December 26, 2010
Sean Chester
In the Harriers Boxing Day 10 Miler from the Prairie Inn Pub, Sean led 21 other runners to record the fastest time of the day in 55:01 eclipsing Rob Harmsworth's course record of 55:12 set in 1999. Sean has shown steady improvement over the years by posting times of 57:58 in 2007, 56:50 in 2008, 55:38 in 2009 and 55:01 in 2010 to set the new record. Sylvan Smyth has directed the race from the P.I. Pub for the past 12 years and has compiled an excellent handicapping system whereby most of the runners finish at the same time based on a staggered start where the slower runners start first and the faster runners are continually catching up throughout the 10-mile course. Full results over the 12 years can be viewed on the sidebar under Boxing Day 10-Mile. The Boxing Day Run has a rich tradition in Greater Victoria with races being staged for the past 33 years on Ring Road, at UVic's Centennial Stadium, at St. Michael's University School and now in Central Saanich. In the old days runners would run as far as they could in 60 minutes on the track at UVic. The Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club was founded in 1978 and in that year Debbie Scott easily won the women's Boxing Day Run covering 10.07 miles (16.246K). On the men's side, Chris Garrett-Petts ran 10.84 miles (17.480K), Garth Ball did 10.62 miles (17.140K), Karl Benn notched 9.39 miles (15.150K) and Ron Bowker ran 9.09 miles (14.660K). The following year, in 1979, Andre Gerard topped the men's race covering 10.505 miles (16.944K) in an hour on the track. Other notable Harriers were Mike Ellis, 9.279 miles (14.966K), Chris Garrett-Petts, 10.350 miles (16.700K), Karl Benn, 9.340 miles (15.065K), Bob Reid, 8.934 miles (14.410K) and Steve Bachop, 8.875 miles (14.315K). In 1980 Ringte Raap ran 10 miles, 614 yards (16.665K), Danny Willock covered 10 miles, 510 yards (16.560K), Alex Marshall logged 9 miles, 1,291 yards (15.665K), Ken Bonner ran 8 miles, 1,433 yards (14.185K) and Jytte Haagensen traveled 7 miles and 5 yards (11.270K). There were 61 finishers in the 1978 Boxing Day One Hour Run, 44 finishers in 1979 and 42 finishers in 1980.
December 11, 2010
Shane Ruljancich, Bruce Deacon and Logan Roots
Shane ran the race of his life to win the 7th Annual Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge in 1:04:56 topping the other 149 finishers on an extremely wet, muddy and sloppy race course at Thetis Lake Park. Bruce, running his first race in over two and a half years due to a severe foot injury, was the top master and 5th overall in 1:08:02. For the second consecutive race at Thetis Lake, Logan was top junior finishing 7th overall at Stewart Mountain in 1:09:22. The top female was Sarah Baker in 1:14:40 followed by Harriers' Melanie McQuaid in 1:20:53 and Karen Laberlee in 1:21:26.
December 5, 2010
Richard Mosley
Richard had an outstanding race to dip under 2:20 today by finishing 9th overall at the California International Marathon, held in Sacramento, with a great time of 2:19:57. Canadian Dylan Wykes won the race with a superb 2:12:39. There were 5,887 finishers in the marathon. Dylan, from Ontario, is currently living in Coquitlam and training with Richard Mosley, Steve Osaduik and Dylan Gant under the excellent coaching of Richard Lee.
December 5, 2010
Gary Duncan and Sandy Mullen
Gary continued with his remarkable durable reputation by suiting up for the 31st Annual Oak Bay Firefighters Merrython 10K from Henderson Recreation Centre just one day after winning the M50 division of the Gunner Shaw 10K in Vancouver. He stepped it up a notch today to win the Merrython outright in 38:57. Sandy was second female overall and top master in 43:18. About 200 runners participated in the new 5K and 10K courses, opposed to last year's 8K, in support of CFAX Santa's Anonymous.
December 4, 2010
Sean Chester and Colin Dignum
Sean placed third overall in 33:41 while Colin was sixth, and top master, in 34:21, at the 27th Annual Gunner Shaw Memorial 10K XC Race at Jericho Park Vancouver today. The race was won by Jerry Ziak in 32:28 and the top female was Rachel McBride in 37:58. Prairie Inn Harriers won the Inter-Club Challenge with Lions Gate Road Runners by capturing all three divisions - Senior Men, Master Men and Senior/Master Women. There were 206 finishers.
November 27, 2010
Shawn Nelson, Melanie McQuaid Logan Roots and Andrew Pape-Salmon
Shawn and Melanie were the top seniors and race winners, Logan was the top junior and Andrew was the the top master at the 26th Annual Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic race at Thetis Lake Park today. The race course was icy on the main trails and slushy on the secondary trails. For safety reasons, due to thick ice on both major puddles, all 402 finishers were diverted around these two hazards. Shawn's winning time was 32:45. Logan was 9th overall in 37:10 and Andrew was 12th in 37:32. Melanie finished 26th in 39:08.
November 27, 2010
Paddy McCluskey and Lucy Smith
Paddy placed second to Ontario's Richard Minichiello, 26:24 to 26:36, in the Master's 8K division at the Canadian Cross Country Championships held in Guelph today with the race course covered with 10" of snow which made the footing very tricky. It was also snowing heavily during the race. There were 192 finishers in the master's race and Team BC comprised of Paddy McCluskey, Colin Dignum, Craig Odermatt and Kevin O'Connor captured the silver medal. Lucy anchored the Senior Women's teams with a 10th place finish overall to lead Team BC to a silver medal in the Inter-Province competition and the Prairie Inn Harriers Racing Team to a silver medal in the Inter-Club competition.
November 20, 2010
David Jackson and Melanie McQuaid
David and Melanie were the top Harriers at the Bear Mountain race today. Race organizers, Mark Nelson and Nick Walker, were forced to shorten the course for safety reasons from 10K to 6.5K due to severe snow and ice conditions on the concrete cart paths of Bear Mountain Golf Course. The top 5 men overall were all Harriers with David winning in 20:08 followed by Sean Chester, 22:07, Shawn Nelson, 22:12, Shane Ruljancich, 22:33, and Jason Loutitt, 22:37. Laura Schwertfeger won the women's race in 25:53, Melanie was second female in 25:02 and Sarah Baker took third in 25:26. There were 417 finishers at Bear Mountain under extreme winter conditions.
October 31, 2010
Sean Chester, Claire Morgan and Gary Duncan
Sean and Claire were the male and female race champions in 1:17:01 and 1:28:10 at the 35th Annual Shawnigan-Kinsol Half Marathon today at Shawnigan Lake. Gary won the M50 division and finished 5th overall of the 163 finishers, in 1:25:18, one day after he captured a bronze medal at the BC Cross Country Championships in Aldergrove.
October 31, 2010
Phil Nicholls and Cheryl Murphy
Phil and Cheryl finished third and fourth overall of the 48 finishers today at the Creepy Crawl 5K Road Race today in Oak Bay. Phil won the M50 division in 17:45 and Cheryl was both top female and top master in 17:56. Jonathan Gendren won the race in 16:60 followed by Peter Holmes in 17:21.
October 30, 2010
Paddy McCluskey, Steve Osaduik, Natasha Wodak and Lucy Smith
Paddy unleashed a tremendous finishing sprint to out-kick Craig Odermatt by less than a second, 28:34.16 to 28:34.85, and win the Master's 8K Division at the BC Cross Country Championships in Aldergrove today. Steve won the Senior's Men's 10K race in 33:01, six seconds ahead of UVic's Matthew Pieterson. Matt Clout took third in 33:22. Natasha and Lucy finished second and third behind winner Malindi Elmore in the Senior Women's 6K race. Their times were 22:02, 22:45 and 22:53. Michael Lax, Garth Campbell and Gary Duncan made it a clean sweep in the M50 division by finishing 1-2-3 while Brian Connon won the M60 division and Herb Phillips topped the M70 division. 390 athletes participated at the BC Championships over 13 different races. PIH won the team competition for Senior Men, Senior Women and Master Men. Eight members of the Prairie Inn Harriers were selected to represent Team BC at the National XC Championships in Guelph, ON, on November 27.
October 24, 2010
Shane Ruljancich
Shane was the overall winner at the 6th Annual Hallow's Eve Half Marathon Trail Race today in North Vancouver with a time of 1:36:05. Vancouver's Simon Driver and Doug Giles placed second and third in 1:37:09 and 1:46:13. Sonja Yli-Kahila had a solid effort, finishing as 8th female and 6th in the F30-39 division, in 2:06:52. The top female was Kartina Driver, 8th overall in 1:51:22. There were 149 finishers.
October 23, 2010
Nick Walker and Michael Lord
Two Harriers, the only Victorians in the race, placed first overall and tenth overall at the Xterra Makena Beach 10K Trail Run in Wailea Maui, Hawaii today. Nick won the race in 42:39 and Mike was 10th overall, 2nd in his age division, in 47:43, of the 319 finishers. The top female was Christine Schleifer, of Bogata, Texas, in 44:42; she was fourth overall.
October 17, 2010
Jessica Sedlock and Bertrand Bozek
Jess was the top female on the 5.14K women's course and Bertrand was the top male on the 6.37K men's course at the Peninsula Cross Country race today. Their times were 20:26 and 26:12. There were 32 finishers in 9 age class divisions with each race varying in length from 1.46K for the younger runners to 6.37K for the senior and master runners.
October 16, 2010
Steve Osaduik, Richard Mosley, Dylan Gant and Natasha Wodak
BC was declared Provincial Champions at the Timex National Series Finale, held in conjunction with the Canadian 10K Championship at the Oasis Zoo Run in Toronto. The twisty course around the animal enclosures at the Toronto zoo is not conducive to fast times but BC athletes placed well, to comfortably win the inter-provincial title. In the men’s race, none of the leading runners in the Canadian Championship were declared to contest the Timex Series Finale, so Harriers swept the podium through Steve Osaduik (31:27), Richard Mosley (31:35), and Dylan Gant (32:07). Craig Odermatt (33:43) was the fourth member of the BC team. Harriers' Natasha Wodak led the women’s team to victory in second place (35:18), and was backed up by Care Wakely(37:23), Catherine Watkins (38:10), and Melissa Ross (38:41). In addition to winning both the men’s and women’s team titles, BC also won the combined team award. Complete results: http://www.canadarunningseries.com/zoorun/zooRESULT.htm
October 10, 2010
Lucy Smith, Herb Phillips, Jim Finlayson, Kirsten Sweetland and Natasha Wodak
Lucy was the third female overall and top master in the GoodLife Fitness Marathon today in 2:55:30 while Herb set a new M70 course record of 3:06:08. Jim won the Half Marathon in 1:07:56 while Kirsten and Natasha placed 1-2 in the 8K Road Race in 27:39 and 27:52. THE EVENT: The 31st annual Victoria Marathon took on a new sponsor in 2010, the first time ever that the event has secured a title sponsor. GoodLife Fitness has a vast and successful series of health and fitness clubs across Canada and we were thrilled to partner with them and see two new GoodLife facilities opened in Victoria within the last year. Working with David Patchell-Evans, Silken Laumann and Mike Wickett, from GoodLife Fitness, was a pleasure and they were suitably impressed with the excellent organizing committee, amazing staff and experienced Board of Directors that host such a tremendous sporting event in the City of Victoria. Ironically, David Patchell-Evans, CEO and President, founded his GoodLife Fitness clubs in 1980, the same year that the Victoria Marathon was founded. The weather conditions for the race included blustery winds in Oak Bay near the golf course and along the waterfront from the Ross Bay cemetery to the finish line. This affected the marathon and half marathon times but did not dampen the spirit of the record number of competitors. 2010 was definitely a year of growth – a record of 14,080 registrations were received, the Carbo Gala Dinner sold out early, the half marathon capacity of 6,800 was reached two weeks before the event (a 25% increase over last year) and the 8K continued to grow to the largest field ever of 3,221 registrations and 2,679 finishers. Registrations were at an all-time best for the half marathon, 1,226 above the previous record, and for the 8K road race, 612 higher than the previous record. Collectively there was a 13% increase of participants in all four races boasting records in registrations, 14,080, and finishers 11,811. MARATHON: This year saw another high number of international high performance athletes coming to Victoria including three Kenyans, one Australian, one Swiss, one Costa Rican as well as top-level runners from Japan, United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. Kenyans swept the top spots in the marathon finishing first and third. Victoria Marathon champion, Philip Samoei, 2:23:24, finished fourth in 2009 in 2:25:32, and returned to take the crown in 2010 by slicing over 2 minutes off his time. Pre-race favourite, James Lander, St. George Marathon Champion, was a close second in 2:23:57 and Kenyan Benard Onsare, Vancouver Marathon Champion, finished third in 2:26:50 Besides the record numbers in all events, runners set 9 new age class records and 1 world age class record. Kevin O’Connor, from Vancouver, was the top master; he was 4th overall in 2:31:09. Edwin Montero, of Costa Rica, was second master in 2:35:31 and Japan’s Kanta Matsuura took third in 2:36:15. On the women’s side, race favourite and two-time winner Cheryl Murphy, of Victoria, led the field until the Exeter turn-around before retiring from the race due to fatigue as she had competed in the Canadian Ironman Championships in Penticton two months earlier and she wasn’t fully recovered to challenge the marathon distance in Victoria. This left the door open for a new champion and Kristina Rody, from Burnaby, and Sidney’s Lucy Smith fought a courageous back-and-forth battle for the next 10 kilometres exchanging the lead several times. At the 35K mark three-time winner, Suzanne Evans, from New Westminster, and former Victorian now living in Switzerland, Catrin Jones, started to make their move. Jones, passed Rody on the final hill leading up to Clover Point and surged the final 3 kilometres to the finish line to become a surprise winner in 2:52:21. Evans moved past Rody and Smith to take second place in 2:53:53 and Smith hung on for third in 2:55:30. The top master, 51st overall of the 2,559 finishers, was Lucy Smith. Second F40 master was 53-year old, Cindy Rhodes, six-time marathon champion, in 3:11:46. Third place went to Mary Hanna, of Maple Valley, WA, in 3:20:42. There were 3,184 registrations and 2,559 finishers in the marathon. This was a slight drop of 103 registrations and 18 finishers over last year. HALF MARATHON: Victorians, Jim Finlayson and Matt Clout swept the top two positions in the half marathon with Finlayson claiming the victory in 1:07:57 and Clout taking second with a new P.B. of 1:08:02. Steven Crane, of Rainier, WA, finished third in 1:08:14. The top three male masters were Neil Holm, Courtenay, Mark Bennett, Vancouver, and Jason Sandquist, Duncan, in 1:13:50, 1:14:44 and 1:15:25. The first female in the half marathon was Calgary’s Lisa Harvey, TC10K Champion, in 1:18:34. Harvey was also the first master earning $1,000 for the overall win and $250 for being top master. Mary Akor, from Hawthorne, CA, placed second in 1:18:48 and Vancouver’s Gillian Gook took third in 1:19:11. The top three master women were Harvey, Annette O’Brien, of Vancouver, in 1:26:06 and Rebecca Reid, from Vancouver, in 1:26:38. There were a record number of 6,800 registrations and 5,698 finishers in the half marathon. This was an increase of 1,226 registrations and 1,090 finishers over last year. 8K ROAD RACE: The GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K Road Race was won by Victoria’s Peter Corrigan, in 24:30. Second place went to Coquitlam’s Kevin Friesen in 25:00 and Dylan Gant, of Burnaby, placed third in 25:04. Kirsten Sweetland, Olympian from Victoria, won the women’s race in 27:39. Second place female was Port Moody’s Natasha Wodak, in 27:55, and third place went to Victoria’s Care Wakely, in 29:32. The top three master men were Kevin McGinnis, Steve Mattina and Pete Quinn in 27:24, 27:53 and 27:59; the top three master women were Karyn Mitchell, Isabel Arias and Kim Ward in 33:39, 34:44 and 35:19. There were a record number of 3,221 registrations and 2,679 finishers in the 8K Road Race. This was an increase of 612 registrations and 520 finishers over last year. THRIFTY FOODS 1.2K KID'S RUN: This year we were entertained by 875 youngsters in the event. When you add in all the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters running with the kids, the field was close to 1,500. COURSE RECORDS: Nine age class course records were broken in 2010; three age division marks were set in the Marathon, four in the Half Marathon and two in the 8K Road Race. Six women’s records were set and three men’s records were set. In the marathon, Herb Phillips, M70, 3:06:08, William Iffrig, M75, 3:47:30 and Gwen McFarlan, F75, 4:02:27 set new Victoria Marathon marks. McFarlan’s effort was also a single age World Record. In the Half Marathon, Maurice Tarrant, M80, 1:52:06, Annette O’Brien, F50, 1:26:06, Jacqueline Gareau, F55, 1:36:19 broke existing course records. The 8K Road Race featured two youngsters shining with Ashley Cathro setting a new mark of 33:27 in the Under-13 division and Tanya Humeniuk lowering the F13-15 division record to 29:48.
October 3, 2010
Gary Duncan and Louise Proulx
Gary was the top master and second overall and Louise was the top female overall and top master at the 45th Annual Bazett Farm Cross Country race today in Duncan, the longest continuous XC event in British Columbia. Gary's time for the 5K course was 21:41 and the winner was Joel Deschiffart, from the Nanaimo Track and Field Club, in 19:51. Louise was third overall on the 5K course in 25:25, more than a minute and a half ahead of second place finisher Claire Craig. Byron Trajan won the 7.5K long course in 31:18 followed by Harriers Gary Duncan (unofficially running a third lap in 32:30) and Bertrand Bozek finishing in 32:52. There were 42 finishers in 6 divisions including other Harriers ribbon-winners Larry Nylen, Garfield Saunders and Christine Thate.
September 25, 2010
Todd Nowack, Shane Ruljancich and Garth Campbell
Todd was the top finisher of over 150 teams in the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race in Cumberland today finishing in 4 hours, 21 minutes and 16 seconds. The event inclyded kayaking, 3 bike sessions, treking and orienteering. Todd won 2 bike segments and the trek and orienteering sessions outright. Shane and Garth were the first 2-man team, PIT - Pain is Temporary, finishing second overall to Todd in 4:53:37. They won the fastest bike section in 15:45. Sonja Yli-Kahila and Louise Proulx placed 5th in the 2-person female team division, PIH Non-Divas, in 7:46:44.
September 19, 2010
Kris Swanson
Kris placed third overall out of an amazing 463 finishers at the 20th Annual Bank of Montreal 2.9K Grouse Grind in North Vancouver today with a finishing time of 28:36. Sebastian Salas won the race in 25:01, Michael Simpson took second in 27:48, and the top female was Victoria's Sarah Baker, 12th overall, in 31:18.
September 16, 2010
Bebe Reid
Bebe won the second annual Harriers Hounds 40 Metre Sand Sprint by 1/100th of a second on the Beach of Thetis Lake Park today narrowly edging the 2009 Champion, Java Wear, 4.46 seconds to 4.47 seconds. Third place went to Sammi Kendrick in 4.85 seconds. The Most Easily Distracted Award went to Lucy Cooke who took 22.42 seconds. Lucy was the final dog of the 13 finishers.
September 12, 2010
Shawn Nelson and Mark Nelson
The Nelson brothers continued an impressive string of 13 consecutive victories at the Metchosin Days 5K today. Shawn won the race with a new course record of 15:34 and Mark took silver in 15:55. Third place went to 15-year old Jericho O'Connell in 17:31. The top female was Care Wakely, 5th overall, in 18:27. Mark won the race for the first 11 years but has passed the torch to Shawn who has taken the victory for the last 2 years. There were 175 finishers at the Metchosin Days 5K.
September 12, 2010
Paul O'Callaghan, Cheryl Murphy and Jim Finlayson
At 46 years of age, Paul had an impressive performance of 1:15:12 to place second overall and claim top master's honours at the Landsend Half Marathon in Sidney today. James Lander won the race with a new course record of 1:08:13 in the pouring rain. Cheryl was top female, 8th overall in 1:23:43. Harriers Masters dominated the top spots, for behind Paul were Walter Cantwell, third in 1:16:33, Kevin Searle, fourth in 1:17:51, Phil Nicholls, fifth in 1:22:04 and a fast-improving Ian Ackroyd, sixth in 1:22:42. Jim won the accompanying 10K race in 31:54. There were 93 finishers in the Half Marathon and 77 finishers in the 10K for a total of 170.
September 12, 2010
Herb Phillips and Sandy Anderson
USA TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Eight BC athletes took part in this meet in Sacramento, California today, the site of next year’s World Masters Association Championships. Herb Phillips won three gold medals in the M70 1500m, 5K and 10K. Sandy Anderson won a gold and three silvers, setting a Canadian record in the W70 pole vault (1.50m).
September 5, 2010
Kris Swanson
PIH's Kris Swanson of Victoria improved dramatically on his 73rd and 64th place finishes at the previous two World Mountain Running Championships to take 30th place at the 2010 championship held in Kamnik, Slovenia today. His 1:02:20 clocking for the 12km uphill race, gaining 1,220m, saw him finish less than 6 minutes behind the winner Samson Gashazghi or Eritrea, and led the Canadian Senior Mens team to 13th place of 24 countries. James Richardson of Vancouver finished 96th of 149 finishers in 1:08:18. The Senior Women ran 8.5km, with 960m of elevation gain. Emily Solsberg of Vancouver finished 66th in 1:08:02, as the Canadian team placed 12th of 13. Complete results: http://www.timingljubljana.si/baze/20100905-VelikaPlanina.pdf
September 5, 2010
Gary Duncan
Gary was top Harrier, top master and fifth overall of 65 finishers at the Juan de Fuca Duathlon today, a 5K run, 20K bike and 5K run on the Westshore. His time was 1:16:25 with splits of 20:11, 35:10 and 20:05. Carlos Lesser won the race in 1:07:58 and the top female was Kyla Baltzer in 1:24:16
August 22, 2010
Simon Whitfield and Kyle Jones
Simon and Kyle dominated the rest of the 64 elite finishers at the Pushor Mitchell Apple Triathlon in Kelowna today, the site of the Canadian Olympic Distance Championships. Simon finished in 1:55:41 and Kyle was 2/10th of a second behind, also in 1:55:41, in an exciting sprint to the line. Third place went to Brazil's Marcus Vinicius Ferna in 1:56:27 and Americans Steven Sexton and Karlen Darling placed 4th and 5th at the National Championship in 1:56:50 and 1:57:09. There were a total of 1,480 finishers in Elite Men's, Elite Women's, Olympic, Sprint, Tri a Tri, Junior and Kid's divisions.
August 21, 2010
Kris Swanson
Kris was the first finisher overall in the 5 Peaks Enduro Mountain Race in Whistler today with a winning time of 53:29, out-dueling second place finisher Jakub Sumbera, of Fairmont Hot Springs by 2 minutes 40 seconds. The top female was Vancouver's Stephanie Hamilton in 1:08:34. There were 224 finishers in the longer Enduro course and 191 finishers in the shorter Sport course for a total of 415 finishers.
August 21, 2010
Julie Van Veelen, Lucy Smith and Jim Finlayson
Julie was top female and 3rd overall of 16 finishers in Heat 1 of the 5,000 metre race at Oak Bay tonight in 20:32. Lucy stepped it up a notch to easily win Heat 2 of the 5,000 in 16:59 beating all of the men and women in her 15-finisher division. Jim finished second the the Elite Men's 5,000, a mere 6/10th of a second behind newcomer, James Lander, 14:45.3 to 14:45.9. There were 12 men in the Elite 5,000 race, meet #8 and the final event of the successful, first annual Victoria Track Series.
August 19, 2010
Maurice Tarrant
BC Inductees into the Canadian Master's Athletic Association Hall of Fame - 2010. Since the start of Maurice Tarrant’s running career as a master in the late 80s, he has broken more than 50 Canadian records, most of them in races on Vancouver Island. The average age-grading for these records has been 90%, with a high of 93%. He did travel to the WAVA/WMA meets in Eugene and Buffalo, where he won gold and bronze medals; and to the World Masters Games in Edmonton, where he won three golds in the M75 category. But it’s for a series of races held each year on the Island that he can claim a unique accomplishment. The Island Races Series comprises eight races from 5K to the Half, and Maurice has won his age category EVERY YEAR since 1988, notching over 200 consecutive victories from age 55 to 80! No wonder he’s the most revered runner on the Island. But Maurice doesn’t just run. Every spring he coaches a training group for the Victoria TC10K. He’s coordinated the course marshals for the Royal Victoria Marathon for many years, and directed his club’s Pioneer 8K race in the Island Series.
August 15, 2010
Mark Ritchie and Kirsten Arensen
Mark as the top master and 7th overall in 39:19 and Kirsten was top female and 34th overall in 42:43 at the CFB Esquimalt Navy 10K today. The race winner was Ryan McKenzie in 33:29 and there were 319 finishers over the hilly Esquimalt course.
August 14, 2010
Willy Langat
Willy won the double tonight at Oak Bay Track, first winning the 1,500m event in 4:17, then capturing the 3,000m race in 8:38. There were 26 finishers in 4 events at VTS #7, an 8-race Series.
August 10, 2010
Herb Phillips
Only one month as a 70-year old and Herb set NINE new BC records and ONE Canadian record in the M70 division at races in Burnaby, Victoria, Sacramento, Delta and Simon Fraser at distances of 1,500m, 3,000m, mile, 10K and half marathon. With another 11 months ahead of him, Herb is on target to establish over 50 new provincial and national age-class records in one year!
August 8, 2010
Kris Swanson
Six hundred and eighty-two athletes registered for the 2010 Emperor’s Challenge Mountain Run in Tumbler Ridge, making it one of the biggest events of its kind in Canada. The organizing committee had been aware of the potential for such rapidly increasing numbers this year, and therefore had intentionally decided to do no marketing or race promotion, preferring to let awareness of the event spread by word of mouth. An increased number of volunteers and supplies made for a race free of any major problems, with most runners vowing to return next year and bring even more of their friends. Course improvements over the past year included more off-road, above-treeline running, more technical sections, and slightly increased overall distance. The 2000 feet of vertical elevation gain taxed runners in the often breezy conditions. The organizing committee, a subcommittee of the Wolverine Nordic and Mountain Society, was delighted with the ability of the mountain route and the Core Lodge area to accommodate the increased numbers. Harriers' Kris Swanson, who spent much of his youth in Tumbler Ridge, and is now one of Canada’s top mountain runners, made it eleven wins out of twelve with a comfortable victory in 1 hour 22 minutes in the men’s 20 km event. This is one of the supreme achievements in the history of Canadian mountain running. He was followed by Sean Hawryluk of Grande Prairie and Brian Nemethy of Vanderhoof. In the women’s event Nicki Haugen of Charlie Lake (Fort St. John) added the Emperor’s Challenge to a string of other running titles in an excellent time of 1 hour 48 minutes. She was followed by Jaime Lazar and Wendy Giesbrecht.
August 8, 2010
Jessica Sedlock and Sandy Mullen
Jess finished as third female in 1:22:55 and Sandy was the top master female in 1:28:54 at the Subaru Sooke International Triathlon - Sprint Division today in Sooke. The race winners were Jan Francke, from Squamish, in 1:06:42, and Martina Wan, of Vancouver, in 1:15:18. There were 104 finishers in the Sprint Division.
August 8, 2010
Herb Phillips
Herb, at the amazing age of 70 was top master, finishing 14th overall of 152 finishers in 1:30:34 at the Delta Half Marathon today which is a new Canadian age-class record. Chris Barth won the race in 1:19:10 while Melissa Ross was third overall and top female in 1:22:28.
August 7, 2010
Shawn Nelson, Andrew Pape-Salmon and Louise Proulx
Shawn was first overall, Andrew was third overall and top master and Louise was third female and top master at the Mount Washington 6K Gutbuster today, near Courtenay. The top three men were Shawn, 37:24, Nick Walker, 38:06, and Andrew, 38:24, and the top three women were Care Wakely, 41:09, Nadine Butler, 44:46, and Louise, 45:57. There were 98 finishers in the 6K ascent course. By winning the race, Shawn was also crowned the overall Series Champion with victories at Royal Roads, Mount Douglas, Westwood Lake and Mount Washington. Antonia Grady was the female Series Champion. Andrew topped the M40 division edging out team mate Ian Akroyd with his best-ever placing and performance at Mt. Washington. Louise was top master in the Series, edging out team mate Shannon Coutts with her best-ever placing and performance at Mt. Washington.
August 1, 2010
Matt Sharpe and Jen MacLean
Junior Matt Sharpe and senior Jen MacLean emerged as race champions at the 31st Annual Self Transcendence Triathlon at Elk Lake today. Matt's winning time was 1:57:18 and Jen's was 2:11:58, good for 10th overall of the 220 finishers. Matt won the junior division by a staggering 50 minute, 20 second margin. The event was a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run.
July 31, 2010
Chris Callendar, Julie Van Veelen and Willy Langat
Chris and Julie were the top male and top female in the 800 metre race, in 2:11 and 2:45, and Willy won the Elite Mile race in 4:31 at the Victoria Track Series Meet #6 tonight at Oak Bay Track.
July 17, 2010
Willy Langat, Lucy Smith and Paul O'Callaghan
Willy won the double tonight taking the Elite Men's Mile in 4:30 and then capturing the Men's 3,000 Metre race in 8:48. Lucy beat all of the men to break the tape in the Open 3,000 Metre race with a time of 10:06. Paul was first home in the Open Mile in 4:50. There were 39 finishers in 5 events at the VTS #5 Series race.
July 11, 2010
Steve Osaduik
Steve won the Midsummer 8K handily today in Kelowna beating former RVM Champion, Trevor Jordan, 24:57 to 27:45. The top female was Rachel Ruus, from Richmond, in 30:01. She was 8th overall of the 205 finishers.
July 11, 2010
Shawn Nelson and Claire Morgan
Shawn won the race overall and Claire was second female at the Mount Douglas Gutbuster today. Shawn's winning time was 39:12 and Claire's was 49:38. The female winner was Care Wakely in 43:57; she was 7th overall. There were 78 finishers in the long course and 43 finishers in the short course.
July 11, 2010
Scott Simpson and Natasha Wodak
Scott and Natasha were crowned male and female champions of the Timex BC Road Running Series after the conclusion of Race #13 in Kelowna today. Scott averaged 898 points per race compared to team mate and runner-up, Steve Osaduik, who scored 890 points. Natasha dominated with 876 points per race over Rachel Ruus's 830 points.
July 11, 2010
Richard Knowlton and Julie van Veelen
Richard and Julie were the top Harriers at the Triathlon of Compassion today in Esquimalt. Richard was 4th overall and Julie was 4th female finisher. The race winner was Adam O'Meara and the top female was Miranda Alldritt.
July 10, 2010
Adam Campbell
Adam led a strong field of 206 finishers to capture the overall victory by one minute 10 seconds at the 32nd annual Knee Knackering 50K Trail Run on the North Shore in Vancouver today. His winning time was 4:58:13. The top female was Ellie Greenwood, 5th overall in 5:06:09.
July 9, 2010
Kris Swanson
Kris finished 6th overall today at the NACAC Championship 7.5K Trail Race in 33:24; he was the 3rd Canadian finisher behind Taylor Murphy, 31:54, and Adrian Lambert, 33:02. The race was won by USA's Joseph Gray in 31:31 and the top female was also an American, Brandy Erholtz, 20th overall in 37:42. There were 46 finishers in the North America, Central America and Caribbean Championships held in Canmore, Alberta.
July 1, 2010
Sean Chester, Kevin Searle, Claire Morgan and Jessica Sedlock
Sean was the outright winner in 15:23, Kevin was the top master and 3rd overall in 16:37 while Claire and Jes were the top two women, 10th and 11th overall only 7 seconds apart in 18:03 and 18:10 at the 23rd Annual Sidney Days 5K today. There were 175 finishers in the 5K run, 6 finishers in the 5K walk and 22 finishers in the kid's 2K run for a total of 203 participants.
June 27, 2010
Steve Osaduik, Herb Phillips and Garth Ball
Steve was the top Harrier, finishing fourth overall in 1:07:45, Herb crushed the M65 competitors with an amazing 20-minute margin of victory in the M65 division in 1:31:28, and long-time club member, Garth Ball, captured the M70 division in 1:46:41 at the Scotiabank Half Marathon today in Vancouver. There were 3,761 finishers and Herb clocked in at 158th position while Garth was 671st. Herb is just 2 weeks shy of his 70th birthday where he will undoubtedly plaster many new provincial and national age-class records to his already impressive wall of accomplishments. Other Harriers running well at the event were Scott Simpson, 6th overall in 1:08:42, Nixon Kiprotich, 8th overall in 1:09:45, and Keith Mills, 17th overall with a P.B. of 1:15:23. Eric Kiauka made a rare appearance finishing 35th in 1:19:26. Defending champion Kip Kangogo, of Lethbridge, and Calgary veteran, Lisa Harvey, made it a good morning for Alberta as both earned comfortable victories in the 12th Annual Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon, breaking the tape in 1:03:51 and 1:17:46, respectively. A record total 5,471 runners contested the half marathon and 5k events. They were drawn from 11 countries, 21 American states, and 8 Canadian provinces and combined to raise $524,000 for 29 charities in the Scotiabank Group Charity Challenge. The successful race is directed under the leadership of Clif Cunningham, a valuable member of the Road Running Board of BC Athletics.
June 27, 2010
Shawn Nelson, Gary Duncan, Claire Morgan and Shannon Coutts
Shawn demolished the field of 72 finishers in the long course today at Royal Roads, Gutbuster #3 in the series of 5 races. His winning time was 53:18 for a comfortable 2:19 margin of victory over Westwood's Shelby Drope, of Nanaimo. Claire was second female overall in 1:07:22, 5:35 behind race winner Care Wakely, who had a stunning performance of 1:01:47 to finish 4th overall. Gary had one of his best-ever placings, nailing a fifth overall, top master and M50, in 1:02:08 after battling tooth-and-nail with Ben Kingstone, Care, Richard Knowlton and Travis Pirozzini for 3rd place most of the way. Shannon was top master, 25th overall in 1:10:48; she was also 5th female to finish. Larry Nylen had a great run, finishing just behind Claire in 1:07:35; he took silver in the M40 division, and Louise Proulx claimed gold in the F50 division in 1:11:49. PIH had a 1-4 master men sweep with Gary, Garth, Ian Ackroyd and Larry, and a 1-3 master women sweep with Shannon, Louise and Valerie Bell. There were 72 finishers in the 13.8K long course and 61 in the 6.7K short course for a total of 133 including 24 Harriers at the Royal Roads Gutbuster. This was a slight decline of 26 runners compared to 159 finishers last year.
June 26, 2010
Ian Hallam, Lucy Smith, Willy Langat and Julie van Veelen
Ian and Lucy won the 5,000 metre race in 15:29 and 17:14 and Willy and Julie won the 1,500 metre race in 4:03 and 5:39 at the Q's Victoria Track Series, race #4 of 8. There were 21 finishers in the 5,000, 11 finishers in the 1,500 and 9 finishers in the 800 metre race won by Jonas Golf-Meyers in 1:57.
June 26, 2010
Darren Froese
Darren won the Canadian 100K Championship at the Fast Trax Ultras in Edmonton today. In doing so he set a new course record by over 14 minutes. Because the Fast Trax was also the 50K National Championship, runners were allowed to register for both the 50K and 100K Canadian Championships. Using his 50K split while running the 100K event, Darren was also crowned top master and second overall in the 50K division.
June 20, 2010
Paddy McCluskey, Cheryl Murphy and Kirsten Sweetland
Paddy and Cheryl were the top Harriers in the New Balance Half Ironman Victoria International 1.9K, 87K, 20K Triathlon today and "Sweets" took third overall in 59:28 was the top female in the 500m, 20K, 5K Sprint Division. There were 207 finishers in the Sprint Division, won by Kelly Guest, in 56:26. Paddy was top master, third overall of 399 finishers, with a time of 4:15:47 and Cheryl was 14th overall, first female in 4:36:35. The Half Iron was won by Adam O'Meara in 4:04:54.
June 20, 2010
Gary Duncan, Claire Morgan, Wendy Davies and Don Moffatt
Gary, Claire and Don placed 1st, 2nd and 5th overall and Wendy was second female finisher at age 51 as they were all the top Harriers today leading the field of over 600 runners and walkers at the Canada Safeway Do It For Dad 8K on the challenging, but beautiful trails of Royal Roads University. It was a 2-minute improvement for Claire over last year's time. The event generally raises over $100,000 for prostate cancer research. Here is a race report from Master Mo: G won - again! - at today's Prostate Cancer run at RRU in 33 minutes and small change. Claire easily won the women's race and was 2nd OA in 35 minutes. I yoyo'd between 3rd and 6th place and wound up 5th in 37 minutes (pulling ahead on downhills and on the flat sections but sucking badly on the hills). Thanks to Dr. A. for his positive attitude before the race telling me to go for the win, but I'm still not 100%. The course was a blast, as always, and if you missed it today you can do something similar at the 11.7K Gutbuster which is also staged at Royal Roads next Sunday.
June 19, 2010
Ian Akroyd and Cara Obee
Ian and Cara were the top Harriers today at the 7th annual 13.8 mile "Are You Tough Enough?" Kusam Klimb in Sayward, running up and down over 5,000 feet of elevation change. Ian was fourth overall of the 305 "tough enough" finishers in 2:53:46 and Cara was second female, 13th overall, in 3:10:13. The event was won by Rob Fontaine, of Campbell River, in 2:36, and the top female was Victoria's Antonia Grady, 6th overall in 2:57:55. Last year two Harriers, Shane Ruljancich and Jo Rosen set Kusam course records of 2:26:51 and 2:53:25 and these records still stand.
June 18, 2010
Steve Osaduik, Scott Simpson, Richard Mosley and Natasha Wodak
Steve, Scott and Richard were 1-2-3 overall in 14:28, 14:31 and 14:38 and Tash was the top female in 16:40 in the Longest Day 5K at UBC tonight. Willy Langat placed 5th in 15:09, Shawn Nelson was 7th in 15:15 (a big P.B.), Herb Phillips topped the M60 division in 19:30 and won by over a minute over John Caruso. On the women's, side Kristina Rody was second to Natasha in 16:55, only 15 seconds behind the Harriers female champion. Harriers Kirsty Smith was 7th in 18:12 and Shannon Thompson was 8th in 18:32. There were 234 male finishers and 283 female finishers for a record total of 517 in the Longest Day 5K, only 5 shy of the 522 finishers at the Twilight Shuffle 5K held in Chemainus three days earlier. Combined, these two 5 kilometre events attracted 1,039 finishers proving they are very popular early-summer road races.
June 15, 2010
Willy Langat, Lucy Smith and Herb Phillips
The 26th annual Legion Twilight Shuffle 5K attracted its usual large and enthusiastic crowd of 522 finishers for this Tuesday evening race around the picturesque town of Chemainus. Kenyan Harriers Willy Langat and Nixon Kiprotich moved quickly to the front, and passed the first mile together in 4:53 before Willy broke away to win in 15:42 to Nixon’s 15:47, for which they earned $250 and $150 respectively. Third place and $50 went to Harriers Sean Chester in 16:04. His mile split was 5:05 along with team mate Nick Walker recording the same time through one mile. On the women’s side, Lucy Smith of Sidney was unchallenged, cruising to victory in 17:23. Ceri Jakobsen took second in 19:09, with Andrea Galloway third in 20:00. Lucy doubled up on her winnings, to earn a total of $500 by also being the top master as well as top open female. The top master male was Kevin McGinnis, of Ravensdale, WA, in 16:39, narrowly beating out Harriers Paul O’Callaghan, 16:48, and Walter Cantwell, 16:53 for the top $250 prize. They were 7th, 8th and 9th overall and Paul earned $150 and Walter collected $50. The race was a Pacific Northwest Masters 5K Championship, other age category winners were Gary Duncan (M5059), Janice Ross (F5059), David Hoskins (M6069), Marcia Stromsmoe (F6069), Garth Ball (M70+), and Marian Fortin (F70+). The top age-graded male runner of the 522 finishers was 69 year-old Herb Phillips with an 87.45% age-graded ranking followed by Kevin McGinnis, 84.66% and David Hoskins, 84.58. Lucy was the top age-graded female with a rating of 89.14% followed by Julia Cutt, 76.42%, and Marcia Stromsmoe, 76.01%.
June 13, 2010
Shawn Nelson
Shawn won the Edge to Edge Half Marathon in Tofino today with a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 1 second finishing over 7 minutes ahead of runner-up Ernie Lucas, of Campbell River, who was clocked at 1:23:04. Care Wakely had an extremely fine race finishing third overall of 342 finishers with a half marathon personal best time of 1:23:25. She was a staggering 15 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of the second place female, Katie McIntosh of Duncan. Courtenay's Jud Levirs won the marathon in 2:52:55 while the top female was April Eryou, of Port Alberni, in 3:37:47. There were 172 finishers in the marathon, 342 finishers in the half marathon and 53 teams in the marathon relay for a total of 779 runners at the Edge to Edge event today.
June 6, 2010
Scott Simpson, Natasha Wodak and Herb Phillips
White Rock was the venue for the latest race in both the Timex BC and the Steve Nash Sports Club Lower Mainland Road Race Series, hosted by the Semiahmoo Sunrunners. The point-to-point course may have a significant net elevation drop, but there are a number of ups and downs before the final descent to the finish on the waterfront. Pre-race favourite, Harriers Scott Simpson, quickly moved to the front, closely followed by Tristan Simpson, with the chase pack some distance behind. Scott, from Victoria, ran alone most of the way, to come home a clear winner in 31:01. Tristan, from Vancouver, settled for second in 32:12. A much closer battle ensued for third, with first master Kevin O’Connor ducking under 33 minutes to edge out VFAC teammate David Palermo, 32:58 to 33:03. Harriers Natasha Wodak, like Scott Simpson, was looking to pick up points for the provincial series, and was equally successful. Never challenged, Tash ran out a comfortable winner in 35:32. This was good enough for 10th place overall of the 295 finishers. Triathlete Martina Wan held off BC 5K Champion Catherine Watkins for second, clocking 37:45 and 37:53 respectively. Top master was Stephanie Kieffer in 41:50. Harriers Herb Phillips, 41:09, was the top age-graded runner and 52nd overall to win the M65 division by 1:18 over Victoria's Frank Towler. Fittingly, race organizers issued Bib #1 to Herb, the 69 year-old running legend! He continues to excel and impress all other younger and older runners race after race.
June 5, 2010
Farisha Arensen, Paul O'Callaghan and Keith Mills
Farisha continues to dominate the under-15 mixed division with her third consecutive victory in the 1,000 metre race at the Victoria Track Series, Meet #3 at Oak Bay Track tonight. She finished in 3:25, which was 16 seconds faster than second place finisher, Anna Letkeman. 46 year-old Paul O'Cal topped 11 runners in the Open Mixed Mile with a time of 4:55. Second place went to Harriers team mate, Mike Lord, in 5:04. Keith Mills probably delivered the most inspirational and riveting performance of the evening by moving from 7th place to 3rd in the last lap to record a personal best time of 4:36 in the Elite Men's Mile won by Dylan Haight in 4:26. Doug Oxford came second in 4:30. It was a satisfying podium-standing race for Keith, who narrowly edged team mate Nick Walker by 3 tenths of a second. There were 54 finishers in 7 different races.
May 30, 2010
Steve Osaduik
Following his second place finish at the Canadian Half Marathon Championship last month, Steve Osaduik recorded a similar result at the Canadian Marathon Championship. Osaduik finished second in 2:21:59, only 12 seconds behind the Canadian Champion Stephen Drew, of Ontario, who won in 2:21:47. The women’s Champion was Krista Duchene, also of Ontario, in 2:39:08. Duchene was winner of the Vancouver Half Marathon earlier this month, and was also second at the Canadian Half Marathon Championship. The Canadian Marathon Championship was held in conjunction with the Ottawa Marathon, where the overall winners were Arata Fujiwara of Japan in 2:09:34, and Merima Mohammed of Ethiopia in 2:28:19.
May 30, 2010
Stephen Kilshaw, Aaron Thomas and Scott Dagnall
Today record numbers turned out to Shawnigan Lake to kick off the 2010 Subaru Western Triathlon Series. Athletes from 6 countries, and of all abilities, raced across 3 race distances; the Sprint, the Olympic, and the Half Ironman. In the pro men's field of the Half Iron, Harriers' Stephen Kilshaw held off American Chris Boudreaux to take the victory and retain his title from 2009. Kilshaw said, "Boudreau and I were racing head to head on the bike and I thought I would wait for the run, but at the run turn-around he was closer than I expected. He made me keep the pressure on the run right until the end." The Olympic Distance race was won by Carlos Lesser, of Mexico in 2:10:42, and Harriers' Scott Dagnall was second in 2:13:35. The Sprint event was won by World Cup Champion Paula Findlay of Edmonton and Harriers' Aaron Thomas in 59:02.
May 30, 2010
Shannon Thompson and Herb Phillips
Shannon and Herb were the top Harriers in the Running Room Shaugnessy 8K Run and 5K Poker Walk in Vancouver today. There were 293 finishers running through a rich neighbourhood resembling Victoria's "Uplands". The race was won by Jay MacDonald in 25:06 and Katherine Moore in 30:04; she was 18th overall. Shannon was third female in 31:05 and Herb was first M60 and first age-graded runner in 32:32 (87.72%). He was 40th overall and Shannon was 28th of the 293 finishers at Shaugnessy.
May 30, 2010
Mark Ritchie and Walter Cantwell
Mark was the second M40 in the Navy 10K Division in 38:10 and Walter was the top M40 in the Navy 5K Division in 16:265K in Ottawa today. The race is held in conjunction with the Ottawa Marathon, Half Marathon, Open 10K, 5K and 2K events. Walter was 16th overall of the 7,110 finishers in the 5K, won by Maya Aden in 14:55 and Mark was 91st overall of the 5,672 finishers in the 10K won by Lelisa Desisa in 28:08.
May 30, 2010
Jason Loutitt, Nancy Baxendale, David Jackson and Kris Swanson
Harriers placed well at the Calgary Marathon on Sunday, taking first and second in the men’s race, as well as third in the women’s race. Graeme Wilson turned the tables on Jason Loutitt, who beat him earlier this month at the Vancouver Marathon. This time Wilson was stronger over the second half of the race after both runners went through halfway in under 1:15. Wilson ran out a comfortable winner in 2:32:14, to Loutitt’s 2:38:38. Meanwhile Nancy Baxendale finished third, and top master, in the women’s race in 3:00:38. David Hoskins won the M60 division in 1:31:04; he was 63rd overall of the 2,881 finishers - a new record for the Calgary Marathon. In the supporting half marathon, Harriers were also dominant, with a similar 1-2 finish. David Jackson and Kris Swanson provided the front-end punch, finishing in 1:09:40 and 1:09:55 respectively. Stephanie Hamilton won the women’s race in 1:24:39. Scott Simpson failed to complete a clean sweep for the club, having to settle for third place in the 10K race, clocking 30:52, behind Vancouver Sun Run and TC10K winner Kip Kangogo.
May 30, 2010
Herb Phillips and Shannon Thompson
Herb and Shannon were the top two Harriers at the Shaugnessy 8K in Vancouver today. Herb, 32:31, was 40th overall out of 293 finishers, top age-graded runner, and Shannon, 31:05, was 3rd female behind winner Katherine Moore, 30:04, and runner-up, Catherine Watkins, 30:38. There were 293 finishers at Shaugnessy 8K compared to
May 30, 2010
Dylan Gant
One of our mainland Harriers, Dylan Gant, from Burnaby, finished second overall to race champion Oliver Utting, also of Burnaby, in the Iron Knee 25K Trail Race on Grouse Mountain today. Their times were 1:33:47 to 1:35:47. The top female was 3-time RVM winner Suzanne Evans; she was 10th of the 240 finishers in 1:47:13.
May 30, 2010
Claire Morgan, Michael Lax, Garth Campbell and Louise Proulx
Claire was the first female in 2:05:11, Garth was the top M50 in 1:57:40 and Louise was the top F50 and first master to finish in 2:11:24 at the Colliery Dam Gutbuster in Nanaimo, Race No. 3 in the 5-race Series. The long course is a rugged and hilly half marathon on Mt. Benson. Michael was first to break the tape for an overall victory by a 50+ runner by finishing in 1:09:15 over the 6.2 mile short course. The first female was Nanaimo's Ceri Jacobsen in 1:16:10. There were 78 finishers in the long course, won by Shawn Nelson in 1:39:26, and 120 finishers in the short course.
May 16, 2010
JIm Finlayson and Nancy Baxendale
Jim won the Oak Bay KOOL Half Marathon today in 1:07:05 and Nancy was top master and 3rd female overall in 1:27:28 of 643 finishers and 67 teams for a record total of 911 runners. Kenyans Gilbert Kiptoo and Philip Samoei finished 2nd and 3rd in 1:08:39 and 1:13:20. Care Wakely won the women's race in 1:23:40; she was 13th overall.
May 15, 2010
Maurice Tarrant and Willy Langat
Maurice set a Canadian Record in the M80 division tonight at the 3,000 Metre Open race at Oak Bay Track, race #2 of the Q's Victoria Track Series. His time was 14:06 breaking the previous mark of 16:03. Willy won the 1,500 metre race in 4:06. There were 13 finishers in the 1,500 and 17 finishers in the 3,000.
May 9, 2010
Scott Simpson and Kristina Rody
Scott and Kistina were the top Harriers at the Sun Run today, with Scott finishing 4th overall in 29:33 and Kristina was 4th female in 34:40. The race winners were Kenyan Kip Kangogo in 29:02 and Kelowna's Malindi Elmore in 33:06.
May 9, 2010
Craig Payne
Craig was first overall of 122 finishers today at the Sound and Silence 10K on Lochside Trail. His winning time was 37:10. Long-time Harrier, Paul Siluch, finished second in 39:09 to top the M50 division. The first female was Lindsay Williamson in 42:02; she was 9th overall.
May 8, 2010
Gary Duncan, Louise Proulx and Meghan Day
Gary and Meg were the top Harriers and Louise was the top master at the Mt. Tzouhalem Gutbuster today, race #1 of a 5-race series. Gary was the top master, finishing 7th overall in 1:10:53 over the 13K difficult course. Meghan was the top female, 10th overall, in 1:11:52 and Louise, running in the F50 division, topped all the F40's in 1:16:38. There were 98 finishers in the long course.
May 2, 2010
Jason Loutitt, Steve Osaduik and Paul O'Callaghan
Jason was 2nd overall in the BMO Vancouver Marathon in 2:25:47, Steve was 2nd in the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon in 1:07:13 and Paul was top master and 3rd overall in the BMO Vancouver 8K in 28:00. Thomas Omwenga won the marathon in 2:16:55, Kip Kangogo won the half marathon in 1:06:33 and Benjamin Mass won the 8K in 27:00. There were 3,459 marathon finishers, 6,589 half marathon finishers, 780 8K finishers and 1,401 kid's finishers.
May 1, 2010
Walter Cantwell and Farisha Arensen
Walter won the 800 metre open event in 2:13 and Farisha won the 800 metre kid's event in 2:42 at the Q's Victoria Track Series, event #1 of an 8-race series. There were 7 races tonight at Oak Bay Track with Dylan Haight winning the feature 3,000 metre men's race in 8:32 and Julia Tschanz winning the women's 3,000 in 9:52.
May 1, 2010
Darren Froese and Audrey Stibbe
Darren was first male in 3:37:59 and Audrey was first female in 4:35:58 at the Canadian Championship 50K Division today hosted by the Harriers at the 23rd annual Island Runner Elk/Beaver Ultras.
April 18, 2010
Steve Osaduik and Kristina Rody
BC athletes won silver and bronze at the Canadian Half Marathon Championships held in conjunction with the Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal. Harriers' Steve Osaduik placed second in the men’s championship in 1:06:05, while Marilyn Arsenault of Victoria was third in the women’s championship in 1:16:38. Behind Arsenault, PIH's Kristina Rody finished fourth in 1:17:13, Anne-Marie Madden was eighth in 1:21:02, and Gillian Gook ninth in 1:21:21. On the men’s side Matt Clout was BC’s other representative, finishing fifth in 1:08:30. The men’s championship was won by returning champion Matt Loiselle, from Toronto, in 1:05:08, with Rejean Chaisson third, behind Osaduik in 1:06:14. The women’s champion was Emily Tallen of Kingston in 1:15:42, with Krista Duchene second in 1:15:56.
April 18, 2010
Nixon Kiprotich, Willy Langat, Claire Morgan, Angela Plamondon and Cathy Noel
Nixon and Willy placed 1-2 overall in the 2010 Frontrunners Island Race Series annual awards ceremonies today held following the Sooke River 10K, Race #8 in the series. They recorded 844 and 841 points as an average of their best five scores in the 8-race package. Both of them opted to run a 5K time trial today at Sooke, taking the leaders through the halfway mark in 16 minutes before retiring to rest for the TC10K next Sunday, the Vancouver Half Marathon the following Sunday and the Sun Run capping off a three races in three weekends with a focus on high performance opportunities, big prize money and large fields. Claire (773 points) was the Harriers top female in the Series finishing third overall, first in her age category, behind Melissa Ross (813 points) and Care Wakely (811 points). Angela finished fourth overall (741 points) to capture top master honours. Cathy was the General Manager of the Series and attracted many new sponsors in 2010, but perhaps her proudest moment was seeing her daughters, Robyn and Taylor, finish 1-2 in the under-15 division. Prairie Inn Harriers was the top team of 116 teams with 5,198 points. Frontrunners Westshore took second with 1,841 points and Comox Valley Road Runners were third with 1,817 points. There were 4,105 finishers in all events as seven of the eight races showed an increase of finishers over the previous year.
April 18, 2010
Mark Nelson, John Cliff and Maurice Tarrant
Mark notched his first-ever victory in an Island Series race by sprinting away from teammates, Nick Walker and Shawn Nelson and Westwood's Simon-Pierre Landry to capture the Sooke River 10K win today in 33:25. Nick was second in 33:29, Simon-Pierre third in 33:30 and Shawn fourth in 33:36. Maurice won his 7th consecutive M80 division this year in 50:56, breaking Ron Welch's Sooke River 10K course record by 5 minutes, 48 seconds. John started Pioneer and Cobble Hill with third place finishes then improved to first place in Cedar, Hatley, Bazan, Comox and Sooke to take the M65 division title over Frank Towler, 648 to 644 points. Sooke River 10K saw its highest registrations ever (568) and highest finishers ever (415) in the ten years that Island Road Racers have been hosting this event.
April 11, 2010
Jason Loutitt
The Sunshine Coast lived up to it’s name as it hosted the 2010 BC Half Marathon Championship in conjunction with the April Fool’s Run, hosted by Sunshine Coast Athletics. The point-to-point course from Gibsons to Sechelt has a net downhill, but there are a number of uphills along the way to test the competitors. This suited Jason Loutitt, a mountain running specialist, who finished second at this race two years ago. This year he was unchallenged, and ran out a clear winner in 1:11:21. Second place in the April Fool’s Run went to an international entrant, Matthew Laye from Copenhagen, who finished in 1:14:56. Third place overall, and masters champion, was Kevin O’Connor of Vancouver Falcons in 1:15:39. Katrina Driver was the top female, 12th overall in 1:21:52 and Darcie Montgomery won the BC masters Championship, second female in 1:24:52. Nicole Akeroyd was third in 1:27:07. In the age groups there were notable performances from Ed Ansems, 1:31:57 in the M6064 division, and Herb Phillips, 1:35:30 in the M6569 division. The half marathon saw 418 finishers, with a further 100 on 41 relays teams. This was an increase of 32 runners in the half marathon and 60 runners in the half marathon relay over last year's totals.
April 4, 2010
Maurice Tarrant, Willy Langat, Tina Connelly and Sonja Yli-Kahila
Simply unbelievable! Maurice, 1:13:28, set yet another M80 Canadian record by 16 minutes, 56 seconds today at the Merville 15K, race #7 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. That's more than a full minute per kilometre faster than the previous Canadian mark of 1:30:24, established by team mate, Jim Sargent, in 2005. Willy posted his first-ever overall victory in the Island Series, nosing out his Kenyan Harrier training partner Nixon Kiprotich by 5 seconds. Their times were 48:57 and 49:02, a full minute and a half clear of third place finisher, Nick Walker, of Frontrunners Westshore, who was clocked at 50:30. Tina, running her first race in one and a half years after being injured in the 2008 Royal Victoria Half Marathon, destroyed the women's field by finishing 14th overall of the 273 finishers to take first place by 2 minutes, 31 seconds, 55:24 to 57:55, over Frontrunners Westshore's Care Wakely. Tina should do well at the Boston Marathon on April 19 as 2:40 something is definitely in the cards for this talented 39-year old. Another Harrier, also running her first Series race of 2010, Fawn Whiting, finished third in 60:34. Sonja was fifth female overall and first in the F30 division in 64:32. It should be noted that Mark Nelson finished 5th at Merville today and he was 7th last year. More importantly, the two-position improvement resulted in almost a five-minute time improvement as he ran 56:08 in 2009 and stepped it up to 51:14 in 2010. Most runners are now gearing up for the Sooke River 10K on April 18, the TC10K on April 25, the Sun Run 10K on May 9, or all three races if they are non-fragile.
March 27, 2010
Mark Bomba, Gord Christie and Herb Phillips
Today, at the Dave Reed 5K Spring Classic in Stanley Park, a great performance came from Herb Phillips bouncing back from a fall at the 20K mark of the Comox Valley Half Marathon 6 days ago, to win the M70 division today by nearly 13 minutes! His time was 19:50, good for 64th of 216 finishers. Mark Bomba was the top master, 6th overall, in 15:39 and Gord Christie was 3rd M45, 26th OA, in 17:36. It was a sweet victory for the 2009 Royal Victoria 8K Champion, Matt Clout, especially by beating the durable and talented Jerry Ziak 15:06 to 15:16. Matt Clout is coached by Jon Brown. Also, an outstanding performance was unveiled by Kelowna's Malindi Elmore, the only person of the 216 finishers to get a world-class # sign for her time of 16:33. Malindi is also a former Royal Victoria 8K champion; she won the women's race today by one minute and 36 seconds over Tanya Humenuik, a junior, who finished in 18:09.
March 21, 2010
David Jackson, Todd Howard, Maurice Tarrant and Jane MacDonald
The sixth race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series series drew a record number 818 registrations, 618 starters and 601 finishers. David Jackson won comfortably in 1:08:25 over fellow Prairie Inn Harrier team mate Todd Howard (1:10:51), and soon-to-be master Craig Odermatt (1:11:22). Care Wakely, of Frontrunners Westshore, won her first ever Island Series race by a similar margin in 1:24:16, over top master Harriers' Nancy Baxendale (1:28:17), and Harriers' F35 gold medalist, Claire Morgan (1:30:13). Maurice Tarrant set another Canadian M80-84 age best of 1:51:30. It was Maurice's fifth consecutive M80 course record in the Series and his fifth consecutive Canadian Record. He lowered Hugh Clifford's time of 1:58:02, set 24 years ago, on Aug. 10, 1986 in Delta. Maurice improved the Canadian mark by 6 minutes, 32 seconds. Jane ran her sixth consecutive personal best in the Island Series with a clocking of 2:37:43. This was over 11 minutes, or almost one minute per mile, faster than her time at Comox last year. Jane's regular training with the Harriers at TNWs, Thursday Night Track (TNT) sessions and Thetis Lake Saturday mornings trail runs is paying off handsomely in her 2010 race results.
March 17, 2010
Willy Langat, Wendy Davies and Elaine Galbraith
Happy St. Patrick's Day! 100.3 the Q hosted the second annual Green Mile at 6:11 pm from the Monkey Tree tonight and there was plenty of media interaction with Ed Bain MC'ing, Cliff LeQuesne, Tindy Bassi assisting and Daphne Goode, of Shaw Cable, directing the race. CHEK TV covered the event live. There were 70 registrations and Willy Langat led from wire to wire finishing in 4:44 over the accurately-measured out-and-back course on Lochside Trail. The next three finishers were all Harriers with Chris Callendar launching his patented, explosive finishing kick over the last 50 metres to blaze by Simon Pearson for second place. Their times were 5:23 and 5:26. Sylvan Smyth showed good form and a gutsy second half of the race to take fourth overall in 5:29. On the women's side, the PIH Oak Bay track training delivered huge dividends with Wendy Davies running in for the gold and Elaine Galbraith taking silver with times of 6:50 and 7:36. For Elaine, it was her first-ever podium performance. The Monkey Tree put on a huge spread of food and green beer to celebrate the event on St. Pat's Day and over 100 participants, spectators, race officials and media enjoyed the hospitality of the sold-out establishment.
March 14, 2010
Carolyn Goluza
The first race in the BC Ultra Trail Running Series lived up to its name, as conditions for the Dirty Duo were wet, slushy, and very muddy. The clear winner of the feature 50km race was Jacek Domiec in 4:09:50. Nearly 30 minutes back, second place was much more closely contested, as the next three finishers were within 2 minutes of each other after over four and a half hours of running. Colin Miller took second in 4:37:14, ahead of Brandon Weber and Victoria's Rob MacKay. First female, and sixth place overall, went to Harriers Carolyn Goluza, who beat out three-time RVM Champion Suzanne Evans, 4:57:05 to 5:01:32. Third place was claimed by Samatha Drove in 5:10:51.
March 13, 2010
Kristina Rody, Natasha Wodak, Scott Simpson and Willy Langat
New members, Kristina and Natasha, finished 1-2 of the 696 finishers at the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Stanley Park today, the second race in the 2010 Lower Mainland Road Race Series. Scott and Willy were the top Harriers finishing second and fourth overall. Both the men’s and women’s course records were broken with Ontario’s Dylan Wykes, who has been training in BC for the past two weeks, showing the locals a clean pair of heals. He sped through the first mile in 4:40.4, to earn a $50 bonus. In the early running he was shadowed by Willy Langat from Victoria. But Langat was unable to maintain the pace, as Wykes opened up a significant gap by the end, coming home in 14:32. Scott Simpson passed Langat before halfway, to finish second in 15:01. And Oliver Utting came through strong in the second half to take third place in 15:30. The women’s race was a much closer contest. Harriers Kristina Rody and Natasha Wodak were practically tied at the hip for the first mile, as both were timed at 5:18.1, with Kristina given the nod to win the $50 bonus. And like Wykes, Rody pressed on in the second half to come home a clear winner, also in a course record of 16:46. Wodak held on for second in 17:15, while Anne-Marie Madden passed Meaghan McCollum in the second half to take third in 17:34. The masters winners were Colin Dignum in 15:55, and Sheila Mullins in 19:20. PIH claimed four of the top eight positions overall with Simpson (2nd), Langat (4th), Kiprotich (6th) and Dignum (8th).
March 7, 2010
Simon, Whitfield, Kyle Jones, Lucy Smith and Maurice Tarrant
Harriers and triathletes dominated the top placings at the Bazan Bay 5K in Sidney today, the fifth race in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Having lost out in a sprint finish last year, Simon Whitfield was victorious this year in 14:36 – one second quicker than 12 months ago and a new course record for Bazan Bay! Kyle Jones, Simon's training partner who was third last year, improved to second place this year, in 14:38, one second slower that the course record of last year set by Harriers Scott Simpson and Simon Whitfield. Another triathlete, Andre-Paul Baillargeon-Smith also ducked under 15 minutes for third place in 14:57. On the women’s side, Magali Tisseyre recorded her third victory in this years Island Series in 17:03. Top master Lucy Smith claimed second place in 17:21 which tied her for the F40 course record set last year by Marilyn Arsenault. Junior triathlete Christine Ridenour took third place in 17:45. Maurice Tarrant recorded another Canadian M80 record of 23:37; this was also a course record for Bazan Bay by 3 minutes, 26 seconds over Ron Welch's time of 27:03. It was the second fastest time in the M80 World Rankings behind Stephen Charlton, of Great Britain, who ran 22:41 in June, 2007. The Harriers collected an impressive 28 age group medals at Bazan Bay including 13 gold, 11 silver and 4 bronze. There were 613 finishers in the race, up three from last year's total. The race was marred with the tragic death of a long-time Series competitor, Karl Klein, from Campbell River, who collapsed and died of a heart attack at the one kilometre mark of the course. Our sincere condolences go to Karl's wife, Judy, and his three sons, Paul, Ehren and Kurt and his five grandchildren. He was 67.
March 7, 2010
Scott Simpson, Mark Bomba, Kristina Rody and Herb Phillips
Scott and Kristina were the top Harriers and Mark and Herb had impressive master's age class victories at Harry's 8K Spring Run-off in Vancouver today. The race was won by Kenyan Willy Kimosop, 2009 Sun Run and TC10K champion, in 23:43, and Ontario's Dylan Wykes placed second in 23:45. Scott took third in 24:41 and Mark was sixth overall, top master, in 25:54. The women's race was won by Olympian Malindi Elmore, from Kelowna, in 26:49; Kristina took second in 27:35, two seconds ahead of third place female Marilyn Arsenault of Victoria. Herb was 48th overall of 823 finishers destroying the M65 competition by posting a time of 32:14. He was a clear 4 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of his closest M65 competitor, John Pickering. Other Harriers placing in the top-20 overall included David Jackson, 5th, Colin Dignum, 9th, Trevor Feeney, 12th and Natasha Wodak, 18th overall and fifth female in a closely-packed field of women placing 15th, Kristina Rody, 16th, Marilyn Arsenault, 17th, Lisa Harvey, and 18th, Natasha Wodak.
March 6, 2010
Steve Osaduik
It was drizzling and 9 degrees at the start of the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan, but the rain intensified and the temperature dropped to 7 degrees during the course of the race. Steve Osaduik ran 2:18:29 to place 16th overall, top Canadian, an impressive time given the conditions, and less than 2 minutes slower than his best time of 2:16:49 at the Royal Victoria Marathon in 2006. The Lake Biwa Marathon is a prestigious invitation-only event and was won by Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay in 2:09:34. Tsegay’s best time, set in Paris last year, is 3 minutes quicker. Read Steve’s account of his race here: http://steveosaduik.tumblr.com/
February 27, 2010
Jason Loutitt
Jason was the top Harrier, top Canadian and third place North American at the World Snowshoe Invitational Championships held at Mount Seymour this morning. The race was won by Italy's Antonio Santi in 49:56 over the 10 kilometre course. Tarcis Ancay, of Switzerland, placed second in 50:01 while world mountain racing champion, Jonathan Wyatt, from New Zealand, took third in 50:29. Davide Olilesi, also from Italy, was fourth followed by Americans Joseph Gray and Peter Fain. Jason was next, 7th overall, in 52:36. His team mates also ranked high in the world snowshoe championships with Shaun Stephens-Whale, 8th in 53:29, Jimmy Gobeil, 10th in 56:19, and Neil Holm, 15th in 57:22.
February 26, 2010
Annual Award Winners - 41 Club Members
The Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club hosted their annual awards night at the Cedar Hill Golf Club tonight and 41 members were honoured for running, race-walking, cycling, volunteering or leaving us with an amusing memory for 2009. Full details are on the website sidebar <<<<< over there. Click on Annual Awards.
February 21, 2010
Nixon Kiprotich, Willy Langat and Sandy Mullen
The hard work and constant training paid off handsomely for Nixon and Willy as they led the field at the Hatley Castle 8K today by finishing 1-2 in 26:15 and 26:30. They defeated last years 1-2 duo, also Harriers Eric Findlay and Nick Walker, who settled for third and fourth today in 27:08 and 27:13. The top three women were Magali Tisseyre, 29:42, Melanie McQuaid, 30:54, and Care Wakley, 31:18. Sandy Mullen, running in the F45 division, won her first-ever Series masters championship with a time of 34:24. The top master male was Hugh Trenchard in 28:25. There were 462 finishers at Hatley Castle, 17 more than 2009.
February 14, 2010
Sandi Heal
Sandi completed her first 20-mile training run at Elk/Beaver this morning in preparation for the 25,000-strong 114th annual Boston Marathon on April 19, 2010. Other Harriers running Boston this year include Camie Bentham, Garfield Saunders and Norman Dolan. Sandi invited club members to run a lap or two with her at the "Cupid Run" on Valentine's Day. She attracted 10 Harriers and 3 dogs to accompany her. Thanks to Suzanne, Steve, Sonja, Sisi, Sally, Sandy M., Lara, Jo, Elaine, Garfield, Holly, Java and Charlie for joining in with Sandi's 20-miler.
February 7, 2010
Steve Osaduik
Steve collected his second victory of the year and nailed another personal best performance at the Surf City USA Half Marathon today in Huntington Beach, California. He cruised to a 1:04:52 P.B. win over some impressive Kenyans, Mexicans and Americans to top the field of an amazing 11,783 finishers. Second place went to Greg Costello in 1:06:12 and Manny Nuno took third in 1:09:16. Steve also won the Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K with a P.B. of 23:35 and his next race is the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in Japan on March 7. He is in good stead to run sub-2:15 and establish a third consecutive personal best performance in 2010. Lake Biwa Marathon is an elite, invitational-only event and is the oldest marathon in Japan celebrating its 65th year. It usually attracts some of the top marathoners in the world and, if Steve has a good run, he will establish himself as Canada's fastest marathoner so far this year.
February 7, 2010
Jim Finlayson, Lucy Smith and Maurice Tarrant
Jim and Lucy were top runners and top Harriers at the Cedar 12K today while Maurice quietly demolished yet another course record by 11 minutes and 18 seconds! Jim led a clean sweep of 1-2-3-4-5 PIH finishers with a winning time of 37:54. David Jackson, 38:04, was second, Nixon Kiprotich, 38:49, was third, Willy Langat, 39:23, fourth, and Todd Howard, 39:30, placed fifth. Lucy was 21st overall of the 484 finishers with a time of 44:17; she was also the top master. Meaghan McCollum, of Vancouver, took second in 46:21 and Care Wakely was third in 46:29. Maurice dropped Jim Sargent's course record of 1:11:01 to 59:53 today. It was his third consecutive sizable course record in 2010 and would have been another Canadian Record, however Athletics Canada does not recognize 12K as a sanctioned distance. The Cedar 12K enjoyed an increase of 55 runners over last year.
February 6, 2010
Shane Ruljancich
Shane had an outstanding victory today at the Orcas Island 25K Trail Race defeating the legendary ultramarathoner, Scott Jurek, by almost 8 minutes. Shane's time of 1:55:14 over a rugged, hilly mountain trail over Mount Constitution set a new course record by 5 minutes. The top female in the 25K race was Krissy Moehl, 17th overall, in 2:13:28. There were 191 finishers including 8 Harriers in the 25K and 124 finishers in the 50K with 4 Harriers. Seattle's Alex Henry won the 50K race in 4:18:50 and Shawna Wilskey, from Burlington, was the top female in 5:17:56. She was 11th overall.
January 30, 2010
Nick Best, Carolyn Murray and Jason Loutitt
Nick and Carolyn were the top runners at the Mt. Washington Yeti 5K Snowshoe Series Race today, Canada's largest field ever assembled for a snowshoe race to date with 240 finishers, 165 in the 5K race and 75 more in the 10K. Nick won the short course in 33:54 and Carolyn won the women's division, finishing 10th overall, in 35:43. Jason finished second overall to Shaun Stephens-Whale, of Gibsons, in the long course 58:43 to 58:53. The top female was Ceri Jacobsen in 1:06:29. There were 13 Harriers at Mt. Washington, many running their first showshoe race ever, 8 were in the 10K and 5 more in the 5K, and all ran very well including Gary Duncan (silver), Alex Duncan (silver), Colleen Butler (silver), Mike Hucal (silver), Dianne Dennis (bronze), Kent Butler, Mark Ritchie, Dave Dennis, Kirsten Arensen and Jackie Hucal.
January 24, 2010
Nixon Kiprotich, Claire Morgan and Maurice Tarrant
Nixon and Claire were the top Harriers at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race #2 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Nixon finished second overall in 32:24 and Claire was fourth female in 39:07. Andre-Paul Baillargeon-Smith won the race in 31:55 and the top female was Magali Tisseyre in 36:08. Both are top-level triathletes. Maurice smashed Jim Sargent's M80 course record by 11 minutes and 34 seconds. He lowered the Canadian 10K record in the M80 division from 53:48 to 48:23, a 5:25 improvement. There were 563 finishers at Cobble Hill, up 72 runners from last year's total of 491.
January 24, 2010
David Hoskins
David topped his M60 age category by nearly 2 minutes and placed 68th overall of 7,140 finishers in the Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Half Marathon in sunny California today. There were 10,012 registrations for the event won by Kenyan Westley Korir in 1:04:04. The top female was also a Kenyan in Jane Kibii winning her second consecutive Carlsbad Half in 1:14:00. David was 11th age-graded of the 7,140 and finished almost 7 and a half minutes ahead of the bronze medalist in his age class.
January 17, 2010
Juliette Christie and Herb Phillips
Juliette and Herb were the top Harriers and both won their age divisions at the Steveston Ice Breaker 8K in Richmond today, Race No. 2 in the Timex BC Road Racing Series. Juliette topped the F45 division and finished 26th overall of 191 finishers today with a time of 30:31. Herb was first M65, 43rd overall in 32:42. Shane Carlos, of Whitehorse, won the race in 25:07 and the top female was Meaghan McCollum in 29:29.
January 10, 2010
Steve Osaduik and Maurice Tarrant
Steve won the championship today but it was a spectacular Canadian Record-setting performance by Maurice that captured the spotlight at the 31st annual Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K under ideal racing conditions. Steve fought a spirited battle against last year's winner and his Coquitlam training partner, Richard Mosley, finally overtaking him at the 6K mark and Steve pushed on to a personal best performance of 23:35. This was the identical time that Richard posted in 2009 when he unleashed a blistering kick to outrun Jon Brown to the finish line by 3 seconds. The top five men overall today were Harriers and three of the top five women were also Harriers. There were 121 club members racing and 75 more volunteering today. The top five in the men's race included Steve Osaduik, 23:35, Richard Mosley, 23:39, Scott Simpson, 24:02, Kyle Jones, 24:14, and Jim Finlayson, 24:31, while the women's front end of the field was Natasha Wodak, 27:51, Lucy Smith, 27:54, Kirsten Sweetland, 28:32, Cheryl Murphy, 29:11, and Magali Tisseyre, 29:24. Maurice's magnificent race lowered the M80 Canadian Record by an unthinkable 8 minutes and 9 seconds. His time of 38:13 toppled team mate Jim Sargent's M80 record of 46:22 set in 2004. This is the second fastest M80 time recorded in the world road race 8K rankings. Jim ran 1:03:17 today to set a new M85 Canadian Record which Maurice hopes to break in 2015! There were 748 registrations and 674 finishers at Pioneer, up 44 from last year's total. The Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K was the official BC 8K Road Racing Championships for juniors, seniors and masters divisions and kicked off both the 8-race Frontrunners Island Race Series and the 13-race Timex BC Road Running Series.
January 1, 2010
Elaine Galbraith and Les MacNeill
Elaine and Les were closest to their predicted times at the 14th annual Harriers New Year's Day Memorial 10K Run today at Beaver Lake under rainy, then sunny conditions. The clock is set in a count-down mode at one hour and runners leave when they think they can finish closest to zero, then the clock starts counting back up again. Elaine hit the clock at exactly zero and won a beautiful basket of chocolates, coffee and biscuits. Les hit the clock at one second, meaning he was only one second slower than his predicted time. There were 70 runners and every one of them finished within a 5-minute span. Great estimating! More importantly, the 70 Harriers and friends donated $6,253.37 to the Harriers Foundation. Please hit the sidebar over there <<<<< to see how many important projects PIH has supported in the Greater Victoria area over the past 25 years. Simply outstanding! Happy New Year.
