December 29, 2012
Marcia Stromsmoe
Marcia, running her first race in many months due to a serious and long term injury, won the F60 division today in Mexico. Welcome back, Marcia. Here's her report. Porque 5K? Por que Why 5K? Why not started with kids 1K, only they turned the wrong way so the winning time was 2 something. It's all good, everybody went the wrong way so it doesn't matter The rest of us ran/walked the right way through town pretty much everywhere, it is small, over cobblestones, pavement, dirt, ruts, potholes and sand back to the square. Locals were asked to keep dogs in, lots of mad barking and not a chicken in sight. About200 entrants, winning male 17:35, female 20:41. I had a few aches and pains but not my back:) and was first in 60 to death 26:04 officially. Results took forever as record keeping was on 8x10 paper with lots of scribbles. One spectator suggested they should get chips, but really who cares, the old course was short, this one is supposedly accurate but who knows how it was measured. Fortunately it was cloudy, apparently it is supposed to rain. That should make me feel at home.
December 16, 2012
Natasha Fraser
OTTAWA – Athletics Canada announced today the athletes that will travel to Mandeville, Jamaica for the 2013 North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships to be held January 26th. Headlining Canada’s entry at the Cross Country Championships is Black Creek, B.C.’s Cameron Levins. The 2012 Olympian and defending champion is looking to lead the senior men to the ultimate team title. Toronto, Ont.’s Kate Harrison is aiming for her first senior women’s victory. In 2011 she captured the junior women’s NACAC title and is coming off of a silver medal performance from the 2012 Canadian Cross Country Championships. Senior Women (6km) Maria Bernard Calgary, AB Marek Jedrzejek/Terry Crook Lindsay Carson Cambridge, ON Dave Reid Rachel Cliff Vancouver, BC Chris Johnson Natasha Fraser Port Moody, BC Brit Townsend Rachel Hannah Barrie, ON Ross Ristuccia Kate Harrison Toronto, ON Sean Cleary
December 9, 2012
Gordon Bonwick
Long-time Harrier, and a regular at the rail with the lunch bunch runs, Gord clocked a 3:19:28 at the Honolulu Marathon today to finish 219th overall of the large field of 24,412 finishers, evenly split between men and women. He was 12th of 1,206 in the M5054 division and was one of only four Victorians in the event. A noteworthy performance came from North Vancouver's Betty Jean McHugh, a frequent GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon participant where she has set two world age class records in Victoria. At age 85, B.J. McHugh continued to set world records for long-distance running while in Hawaii. Her latest achievement came where her time for the grueling race under hot and humid conditions set a new world record for her age category. And while McHugh has broken at least 30 running records since first taking up the sport 35 years ago, she is most proud of running the Honolulu Marathon with her son Brent and granddaughter Ava. On arrival in North Vancouver from Hawaii on Thursday, McHugh said she has never heard of three generations in a family entering and finishing a marathon together. “We did a three-generations run and I don’t know if it has ever been done before,” said McHugh, who shows no sign of slowing down. In Honolulu, McHugh finished the marathon in 5:12:03. The previous world record for an 85 year-old woman in a marathon was 5 hours 40 minutes.
December 8, 2012
Claire Morgan, Sean Chester, Chris Callendar and Sara Pape
Claire and Sean were the top Harriers at the 9th annual Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge today featuring 172 finishers while Chris and Sara were the top Harriers in the new 5 Miler this year with 43 finishers. Sean finished fourth overall in 1:04:47 and Claire was 22nd, second female, in 1:14:56. The top three men in the 10 Miler were Derek Vinge, 1:03:07, Shaun Stephens-Whale, 1:03:37, and Gunner Shaw Champion, Jasper Blake, 1:03:55. The female champion was Catrin Jones in 1:12:07, followed by Claire, 1:14:56, and Devon Mihalyi, 1:17:21. Strong performances were turned in by Harriers Logan Roots, 6th overall and top junior in 1:07:13, and Garth Campbell who broke his own M50 course record by 46 seconds to finish in 1:11:05; he was 10th overall. In the accompanying new 5.5 Mile course, Chris won the race outright in 41:23, an impressive 4 minute, 26 second victory. He was followed by Ben Hancock in 45:49 and Stephan Laks in 46:47. The top three women in the five mile race were Courtenay Cameron, 4th in 48:19, Eva Gifford, 7th in 51:07, and Vickie Geiger, 10th in 53:00. Sara was third master in 56:11. The combined total of 225 finishers was an event record, up 69 from 156 finishers last year. A special thanks goes to the 27 course marshals and 56 Harriers who volunteered today at Race #3, the final event in the popular Thetis Lake Triple Series which attracted a combined total of 990 finishers and 1,077 registrations in 2012. Outstanding!
December 1, 2012
Logan Roots and Juliette Christie
All 18 Harriers that ran the Vancouver Gunner Shaw race at Jericho Park today had terrific performances and really showed the club's character, spirit and courage. PIH won the inter-club challenge over LGRR by winning the Open Women's and Master Men's Divisions. The Open Women's team was comprised of Claire Morgan, Julie Van Veelen, Valerie Bell, Wendy Davies, Lisa Cantwell, Kathleen Birney and Jane MacDonald while the Master Men's team was Garth Campbell, Gary Duncan, Juliette Christie, John Catterall and Yuki Otsubo (all over-50s). Unfortunately, we needed 5 to qualify for the Senior Men's Division and only had Logan Roots and Richard Knowlton at the race. Both men ran extremely well though with Logan finishing 3rd overall of 187 finishers in 33:56 to win the junior division by 3 minutes, 50 seconds and Richard finishing 9th in 35:42 to place 4th in the M30 division. Jerry Ziak and Catherine Watkins were the male and female race champions in 32:15 and 37:36. Juliette Christie, Valerie Bell and Wendy Davies swept the F50 podium with a 1-2-3 finish. Well done ladies! Juliette also was a last minute recruitment to run on the Master Men's Team due to a late cancellation. She ran a great race finishing 54th overall in 40:55. There were an additional 44 finishers in the Silver Fox 5K Division for a total of 231 finishers, a record for the Vancouver GS race.
November 28, 2012
Natasha Fraser, Juliette Christie and Norm Tinkham
Today, Natasha was named the BC Athletics Senior Female Road Runner of the Year for 2012, Juliette was named the Master Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year and Norm was named the Master Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year. The three Harriers will receive their commemorative plaques at the BC Athletics Annual Awards Banquet being hosted in Richmond on Saturday night. Also of interest, Steve King, long-time voice of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, the Times Colonist 10K, and many, many other significant races in British Columbia, is being inducted into the BC Athletics Hall of Fame at the Awards Banquet. He is recognized for being an Athlete, Coach, Poet, Lyricist, Narrator, Author, Publisher, Educator, Guest Speaker, Counselor, Announcer and Builder in both Athletics and Triathlon.
November 24, 2012
Natasha Fraser, Juliette Christie and Ian Hallam
Natasha finished third overall in the 7K Senior Women's race, Juliette topped the F50 field and Ian placed fourth overall in the Master Men's race at the Canadian Cross Country Championships at Jericho Park in Vancouver today. There were 603 finishers from across the country including 91 in the Community Division, 136 Junior Women, 146 Junior Men, 67 Senior Women, 82 Senior Men and 81 Masters Men and Women. The top three women in the Senior Division were Megan Brown, from Toronto, in 23:05, Kate Harrison, also of Toronto, in 23:12, and Natasha Fraser, of Port Moody, in 23:21. Cam Levins won the Senior Men's 10K in 29:41 and Kingston's Steve Boyd took the Master Men's 8K crown in 26:02. The Harriers Senior Women's Team comprised of Natasha, Lucy Smith, Erin Burrett and Julie Van Veelen placed 4th in the National club competition and the PIH Senior Men's team of Kris Swanson, Sean Chester, Ian Searle and Ben Brzezynski placed 6th. The Harriers Master Team of Ian Hallam (2nd), Colin Dignum (3rd), Norm Tinkham (5th), Brian Connon (2nd) and Juliette Christie (1st) all ran extremely well in their respective age categories.
November 24, 2012
Claire Morgan and Logan Roots
Claire and Logan were the top Harriers female and male runners at the 28th annual Gunner Shaw 10K Cross Country Classic in Thetis Lake Park today, Race No. 2 of the Thetis Triple Series. Claire won the women's race in 41:57, second place went to Nanaimo's Julia Tschanz in 43:23 while Harriers' Sarah Daitch claimed third in 43:27. On the men's side, the overall winner was former 8:30:00 Ironman Canada Champion, Jasper Blake, in 35:35, while Logan finished second overall he was the top junior in 35:49, and Shaun Stephens-Whale placed third in 36:41. There were 398 registrations and 350 finishers, including 50 Harriers, at the Gunner Shaw race today. This was an increase of 53 finishers over last years total of 297. An additional 45 club members volunteered with registration, course marshals, food/refreshments, course marking and set-up/tear-down duties. At the start of the race a moment of silence was observed for Ken Smythe, a Lifetime PIH member who passed away last December. A $10,000.00 cheque was presented to the University of Victoria to honour Ken and establish a new Cross Country Bursary at UVic in his name. Ken had volunteered at all previous 27 Gunner Shaw races and was the ultimate dedicated performer in helping at numerous club functions and events during his 32-year membership. Ken's bursary was the seventh one established through the proceeds of the Gunner Shaw race and generous donations by many club members.
November 17, 2012
Adam Campbell, Dianne Dennis, David Jackson and Claire Morgan
Adam and Dianne were the top Harriers in the Bear Mountain Resort Half Marathon today while the top club honours in the accompanying 10K race went to David Jackson and Claire Morgan. Adam finished first overall in the Half in 1:18:19, followed by Victoria's Jonathan Gendron in 1:22:26 and Brad Crowe, from Courtenay in 1:25:06. The top three women were Catrin Jones, 1:26:13, Yana Hempler, 1:43:40, and Dianne Dennis, 1:46:24, to win the F50 division. The Half Marathon featured 77 finishers. The Bear Mountain 10K attracted 417 finishers and hitting the line first was Abbottsford's Harrier, David Jackson in 34:58. He was followed by Harriers Shawn Nelson, 37:39, and Richard Knowlton, 38:05. PIH's Eric Findlay, 38:42, and J-F Gagne, 39:50, rounded out the top five positions in the race. Claire's winning time was 42:19 followed by Devan Mihalyi in 42:51 and Harriers' Melanie McQuaid was third in 42:44. These 3 ladies placed 10th, 11th, and 12th overall in what is billed as the toughest 10K in Canada.
November 11, 2012
Simon Whitfield, Nancy Baxendale, Sean Chester and Gary Duncan
Simon (PIH It's not a Metaphor) won the Solo Division in 1:09:41 with only three Senior Men's teams beating him at the 16th annual Thetis Lake 20K Relay today. He finished 4th overall of 115 teams, mainly comprised of four runners. Nancy (PIH Fit and Fifty) was the top Solo female in 1:29:40; she finished 37th of the 115 teams. Sean captained the overall winning team, PIH Victoria Sunday Lawn Bowling Society, comprised of himself, Ian Searle, Ben Brzezynski and Nick Walker. They finished in 1:06:39. Second place went to the Knights of Westwood in 1:07:45 while the Tri Hards took third place in 1:09:20. Gary captained two M50 teams and they finished first and second in the Veteran Men's Division, 10th and 11th overall, in a unique format where the same four runners competed against each other. Gary ran Lap 2 for the PIH Four Old Farts Who Like to Get Filthy Fast then he ran Lap 4 for the PIH Lax, Larry and the G's. Garth Campbell ran Lap 1 for the 4 Old Farts then Lap 3 for the L,L & G's, Larry Nylen ran Lap 1 for the L, L & G's then Lap 3 for the 4 Old Farts and Michael Lax ran Lap 2 for the L, L & G's then Lap 4 for the 4 Old Farts. In the end the Lax, Larry and the G's beat the Four Old Farts by a mere 7 seconds, 1:19:33 to 1:19:40.
November 11, 2012
Audrey Stibbe
Audrey was 15th female overall, third in the F50 division, and finished 47th overall of 90 finishers at the first annual Bellingham Trail Marathon today. Her time was 5 hours, 19 minutes and 13 seconds and she was the only runner from Victoria in the inaugural race. The race champions were Bellingham's Tyler Mitchell in 3:33:30 and Stacy Cleveland, from Penticton, in 3:59:33; she was 7th overall. The marathon was a stunning mix of trail running with lots of tough climbs on single track trails, as well as fast interurban trails. The race had approximately 5,000 feet of climbing and connected two of the most popular trail systems - Lake Padden and Chuckanut Mountain. Runners enjoyed lake and forest views through Padden Park and expansive views of the city of Bellingham, the Cascade Mountain Range, and Bellingham Bay from Chuckanut Ridge.
November 3, 2012
Rob Smith
After being injured for a year and a half, Rob wanted to test his fitness level by running 16 consecutive 10K laps of Elk/Beaver Lake in a solo "Return to Form" unofficial 100 Miler. He completed his mission in 25 hours and 47 minutes. Long-time ultrarunner, Carlos Castillo, accompanied Rob in support for a portion of the 100 miles.
November 3, 2012
J-F Gagne and Chris Callendar
J-F won the Boundary Bay 10K today by over 2 minutes in 37:35 and won a prize pack of muscle milk, a t-shirt, protein powder and a gym bag for his efforts. Second place went to Patrick Jones in 39:47. Chris, 1:23:23, finished second overall of 239 finishers at the Boundary Bay Half Marathon. Jeremy Hopwood, from Vancouver, won the Half in 1:20:49. There was an accompanying marathon won by Andrew Kestler in 2:59:04 and a 5K race won by Mike von Siemens in 24:44. A total of 577 finishers were at Boundary Bay today including 119 in the marathon, 239 in the half marathon, 147 in the 10K and 72 in the 5K.
October 28, 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Lucy Smith, J-F Gagne and Claire Morgan
In the inaugural running of the Mountain Equipment Co-Op's 10K/5K event, Harriers played a prominent role at the front of the pack. In the 10K race it was a PIH 1-2-3 clean sweep with Shane winning in 35:31, Lucy taking second in 36:58 and J-F claiming third in 37:35. Other Harriers in the 10K included Garrett Therrien, 7th in 42:26, Kathleen Birney, 6th female in 52:35, and Christine Thate, 1:18:32. In the 5K race, Claire finished second overall to race winner Damion Allen; their times were 17:50 and 18:30. MEC's Donald Peterson was third in the 5K in 18:58. The top three finishers in all age categories received a medal and the event offered excellent draw prizes and an abundance of post-race food. There were 63 finishers in the 10K and 42 finishers in the 5K for a total of 105 including 44 men and 61 women.
October 28, 2012
Nancy Baxendale, Larry Nylen, Heather Afford and Gary Duncan
For the first time in the 37 year history of the Shawnigan/Kinsol Half Marathon the top two Harriers are both from Shawnigan Lake, both over 50 years old, and both won their age categories. Nancy was the first female to finish and was 8th overall of 174 half marathoners; she topped the F50 division with a splendid time of 1:30:26. Larry, 1:33:03, finished 14th overall to win the competitive and deep M50 division, 25 runners, comprising the largest male division in the event. Close on his heels were two other M50 Harriers, Gord Bonwick, 1:33:32, and John Catterall, 1:34:07. The half marathon race winner was Jamie Dunnett in 1:18:32. In the accompanying 10.55K Half-a-Half race, which featured 135 finishers, Heather Afford was the first female, 6th overall in 46:58. Gary Duncan was the top male Harrier finishing third overall in 41:51 one day after his silver medal at the BC Cross Country Championships in Abbottsford. In Duncanlike, workemanlike, durabilitylike fashion Gary continues to raise the bar for regularity and consistency in racing a high volume of events year after year. There were a total of 309 finishers at Shawnigan, down 95 from last year's total of 404.
October 28, 2012
David Jackson, Richard Mosley and Erin Burrett
David and Richard topped the field by finishing first and second of 891 finishers at the 42nd annual James Cunningham 5.9 Mile (9.5K) Seawall Race today at Stanley Park. David's winning time was 29:33 while Richard broke the tape in 30:07. Third place went to Vancouver's Rob Watson in 30:23. The top master was Graeme Wilson, 5th overall in 31:42. The female James Cunningham Seawall Champion was Victoria's Catrin Jones, 14th OA in 34:41. Second place went to the top master, Catherine Watkins, of Vancouver, 34:58, while Errington's Melissa Ross placed third in 35:13. Erin Burrett, from Nanaimo, was 19th overall, 4th female of 475 women finishers, and 2nd of 42 in the F30 division clocking a time of 35:44. Harriers Shawn Nelson was 10th overall in 32:45.
October 28, 2012
Andrew Pape-Salmon and Matthew Salmon
Perhaps running his best race of 2012, Andrew not only claimed the top master's spot, but he also won the race outright of 185 finishers in 51:12 today at the Perseverance 10.5K Mountain Run in Cumberland, just west of Courtenay. Second place went to Miguel Laroche in 51:25 while Brad Crowe took third in 52:18. The top female was Cheryl Davies, 17th overall in 1:00:42. Matthew, Sara's brother, won the 19-and-under division in 1:07:16 at the tender age of 11; he was 41st overall. Keeping in the Pape-Salmon family, Sara was 14th F40 in 1:21:55. There was an accompanying 3K race for the kids which attracted 92 finishers. The record total of 277 finishers today was 56 more than last year's mark of 221.
October 27, 2012
Natasha Fraser, Kris Swanson, Juliette Christie and Norm Tinkham
Natasha and Kris were our top senior runners while Juliette and Norm were our top master runners at the BC Cross Country Championships today in Abbottsford. Natasha, who last April was the first Canadian finisher at the Vancouver Sun Run and won the GoodLife Fitness Half Marathon 3 weeks ago, easily won the senior women’s 6K run. She ran comfortably through the first 4K but then put on a spurt that opened up a 180-meter lead and won the race in the time of 21:30. Rachel Cliff, of Vancouver Thunderbirds, took second in 22:03; she was the 2012 GoodLife Fitness 8K Road Race champion. Fiona Benson, of Trinity Western, who two years ago took part in the junior division of the World Cross Country Championships, captured the bronze medal in 22:51. There were 27 finishers in the senior women's race and 51 finishers in the senior men's 10K race won by Speed River's Chris Winter in 32:51. Geoff Martinson was second in 32:43 and Blair Johnston placed third in 32:49. Kris was 9th overall in 33:56 in a very competitive field. Juliette won the F50 category and was the second female master in 34:15 while Wendy Davies claimed the F50 silver in 37:34. In the master men's 8K race, Norm, 29:29, won the M45 gold medal and was second master of 62 finishers, 16 women and 48 men. Gary Duncan, 32:11, took the M55 silver medal in his first race since turning 55 on the previous Tuesday. Brian Connon won the M65 division in 36:30. The PIH senior men's team comprised of Kris Swanson (9th), Sean Chester (11th), Ben Brzezynski (19th), Logan Roots (25th), Ian Searle (26th) and Richard Knowlton (30th) won the gold medal while the PIH master men's team of Norm Tinkham, Paddy McCluskey, Gary Duncan and Brian Connon also won the gold medal team award. There were 550 finishers in 13 different races at the BCXCs with ages ranging from 8 years old to 77 years old. Last year the event was held in Aldergrove and had 404 finishers in all divisions.
October 17, 2012
Bill Scriven
Bill captured a bronze medal in the M65 division of the ITU Aquathon World Championships in Auckland, NZ, today with a time of 47:05. John Skinnon, of the host country New Zealand, took the M65 gold medal in 44:48, while USA's Don Utsinger claimed the silver in 46:19. Triathlon is swim/bike/run, Duathlon is run/bike/run while Aquathon is swim/run. Bill was 18:48 for his 1.5K swim and 25:31 for his 5K run with a transition time of 2:45. The event was held in conjunction with a record number of participants in the 2012 ITU Barfoot and Thompson Age-Group World Triathlon Championships with more than 3,000 athletes racing at Queens in Auckland. Harriers' Bob Janicki was 89th in the M50 division of the Triathlon World Championships in 2:56:51 while Nanaimo's Byron Trajan placed 24th in the M30 division in 2:14:04.
October 14, 2012
Shane Ruljancich, J-F Gagne, Gary Duncan and Wendy Davies
Here is Gary's account of the Salmon 5K Run Run held today at Goldstream Park, "Shane was first home in 16:34 after pulling away early from last year's winner Neil Dawe, from Shawnigan Lake School, who improved by 20 seconds to clock 17:44. J-F was a gracious third in 17:45 having stopped several times as gung-ho Neil picked himself up from scrapping slides and falls. Top master, Gary, was 4th overall in 18:45 pushed along the whole way by the sound of slapping feet close behind that turned out to be from 2nd master Jason Papich in 18:50. Wendy was first woman, 13th overall, in 21:54. In the wettest and closest to salmon run conditions in it's 10 year history about 120 brave humans, a few dogs and a moose merrily splashed their way around the roads of Goldstream Campground in aid of the Goldstream Nature House. Shawnigan Lake School was out in force fully embracing the return of the outdoor plumbing as others sought pre-race shelter under the few small tarps. All of us were ushered out for a wet-down jazzercize warm-up. Starting from the gate house the course winds along two short lower campground roads connected by a gravel path, before a steep climb up the main road and a long counter-clockwise tour to the top of upper campground, down the middle, turn, back up the middle and down the other side, before the steep descent and lower finish. Good old-fashioned popsicle stick and name strip ordering with times read off a PIH clock. Lots of scrumptious home baked goodies and a number of draw prizes awarded using finish order numbers called off the top of ones head. Top male, female and junior names will be added to a plaque." Unfortunately, further up the Malahat today three young women were killed and five more people were injured in a terrible automobile accident in the pouring rain near the Shawnigan Lake turn-off.
October 12, 2012
Sandi Begg
Sandi Begg, Harriers winner of the Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner in 2001 and 2002, was presented with a Medal of Bravery today at Ottawa's Rideau Hall by Governor General David Johnston. The Medal of Bravery recognizes acts of courage in the face of hazardous circumstances, and is part of the Decorations for Bravery program created in 1972. Sandi's heroics came in 2009 when a dog-walking trek with her sister Patti along Metchosin's Bilston Creek turned ugly. The trouble started when Patti's dog, Sophie, went into the water and got caught in an undertow. Patti scrambled in after her dog and was also pulled under by the strong current. Sophie was sucked into a culvert, and Patti was in danger of getting dragged in, too. Sandi managed to get to her sister, tightly holding on to a tree in one hand and Patti with the other to save Patti's life. Unfortunately, Sophie drowned in the raging creek and her body was retrieved later. Victoria police Chief, Jamie Graham, said the award was well-deserved. "Sandi's courageous act while off-duty best exemplifies the commitment our men and women make to helping others," he said. This was Sandi's second bravery award for her action as she was presented with the VicPD Award of Valour at Victoria's Government House in November, 2010.
October 7, 2012
Ryan Day, Adam Campbell, Ken Bonner, Lise Wessels and Lori Bowden
Our top Harriers Ryan Day, 2:35:09, and Adam Campbell, 2:35:53, finished 5th and 6th overall today at the 33rd annual GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon. Ken Bonner went about his annual regular task of completing all 33 Royal Victoria/GoodLife Fitness Marathons in 5:01:35; he was 18th in the M65 division just 3 days before his 70th birthday. Ken plans to celebrate his 70th on Wednesday by riding his bicycle continuously for 70 hours! Ryan has had a solid year of marathoning by finishing third at the Vancouver International Marathon in May, 2:29:22, first in the Kamloops Marathon in July, 2:35:25, first in the Canadian Derby Edmonton Marathon in August, 2:36:39, and fifth today at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, 2:35:09. What more can we say about Adam Campbell's tremendous accomplishment today? He ran the entire 42.2K course while dressed in a business suit, complete with white shirt and tie, to break the Guinness Book of World Records by an incredible 49 minutes with his time of 2:35:53 to finish 6th of 1,727 finishers in the Victoria cooking heat of 21 degrees. At the end of the race he called it, "the fastest lawsuit in the world to date." So true. On the ladies side, it was nice to see two long-time Harriers rise to the challenge. Lise Wessels was 5th female overall, second in the F35 division, with an excellent time of 2:53:56, and Lori Bowden (nee Chestnut), was the 13th female of 694 women in the marathon and third in the F45 division with a great time of 3:13:42. There were 2,056 registrations and 1,727 finishers in the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon. This was an increase of 103 finishers over last year's total of 1,624.
October 7, 2012
Natasha Fraser and Jim Finlayson
Natasha Fraser ran a patient but brilliant race at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon today to establish a new course record of 1:14:06 while Jim Finlayson broke the tape in 1:08:51 to finish 8th overall and win the master's 40+ division in his first race since becoming a master on August 8. Natasha trailed race-favourite and last year's marathon champion, Lucy Njeri, for 18 kilometres before mounting a ferocious finishing kick to pass Lucy and increase her margin of victory to 21 seconds over the last 3.1 kilometres. Natasha also lowered her previous course record of 1:15:27 by an impressive 1 minute and 21 seconds. For her efforts Tash won $1,000 in prize money as race champion and another $1,000 bonus money for breaking her own course record. Jim won $250 as the top master narrowly missing Bruce Deacon's master's course record of 1:08:02. Today, Jim was followed by masters Kevin O'Connor in 1:11:29 and Craig Odermatt in 1:11:50. The overall race winner was Kenyan Kibet Rutto in 1:04:27. The PIH Team finished first of 24 teams in the Open Division. Members included David Jackson, Jeremy Watts, Happy Jaycox, Erin Burrett, Garth Campbell, Claire Morgan and Sara Pape-Salmon; many of them ran personal bests times. Six Harriers won their age categories including Natasha Fraser (F30), Logan Roots (M19), David Jackson (M35), Jim Finlayson (M40), Brian Connon (M65) and John Woodall (M80). There were 5,503 registrations and 4,765 finishers in the GoodLife Fitness Half Marathon which was slightly down by 357 from last year's total of 5,122 finishers.
October 7, 2012
Lucy Smith, Chris Callender and Graeme McCreath
Lucy Smith and Chris Callendar were the top Harriers finishers while Graeme McCreath dominated the Visually Impaired Category of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K Road Race today. Lucy was top master and second female overall in 28:15 to finish 18th of a near record-high of 2,511 finishers. Chris ran 29:14 to finish 24th overall and claim second place of 87 finishers in the M30 division. Graeme won the visually impaired category by running an outstanding 40:53 to win this division by 14 minutes, 32 seconds while being led by his trusty Guide, Carlos Castillo. Graeme also finished fifth in the M65 division of all 48 able-sighted and blind athletes in that age category. The PIH Team comprised of Craig Payne, Gary Duncan, Bertrand Bozek, John Cliff, Stewart Allen, Martha McNeeley, Elaine Galbraith and Andrew Galbraith took top honours in the Master's Division. Five Harriers won their age categories including Lucy Smith (F45), Gary Duncan (M50), Melanie McQuaid (F35), John Cliff (M70), and Martha McNeely (F60). There were 2,844 registrations and 2,511 finishers in the 8K Road Race, an improvement of 73 more finishers than last year and only 188 shy of the event record of 2,679 set in 2010.
October 7, 2012
Cathy Noel, Sandi Heal and Rob Reid
Cathy Noel, as General Manager and Technical Director, Sandi Heal, as Administrative Manager and Expo Coordinator, and Rob Reid, as Race Director, played pivotal roles in the tremendous success of 11,503 registrations and 10,103 finishers today at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, Half Marathon, 8K Road Race and 1.2K Kid's Run. Their leadership and enthusiasm is simply unparalleled to host such a large and important 33rd annual event. Harriers were everywhere both participating and volunteering at GFVM with over 200 club members involved with marshaling and working at the finish line. Of the 55 Committee members, 17 Harriers held key positions in the race planning and staging today. Besides Cathy, Sandi and Rob, this included Susan Norrington, VMS Treasurer and Finish Line Coordinator, Dr. Paddy McCluskey, Medical Team Director, Garth Reid, Start Line Coordinator, Ian Craib, Oak Bay Police Coordinator, Tony Austin, Lead Photographer, Jonathan Foweraker, Elite Athlete Director, Louise Hodgson-Jones, Sponsorship and Media Liaison, Rod McCrimmon, Awards Ceremony Announcing, Brian and Norma Scharbach, Clothing Tent Coordinators, Mike Emerson, Course Equipment Coordinator, Ole Jorgensen, Course Equipment Lay-out, Gary Duncan, Course Measuring and Certification and Bob Reid, Technical Advisor and Lead Cyclist Coordinator.
September 30, 2012
Logan Roots
Logan was first home in about 15:55, with the top lady 6th overall in about 18:30 today at he Victoria CIBC Run for the Cure fundraiser at UVic which raised $486,500 for breast-cancer research. The total raised in B.C. and the Yukon was $3.15 million, while an estimated $30 million was raised nationally. The donations allow the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation to invest in groundbreaking research in breast-cancer prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.
September 29, 2012
Happy Jaycox and Chris Elliott
Happy and Chris recently purchased a new Harriers racing singlet and both club members put them to good use by placing 4th and 8th overall at the Buntzen Lake 5 Peaks Mountain Racing Series in Port Moody today. Happy's time was 1:21:43 while Chris hit the tape in 1:27:16 for the Enduro 15K course. It was the third straight P.B. for Happy including excellent performances at the Victoria Track Series 5,000m and the Litespeed 5K earlier this month. The top three finishers in the Buntzen Lake Enduro 15K were Chris Barth, 1:18:06, Mike McMillan, 1:19:00 and Oliver Utting, 1:20:52. The top female was Lauren Babineau; she was 16th overall in 1:35:04. A shorter distance Sport 10K was won by Morgan Brendan in 47:24while Kerry Mackelvie-O'brien was the first female placing 13th overall in 56:16. There were 417 registrations and 390 finishers at Buntzen Lake including 205 finishers in the Sport Division and 185 in the Enduro Division.
September 22, 2012
Sean Chester and Chris Callendar
Sean was second overall and Chris was ninth at the Whistler 8K Spirit Run at Callaghan Valley, BC today. Their times were 25:53 and 30:56 in a small but very talented field of 23 men. The top three runners were Chris Winter, 24:42, Sean Chester, 25:53, and first master Kevin O'Connor, 26:18. There were 81 women in the 6K race with the top three positions going to Rachel Cliff, 20:22, Chantelle Groenewould, 21:06, and Erica Digby, 21:30. There were 23 in the 1K Family Run, 95 in the School Runs (U13, U16, U18), 81 Women, 34 Men and 20 Corporate runners for a total of 253 finishers.
September 22, 2012
Melanie McQuaid
Melanie was the 4th professional woman today at the XTERRA USA Championship triathlon in Ogden/Snowbasin, Utah, in 2:54:56. She was 29th overall of 319 finishers. She started the USA Championship Series on May 19 with a second place performance in Shelby County, Alabama, in 2:27:15 to place 20th of 209 finishers. Next up was Richmond, Virginia, on June 10 where she took the victory in 2:36:09 and placed 15th of 203 finishers. On July 14, Mel finished 5th in 2:37:27 at Beaver Creek/Avon, Montana; she was 45th of 265 finishers. In between the USA Championship events, Melanie won her fifth consecutive XTERRA Canadian Championship in Canmore, Alberta, finishing in 2:39:20. She was fifth overall of 128 finishers. She finishes her busy schedule at the World XTERRA Championships in Maui, Hawaii, on October 28 and the XTERRA World Half Marathon Trail Championships in Oahu, Hawaii, on December 2. Melanie has won the XTERRA World Championships three times in the past and still finds time to enter the Gunner Shaw and Stewart Mountain races in November and December. She has many victories to her credit at these classic Thetis Lake races.
September 22, 2012
Kris Swanson
Kris triumphed by securing second position overall of 419 finishers at the 22nd annual difficult Grouse Grind 2.9K Mountain Run in North Vancouver today. The race winner was Sebastian Salas in 27:04 while Kris took the silver in 28:35 and Michael Milic, from Delta, was the bronze medalist in 29:24. The top two females were both from Vancouver with Stephanie Hamilton claiming gold in 34:57, Anne-Marie Madden taking silver in 36:07 and Victoria's Karen Truman winning bronze in 36:46. They placed 24th, 35th and 48th overall in an extremely challenging mountain assent.
September 22, 2012
David Jackson and Natasha Fraser
David and Natasha were the top Harriers at the National 10K Road Race Championships today in Toronto. David finished 10th overall in 31:48 and Natasha was the 4th female, 26th overall, in 34:29. There were 2,825 finishers in the 10K and another 1,333 finishers in the accompanying 5K for a total of 4,158. Reid Coolsaet of Hamilton, ON, and Megan Brown of Guelph, ON, won national titles at the 2012 Canadian 10K Championships. The event was held in conjunction with Canada Running Series' Oasis Zoo Run and the Timex National Road Race Series Finale. Fresh of his Olympic debut in the marathon, Coolsaet defended his title winning in 30:24 ahead of Rob Watson of Vancouver, BC, 30:35, and Matt Brunsting of Guelph, ON, who took bronze in 30:36. The women's race crowned a new Canadian champion as Megan Brown won the title in 33:33. Lanni Marchant of London, ON, and Natasha Fraser of Port Moody, BC, took silver and bronze respectively in 34:08 and 34:29. Brown also won the women's individual 10-kilometre Timex National Road Race title with Sam Pawluk of Richmond, BC, taking the men's title in 31:07. British Columbia won the overall Timex National Road Race series provincial title as well as the men's team championship with the women's provincial title going to Ontario.
September 16, 2012
Logan Roots, Gary Duncan, Wendy Davies and Chris Callendar
Harriers shone in the bright sunshine today to capture the top positions at the annual Terry Fox Run at Mile 0. Logan and Gary finished 1-2 in the two-lap 10K race while Wendy and Chris were first female and male to finish in the one-lap 5K race. Mile 0 was the region’s largest Terry Fox event which had about 750 people taking part, raising close to $20,000. A head-shaving fundraiser was also held at the Mile 0 location to benefit the cause. Courtney Hill’s first time organizing the West Shore edition of the Terry Fox Run was a big success. Her father Dave, who put the event together for 17 years, died of cancer August 23 and Courtney was determined to follow in his footsteps. This year’s run brought out 115 people and raised $6,664.89 for the Terry Fox Foundation. The Central Saanich run, organized by Connie Hearty, also had a good showing, with 300 participants bringing in just under $7,000.
September 15, 2012
Andrew and Sara Pape-Salmon
Andrew and Sara both had terrific races at the Frosty Mountain Ultras on the rugged trails in Manning Park today. 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 Chris Barth in 5:15:17 and Mel Bos, who was the top female, and finished second overall in 5:31:15. The Endurance distance is a one-loop, one-mountain run won by Matt Hewitt in 2:42:12 and the Lightning distance is a one-loop run around Lightning Lake won by Eric Paulson in 51:14. Sara was the top female and third overall in the Lightning 13K race to claim her first-ever victory in 1:05:55. Andrew chose the longer Endurance 27K race and was the top master and placed second overall in 2:46:02. There were 40 finishers in the 50K race, 58 in the 27K and 24 in the 13K for a total of 122 Frosty Mountain runners.
September 9, 2012
Shawn Nelson
The Nelson brothers continued an impressive string of 15 consecutive victories at the Metchosin Days 5K today. Shawn won the race in 15:50 compared to his winning time of 15:58 last year. Second place went to Mike Chandler in 16:09 and teenager Jericho O'Connell took third in 16:11. The top female was Beth Venables, 20th overall, in 20:57. Mark Nelson won the race for the first 11 years but has passed the torch to Shawn who has taken the victory for the last 4 years. There were 159 finishers at the Metchosin Days 5K today which was 6 more than last year's total of 153.
September 9, 2012
Claire Morgan, Mark Ritchie and Happy Jaycox
Claire defended her McNeill Bay Half Marathon crown, Mark recorded a half marathon P.B. and finished third overall in 1:21:08 while Happy won his age division and finished second overall in 17:41 at the new Litespeed 5K today. Claire ran 1:25:38 to place ninth overall of 160 finishers, compared to 162 finishers last year; she finished in 1:27:59 in 2011. Geoff Martinson won the race in 1:11:08, James Ogden was second, 1:18:26, and Mark Ritchie took third, 1:21:08. There were 15 Harriers in the half marathon and 5 more in the 5K with several winning their age categories including Claire Morgan, Rob Grant and John Woodall in the half and Happy Jaycox, Gary Duncan, Dawn Wilson and Martha McNeely in the 5K. The overall winners in the 5K were Laurence Coogan, 17:21, and Sara Ellison, 23:08, which featured 87 finishers. Unfortunately, a course marshal sent several runners the wrong way in the 5K causing them to run an extra 1.5 kilometres. This included the top three women who were Wendy Davies, Caroline McGaw and Janet Hawkins. Wendy dropped from first female to 35th female overall as a result of the miscue. Both races finished on the track at Oak Bay, rather than on Canmore Road, and the new venue proved popular for the total of 247 runners. The major draw prize was two Litespeed bicycles valued at $2,500.00 each.
September 2, 2012
Martha McNeely
Martha won the Maurice Tarrant Inspirational Award tonight at the awards ceremony and silent auction for the Victoria Track Series following the 10,000 Metre BC Championship race at UVic's Centennial Stadium last night. She achieved 100 points to lead 87 runners that participated in the 7-meet Series. Harriers' Julien Marceau placed second with 98 points, Jane McDonald took fourth, 80 points, Christine Thate was fifth, 72 points, and Gary Duncan placed sixth with 64 points. Jim Barwise was third with 84 points. Five Harriers won their age categories including Julien Marceau (M20), Claire Morgan (F30), Christine Thate (F50), Gary Duncan (M50) and Martha McNeely (F60).
September 1, 2012
Natasha Fraser and Bruce Deacon
The Q’s Victoria Track Series final meet of the 2012 season was held tonight at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium and hosted the Popeye’s Supplements 10,000m BC Championships. In the women’s division Port Moody’s Natasha Fraser finished first in a time of 33:44.1, followed by Victoria master Marilyn Arsenault who had started the race with Fraser and stayed with her for several laps before relinquishing to second place. Fraser’s time, a personal best, is the fastest 10,000m run by a Canadian in 2012. Arsenault also ran a personal best of 34:22.6. Former Canadian champion Lucy Smith of Sidney, BC finished 3rd in the women’s division and was second master in 35:32.5. The overall winner was Kevin Friesen from Vancouver who completed the 25-lap race in 30:39.0. Friesen took the lead from the gun and never relinquished it. However, he was challenged early by Victoria’s Matt Clout and Vancouver’s Jeremiah Ziak who finished in 31:09.3 and 31:10.8 respectively. Sean Chester of Victoria finished close behind in a new personal best time of 31:12.7 for fourth spot. Ziak was also awarded top master (35+). Behind him, two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon finished in 32:07.4. “I was looking for sub-32:00, but that is a pretty good time and a BC 45-49 age-group record,” said Deacon who, as a representative of BC Athletics, presided over the awards ceremony and handed out the medals when the race was finished. The meet included three races, two of which were 5000m in length and were open to all abilities. The first 5000m race was won by Julien Marceau, 18:26.3, and Abby Spiers, 20:43.1 while Lehm MacGuire, 15:51.2, and Claire Morgan, 18:05.8 won the second 5000m race. There were a total 50 finishers in the three races and several achieved personal best performances.
August 26, 2012
J-F Gagne
Jean-Francois Gagne traveled with his red Harriers racing singlet to the other side of the country today and performed admirably by winning the second annual Senneterre A Pied Half Marathon in Senneterre, Quebec in very hot conditions with temperatures reaching the mid-30s. His time was 1:24:03 good for almost a 5-minute margin of victory over runner-up Oliver Loiselle who finished in 1:28:53. Third place male was Dominic Proulx Fournier, 1:36:08, and the top female was Ginette Boudreau in 1:45:38. There were a total of 318 finishers in three different races including 51 finishers in the half marathon (33 men, 18 women), 117 in the 10K (51 men, 66 women) and 150 in the 5K (58 men, 92 women).
August 26, 2012
Fawn Whiting
Fawn had an outstanding race today in her first Subaru Ironman Canada, a national championship full distance triathlon hosted for the 30th year in Penticton. She won her F25 age division in 10:16:14 and, in doing so, she was 19th in her age category in the 2.4 mile swim in 1:10:15, first in the 112 mile bike in 5:25:10, and first in the 26.2 mile run in 3:35:19. Fawn was 9th female overall which is a tremendous accomplishment considering that 6 of the women ahead of her are professional triathletes. She was 103rd overall out of 2,324 finishers. Harriers team mate Julie Van Veelen was 6th in the F35 division, 232nd overall, in 10:44:59. The race winners were Matthew Russell, of Scottsdale, AZ, in 8:48:30, and Kendra Lee, of Denver, CO, in 9:44:58. There were 2,655 registrations for Ironman Canada, 2,576 starters and 2,324 finishers. 152 athletes did not finish before the 17-hour cut-off time.
August 26, 2012
Audrey Stibbe
Audrey finished second in a very closely contested master's age category where the top three F50 women finished within 42 seconds of each another at the Eugene Women's Half Marathon in Oregon today. Michelle Hall, from Los Alamos, New Mexico, won the F50 division in 1:43:25, Audrey was second in 1:43:59, and Eugene's Eliza Drummond took third in 1:44:07. They were 41st, 46th and 47th overall of 860 finishers including 840 women and 20 men, who snuck in to a women's only race. Breaking the tape first was Adam Herrera, of Salem, as by 37 seconds he stole the glory from the top female, Kate McTavish, from Corvallis, by nosing out a brilliant run by the 49 year old McTavish. Their times were 1:25:13 and 1:25:50. It was a shame that a woman was not first to cross the finish line in a women's only race.
August 19, 2012
Ryan Day and David Jackson
Ryan and David continued their summer of outstanding distance racing by capturing the top Harriers performances today at the Canadian Derby Edmonton Marathon and Half Marathon. Ryan won the marathon in 2:36:39 followed by Camrose's Brendan Lunty in 2:38:30 and Josh Spiker, from Ventura, in 2:39:35. The top three women in the marathon were Kim Mueller, of San Diego, 2:58:38, Edmonton's Heather Kuzyk, 3:08:20, and Megan Hodges, from Sherwood Park, 3:11:24. David finished fourth overall behind two Kenyans and an Ethiopian, Chala Lemi, who won the half marathon in 1:06:01. He was followed by Kenyans Kip Kangogo, 1:06:15, and Willy Kimosop, 1:06:52. David's finishing time was 1:09:38 edging out the top female from Ethiopia, Balainish Gebre, who finished fifth overall of 1,261 finishers in 1:10:02. Ottawa's Mary Davies was sixth in 1:11:50 while veteran Lisa Harvey took the top master honours and was third female in 1:23:27. There were 520 finishers in the marathon, 1,261 in the half marathon, 449 in the 10K, 264 in the 5K and 129 in various walking divisions for a total of 2,623 finishers at Edmonton today.
August 19, 2012
Bill Scriven and Mike Ellis
Bill and Mike topped their age divisions in convincing style today at the 30th Annual Pushor Mitchell Apple Triathlon at Waterfront Park in Kelowna. Bill won the M65 division by 18 minutes with a time of 2:42:00 while Mike won the M75 division by 16 minutes in 3:30:22. Both Bill and Mike competed in the Olympic Distance comprising of a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run. The Olympic Distance champions were Tim Evans, from Penticton, in 1:58:30, and Marcy Schmidt, from Sherwood Park, in 2:13:52. The Sprint Division was won by Vancouver's Craig Dale in 1:06:15 and Vernon's Erica Moser-Reschreiter in 1:13:37. There were 432 finishers in the Olympic Division, 306 in the Sprint Division and 46 in the Elite Divisions for a total of 784 finishers at Kelowna today.
August 12, 2012
John McManus and Julie Van Veelen
John was the top Harrier in the Olympic Division and Julie was the top Harrier in the Sprint Division at the Subaru Sooke International Triathlon today, event #4 of a 5-Race Western Canada Series with venues in Shawnigan Lake, Victoria, Vancouver, Sooke and Banff. John finished 19th overall to win the M55 age category in 2:47:31 in a close battle with Alex Sixsmith, of Vancouver, who finished 20th in 2:48:29. Julie was the third female overall with a time of 1:08:04, the same time achieved by Tofino's Jeannie Doig in a sprint to the line in the Sprint Division. The race champions were Magali Tisseyre, of St. Sauveur, QC, 2:16:30, and Penticton's Jeff Symonds, 2:03:09 in the Pro Chase Division, Justin Birks, from Penticton, 4:32:20, and Tamasin Reno, of Vancouver, 5:17:09 in the Half Iron Division, Nanaimo's Byron Trajan, 2:23:24, and Zoe Dawson, from Squamish, 2:39:21 in the Olympic Division and Nathaniel Janzen, from Vancouver, 59:18, and Squamish's Lenka Fanturova, 1:02:44 in the Sprint Division. There were 11 finishers in the Pro Chase race, 86 in the Half Iron, 110 in the Olympic, 118 in the Sprint, and 93 in the Relays for a total of 418 at Sooke today. Last year the event drew 387 finishers.
August 11, 2012
Natasha Fraser
Natasha finished 9th overall of 5,858 participants dominated by women at inaugural Sea Wheeze Lululemon Half Marathon in Stanley Park, Vancouver today. Her winning time was 1:21:08. Second place female was Victoria's Care Nelson in 1:26:04 while Lisa Brooking took third in 1:26:28. Care and Lisa were 13th and 14th overall. The top three men in the race were Zachary Cater-Cyker, 1:14:35, Blue Benadum, 1:15:25, and Wayne Levy, 1:17:50. There were 1,047 male finishers and 4,729 female finishers for a total of 5,776.
August 11, 2012
Kris Swanson
Harriers' Kris Swanson, a product of Tumbler Ridge, now living and training in Victoria, continued his incredible dominance of the event. Today was the fourteenth Emperor’s 20K Mountain Challenge; Kris has won it thirteen times. This is one of the great achievements in Canadian mountain-running history, and ample demonstration of why he is such a valued member of the national mountain-running team. He powered over the mountain, breaking the tape in a time of one hour, twenty-two minutes, nine seconds, more than thirteen minutes ahead of the next runner. However, that next runner’s achievement was no less remarkable. Alexander Nemethy, of Vanderhoof, clocked 1:35:25, an amazing achievement for a fifteen year old – this is clearly a force to be watched in future years. Nick MacLean, of Quesnel, ran a solid race to finish third in 1:38:08, just 33 seconds ahead of fifty-one year old Brian Nemethy (a masterly performance from the first Grand Master). The top female was Sharleen Jackson, of Prince George, she finished 9th overall with a new women's course record of 1:43:27 shaving 13 seconds off the previous mark. There were 552 finishers including 186 men and 366 women. There were an additional 62 finishers in the accompanying 2K and 4K Kids' races. The weather was perfect – sunny, 20 degrees, with just a gentle breeze. Runners and walkers had gathered from across the region and western Canada, and from as far away as Australia, for the Emperor’s Challenge in Tumbler Rudge, the biggest off-road running event in B.C. It is billed as “the toughest and most beautiful half marathon in the world”. Three months before race day all available places had already been filled, with 800 participants registered. At 9:00 am on August 11 Race Director, Jerrilyn Schembri, sent them off on the demanding 20 kilometre course over Babcock Mountain that would see them gain and lose over two thousand feet in elevation.
August 11, 2012
Jason Loutitt and Adam Campbell
Jason won the Arc'Teryx 50 Mile Trail Run in Squamish today in 7:25:22 while Adam topped the field in the accompanying shorter 21K Trail Run in 1:53:51. Second place in the 50 Miler went to Vernon's Aaron Heidt in 7:32:32 and Ed McCarthy, from Vancouver, took third in 7:47:48. Ellie Greenwood placed 5th overall of the 51 finishers in 8:04:36 to win the women's race with Lisa Polizzi second in 9:18:02 and Sasha Brown third in 10:38:17. Other Harriers running well in the 50 Miler were Shane Ruljancich, 9th in 8:46:49, and Chris Brower, 33rd in 11:33:32. In the 21K race Harriers' Todd Nowack was 4th in 2:05:43, Garth Campbell, 8th in 2:18:49, Sonja Yli-Kahila, 42nd in 2:57:02, and Sara Pape-Salmon finished 74th in 3:26:07. There were 51 finishers in the 50 Mile race, 104 in the 21K race and 124 in the 50 Mile relays for a total of 279 finishers. The Arc'teryx Squamish 50 was an unforgettable trail ultra experience for all 279 runners. With over 80% singletrack and nearly 10,000 feet of elevation gain topped off by stunning sweeping vistas across glaciated snow capped peaks that jut straight out of the Pacific Ocean, this course has become an instant classic.
August 5, 2012
Richard Knowlton, John McManus and Bill Scriven
Richard was the top Harrier today at the 33nd Annual Self Transcendence Triathlon at Elk Lake while John took gold in the M55 division and Bill took gold in the M65 division, an event which involved a 1.5K swim, a 40K cycle and a 10K run. Richard was fifth overall, second M30, in 2:11:00 to race champion Ben Cotter who finished in 1:59:47. The top female was Penticton's Emma Lujan in 2:16:08. John finished 27th overall in 2:27:47 and Bill finished 58th overall of 145 finishers in 2:40:55. Other Harriers performing well included Bob Janicki, second M50, Sandy Mullen, third F50, and Chris Callendar, third M30 and seventh overall in the accompanying Duathlon. Last year the event attracted 417 finishers compared to 354 this year.
July 29, 2012
Ryan Day
Ryan, from Victoria, won the inaugural Kamloops Marathon today with a time of 2:35:25 good for a 9 minute, 20 second margin of victory over Vancouver's Nick Sunderland, who hit the line in 2:44:45. Richard Brewster, from the host city of Kamloops, placed third in 2:47:43. The top female was Victoria's Catrin Jones, 2010 GFVM winner in 2:52:20; Catrin placed fourth overall in 2:52:43. Second female was Rika Hatachi, of Coquitlam, in 3:05:08, and Stacie Carrigan, from West Kelowna, took third in 3:19:53. There were 55 finishers in the marathon, 34 men and 21 women, and 130 finishers in the accompanying half marathon, 50 men and 80 women. There was a 10K and a 5K race on Saturday to complete the four-race inaugural Kamloops weekend of running events.
July 28, 2012
Shane Ruljancich and Andrew Pape-Salmon
Shane was the overall winner in 29:13 and Andrew was the top master and placed fifth overall in 31:14 at the Mount Washington Gutbuster trail race today, a 6K uphill course to the summit. There was a record number of 122 finishers, 28 more than last year and 24 more than the previous record of 98 finishers established in 2010. The top female was Shauna Cunningham, of Comox Valley Road Runners; she finished 32nd overall in 36:44. It must have been a photo finish as second place Matt Cecill, of Project Talaria, recorded 29:13, the identical time as Shane. Michael Ravensbergen, Strathcona Nordics Ski Club, took third in 29:37. Mount Washington, near Courtenay, was the final event in the three-race Frontrunners Gutbuster Series. Shane was successful in winning all three 2012 Gutbuster races with previous victories at the Colliery Dam in Nanaimo and Holland Creek in Ladysmith.
July 22, 2012
Wendy Davies
After attending an 84th birthday party for her mother-in-law in Coquitlam on Saturday, Wendy headed to the Jericho Sailing Centre today and had an outstanding race by finishing third overall and was first master in 20:16 at the Diva on the Run Women's 5K. The race winner was a 17-year old junior, Emma Chadsey, from Pemberton, in 18:22, followed by Vancouver's Sue Kwan in 19:10 to win the F30 division. Wendy won the F50 division by four minutes and topped the first F40 master by 5 minutes, 40 seconds. There were 58 finishers in the 5K race and an additional 76 finishers in the accompanying 10K race for a total of 134 participants with proceeds going to the Arthritis Society. This Diva 10K was a figure-8 type course, mostly flat, with a small incline from about 2K to 3K. The path was mostly gravel with a small section in the trail system that had a pebble surface. The Diva 5K was a 1-loop course with a small incline from 2K to 3K. Jericho Park is the site of the Canadian Cross Country Championships for 2011, 2012 and 2013. It is also the site of the LGRR Gunner Shaw Cross Country 10K held in December every year with this year marking its 29th anniversary and it will be the official inter-club challenge between Lions Gate Road Runners and Prairie Inn Harriers.
July 21, 2012
Kris Swanson
Kris punched his ticket to a fourth consecutive world mountain racing championship in Italy as part of Team Canada by finishing sixth overall, fourth Canadian, today at the Canadian Championship 11K Five Peaks race held on Cypress Mountain, West Vancouver. The top three runners were Joe Gray, of Newcastle, WA, in 59:24, James Gosselin, 1:02:04, Timmins, ON, and Robert Krar, 1:02:23, from Flagstaff, AZ. Chris's time was 1:03:44 and he was the only runner from Victoria. Two other Harriers in the race were Squamish's Jason Loutitt, who finished 10th in 1:04:58, and Calgary's Syl Corbett, who was the top master in 1:30:00. Both Jason (100K) and Syl (50K) are past winners of the Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras. Other athletes traveled to the championship from many parts of BC and even farther afield from Canadian cities including Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Waterloo, Timmins, Wolf Island, Dorval and from many American cities including Boone, NC, Grand Canyon, AZ, Flagstaff, AZ, Colorado Springs, CO, Evergreen, CO, Morgantown, WA, Newcastle, WA, Arden, NC, Littleton, CO, and Ashville, NC. There were 180 finishers in the 14K Five Peaks Enduro race (450m of elevation gain), 42 in the 11K Championship race (1,100m gain) and 169 in the 6K Sport race (150m gain) for a total of 391 finishers today at Cypress Mountain. The Championship race also served as the qualifying race for the Canadian team, which will compete at the 28th World Mountain Running Championships in Italy on September 2, 2012 held in the villages of Temu and Ponte di Legno. Cypress Mountain was Race #3 of 5 with events completed in Golden Ears and Squamish. Future races will be held at Whistler and Buntzen Lake to complete the Five Peaks Series.
July 15, 2012
Natasha Fraser
Natasha Fraser, 4,401 points, and Sam Pawluk, 4,348 points, were crowned as Timex BC Road Running Series Champions today following the final race in the 2012 Timex BC Road Running Series in conjunction with the Kelowna Midsummer 8K. In Kelowna, John Machuga and Catrin Jones were the individual race winners, as both consolidated their places in the overall series standings. Machuga was a clear winner in 27:09, over Hans Aabye and Nate Reiter. Jones was an even more emphatic winner in 29:26, over Amy Buzikievich and Michelle Blackburne. The top four overall finishers in the series receive cash prizes, and invitations to represent BC at the Timex Series Finale and National 10K Championship in Toronto in September. The next three finishers receive Timex merchandise. The series was comprised of fifteen races from 5K to Half Marathon, throughout BC, between January and July. Series scoring is based on performance. The 2012 Timex BC Series top four runners are Sam Pawluk, 4348 points, Kevin O’Connor, 4244, Dylan Gant, 4222, and Craig Odermatt, 4173, on the men's side and Natasha Fraser, 4401, Sabrina Wilkie, 4228, Melissa Ross, 4222, and Catrin Jones, 4209, on the women's side.
July 15, 2012
David Jackson
David won the New Balance Fort Langley 5K today with a time of 15:24, over a minute clear of second place Mike Garven, of Kansas, who finished in 16:30. Third place went to Surrey's Jack Williams in 17:10. The top female was Mirabelle Tinio; she was 9th overall in 20:12. Second was Blaine's Sandy Leone in 21:56 and Katie Starr, from Bremerton, took third in 22:04; they placed 15th and 16th overall. There were 94 finishers in the 5K and another 86 finishers in the accompanying half marathon won by White Rock's Chris Barth, in 1:15:53, and Courtney Powell, of Coquitlam, in 1:32:52.
July 14, 2012
Shane Ruljancich
Shane was runner-up to race champion, Nathan Barrett of Vancouver today at the 24th annual Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run, a rugged 30 mile race following the Baden-Powell Trail from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove. Their times were 4:56:43 and and 5:18:04. Third place went to North Vancouver's Colin Miller in 5:20:49. The top female was Lisa Polizzi; she was 11th overall in 5:53:20 and was also the top master female. The top master male was Peter Findlay, of Kamloops, a six-time winner who finished 6th overall in 5:37:10 at the age of 52. There were 211 starters and 189 finishers at KKNSTR today. Course records are held by Aaron Heidt, 4:39:52, set in 2009, and Ellie Greenwood, 5:06:09, set in 2011. In total, over 350 entrants applied to the March lottery to attain one of the coveted 200 spots at the starting line. Shane was the only runner from Victoria as several other far-traveled runners finished from Alberta, Washington, Oregon, California, Michigan, Alaska, Yukon Territory, France and Greece. As one of Canada’s largest ultramarathon races, it takes participants along the 30-mile (48.6K) Baden-Powell trail. Runners go up, over, and around the major North Shore mountains – Cypress, Grouse, and Seymour – gaining over 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) in elevation along the way for a total elevation change of over 16,000 feet (4,800 meters). With the North Shore’s unique weather conditions, runners can expect snowpack at the peaks of the mountains.
July 14, 2012
Larry Nylen and Valerie Bell
Larry finished in 3:26:03 today to place 287th male of 3,211 men finishers and 912 women finishers at the Jubilee Marathon in Stockholm. He ran a distance of 42.195 kilometres. Val was 38th female finisher in 3:20:15 and she ran a distance of 40.075 kilometres which seemed to be the most popular of the two distance races. Unfortunately, no age class results are available but it is certain that both Larry and Val would place well in the M50 and F50 divisions. 7,905 runners started the Jubilee Marathon and 7,652 of them finished the the race. Only 253, or 3 per cent of the runners who started, did not finish. For the longer 42.195K course there were 4,123 finishers. The race finished in historic Stockholm Olympic Stadium, a classic sports arena. Over the years, no less than 83 world records in athletics have been broken in the beautiful brick fortress. No other arena in the world comes close to this figure. The Stadium was built between 1910 and 1912 on the initiative of the Swedish Central Association for Sport especially for the 1912 Summer Olympic Games which were held in Stockholm.
July 8, 2012
Dianne Dennis and Brent Chan
Dianne and Brent were the top Harriers in the Cowichan Challenge Triathlon today, an event at Fuller's Lake featuring a 1K swim, 34K bike and 9K run. Dianne was the third female overall, second in the F50 division, in 2:10:39. This was a 6 minute improvement compared to her time of last year. The race winners were Byron Trajan in 1:45:05 and Suzanne Erickson in 2:09:24. Brent was the top master, in 1:05:54, to place first in the M40 age class and 8th overall in the Sprint Division (500m swim, 16K bike and 5K run). The Sprint Division winners were Erik Evans, in 55:34 and Hannah Lockie, in 1:07:40. There were 70 finishers in the main race and 86 in the sprint race for a total of 156 at the Cowichan Challenge Triathlon. This was 5 fewer than last year.
July 7, 2012
Chris Callendar, Mark Ritchie and Wendy Davies
Chris won both the 800m Open Mixed race in 2:12 and the 1,500m Open Mixed race in 4:48 at the Victoria Track Series Meet #6 tonight at Centennial Stadium. The 7th and final meet is scheduled for September 1 which will feature distances of 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. Mark was the top master and second overall in the 1,500m race in 4:51 and was also the top master in the 800m race in 2:20. Wendy won the F50 division in both the 800m race in 2:58 and the 1,500m race in 5:54 in a rare, but successful double for her. There were a total of 71 athletes competing in 6 races at VTS#6.
July 6, 2012
Kyle Jones
In a powerful sprint to the finish line, a jubilant and Olympic bound Harriers Kyle Jones (CAN) surged to gold and his first World Cup and National title win at the Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup today. Along with Lauren Campbell’s victory earlier in the day, Jones’ performance sealed a golden Canadian sweep, the first in an ITU World Cup since 2001. Fellow Canadian Alexander Hinton took the podium in his World Cup debut for the silver and Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) followed the Canadian pair to take the bronze. “To pick up my first World Cup win and National title this weekend is awesome,” said Jones. “I came into this race, with four weeks of big training under my belt. I didn’t know how I would react, whether I would be tired but regardless, I wanted to push hard and I am very pleased. It’s something we’ve been working on in training, tried to build that foot speed,” said Jones. “That’s what I wanted to practice today: getting out quick. You know it hurts to race like that, put yourself out in front but if that’s like the Brownlees do, then you’ve got to do it.”
July 1, 2012
Norm Tinkham and Mikayla Tinkham
Like father, like daughter. At the age of 48, long-time seasoned veteran, Norm, was the top master in 29:43 and placed 6th overall of 144 finishers today at the 14th annual Pitt Meadows Canada Day 8K. Norm's daughter, Mikayla, running her first race with dad, finished second in the under-15 division in 33:06 to place 23rd overall. The race winners were Nathan Wadhwani in 27:58 and Olivia Willett in 29:10.
July 1, 2012
Jeff Hunt and John Catterall
Jeff and John were the top Harriers in 18:25 and 19:05 at the Sidney Days 5K today. Jeff was 10th overall and finished 2nd to Kelly Guest in the M30 division while John was 15th overall to win the M50 division by 6 seconds over Tony Elewll and by 9 seconds over Graham Fisher in a closely-contested age category. Honourable mention goes to Harriers Wendy Davies, who won the F50 division in 21:02, and Norm Dolan, who won the M60 division in 20:40. The race champions were Kelly Guest in 15:59 and Disirae Ridenour in 18:06. Sidney Days had 148 finishers in the 5K run, 5 finishers in the 5K competitive walk including Helen Jaques who took a bronze medal overall, and 21 finishers in the 2K kid's run for a total of 174. This was 7 fewer than last year's total of 181. The event was organized by Peninsula Track Club with proceeds going to the upgrade of the track at Parklands Secondary School in Sidney.
June 30, 2012
Sean Chester and Chris Callendar
Sean won the 5,000m event with a convincing one-minute margin of victory over Lehm McGuire and Chris was one second behind race champion Rabien Anton in the one mile race tonight at Centennial Stadium in the Victoria Track Series Meet #5 of 7 track races. Their times were 15:12 and 5 minutes flat. Harriers Jane McDonald and Christine Thate finished 1-2 in the F50 division in both the 5,000m and one mile races, while Julien Marceau was second in the 5,000m and first in the mile for his M20 division. Martha McNeely won the F60 division for both the 5,000m and the mile. There were 15 finishers in the 5,000m open mixed race and another 15 finishers in the one mile open mixed event.
June 24, 2012
Melanie McQuaid, Bob Reid and Deb Hopkins
Melanie was the top Harrier in the 140K division, Bob was the top Harrier in the 100K division and Deb was the top Harrier in the 50K division of the second annual Ryder Hesjedal's Tour de Victoria under ideal riding conditions today. Over 1,600 athletes registered for the ride and 1,422 finished including 737 in the 140K, 407 in the 100K and 278 in the 50K. There were 16 Harriers in the event with 7 riding the 140K starting at the parliament buildings - Melanie McQuaid, 28th in 4:01:43, Simon Pearson, 244th in 4:45:23, Nathan Kamell, 500th in 5:40:01, Dave Dennis, 512th in 5:42:47, Dianne Dennis, 513th in 5:42:50, Doug Noel, 543rd in 5:49:09, and Norm Dolan, 659th in 6:15:33. Another 7 Harriers started in Langford and rode the 100K course - Bob Reid, 76th in 3:39:39, Sandy Mullen, 94th in 3:48:48, Jackie Hucal, 165th in 4:16:36, Mike Hucal, 166th in 4:16:37, Shawn McKean, 300th in 4:58:22, Susan Denny 335th in 5:09:20, and Wilf Dreyer, 336th in 5:09:20. Deb Hopkins, 41st in 1:51:45, and Diana DePol, 246th in 2:51:11, rode the 50K course starting in Sidney. All three courses finished on Belleville Street in front of the parliament buildings. It was nice to have sponsors, celebraties and media names joining in with the ride including Silken Laumann, David Patchell-Evans, Alison Sydor, Peter Reid, Robin Farrell, Ed Bain, Jack Knox and Wayne Walker, all of which enjoyed the festive atmosphere at the finish area. Congratulations are in order to another Harrier, Cathy Noel, who managed a very successful cycling event and coordinated the finish line operations.
June 24, 2012
Kathleen Birney
Kathleen medalled at the Comfortably Numb 25K trail race in Whistler today by placing third in the F50 division in 3:37:50. The race winner was Ed McCarthy, of Vancouver, in 1:54:57, while the top female was Salmon Arm's Abbigail May; she was 15th overall of the 92 finishers in 2:30:44. One of the most beautiful point to point races in British Columbia, the Comfortably Numb course is an internationally recognized mountain biking route, and it’s even more fun to run. A few climbs, a few descents, a beautiful bridge crossing, numerous sweeping vistas, and almost all single-track. Comfortably Numb is consistently an instant favorite amongst trail runners.
June 24, 2012
Ben Kingstone and Colin Dignum
Ben and Colin were the top Harriers today in the highly competitive Scotiabank Half Marathon and 5K in Vancouver. Ben was 24th overall and second in the M20 division in 1:19:15 while Colin finished in 32nd position to win the M45 division in 1:20:56. There were 3,338 finishers in the half marathon including 1,597 men and 2,081 women. An additional 1,363 runners finished the accompanying 5K race. Olympic-bound Reid Coolsaet of Speed River TFC and Brantford’s Krista DuChene notched impressive victories with strong performances at this morning’s Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon. Coolsaet’s 63:16 was only 6 seconds shy of the course record as he came down from 230 kilometre weeks of training for London 2012, to 190 kilometres this week for the race. DuChene notched another PB of 74:02 as the 35 year-old mother of 3 built on her breakthrough 2:32 marathon in Rotterdam in April, and reinforced the fact that she has moved to a new level. Conditions were almost perfect for the 4,500+ entrants from 22 countries who took off from UBC at 7:30 am on the majestic course down to Stanley Park. It was 11 degrees, sunny with some cloud cover, and no wind. Another 2,000 took part in the accompanying 5K in Stanley Park and together they raised an impressive $630,000 for 60 local charities in the Scotiabank Group Charity Challenge.
June 23, 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Jeremy Lawrence and Richard Knowlton
Shane placed 2nd overall in 2:23:17, Jeremy was 7th in 2:50:40, and Richard finished 8th in 2:51:08 at the 8th annual Kusam Klimb in Sayward today. Jeremy Clegg, of Nanaimo, won the event breaking Shane's course record of 2:23:04 set in 2008 by one second as he was the race champion today in 2:23:03. The top female was Victoria's Alex Gillett; she was 19th overall of the 271 finishers in 3:17:15. The event was cancelled last year due to severe avalanche conditions. In 2010 there were 305 Kusam finishers and 2009 was the record year for finishers with 338. 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.
June 23, 2012
Carlos Castillo
Carlos ran in the Scorched Sole 50K today, located on Knox Mountain just outside of Kelowna. The course consisted of three 10+ mile laps with 660 metres of elevation gain on each loop. At one point during a thunder storm the out and back marshal said to Carlos and another drowned rat that, if they heard thunder, they needn't run to that little summit again. Carlos finished 18th overall of 41 finishers in the 50K division to win the M60 age category in 7:09:57. Another long-time Harrier, Moe Beaulieu, placed 4th in the M60 division in 8:15:10. The race winner was Stacey Cleveland of Penticton in 5:15:00. The top male placed second overall, Kelowna's Loic Letailleur, in 5:35:27. There were 11 finishers in the accompanying 50 Mile division, won by Mel Bos in 8:49:32, and another 29 finishers in the 25K division, won by Jesse Winkiewcz in 2:17:35.
June 17, 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Ben Kingstone and Hayden Earle
Shane was the race champion in 1:11:50 and Ben placed fifth overall in 1:17:26 on the 16K long course at the Holland Creek Gutbuster #2 in Ladysmith today. The top female was Julia Tschanz in 1:25:10; she was 15th overall of 78 long course finishers. Hayden was the top Harrier and 4th overall in 43:28 in the accompanying 9K short course won by Michael Liedtke in 39:49 and Sara Gans in 44:49. There were 89 finishers in the short course for a total of 167, 16 more than last year's total of 151.
June 17, 2012
Sandy Anderson, Juliette Christie and Gord Christie
Sandy collected 6 gold medals and a silver, Juliette won two golds and Gord also won a gold medal at the BC Masters Track and Field Championships in Langley today. Sandy won the F70 High Jump, Discuss, Javelin, Shot Put, Weight Throw, Pole Vault and finished second in the Hammer Throw. Juliette topped all age divisions in the 1,500m and 3,000m races winning the F50 division in 5:25.4 for the 1,500 and running 11:02.0 for the 3,000 to set a new F50 BC record. Gord ran 4:56.8 to win the M50 division in the 1,500m race and edge Malcolm Smillie by 2 seconds.
June 17, 2012
Lucy Smith and Bill Scriven
Lucy was the first female in 4:41:35, she placed 14th overall of 244 finishers at the Half Iron Distance of the Saunders Subaru Victoria Triathlon at Elk Lake today. The race champion was Adam O'Meara in 4:00:14, he also won the Subaru Shawnigan Lake Half Iron race in 4:05:01. Bill won the M65 division by an outstanding 23 minutes over Tim Allen of Surrey. Bill's time was 5:44:44, a 33-minute improvement over his last Oliver Half Iron Triathlon which he ran in 2010. There were 244 individuals and 23 three-person relay teams in the Half Iron race. There was a grand total of 733 finishers at the Victoria Triathlon which included an Olympic Distance race (161 finishers and 13 relay teams) and a Sprint Distance race (172 finishers and 16 relay teams).
June 17, 2012
Garth Campbell
Garth was the overall winner of the Canada Safeway Father's Day Prostate Cancer Run/Walk today at Royal Roads. The 8K event annually draws over 500 participants and 150 volunteers. Runners and walkers raised over $155,000 in pledges to be donated for prostate cancer research.
June 17, 2012
Colin Dignum
Colin finished first overall at the Seek the Peak Mountain Race in Vancouver today with a time of 1:28:11, good for a 4-minute margin of victory over Chris Barth, of White Rock.. The challenging 16K course starts on the beach at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver, winds its way through North Vancouver, then heads up the legendary Grouse Grind to the Peak of Vancouver gaining 4,100 feet in vertical elevation. There were 324 solo runners and 34 four-person teams for a total of 460 participants at the Seek the Peak.
June 16, 2012
Mark Ritchie and Claire Morgan
Mark and Claire placed first and second overall in 17:49 and 17:59 with the lead changing hands several times in an exciting Open 5000m race at VTS#4 tonight at Centennial Stadium. Other Harriers ran well in the 5000m including Gary Duncan, 1st M50 in 19:12, Wendy Davies, 1st F50 in 22:09, and Martha McNeely, 1st F60 in 26:23. There were 58 athletes participating in 7 races in distances of 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m.
June 15, 2012
David Jackson and Natasha Fraser
David finished third overall in 15:02 today and Natasha, 16:44, was the top female and 14th overall of 657 finishers (253 men and 404 women) at the North Shore Credit Union Longest Day 5K at Thunderbird Stadium, UBC. The race champion was Sam Pawluk in 14:54 followed by Jerry Ziak in 15:00. Sabrina Wilkie was the second female in 17:22 and Melissa Ross took third in 17:26. There were an additional 575 finishers in an accompanying 10K for a total of 1,232 finishers in both the Longest Day 5K and 10K races in Vancouver.
June 12, 2012
Ben Kingstone, Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
Ben, Claire and Gary were the top three Harriers at the 28th annual Legion Twilight Shuffle in Chemainus tonight. Ben finished 4th overall in 17:27, Claire was 8th and top female in 18:34, while Gary placed 11th to win the M50 division in 18:58. Matthew Sharpe won the race in 15:40 and qualified for the National Triathlon Championships next month by less than one second. There were 305 finishers at the Twilight Shuffle compared to 328 finishers last year.
June 10, 2012
Chris Callendar
Chris was the top Harrier and the only athlete from Victoria of the 260 finishers at the Sandcastle City Classic 10K in White Rock today, part of the Timex BC Series. Chris finished in 36:52 to place 14th overall. The race winners were Jeremiah Johnston in 31:41 and Kristin Smart in 38:07. There were 137 female finishers and 123 male finishers at the Sandcastle Classic hosted by the Semiahmoo Sunrunners.
June 9, 2012
Jason Loutitt
Jason finished first overall in 48:47 at the 5 Peaks Enduro Mountain Race in Squamish today. Vancouver's Nathan Detroit-Barre placed second in 50:37 and Michel Stewart, of Waterloo, ON, took third in 51:05. The top female was Lauren Babineau, of Belcarra, BC; she was 27th overall in 1:00:54. There were 236 finishers in the Enduro race and another 171 in the shorter Sport race for a total of 407 finishers at Alice Lake Provincial Park.
June 3, 2012
Will Boothman
Will was 12th overall of 319 finishers in 40:34 at the CFB Esquimalt Navy 10K today. The race champions were Jonathan Gendron, 34:28, and Sarah-Mae Pyndus, 23rd overall in 41:44. There were an additional 75 runners in the accompanying 5K event totaling 394 finishers. The race included many military runners traveling from other provinces across Canada including British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
June 3, 2012
Suzanne Mandy, Binder Kelsall and Taylor Noel
Suzanne, Binder and Taylor were the top Harriers at the inaugural Goddess Run in Langford today, a women's-only package of races directed by GFVM and VIRA General Manager, Cathy Noel. Suzanne placed 10th in the half marathon in 1:44:44; the half winner was Gemma Handley in 1:36:22. Binder was the race champion in the 10K division in 38:15, the most popular distance of the three events. Unfortunately, a 10K course marshal directed all of the runners back too soon and the distance was only 8.7K but all participants covered the same course. In the 5K division, 11-year-old daughter of Cathy, Taylor Noel, finished fourth in the under-20 age category, 22nd overall of 364 finishers, in 29:00. The race sold out well in advance with 1,500 registrations and 1,426 finishers including 240 in the half marathon, 822 in the 10K and 364 in the 5K.
June 3, 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Mark Ritchie and Chris Callendar
Shane was the race champion in 2:40:14 while Mark, 2:59:17, was fourth overall at the North Olympic Discovery Marathon today, a race from Sequim to Port Angeles. Shane's margin of victory was almost 15 minutes over Pascal Spino who finished in 2:55:06. Mark posted a personal best time shattering his previous marathon P.R. by 14 minutes and 40 seconds! Chris handily won the accompanying 10K event in 37:40, topping the second place finisher, Tony Elwell, by 2 1/2 minutes. There were 320 marathon finishers (170 men, 150 women) and 160 10K finishers (40 men and 120 women). Other events included a half marathon (1,004 finishers) a 5K race (152 finishers), a walking division (49 finishers) and marathon relay teams (44 finishers). The total number of participants in all events was 1,729.
June 3, 2012
Randy Duncan and Lori Herron
Randy and Lori completed over 60 laps or approximately 185 kilometres in the Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay at UVic today to win the solo division while raising funds for underprivileged children to attend Easter Seals Camp at Shawnigan Lake. The event had more than 2,000 runners starting at noon on Saturday and finishing at noon on Sunday.
June 3, 2012
Larry Nylen
Larry led the faster group on a 24K wilderness club run from Quarry Park in Cobble Hill to the Kinsol Trestle and back while Val and Kathleen led a moderate group on a 17K route to the Trestle from Thain Road and back. An additional 5 hikers and 4 dogs enjoyed the trails of Cobble Hill and around the old rock quarry lake. Overall it was a highly successful adventure run with 17 two-legged participants and 4 four-legged participants. These beautiful trails to run or mountain bike will be revisited in the near future for a do-over. Thanks to the run leaders, Larry, Val and Kathleen and to the hike leader, Louise.
June 3, 2012
Fawn Whiting
Fawn was the third female to finish in 4:59:33 today at the Oliver Half Iron Triathlon and, in doing so, qualified for Ironman Canada in Penticton on August 26. The race champions at Oliver were Kelowna's Luke Way, in 4:22:33, and Kristin Baker, from Edmonton, in 4:52:20. There were 925 registrations and 687 finishers including 404 men and 283 women. Fawn was first in her F25 age category and finished 48th overall.
June 2, 2012
Todd Nowack and Hayden Earle
Todd finished first overall in the Solo Division in 4:20:06 and Hayden was third overall in 4:54:08 at the Burnaby Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race today. Todd managed to beat all of the single-person entries, 2-person teams and 4-person teams by claiming a 11 1/2 minute margin of victory in a grueling event involving kayaking, trekking, cycling and orienteering. Hayden also topped all of the 2-person and 4-person teams. There were 113 individual racers in Burnaby encompassing 58 teams.
June 2, 2012
Nick Walker and Gary Duncan
Nick did the amazing triple at VTS#3 tonight on the Oak Bay Track by winning the 1,500m in 4:14.3 and placing second in the 800m in 2:08.7 and also placing second in the 400m in 57.2 seconds. Rabien Anton won the 400m in 56.4 seconds and Sean Chester won the 800m in 2:02.5. Michael Lax had a great race winning the Mixed 1500m in 4:59.7. Claire Morgan was second overall and the top female in 5:04.9. Durable Gary Duncan also raced the 400, 800 and 1,500 events Saturday night, after doing the Harriers one hour trail run at Prior Lake on Saturday morning then participating in the Mad Hatter 3K, part of the Oak Bay Tea Party. The five runs on Saturday and 24K club run on Sunday were all in a days work for the reliable Harriers workhorse. He also visited the Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay at UVic and the Goddess Run in Langford before traveling to Cobble Hill for the wilderness run, his longest run of the year.
June 2, 2012
Juliette Christie and Herb Phillips
Juliette and Herb were the top Harriers, both winning their age categories, at the Ambleside Masters Mile in West Vancouver today. Juliette finished 15th overall out of 94 male and female masters with a time of 5:47 to top the F50 division by almost a minute over Bronwyn Mason, 6:42. Juliette was the third female to finish behind race winner, Jeanie Bezdan, 5:42, and second place finisher, Janette Purdham, 5:43. Herb won the M70 division in 6:01 to place 19th overall and finish 49 seconds ahead of the next M70 runner, Phil Crawford, 6:50. The top three men in the race were Warren McCulloch, 4:42, Carey Nelson, 4:45, and Mark Bennett, 4:58.
June 2, 2012
Jason Loutitt
Jason, currently living in Squamish, finished second overall of 731 finishers in 1:10:57 at the second annual Whistler Half Marathon today. The race champions were Vancouver's David Palermo, 1:09:17, and Victoria's Catrin Jones, in 1:17:45; she was seventh overall. Vancouver's Edward McCarthy claimed third in 1:11:32 while Victoria's Shawn Nelson took fourth in 1:13:20. Sister-in-law, Care Nelson, was the second female and 9th overall in 1:19:23 while Lisa Brooking, from Langley, placed third in 1:20:10.
June 1, 2012
Shannon Coutts
Shannon placed first of 19 Category 4 cyclists in the Russ Hays Time Trial on Dallas Road starting and finishing at Clover Point on a windy, cool Friday evening. Her winning time was 8:23 for 5K. There were 141 cyclists in the Time Trials in men's and women's divisions of 4 categories plus a junior division. Another 74 riders competed in the BC Road Race Championships in Metchosin on Saturday and 99 cyclists competed in the Bastion Square Grand Prix on Sunday. The three events comprised the 2012 Robert Cameron Cycling Series.
May 27, 2012
Shane Ruljancich, Andrew Pape-Salmon, Julien Marceau and Gary Duncan
Shane was the overall champion of 61 finishers in 1:40:02 and Andrew was the top master, 6th overall in 1:50:37, today at the Colliery Dam Half Marathon in Nanaimo, Race No. 1 of the Frontrunners Gutbuster Series. The long course female winner was Kaylee Beales in 2:08:18. Julien, 1:04:57, and top master Gary, 1:05:00, placed second and third overall of 100 finishers in the accompanying 11.5K short course. The 11.5K race winners were Michael Liedtke, 1:01:26, and Julia Tschanz, 5th overall in 1:06:36. There were 9 Harriers in the long course and another 11 Harriers in the short course totaling 20 of the combined 161 finishers. Larry Nylen, M50, won a silver medal on the long course and Pamela Dinn, F30, claimed a bronze. For the short course, twins Brandon and Austin Willson (M16) won gold and silver medals, Lara Wear, (F40), took silver and Sonja Yli-Kahila, (F30), won bronze. The 161 finishers was 5 more than last year's total of 156.
May 27, 2012
Ryan Day, Nancy Baxendale, Sean Chester and Claire Morgan
Ryan and Nancy were the top Harriers at the 48th annual Scotiabank Calgary Marathon today. Ryan, 2:33:38, continued with his great Vancouver Marathon and Oak Bay KOOL Half Marathon performances by placing fifth overall of 971 finishers at the Calgary Marathon. Nancy was running third in the women's field but suffered some serious hypothermia problems in the last 10K that cost her at least 10 minutes and landed her in the medical tent in what she labels "the worst race of my life". Despite that she still won her F50 age group by an amazing 23 minutes. She was second master in 3:18:36. New race records were set in an exciting finish to the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon as elite marathoner Bernard Onsare tore across the finish line, handily taking down a 21-year race record with a finish time of 2:22:47. The top female was Tanaya Gallagher, of Phoenix, AZ, in 2:54:24. Sean finished third overall in the accompanying 10K road race at Calgary in 33:21. Willy Kimosop won the 10K in 31:12 and the top female was Calgary's Melissa Kendrick in 37:17. Claire, 38:18, was 24th overall of 2,608 finishers, 3rd female of 1,626, and 4 seconds shy of winning the F35 division. There were 1,987 finishers in the 5K, 2,608 in the 10K, 3,255 in the half marathon and 971 in the marathon for a total of 8,821 finishers. The event raised over $700,000 for local charities.
May 27, 2012
Julie Van Veelen and Fawn Whiting
Julie was the top Harrier at the Subaru Shawnigan Lake Half Iron Triathlon today taking 2nd in her age category in 5:12:31; she was the 10th female to finish and placed 47th overall of 103 finishers. Victoria's Adam O'Meara won the Half Iron in 4:05:01 and Vancouver's Rachel Kiers was the female champion in 4:24:41. Fawn was the top Harrier in the Sprint Division finishing 19th overall in 1:10:38. She won her F20 age category and was third female overall. There were 103 finishers in the Half Iron, 130 in the Olympic Distance and another 152 in the Sprint Division totaling 385, surpassing last year's mark of 329 finishers.
May 27, 2012
Herb Phillips
Our ageless Burnaby Harrier, Herb Phillips, notched another gold medal at the Shaughnessy 8K in Vancouver today, the official BC Championship 8K Road Race hosted by Lions Gate Road Runners. Herb was 52nd overall of 264 finishers in 34:26 to win the M70 division by 5 1/2 minutes. The race champions were Vancouver's David Palermo, 26:35, and Victoria's Catrin Jones, 29:22. Shaughnessy attracted 133 men and 131 women today for a total of 264 finishers. Last year's BC Championship venue was the Harriers Pioneer 8K which featured 350 men and 297 women for a total of 647 finishers.
May 27, 2012
David Jackson
David simply crushed the field of 548 finishers by posting a 1:09:59 winning time at the Abbotsford Run for Water Half Marathon today at Mill Lake, Abbotsford. His margin of victory was an outstanding 10 minutes and 1 second over second place finisher, Jono Lloyd, of North Vancouver, who finished in 1:20:00. Dave Stephens took third in 1:22:18. The first female was Langley's Kendra Braun in 1:30:04, she was 11th overall. There were 175 finishers in the marathon, 548 in the half marathon, 913 in the 10K and 2,180 in the 5K for a total of 3,816 finishers.
May 20, 2012
Richard Knowlton
Richard was fifth overall, third in his age category, in 1:06:26, at the 2nd annual Team X/Island Runner Westshore Triathlon and Duathlon today. Travis Chater won the triathlon in 1:00:55 while Aaron Thomas won the duathalon in 58:56. There were 63 finishers in the triathlon and another 10 finishers in the duathlon for a total of 73. This was 29 fewer than last year's total of 109.
May 19, 2012
Shane Ruljancich and Claire Morgan
Shane and Claire were the top laddie and the top lassie in the Kilted Mile at Topaz Park today, part of the 75th annual Victoria Highland Games Festival. It was the second consecutive victory for Shane and Claire and Shane also won the event in 2009. There was a smaller field today with only 7 Harriers of the 9 contestants, compared to 18 finishers of last year. Gary Duncan and Wendy Davies were the top two veteran athletes and Christine Thate won the best-dressed lassie. She won a bottle of Scotch for her stunning wardrobe while prize money of $100/$75/$50 was paid out to the top three runners, male and female. All of the cash and alcohol prizes were won by Harriers! Shane and Claire each won $100, Gary and Wendy each won $75 and Jane MacDonald won $50. Gold medals went to Shane, Claire, Gary and Wendy; Jane won silver and Christine took bronze.
May 13, 2012
Ryan Day, Ian Ackroyd and Claire Morgan
Ryan placed third overall in 1:12:11, Ian was sixth, first in the M45 division in 1:20:54, and Claire was the second female in 1:23:29, eleventh overall of 760 finishers at the Oak Bay KOOL Half Marathon today hosted by Peninsula Runners. The top two finishers ahead of Ryan were both Kenyans with Gilbert Kiptoo winning in 1:08:15 and Phillip Samoei placing second in 1:09:24. The top female was Care Nelson, eighth overall in 1:21:28, while Nanaimo's Erin Burrett placed third behind Claire in 1:26:28. Other Harriers running well at the Oak Bay Half included John Catterall, first M50, Will Boothman, second M45, Bertrand Bozek, third M40, Fawn Whiting, second F25, Julie Van Veelen, second F35 and Lisa Cantwell, fourth F45 with a huge 10-minute personal best time of 1:45:39. There were 760 finishers in the Half, 261 in the 5K, 184 in the Relay and 100 in the Kid's Races for a total of 1,315 finishers. This was 160 more than last year's record of 1,155.
May 13, 2012
Natasha Fraser and Gord Christie
Natasha and Gord were the top Harriers placing 8th and 9th overall of 281 finishers at the Mother's Day Spring Classic 5K starting and finishing at the Social Recreation Centre in Port Moody. Gord won his M50 age category by over a minute with a time of 17:26 while Natasha, 17:35, was the first female in the event finishing 12 seconds ahead of Gillian Gook and 22 seconds ahead of Katherine Moore. The top three men were Tom Michie, 16:18, John Machuga, 16:21, and Robert Johnson, 16:41. Other Harriers running well included Juliette Christie, 2nd F45 in 19:29 and Herb Phillips, 1st M70 in 20:55. There were 111 male finishers and 170 female finishers.
May 12, 2012
Shane Ruljancich
The 2012 Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras 50K race was a Canadian Championship event on the five-race ultra roster. Harriers’ Shane Ruljancich, 35, was the victor with an impressive 3:25:59 finish, sharing the first three laps with Chris Barth, 41, of White Rock, BC, but he managed to pull away in the final two laps to claim a twelve-minute margin of victory. Shane’s time is the fastest 50K result by any Canadian this year surpassing Dario Herrera’s 3:48:00 set at NYD Fat Ass in Vancouver and PIH’s Adam Campbell’s 3:48:55 victory at the Chuckanut 50K in Bellingham, WA. Ultra legend Jim Swadling, 65, ran 3:51:44 to place third overall and set a M65 Canadian Record by a staggering 54 minutes and 27 seconds! Jim now holds Canadian Records for M50, 3:26:10, M55, 3:32:39 and M65, 3:51:44, all established at the E/B Ultras in Victoria. The female 50K champion was Victoria’s Robyn Standring; she finished fifth overall of 37 finishers in 4:17:07. 66 runners registered for the Elk/Beaver Ultras (5 divisions), 59 started and 54 finished.
May 12, 2012
Gary Duncan and Camie Bentham
Gary ran both the 800 Metre Open race and the 3,000 Metre Open race at VTS#1 tonight at Oak Bay Track and, in durable Duncanlike fashion, followed it up the next day with an age class victory at the Oak Bay KOOL 5K road race. His time for the 800m was 2:32, first M50, in the 3,000m he ran 11:08, second M50, and in the 5K he placed fourth overall of 261 finishers in 18:43 to win the M55 division. Camie was eighth overall, first female, and the top master in 20:18. Jonathan Gendron won the Oak Bay KOOL 5K in 16:43.
May 6, 2012
Ryan Day and Heather Bretschneider
Ryan placed third overall in 2:29:22 at the BMO Vancouver International Marathon today. Kenyans Gezahgn Eshetu, 2:21:51, and last year's champion, Benard Onsare, 2:22:16, swept the top two positions. The first three women in the race were Banff's Ellie Greenwood, 12th overall in 2:42:16, Mary Akor, of Hawthorn, CA, 21st in 2:46:01, and Victoria's 2010 GFVM winner, Catrin Jones, 34th in 2:52:11. Heather Bretschneider finished 744th overall in 3:44:53 which placed her 33rd of 314 in the F30 division; she was 144th of 1,837 females. More importantly, Heather raised $6,547 with her LaceUp4Lupus team to be used for lupus research. She over-achieved her goal of $4,200 or $100 per kilometre. There were 5,251 registrations in the marathon and 4,233 finishers including 2,396 men and 1,837 women. This was 892 more finishers than last year. Both the marathon (limit of 5,000 registrations) and the half marathon (limit of 10,000 registrations) sold out well in advance of race day. Both distances featured new point-to-point courses starting at Queen Elizabeth Park and finishing at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
May 6, 2012
Jeremy Lawrence, Gary Duncan, Adena Cronk and Chris Callendar
Fresh off his 5K victory at the Peninsula Runners Free Run three weeks ago and his personal best of 35:34 at the TC10K last weekend, Jeremy continues to improve by winning the Sound and Silence 10K in 36:52 today on the Lochside Trail, starting and finishing at Michell's vegetable stand on Island View Road. Course measurer extraordinaire, Gary Duncan, placed second overall of 74 finishers in 39:31 and was the top master at the age of 54. Third place went to Daniel Girard, 40:34, and the first female was Stephanie Joyce in 46:49, she was 10th overall. Adena won the F60 division to go with her F60 gold medal achieved at the TC10K; she was 8th female overall in 52:22. In the accompanying 5K race, it was no contest as Chris destroyed the field of 35 finishers winning by over 7 minutes and breaking the tape in 17:31. Christy Simard, the top female, placed second overall in 24:54, while Eric Otergaard took third in 25:01. The combined total of 10K and 5K finishers was 109 which was 13 more than last year. Great prizes and a sunny day was enjoyed by all participants.
May 6, 2012
David Jackson, Jim Finlayson, Natasha Fraser and Lucy Smith
One week after a stirring 4th place for David, 7th place for Jim, 1st place for Natasha and a 2nd place for Lucy of 10,015 finishers at the TC10K, our four outstanding high performance Harriers posted terrific race results at the BMO Vancouver International Half Marathon today under sunny skies. In both 2011 and 2010 Jim and David finished this event in 3rd and 4th place overall in 1:07 and change but today they were relegated to 4th and 5th overall behind three well-established Kenyans living and training in Lethbridge and Edmonton. The top five men in the BMO Half were TC10K champion Kip Kangogo, 1:04:48, Willy Kimosop, 1:05:07, Kibet Rutto, 1:06:28, David Jackson, 1:07:33, and Jim Finlayson, 1:08:53. Sixth place finisher, Kevin O'Connor, was the top master in 1:09:12, winning the M45 division by a staggering 8 minutes. Natasha finished 14th overall to win the women's crown in 1:15:12, narrowly edging out Allison Macsas, from Austin, TX, who finished second in 1:15:31. Lucy was the top master, 22nd overall, and 3rd female in 1:18:38. She won her F45 age category by a stunning 11 minutes and was more than 6 minutes clear of the 2nd place female master, Mary Walsh, who finished in 1:24:46. There were 10,186 registrations for the BMO Vancouver International Half Marathon and 8,329 finishers including 3,087 men and 5,242 women on a brand new point-to-point course today.
April 29, 2012
Natasha Fraser, Lucy Smith and David Jackson
Natasha topped the women's field in 34:32, Lucy was the first master and second female overall in 35:14, while David, 30:34, was the top Harrier and first Canadian placing 4th of 10,015 finishers at the 23rd annual Times Colonist 10K today under ideal racing conditions. The first two men were Kenyans with Kip Kangogo winning in 29:51 and Willy Kimosop hitting the line second in 30:05. Third place went to American Joseph Gray in 30:23. Natasha and Lucy finished 28th and 29th overall while Lisa Harvey, 35:23, and Marilyn Arsenault, 35:33, were 3rd and 4th females and placed 35th and 36th overall. Several Harriers achieved personal best 10K times at the event including Jeremy Lawrence, 35:34, Ian Ackroyd, 36:02, Chris Callendar, 36:07, Happy Jaycox, 36:40, Dan Jacklin, 38:23, Julie Van Veelen, 38:49, Larry Nylen, 39:39, and Brent Chan, 43:41. The Harriers boasted eight gold medals for winning their age categories including Natasha Fraser (F30), Lucy Smith (F45), Nancy Baxendale (F50), Adena Cronk (F60), David Jackson (M35), Michael Lax (M55), Brian Connon (M65) and the amazing Maurice Tarrant (M80). Three more won silver and four Harriers took bronze medals. Prairie Inn Harriers claimed the top club honours of 25 teams. There were 12,300 TC10K registrations this year and 10,015 finishers including 4,048 men and 5,967 women. This was 67 more finishers than last year but 601 shy of the record of 10,616 finishers established in 2010.
April 22, 2012
Shane Ruljancich and Sonja Yli-Kahila
Only six days after Shane and Sonja ran the Boston Marathon in extremely hot conditions, the the two talented Harriers were back racing again today at the inaugural Mountain Equipment Co-Op Legwarmer 7K starting and finishing at Lochside Elementary School. Shane was first overall in 23:25 and Sonja, 27:58, was second to Mary McGregor who was top female and 9th overall in 25:39. There were 98 finishers in the adult's race and another 25 in the kid's race. Other Harriers running well at the Legwarmer 7K included J.F. Gagne, 5th in 25:17, Michael Lax, 10th in 25:40, John Catterall, 13th in 27:46 and Chris Wille, 31st in 30:54. MEC is planning a second event to be scheduled in August.
April 16, 2012
Shane Ruljancich and Sonja Yli-Kahila
Shane and Sonja were the top male and female Harriers at the 116th annual Boston Marathon today run in extremely hot conditions in the mid-80 degrees mark. The heat affected all runners in that the overall male and female winners were nearly 10 minutes slower than the Boston winners of last year. Boston uses chip (net) timing for all but the elite athletes who are sorted by gun time. Shane was 156th overall in 2:46:54 and Sonja was 170th female in 3:20:39. Other Harriers that survived the extreme New England heat to finish today included Chris Callendar, 1,242nd in 3:13:30, Chris Bowlby, 5,308th female in 4:30:39, Cathy Noel, 5,371st female in 4:31:19 and Martha McNeely, 7,994th female in 5:30:51. There were approximately 21,000 finishers including 12,300 men and 8,700 women. Registrations topped 27,000 and 4,500 runners did not start due to the high temperature. The race winner was Kenyan Wesley Korir in 2:12:40, compared to last year's winning time of 2:03:02 by Geoffrey Mutai. Kenyans swept the top three spots for both men and women. Levy Mateho was second in 2:13:06 and Benard Kipyego took third in 2:13:13. The top three women were Sharon Cherop, 2:31:50, Jemima Jelagat Sumgong, 2:31:52, and Georgina Rono, 2:33:09.
April 15, 2012
Shannon Coutts
Known for her strong road biking skills and her trail running accomplishments in the Gutbuster Series, Shannon embarked on a new challenge this year and has posted three consecutive victories in the 2012 Vancouver Island Cup Mountain Bike Race Series. Her first win in the Beginner Division came at Victoria's Hartland trails on March 11 with a time of 36:43. Second place went to Sabrina McLeod in 39:52 and Monique Holmgren was third in 43:55. In Race No. 2 at Cobble Hill on March 18, Shannon took gold in 53:50, Sarah Mitchell took silver in 55:00 and Holly Henry took bronze in 59:36. Today, in her third race at Cumberland, Shannon was first in 53:20 in perhaps her best performance by dominating the Beginner Women's Division by over 10 minutes. Second place went to Monique Holmgren in 1:03:41 while Colleen Wtorek was third in 1:07:42. There were 114 riders in Victoria, 99 in Cobble Hill and 87 in Cumberland spread amongst six divisions including Beginner, Intermediate and Expert categories for both men and women. There are eight races in the Island Cup MTB Series with future races scheduled in Campbell River, Mount Arrowsmith, Powell River, Port Alberni and the final race is held in Port Alice on June 9 where double points will be awarded in all categories.
April 15, 2012
Sean Chester and Claire Morgan
Sean and Claire were the highest finishing Prairie Inn Harriers when the Frontrunners Island Race Series wrapped up today in Sooke. Both secured their titles prior to the final Series race and both ran the Sun Run today with excellent performances. Sean won the overall Island Series title for the second consecutive year with an average points total of 840 for his best 5 races. Claire topped the F35 division with 811 points, second only to Care Nelson, 824 points, who won the female overall championship. Seven Harriers secured gold medals in their age categories including Sonja Yli-Kahila (F30), Claire Morgan (F35), Nancy Baxendale (F50), Maree Kennell (F70), Sean Chester (M25), Shane Ruljancich (M35) and John Woodall (M80). Five more Harriers claimed silver medals including Julie Van Veelen (F35), Valerie Bell (F50), Ian Ackroyd (M45), Yuki Otsubo (M50) and Gary Duncan (M55) while both Larry Nylen (M50) and Norm Dolan (M60) collected bronze medals. Honourable mention goes to four fourth place finishers Pamela Dinn (F30), Wendy Davies (F50), Brandon Willson (M16) and Happy Jaycox (M30). Prairie Inn Harriers won the Club Championship with 4,272 points followed by Comox Valley Road Runners, 2,761 points, and Frontrunners Athletic Club, 2,125 points. There were 3,609 finishers in all 8 Series races and 59 clubs participated.
April 15, 2012
Natasha Fraser, Kris Swanson, Bruce Deacon and Nancy Baxendale
Natasha and Kris were the top Harriers finishers while Bruce and Nancy won their age categories at the massive Vancouver Sun Run today featuring 48,904 registrations and 38,936 finishers. Natasha, 34:13, finished FIRST overall of over 25,000 women and Kris, 31:53, placed 14th overall of over 20,000 men. The top three men in the race were Kelly Wiebe, of Regina, in 29:13, Lethbridge's Kip Kangogo, in 29:14, and Matt Loiselle, from Toronto, in 29:18. The top three women were Port Moody's Natasha Fraser, 34:13; she was 50th overall, Melissa Todd, from Timmath, placed second in 34:39 and Kate Bazeley, of St. John's, took third in 34:52. Bruce topped the M45 division of 1,762 master men in 32:18; he was 17th overall. Nancy was was 30th female, 199th overall, to win the F50 division of 1,943 master F50 women in 38:01. The first three master women were Marilyn Arsenault, 35:04, Lucy Smith, 35:25, and Lisa Harvey, 35:36, and the first three master men were Kevin O'Connor, 31:33, Bruce Deacon, 32:18, and Ian Hallam, 32:31. Other Harriers running well at the Sun Run included Dylan Gant, 18th in 32:24, Ian Hallam, 2nd M40, 20th overall in 32:31, Jeremy Watts, 9th M35 in 35:04, Gord Christie, 2nd M50 in 35:27 and Claire Morgan, 3rd F35 in 37:02. The 38,748 finishers today at the Sun Run was just 121 fewer than last year's total of 38,869. It is the largest 10K race in Canada followed by the Times Colonist 10K on April 29 which will feature over 12,000 runners.
April 15, 2012
Julie Van Veelen, Sarah Daitch and Todd Nowack
Julie won her first-ever Series race, Sarah recorded her highest-ever Series position and Todd saved his best-ever Series performance for the Sooke River 10K today, the eighth and final event in the 2012 Frontrunners Island Race Series. The top three men were Bastion's Joel Deschiffart, in 33:28, Frontrunners' Shawn Nelson, in 34:09, and Jorge Para, from Courtenay, in 34:33. The top three women were PIH's Julie Van Veelen, 39:09, PIH's Sarah Daitch, 40:14, and Frontrunners' Isabelle Fillion, 40:18. Julie has completed 44 Island Series races in the past 6 years and her 784 points at Sooke today is her best performance and her first race victory. Todd has completed 10 Island Series races to date and his 775 points was his best performance by finishing 5th overall at Sooke. His previous highest position in a Series race was in 2008 where he finished 14th at Hatley Castle. Todd has run this race three times and has seen his times improve from 40:49 to 38:26 to 35:04 today, 5:45 faster than he ran it in 2005. There were 352 finishers at the Sooke River 10K compared to 359 finishers last year.
April 13, 2012
Jeremy Lawrence
The inaugural Peninsula Runners 5K Free Run was an overwhelming success. The most beautiful day of the year was the backdrop for the initial race that had nothing but positive feedback for no entry fees. The event raised $2,000 for the BC Cancer Society and had just under 500 runners. It is impressive that 500 people had no idea where they were racing until they were emailed three days beforehand stating that the event would be hosted in Beacon Hill Park. Harriers swept the top three positions overall with Jeremy Lawrence winning the men's race in 18:23 followed by team mates J.F. Gagne in 18:30 and Mike Janes in 18:50. Riley McQueen won the women's race in 19:36. Second place went to Annika Todd in 20:23 and Katie Munro was third in 20:40. Participants said the course was slow and fast. “I wanted to come up with a course that beat people up, I didn't want it to be easy”, said Race Director Dave Milne. He designed the course to be a “fun, relentless course with a tough finish.”
April 7, 2012
Jason Loutitt
Jason won his second consecutive "altitude" trail race within the last two weeks by capturing the championship in the Cedro Peak 45 Mile Trail Ultramarathon in Tijeras, New Mexico, today with a winning time of 6:30:47; he was the only Canadian of the 29 finishers in the first annual event. Second place went to Nick Pedatella, of Boulder, CO, in 6:43:27 while Durango, CO, runner Brendan Trimboli took third in 7:20:47. The top three women were Sara Crippen, Williamsburg, IA, 9:00:07, Abby McQueeney-Penamonte, Denver, CO, 9:32:22, and Olga Varlamova-King, Austin, TX, 10:15:45. Jason described his experience as, "On the race glass each competitor got, it says 'I love Rocks' and at first I was doubting how applicable it was but after racing it...it fits. The course is an ultimate test due to this rocky terrain and the altitude (6,000' at the lowest but mostly between 7,000' and 7,780'). I took off from the start but went 1.5 miles off course when leading and reaching an unmarked intersection. Seems someone took the markers down but luckily there weren't any more issues. It took me 30 minutes to get back into first place and I pushed hard from there. I loved this race and plan to return next year." Next up for Jason is the World 100K Championships in Seregno, Italy on April 22 as part of Team Canada.
April 7, 2012
Camie Bentham
Camie won a bronze medal in the F40 division of 562 women in her age category today at the inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon in Los Angeles, CA. She described the course as very difficult with the last 4 kilometres uphill to finish with her time of 1:36:05. The winner of the F40 division was Ieng Klukken, from Huntington Beach, in 1:30:00. The overall winners were Kenyan Ondara Macdonald, in 1:04:47, and Malika Camaccho, from Albuquerque, NM, in 1:16:34. There were 6,103 finishers at the Hollywood Half Marathon including 2,290 men and 3,813 women. There was also a 10K and a 5K race associated with the new half marathon.
April 6, 2012
Andrew Pape-Salmon and Dan Jacklin
Andrew and Dan were second and third masters to finish in the sixth annual Fletcher's Challenge 13K trail race today in Nanaimo, an event initiated to honour runner and Times Colonist sportswriter, Gavin Fletcher, who lost his life in a car accident in December, 2006. Andrew finished fourth overall in 59:40 while Dan placed 13th in 1:04:58. The race was won by a master, Mike Murphy, who crossed the line in 55:55. Second place went to Nanaimo's Byron Trajan in 57:24 and Brian Zurek took third in 58:26. The top three women in a very close finish were Ann Signorella, 1:09:03, Kristenn Magnusson, 1:09:09, and Kate Surguine, 1:09:36. There were 9 Harriers in the event and all of them placed well in their respective age categories including Gary Duncan (1st), J.F. Gagne (4th), Ian Ackroyd (4th), Valerie Bell (4th), Sara Pape-Salmon (6th), Kathleen Birney (6th) and Lara Wear (9th). Organizers had to be pleased with the new 13K course which featured 110 finishers today compared to the 11K course from last year which only attracted 67 finishers. Nearly 450 people participated in the event which included a family walk, children's run and Easter Egg hunt. All proceeds go to help kids take part in sports.
April 1, 2012
Ian Ackroyd, Happy Jaycox, Julie Van Veelen and Valerie Bell
Ian and Julie were the top Harriers at the Merville 15K today, Race #7 of 8 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Ian finished in 8th position overall, his highest-ever Series standing, by completing the course in 55:21. He was second in the M45 division. Happy was 11th overall in 55:33 to achieve 753 points, a personal best ranking of 14 Series races completed in 2011 and 2012. He showed an improvement of over 3 minutes from last year's time at Merville and has improved by several minutes at every Series race this year. Julie was second female overall to race winner Care Nelson, 58:09, and she improved her time from 1:08:10 in 2011 to 1:00:32 today at Merville. She also jumped up in the overall rankings from 86th in 2011 to 24th in 2012, an improvement of 62 positions. Val had an outstanding race with a personal best time of 1:03:57 to win the F50 division by almost 4 minutes and claim the top master's crown; she was third female overall. Honourable mention goes to Larry Nylen, Gary Duncan and Julien Marceau who won silver medals in their respective age categories. The top three finishers were Aspire's Ben Brzezynski, 50:18, and Sean Chester, 50:31, followed by Mark Cryderman, of the host club River Runners, in 50:44. There were 16 Harriers at Merville of the 283 finishers. This was 49 less than last year's total of 332.
March 31, 2012
Melanie McQuaid
Andy Potts led from start to finish to win his fourth title at Ironman 70.3 California, while three-time XTERRA world champion Melanie McQuaid proved that she can ride on the roads every bit as fast as she can ride on the trails to win her first California title today in Oceanside, CA. The top three men were Andy Potts, Colorado Springs, CO, 3:54:03, Richie Cunningham, Boulder, CO, 3:55:11 and Jesse Thomas, Springfield, OR, 3:55:22. Victoria's Stephen Kilshaw finished 9th overall amongst the professionl men in 4:02:33. The top three women were Melanie McQuaid, Victoria, BC, 4:19:13, Heather Jackson, Carlsbad, CA, 4:21:57, and Merideth Kessler, San Francisco, CA, 4:23:40. The event included a 1.2 mile ocean swim, a 56 mile road ride and a 13.1 mile road run. Melanie finished 32nd overall of the 2,131 finishers including 1,606 men and 525 women.Complete results http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/california70.3/?show=raceresults&year=2012&format=htm#axzz1rgBYY1EZ
March 25, 2012
Juliette Christie, Gord Christie and Herb Phillips
Harriers master athletes continue to shine in the bright sunlight and perfect race conditions. On May 17 of this year, Juliette Christie turns 50 yet 150 finishers couldn't beat her to the line at the Diva on the Run 8K in Vancouver today. Juliette topped the field in the women's-only race with a winning time of 32:53. Second place went to 30-year old Tamasin Reno in 33:33 and Kathie Schellenberg, of Langley, took third in 35:11. Across town at Stanley Park, Gord Christie was the top Harrier, 16th overall of 1,021 finishers, with a time of 28:33 at Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K. Gord was third in the M45 division behind two very high performance masters - Kevin O'Connor and Carey Nelson. The top three men at Harry's 8K were Kenyan Kip Kangogo, in 24:00, Sam Pawluk, 24:37, and Kevin Friesen, 24:50. The top three women were Calgary's Lisa Harvey, 28:40, former-Harrier Sabrina Wilkie, 29:08, and Vancouver's Katherine Moore, in 29:35. Herb continues to dominate the M70 division in winning by 7 minutes, 14 seconds over second place Akram Khan, 33:06 to 40:20. It was the second consecutive weekend that Herb has triumphed at races in Stanley Park with incredible M70 victories.
March 25, 2012
Jason Loutitt
Jason is currently training at altitude at Flagstaff, Arizona in preparation for the World 100K Championships at Seregno, Italy on April 22. His running is going very well as he topped the field in the Black Canyon XTerra Half Marathon in Black Canyon City, AZ, today with a time of 1:24:51. Second place went to Nick Coury in 1:30:38 and John Storkamp placed third in 1:34:47. Jenine Cordova won the women's race in 1:51:01. There were 225 finishers in the half marathon and another 173 finishers in the accompanying 9K trail race. The race is described as the Series' finale and is the newest venue with lots of climbing, river crossings, sandy beaches and endless single-track. 13.1 miles - a point to point half marathon. The race starts off of Table Mesa Road and follows the Black Canyon Trail to Black Canyon City and Rock Springs Cafe. 4 aid stations. Full results are here http://www.4peaksracing.com/results/202results_overall.htm
March 18, 2012
Jim Finlayson, Bruce Deacon and Nancy Baxendale
For the second consecutive Series race, Harriers master athletes produced some commanding performances at the Comox Valley Half Marathon today, Race #6 of 8 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Jim (M40) won the race outright in 1:07:29, Bruce (M45) was second overall in 1:11:22 and Bastion's Stephen Struthers (M25) took third in 1:13:53. Nancy (F50) was the top female Harrier, fourth female overall, in 1:27:21 winning her age division by over 9 minutes. The top three women in the race were ORCA's Melissa Ross, 1:20:25, Care Nelson, Frontrunners Athletic Club, 1:20:58, and Sonja Futehally, Mercury Rising Triathlon, 1:27:30. Harriers' Melanie McQuaid finished fifth and topped the F35 division in 1:28:18. Honourable mention goes to Heather Bretschneider who finished third in the F30 division at the Comox Half one day after pacing her dad in his first race ever at the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Vancouver on Saturday. There were 431 finishers at the Comox Valley Half Marathon today compared to 509 finishers last year.
March 17, 2012
Jeff Phillips, Herb Phillips and Claire Morgan
Jeff, 15:36, finished eighth overall of 1,315 finishers at the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Vancouver today, the 2012 BC 5K Road Race Championships. The top three men were Mike Sayenko, from Bellevue, WA, in 14:53, Newfoundland's Ryan Brockerville, in 15:02, and Kevin Friesen, from Coquitlam, in 15:14. The first three women in the race were Seattle's Lois Keller, 17:23, and Jane Larson, also from Seattle, 17:24, followed by Gillian Gook, of Vancouver, in 17:53. Friesen and Gook were crowned as 5K BC Champions. Herb continued his dominance in the 70+ division by running 20:15 and winning his age category by 4 1/2 minutes. Claire won the F35 division of 113 F35 finishers in 18:31; she was the eleventh female overall. There were 841 women and 474 men in the race for a total of 1,315 today. Last year the St. Patrick's Day 5K attracted 985 finishers. Many colourful costumes were displayed in a sea of green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
March 17, 2012
Adam Campbell
Adam took the lead with 2 kilometres to go to win the 20th annual Chuckanut 50K Ultramarathon in Bellingham, WA, today. His winning time was 3:48:55 besting 548 finishers to the line. Second place went to Sage Canaday in 3:49:28 and Jason Schlarb took third in 3:49:59. The top female was Ellie Greenwood, of Banff, AB, in 4:09:27, she was 22nd overall. Harriers' Jason Loutitt finished 9th in 3:55:37, Shane Ruljancich was 24th in 4:11:44 and Sonja Yli-Kahila was 20th female in 5:33:44. Chris Brower won the F50 division in 5:59:56 and Rob Smith was 36th M50 in 6:55:03. The final runner finished in 9:19:40.
March 4, 2012
Ian Hallam, Paul O'Callaghan, Lucy Smith and Nancy Baxendale
Harriers dominated in many of the master's divisions at Bazan Bay 5K today collecting 8 gold medals in various 40+ age categories. Ian topped the M40 division and was the first master in the race in 15:31 finishing 13th overall of 679 finishers on a new out-and-back race course with a slight headwind on the outbound portion. Paul won the M45 division in 16:53; he was 39th overall. Lucy set a F45 course record of 17:01 and Nancy set a F50 course record and a British Columbia F50 Record of 18:35, breaking Catherine Irons' F50 B.C. mark of 18:47, also established at Bazan Bay in 2009. Other Harriers masters winning their age categories included Yuki Otsubo (M50), Gary Duncan (M55), John Woodall (M80) and Maree Kennell (F70). Premasters Shane Ruljancich (M35) and Claire Morgan (F35) also topped their divisions bringing PIH's gold medal total to 10. Today's Bazan Bay race attracted perhaps the most talented and competitive field in the 31-year history of the Island Race Series encompassing 258 races and a combined total of 105,206 finishers since 1982. Bolstered by several high performance, first-time Series athletes from the UVic Vikes, National Triathlon Centre, Point Grey Track Club and Speed River TFC a staggering 7 course records were set today. Geoff Martinson, a former Vikes star from Prince George, won the race in a blistering 14:20 to break Simon Whitfield's previous course record of 14:36 set in 2010. NTC's Brent McMahon placed second in 14:44 and Dylan Haight, of UVic, was third in 14:48. The women's field produced some even stronger results. In an absolutely stunning performance, Kelowna's Malindi Elmore shattered Lucy Smith's course record of 16:10 to win the Bazan Bay female championship in 15:48. Second place went to Hilary Stellingwerff, of Vancouver, in 16:32, while NTC's Ellen Pennock was third in 16:53. Malindi Elmore's outstanding effort propelled her to the top of the leader-board of all-time performances in Island Series races with 943 points, 3 more than Jon Brown's 1:03:57 accomplishment at the Comox Half Marathon in 2005. Malindi also moved ahead of several other high performance Vancouver Island athletes including Carey Nelson, Steve Osaduik, Jim Finlayson, Debbie Scott, Angela Chalmers, Ulla Marquette and Leah Pells. All of the spectators at Bazan Bay today were treated to an epic performance in Vancouver Island racing history with stellar times in all age categories. Bazan Bay was definitely the highlight of the 2012 Frontrunners Island Race Series in a field of depth and competitiveness for both men and women.
March 3, 2012
Gord Christie
Gord was the lone Harrier at the Dave Reed 5K Spring Classic at Stanley Park today hosted by Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club. He won his age M50 age division in 17:36 and placed 18th overall. The race winners were Kevin Friesen in 15:38 and former Harrier Sabrina Wilkie in 17:40. BC Athletics 2011 Master of the Year, Kevin O'Connor, finished second overall with a tremendous 15:42 effort. There were 204 finishers at the Dave Reed 5K today compared to 240 finishers last year.
February 26, 2012
Sean Chester, Claire Morgan and Ken Bonner
Sean won his first Series race of 2012 in 32:25, Claire topped her age category in 37:17 and was the second female to finish, while Ken, 49:15, earned his first gold medal since 2005 at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race #4 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Ken completed his 93rd Series race since 1996 and has finished 60 more between 1982 and 1995 prior to the VIRA database being established. Shane Ruljancich continued his outstanding string of race performances with a second place finish in 32:49 and Ben Brzezynski took third in 32:53. Catrin Jones won the women's race in 36:36 and Kate Scallion was third in 37:58. There were 40 Harriers at Cobble Hill and 6 won their age divisions including Claire Morgan (F35), Nancy Baxendale (F50), Sean Chester (M25), Shane Ruljancich (M35), Ken Bonner (M70) and Maurice Tarrant (M80). Nancy's time of 38:40 set a new F50 B.C. Record. The race was originally scheduled for January 22 but snow forced the organizers to reschedule it between Hatley Castle and Bazan Bay. As a result numbers were down substantially with 382 finishers today compared to 560 finishers last year. There were 587 registrations this year which meant that 205 runners did not pick up their race packages at Cobble Hill.
February 19, 2012
Claire Morgan, Julie Van Veelen, Sonja Yli-Kahila
The third race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series, the Hatley Castle 8K, took place today and our Harriers ladies recorded a perfect 1-2-3 finish. The race, organized for the first time by the new Frontrunners Athletic Club, saw 405 finishers compared to 465 finishers from last year. Claire won the women’s division in 31.01 while Julie and Sonja came second and third in a one-second sprint finish, 32:45 to 32:46. It was Claire's first victory at Hatley Castle and both Julie and Sonja recorded their highest-ever finishing positions from a combined total of 65 Island Series races completed to date. James Lander won the men's race convincingly in 25:26 over Harriers Sean Chester, second in 26:14, and Shane Ruljancich, third in 26:57. The Frontrunners Green Jersey for the fastest open male sprinter over the last 100 metres was a tie – both Harriers' Shane Ruljancich and Julien Marceau recorded a 13.20 second sprint to the line. Ten Prairie Inn Harriers won gold medals for topping their age categories at Hatley including Sonja Yli-Kahila (F30), Claire Morgan (F35), Valerie Bell (F50), Maree Kennell (F70), Sean Chester (M25), Shane Ruljancich (M35), Ian Ackroyd (M45), Yuki Otsubo (M50), Gary Duncan (M55) and John Woodall (M80).
February 17, 2012
43 PIH Award Winners
The Harriers Annual Awards Night was an outstanding success at the Cedar Hill Golf Course Lounge tonight with many new winners in a variety of different categories. Names and accomplishments are shown on the sidebar over there <<<<< under "Annual Awards". Congratulations to all for an outstanding year in 2011!
February 12, 2012
Steve Osaduik and Natasha Fraser
Perfect racing conditions led to fast times at the “First Half” Half Marathon in Vancouver today with Steve placing second overall of 1,982 finishers and Natasha placing 27th to win the women's race. There were 1,166 female finishers and 813 male finishers at the First Half Half. Former Harrier, Dylan Wykes, had set a goal of bettering his time from last year, and he did not disappoint. Leading from the gun, he ran a controlled pace throughout, picking it up slightly towards the end, to come home in 1:04:22, seventeen seconds quicker than his record time from last year. The race was part of Wykes’ final preparations before taking aim at the Canadian Olympic Marathon qualifying standard of 2:11:29 in Japan on March 4. Steve Osaduik will also run the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan. Behind Wykes, who is a member of Athletics Ontario, Steve, 1:07:27, and Natasha, 1:16:18, were crowned the 2012 BC Half Marathon Champions. Osaduik, who has been racing frequently, winning the first two races in the 2012 Timex BC Road Running Series, as well as the Surf City Half Marathon in California last weekend. Fraser, who last year won the BC 5K, 8K and 10K Championships, added the 2012 Half Championship to her collection.
February 5, 2012
Steve Osaduik
Steve collected his third victory of the year and turned in an excellent 1:06:34 performance beating an amazing 14,127 runners to the finish line at the Surf City USA Half Marathon today in Huntington Beach, California. He also won the race in 2010 with 1:04:52 P.B. over 11,783 finishers. Second place today went to John Gilbertson in 1:09:00 and Jorge Maravilla took third in 1:09:18. Steve took second the following weekend at the First Half Half Marathon in 1:07:27 with 1,982 finishers. His next race is the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in Japan on March 4 which usually attracts some of the top marathoners in the world. Steve and Dylan Wykes will be attempting to qualify for the third and final spot on the Canadian Marathon Team participating in the London Olympics.
February 5, 2012
Simon Whitfield and Sisi Hallam
The second race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series – the Cedar 12K – took place today, with Simon winning in 37:36, just two seconds ahead of James Lander. The race, which saw 449 finishers down 29 from last year, was hosted by the Bastion Running Club. Sisi won both the Yellow Jersey by topping the master women's division in 47:28 and the Green Jersey for being the fastest master sprinter in 16.21 seconds. Whitfield and Esquimalt-based Lander were neck-and-neck for the entire race, and spectators saw a thrilling finish with Lander just being pipped to the post, finishing in 37:38. “The race was very hard. James knows how to hurt and pushed me the whole way,” said Whitfield. “I could tell right away he was going to be very hard to shake, and he kept coming back every time I surged to test him.” Third place was Harriers Sean Chester in 39:01. Two seconds also separated the top two women with Care Nelson, Frontrunners Athletic Club, winning in 45:06, and the 2010 GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon women’s winner Catrin Jones second in 45:08. Third was Harriers Claire Morgan in 46:15. For the second consecutive race Harriers Sarah Daitch won the open female Green Jersey with a 100 metre sprint of 17.27 seconds. Six Harriers won their age categories at Cedar including Sean Chester (M25), Simon Whitfield (M35), Maurice Tarrant (M80), Claire Morgan (F35), Sisi Hallam (F40) and Nancy Baxendale (F50). Honourable mention goes to two Harriers that both had a terrific race, Happy Jaycox finished sixth in a very difficult M30 division in 46:09, and Julie Van Veelen who was second to Claire in the F35 division in 48:59. This vaulted her from 113th overall last year to 49th this year with a four and a half minute improvement in her time!
January 29, 2012
Steve Osaduik and Shauna Skinner
Steve scored his second win today in the 2012 Timex BC Road Race Series, crossing the line first at the Kajaks Icebreaker 8K in Steveston. His winning time of 24:53 was seven seconds slower than he clocked at the Harriers Pioneer 8K three weeks ago. Sam Pawluk was 13 seconds behind Osaduik at the finish, improving both his time and his position from Pioneer, clocking 25:06. Jerry Ziak completed the podium in 25:18. The women's race produced a close finish, as Shauna Skinner held on to win in 28:44, just one second ahead of Catherine Watkins, who was also first master. Sabrina Wilkie was not far behind in 28:57. The top master was Kevin O’Connor in fifth place, who bested Graeme Wilson, 25:57 to 26:08. The Icebreaker was also the first event in the 2012 Lower Mainland Road Race Series. It attracted 228 finishers this year compared to 270 last year where Harriers' David Jackson and Sabrina Wilkie were the race winners.
January 28, 2012
Sonja Yli-Kahila
Six Harriers participated in the Orcas Island 25K race today. It was a fantastic result for Sonja as she was the first woman to cross the finish line in 2:28:44 with a 4:16 lead over the second place woman, Georgia Daniels, of Tacoma, who finished in 2:33:00. This is Sonja's first-ever race victory, she was 13th overall of 198 finishers, 88 men and 110 women, and a big congratulations go to her! Larry Nylen ended up running 28K as he helped an injured runner but made up much of the time he lost by putting a great extra finishing kick in his efforts. He ended up in 26th position and was 4th in the M50 division in 2:41:00. Sara Pape-Salmon had the same finishing time as in 2010, 3:12:37, despite slower, more difficult, snowy and icy conditions at the higher elevations this year. She was 89th this year and 137th in 2010. Valerie Bell had a terrific race by finishing 9th in the master's division in 2:58:50. Andrew Pape-Salmon was second overall at the top of the mountain, but unfortunately sustained and injury and still managed to finish 9th overall, 4th master, in 2:22:34. Kathleen Birney did not finish, but thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic accommodations, hot-tub and all. The course is described as beautiful, soft and well maintained single-track trails through old growth forest with waterfalls, lakes, cascading creeks, and views of the Puget Sound, the surrounding islands, and on clear days, the Cascade and Olympic Mountain Ranges, including Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen's. There is about 3,500 feet of elevation gain on the loop course. There is a 50K "sister" race also held on Orcas Island at the same location in February. Both events are sold out with 280 registrations in the 25K race today and 291 in the 50K on February 4.
January 15, 2012
Gary Duncan
Gary was the only Harrier to master the QWOP Foddy.net running simulation game on the Harriers Running Forum by covering 100.1 metres without falling down to become a national hero. There were several failed attempts by other club members to beat the game.
January 15, 2012
Dylan Wykes
PHOENIX, AZ – One hundred metres into the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon today and the only race that was still going on was the one for second place. Harriers' Dylan Wykes, a 28-year-old Canadian currently training in Flagstaff, Arizona, separated himself from the sound of starter’s pistol to win in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 38 seconds, nearly 6 minutes up on second-place finisher Tibor Vegh of Flagstaff, who crossed the finish line in 1:08:32. Jon Harmon of Phoenix was third in 1:08:53. “I was hoping maybe someone would be willing to go with me the first 5K or 10K,” Wykes said afterward. “But it is what it is. I was prepared to run alone. I wanted to run hard. I really got up for this race.” Going through the first mile in 4:47, Wykes was already 80 metres clear of the field and looked cool and confident as he time trialed through the streets of Tempe. Wykes came through the 5K mark in 14:50 and passed 10K in 29:42. Despite having no one to race against except the clock on the back of the press truck, Wykes easily held his metronomic pace all the way to the finish line. There were 15,663 finishers at the Rock 'n Roll Arizona Half Marathon, 6,185 men and 9,505 women.
January 14, 2012
Jason Loutitt
Jason, 37, had a another strong performance in Hawaii today by winning the H.U.R.T. 100 Mile Trail race for the second consecutive year. His finishing time was 22:44:12 compared to last year's winning time of 22:27:35. Second place went to 46 year-old Dan Barger, of Auburn, CA, in 23:37:00, while Kihei's Paul Hopwood, 48, took third in 23:46:00. The top female, Tracy Garneau, 42, from Vernon, was seventh overall in 26:07:00. Jason and Tracy were the only two Canadians in the field and made a championship statement as to the strength of ultramarathoners north of the border. There were 125 starters and 46 finishers in the 100 Mile race and 34 finishers in the accompanying 100K Race. Many participants were forced to drop out before the 36-hour cut-off time.
January 8, 2012
Steve Osaduik, Lucy Smith, Ian Hallam, Sisi Hallam
In the 33rd annual Harriers Pioneer 8K today it was a clean 1-2-3 sweep for Harriers athletes with Steve Osaduik, from Langley, winning in 24:46. It was Steve’s sixth victory at Pioneer including his personal best 8K time of 23:35 set in 2010. Last year’s winner, Jim Finlayson, came second in 25:03, and was the top master in his first-ever race as a master. Dylan Gant, of Burnaby, placed third in 25:10. Four-time champion, Lucy Smith, dominated the women’s field finishing in 28:30, also making her the top female master. Lucy ran 26:29 to win the 2002 Pioneer 8K. Another master, Marilyn Arsenault, proved she was back on the competitive scene, placing second in 28:59. Care Wakely, of Frontrunners Athletic Club, took third in 29:25. There was a large contingent of high performance runners from the Lower Mainland at Pioneer, claiming four of the top six positions overall and two of the female runners placed third in their respective age categories. Harriers athletes swept the four yellow jerseys for the race champions and the four green jerseys for the fastest sprinters over the final 100 metres of the race course. The champion Frontrunners Yellow Jerseys went to Steve Osaduik (open), Jim Finlayson (40+) and Lucy Smith for both the open and 40+ categories. The Frontrunners Green Jerseys for the fastest sprinters were won by Harriers' Chris Callendar (12.72 seconds) and Ian Hallam (40+) in 16.36 seconds. Sarah Daitch won the open female division in 17.05 and Sisi Hallam won the 40+ division in 18.68. There were 80 PIH finishers today and another 80 PIH volunteers under the leadership of new Race Directors Kathleen Birney and Heather Bretschneider who did an outstanding job. There were 629 finishers compared to 647 finishers last year.
January 1, 2012
Yuki Otsubo
Yuki finished with a mere 3 seconds on the clock to win the coveted platter of fruit and cheese at the 16th annual Harriers Memorial New Year's Day Run/Walk. Claire Morgan and Jeremy Lawrence were 4 seconds off their predicted times to place second. The event was dedicated to four Harriers that we have lost in 2011 including Robert Bostrom, Jim Sargent, Jim Meadows and Ken Smythe. A new Cross Country Bursary was announced in honour of the 32 years of service that Ken Smythe has given to the Harriers. Nearly 100 club members and friends attended the New Year's Day Memorial Run/Walk and donated $2,400 to the Ken Smythe Bursary at the University of Victoria.
