half Marathon today in Vancouver. The top three men were Vancouver's Rob Watson, 1:05:39, Joseph Gray, from Renton, WA, 1:05:47, and Victoria's Matt Clout, 1:06:29, while the top three women were Catrin Jones, 29th in 1:17:34, Ellie Greenwood, 33rd in 1:18:44, and Catherine Watkins, 35th in 1:18:59. Calgary's Lisa Harvey placed 4th in 1:20:02, and new Harrier, Erin Burrett, was 5th in 1:20:17. On the men's side of the race, the Harriers boasted six of the top ten finishers today in the BC Half Marathon Championship event. Besides David Jackson, 4th, and Jim Finlayson, 5th, several high performance club members were stacked up behind them including Richard Mosley, 6th, Kris Swanson, 7th, Dylan Gant, 8th, and Craig Odermatt, 10th overall in 1:12:01, and second master to Jim Finlayson. The First Half Half Marathon has a cap of 2,000 registrations and usually sells out quickly on the popular downtown Vancouver race course.
February 2, 2013
Carlos Castillo
Local ultra legend and Race Director for the highly popular Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras, The Jackal, traveled to Spain to participate in the GR10Xtreme Valencia 6-Hour Trail Run and he completed 57.1 kilometres over the 6-hour time period and only had to stop twice which he put down to "the change in water". There were 92 finishers in the event that was comprised of several 2.5K circuits where each contestant did a lap of a track in a stadium every circuit. Carlos placed 61st overall, he as 31st in the "Veterano" division and completed 19 laps for a total distance of 57.13 kilometres. His fastest lap was 17:26 and his slowest lap was 23:42 (must have been the bad water pit stop) with an average lap time of 18:54. The overall winners were Jose Manso Crespo, 27 laps, 82.08 kilometres with an average lap time of 13:09 and Christina Gonzalez Garcia, 24 laps, 73.33 kilometres with an average lap time of 14:43; she was 14th overall of the 92 finishers. Carlos was the only Canadian in the race and was wearing lucky Bib No. 13 for the 6h Ultrafondo de Valencia event.
January 27, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Lucy Smith and Gary Duncan
Geoff and Lucy were the top Harriers and Gary set an M55 age category record at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race #2 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series under perfect racing conditions. A new overall course record of 30:46 was set by Geoff Martinson and five age-group records were also set in the race. Hosted by CeeVacs Road Runners, there were 532 finishers up substantially from last year when the race had to be rescheduled because of snow and only had 382 finishers as a result of moving from Race #2 to Race #4 between Cedar and Bazan Bay.
Prairie Inn's Martinson won in 30:46, beating Prairie Inn's Steve Osaduik's 2008 time of 31:11. Second and third places were hotly contested with Harriers' Sean Chester coming in at 31:54 and NTC's Andrew McCartney at 31:57 with a tremendous sprint to the finish line. The top master was M45 Vince Brotherston of Comox Valley Road Runners in 35:25.
Martinson also won the Pioneer 8K two weeks ago, "I wasn't sure if I would be able to take the record down at Cobble Hill, but I thought the least I could do was give it a good hard effort," he said. "With no watch and no clocks on the course, it wasn't until the last 100 metres when I could see the finish line clock that I knew the record was within reach."
There was just three seconds between the top two women with Frontrunners Victoria Catrin Jones winning in 35:57 and Harriers' Lucy Smith second in 36:00. Smith was also the top master at the age of 45. Jen Millar of Human Powered Racing placed third in 36:13. "I was quite pleased with how my race went. I settled into a comfortable pace right away and managed to finish quite strong," said Jones. "The competition was also great today. Having both Lucy Smith and Jen Miller by my side for most of the race was incredible. They are both amazing athletes and it's always an honour to run with them."
The race saw five age-group records; Martinson in the M25-29, Jones in the F30-34, Smith in the F45-49, Gary Duncan in the M55-59, and Valerie Gonzales in the F65-69. In the sprint finish Eric Tremblay ran 12:76 to take the green jersey in the Open Men's. Teenager Erica Deschiffart of the Bastion Running Club ran 16:27 to win the Open Women's green jersey. Joshua Heath and Rachel Kimler took the jerseys for Masters Men and Women respectively. Honourable mention goes to Garfield Saunders who took his second consecutive bronze medal (Pioneer and Cobble Hill) in the M75 division after undergoing heart surgery following his attempt at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon in October where he had to withdraw about the 10K mark with heart problems. In just 3 months, he has bounced back well to attain a podium position of seven M75 runners in both races of the 2013 Island Series.
January 27, 2013
David Jackson and Dylan Gant
Mainland Harriers' David Jackson and Dylan Gant placed first and third overall in 24:47 and 25:04 at the Steveston Ice-Breaker 8K Road Race today, Race #1 of the Lower Mainland Race Series. Saucony's Jeremiah Johnston took second place in 25:01. The top three women were Sabrina Wilke, 28:08, Catherine Watkins, 28:23, and Rachel Ruus, 29:27. There were 199 finishers at the Lower Mainland Race Series' Steveston 8K, down 30 from last year, compared to 656 Pioneer 8K finishers to kick off the Island Race Series and the Timex BC Series. There was a lot of hype prior to the race with the following press release. "This Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. there will be a buzz of runner activity in Steveston Village, as many will be lacing up to run the annual Kajaks Steveston Ice-Breaker 8K Road Race.
This event is organized by the Kajaks Track and Field Club and will be the first road race of the year – part of the Lower Mainland Road Race Series. The series provides all levels of runners a chance to compete in their age-group and there are 10 races from January to August. It is the second event of the Timex BC Road Running Series.
“The Ice Breaker has been a popular choice with many runners because it is certified, flat and an easy course”, says 72-year-old Richmondite, JJ Schmidt, Race Director and established coach of the prestigious Kajaks Track and Field Club.
He adds, “There are fast times like 24:30 in this course and our run has been around for about eleven years now. The course has always been popular with the elites and all levels of runners."
January 26, 2013
Natasha Fraser
After her brilliant course record at Pioneer two weeks ago, Natasha Fraser (Prairie Inn Harriers), continued her remarkable 2013 racing year by comfortably winning the Senior Women's NACAC Cross Country Championship in Mandeville, Jamaica today. Natasha completed the 6K race in 21:07, to finish 28 seconds clear of teammate Rachel Cliff (Vancouver Thunderbirds), and led Canada to the team victory over the U.S.A., 18 points to 26 points on a reverse scoring system where the top 4 runners from each country have their finishing positions added together to achieve their point rating total.
In the Senior Men's 8K Championship race, Cam Levins (Comox Valley) helped Canada to second place behind the U.S.A., 18 points for U.S.A. and 22 points for Canada. Levins finished second overall, losing out in a sprint finish to Craig Forys of the U.S.A., 24:46 to 24:47. Two other B.C. athletes were part of the Canadian team. Chris Winter (Speed River) placed 8th (3rd Canadian), and Luc Bruchet (Point Grey) was 10th (5th Canadian).
Canada also won both Junior team competitions, with Christian Gravel (Vancouver Thunderbirds) scoring fourth Canadian, 10th overall.
Complete results: http://www.runningeventsja.com/2013-nacac-cross-country-champs.html
Countries competing at the NACAC Cross Country Championships today were the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. All teams now advance to the World Cross Country Championships in Poland on March 24.
January 26, 2013
Kathleen Birney, Lisa Cantwell and Sara Pape
Kathleen, Lisa and Sara represented the Harriers well today at the Mount Washington Yeti Snowshoe Race near Courtenay. Kathleen was 23rd overall and 6th in her age category in the 2-lap Enduro 10K race in 1:28:43, while Lisa finished 25th and 3rd in her age category in 1:33:24. Sara did the one-lap 5K Sport course in 52:02 to place 57th overall and 7th in the F40 division. The race winners were Jerry Ziak, 57:15, and Shauna Connaughton, 1:08:06, in the Enduro 10K and James Bowen, 35:27, and Nicole Bates Eamer, 39:10, in the Sport 5K. There were 35 finishers in the 10K race and another 101 in the 5K race. Mount Washington Alpine Resort boasts one of the most spectacular coastal alpine settings in North America. Located in an enviable geographic location, sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean, Strathcona Provincial Park and the Beaufort Mountains to the west and the Georgia Straight to the east. Mount Washington Resort is a family friendly destination that has summer and winter facilities and activities for adventurers and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.
January 19, 2013
Jason Loutitt and Randy Duncan
Jason, 38, had a strong performance in Hawaii today at the H.U.R.T. 100 Mile Trail race placing second overall. Gary Robbins won the event in 19:35 for a new course record while Jason finished in 21:39 and Hickademus Hollon placed third in 21:43. The top female was Hannah Roberts; she was 8th overall in 25:41. Hannah also set a course record and established a P.R. for herself by 3 hours. She is a two-time winner taking the win in 2011 as well as 2013. Randy Duncan had a solid effort finishing 23rd of 53 finishers in 31:10, he was second in the M50 division. Jason won the race last year in 22:44 and won it the year before too, with a time of 22:27. There were 121 starters and 53 finishers (44%)in the race. Many participants, 58 runners (56%), were forced to drop out before the 36-hour cut-off time.
January 13, 2013
Kathleen Birney, Heather Bretschneider and Sara Pape
Kathleen and Heather were superb Race Directors and Sara took on a major role in the absence of Susan Norrington by organizing the registration and race package pick-up for the 34th annual Harriers Pioneer 8K today. The event was flawless and the 655 finishers enjoyed the race from the stating gun to the fully-packed 500-strong awards ceremony. Sara also organized the recycling and garment sales while Heather ran the race with her Dad and Kathleen helped with laptop computer duties to assist finish line announcer, Bob Reid, to bring in every runner. All in all, it was a great day for the Harriers with 80 volunteers helping at the race and another 80 Harriers participating. Numbers were up this year with 750 registrations and 655 finishers compared to 704 registrations and 629 finishers of last year. The absolute record for the Pioneer 8K was set in 2006 where there were 814 registrations and 729 finishers. The Harriers are one of the oldest (36 years) and largest (800 members) running clubs in British Columbia. They are the only club in Canada with individual, family, associate, student and canine memberships. The Harriers host 9 races annually ranging from one mile in distance to 100 kilometres and they include a 40 metre sand sprint for more than 40 dogs that belong to the club. The Harriers Hounds Race is always a popular spectator event at Thetis Lake Park in October of each year.
January 13, 2013
Geoff Martinson, Natasha Fraser, Jim Finlayson and Lucy Smith
Harriers' Natasha Fraser of Port Moody, BC, absolutely demolished the women's field at the 34th Pioneer 8K road race today, finishing in a time of twenty-five minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Fraser set a new course record and finished sixth overall and nearly three minutes faster than the next female competitor who finished 26th. Natasha's is the highest finishing position by a female in 34 years of the Pioneer 8K. It was her best race of her life and this finishing time equates to a 32:20 10K and a 1:11:30 half marathon, definitely world-class. She won $300 first place prize money and another $$1,000 for a course record bonus by running 40 seconds faster than Olympian Debbie Bowker's 26:08 course record that stood for 27 years. The second and third place women were Vancouver's Sabrina Wilkie and Victoria's Catrin Jones finishing in 28:15 and 28:26, respectively. “I even surprised myself. I looked at my split at 5K and swore out loud, I was way faster than I expected,” said an elated Fraser. New Harrier, Geoff Martinson, battled Joseph Gray, a Club Northwest competitor from Washington State, for just over three kilometres, before Gray began to fade and the two-man race was over. Martinson was seeking three-time Olympian Jon Brown’s course record of 23:18 set in 2003. The record was not to be taken however, Martinson powered his way with a strong solo effort finishing in 23:49; Gray finished in 24:20. Martinson’s result was the ninth fastest time in the event’s history. “It is a fast course, but it still rolls. Anyway, I had fun trying to take the record,“ said Martinson. Andrew McCartney finished in third place in 25:02. McCartney trains with the National Triathlon Centre in Victoria, BC. Jim Finlayson was the first master to finish; he crossed the line in 25:10. Finlayson won the event in 2011 in the time of 24:45. Lucy Smith was the first female master, competing in the 45-59 age-group. Smith completed the course in 28:45 which was a new W45 Canadian Record breaking Diane Legare's mark of 29:09 set August 13, 1997 in Attleboro, MA. There were 750 registered runners and 655 finished the rolling, but fast race course. The temperatures on the day were about one degree Celsius. The Pioneer 8K is the first race of two different road race series - the Frontrunners Island Race Series and the Timex BC Road Race Series. The Pioneer 8K is organized by the Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club and has a rich history of top-level performances over the 34 years it has been held in Central Saanich.
