December 31, 2007
Angela Plamondon, Cheryl Murphy and Phil Nicholls
Phil Nicholls was third overall in 16:51 at tonight's Run Thru Time 5K at UVic. Phil earned top master billing and looked strong throughout the race. Cheryl Murphy was first female and 5th overall in 17:07. Angela Plamondon was 5th female in 19:53. She got mixed up with some Vikes and triathletes and pulled off an impressive master's victory. The top three men were Zack Whitmarsh in 15:38, Craig Odermatt in 15:48 and Phil in 16:51. The top three women were Cheryl in 17:07, Jen MacLean in 18:00 and Nancy Fedoruk in 18:53. There were 300 runners in the event and another 20 youngsters running the 1.2K Kids' Race. Many outstanding draw prizes were presented at McKinnon Gymnasium following the run.
December 26, 2007
Joanne Rosen and Simon Pearson
Jo and Simon placed 1-2 at the ninth annual Harriers Boxing Day 10-Mile Handicap race today which staggers starters based on previous best performances in 2007. Sylvan does a great job in directing and handicapping this event. There were 39 finishers including 23 Harriers. There were another 24 Harriers and dogs running at the Mt. Newton trails supporting the race. Joanne's running time was 1:12:54 and Simon's was 1:06:36. She was first to reach the finish line at 10:36:54 a.m. while Simon hit the tape at 10:37:36 a.m. The fastest runner of the day was Sean Chester, of the UVic Vikes, in 57:58, second male was Harriers' Mike Lax in 1:04:20 and team mate Craig Payne took third in 1:05:22. The fastest three women of the day were Angela Plamondon in 1:08:48, Alison Meadow, from Tuscon, Arizona, in 1:10:40, and handicap winner Jo Rosen, in 1:12:54. Here is another piece of race trivia. John Catterall started exactly 12 minutes behind Jo Rosen and finished exactly 12 minutes behind her to the second, as they were the only two in the field to record identical 1:12:54 finishing times. Many unique draw prizes were awarded following the event with the male winner claiming a used pick-axe and the female winner collecting 12 home-made Christmas cookies. Overall it was a very successful event, with no entry fee, computer results and many top notch prizes going to about half of the field. Sally Hallam won the major draw prize of a mountain bicycle for her two boys, hand-delivered to her parent's home by the Race Director. Now if he could only remember to collect the cones and signs following the race..... Hahaha.
December 18, 2007
Jim Finlayson
Jim set a world record tonight in the fourth annual Dave Smart Tribute Beer Mile at Oak Bay Track with a smashing time of 5 minutes and 9 seconds while drinking four 7% Granville Island Winter Ales en route! His splits were: First beer + first lap = 68.42, second beer = 9.87, second lap = 69.21, third beer = 11.10, third lap = 69.52, fourth beer = 12.46, final lap 68.50, total = 5:09.8. Two years ago, Jim established the world beer mile record of 5:13 in 2005 powered by Guinness Stout. He won the event again last year by running 5:20 on Keepers Stout. There were 77 finishers tonight, including 24 from Nanaimo, compared to 54 finishers in 2006. Nick Walker placed second in 5:57. This was a huge 2:50 stagger forward as he placed 8th last year in 7:49. Third place went to Tyler Trace in 6:29 while drinking four Lighthouse Race Rocks cans. The top Beer Mile female was Deanne McCarthy in 10:07, however she was disqualified for drinking Coors Light from the can. Rules state that all contestants must meet rule requirement #8 which stipulates a minimum of 5% alcohol content. First place was awarded to Sheila Campbell for her time of 10:27 while downing four Okanagan Springs 1516s. Profits of over $1,000 went to Melanoma Research. Beer Miling rules and regulations can be found on the website www.beermile.com
December 16, 2007
Gord Christie and Mark Ritchie
Gord, 46, and Mark, 39, finished first and second overall at the second annual NTC Run/Walk for the Homeless 10K today at Beaver Lake Park. The event is organized by the National Triathlon Centre's junior development team. Gord's winning time of 37:37 and Mark's mark of 39:04 were courageous efforts considering the field of 100 runners faced extreme, gale force winds along the finishing part of the course. These heavy winds brought down a large Douglas Fir tree on the road, blocking entrance and exit to the Beaver Lake parking lot. CRD Parks crews were quick to react with their chain saws, clearing the way for runners and cars. Ken Gourlay was third finisher in 39:52. Charlene Waldner won the women's race in 44:03. Jessa Degen was second in the 10K in 49:41 and Kiku Tupper third in 50:37. Winners of the 5K were Jordon Kinghorn in 21:16 and Kate Bruce-Lockhart in 26:30. Winners of the 3K were Connor Foreman in 12:01 and Megan Kinghorn in 14:04. The event proceeds were donated to Victoria's homeless.
December 8, 2007
Shane Ruljancich, Gord Christie, Garth Campbell, Brian Connon and Joanne Rosen
Perhaps running their very best race of 2007, Shane finished second overall to Stefan Jacobsen and Garth finished second to Gord in the master men's division of the Stewart Mountain 10.5 Mile Challenge today. Stefan hit the line in 1:06:11 and Shane's time was 1:08:06. The men's master champion was Gord Christie and he was 4th overall in 1:11:48. Harrier team mate Garth Campbell finished 8th overall in 1:14:15. Campbell's teammate and training partner Gary Duncan won the M50 division in 1:16:04. One of the best performances of the day was turned in by Harrier legend Brian Connon who won the M60 division in 1:20:01, good for 26th overall of the 184 finishers. The women's master champion was Harrier newcomer and trail running star Joanne Rosen in 1:21:03. The 184 finishers breaks the event record of 162 set in 2005. There were 220 registrations for Stewart Mountain, 502 for Gunner Shaw and 650 for the Thetis Relay, all record numbers totaling 1,372 runners in the highly successful Thetis Lake Triple Series over a 4-week period.
December 2, 2007
Gary Duncan and Marcia Stromsmoe
G, our super racing hero, added yet another successful double to his resume today by winning the Oak Bay Firefighters Merrython 8K in 29:30, one day after winning the M50 division of the Lions Gate Gunner Shaw 10K XC at Jericho Beach, Vancouver. Marcia did the double, too, and claimed two age class victories. Mink Kang placed second in the Merrython in 29:50 and both Harriers were over 4 minutes ahead of the third place runner. PIH took 2-3-4 overall in the women's race with Marcia Stromsmoe second, Elaine Galbraith third and Claire Morgan fourth, while running at 6 1/2 months pregnant! There were 200 runners at the Merrython with all proceeds going to Santas Anonymous. It was a cold and rainy day starting and finishing at Henderson Recreation Centre. In Vancouver, it was -3 degrees on Saturday and the trails were covered in frozen snow and ice. Gary was not only the M50 winner, but he was the top Harrier of the 14 club members that raced at Jericho. PIH captured 6 gold medals, one silver and one bronze. Winning their age division were Julie van Veelen (F30), Lara Wear (F35), Joanne Rosen (F45), Marcia Stromsmoe (F55), Gary Duncan (M50) and Les MacNeill (M70). Jack Miller was second in the M60 division and Kirsten Arensen was third in the F35 division. There were 98 finishers in the Gunner Shaw 10K senior race and 7 more in the 5K Silver Fox junior race.
December 1, 2007
Herb Phillips and Wendy Davies
Herb won a M65 gold medal and Wendy won a silver in the the F45 division at the National Cross Country Championships in Guelph, Ontario in frigid, windy, -7 degree conditions with 6 inches of snow on the ground. These two stellar performances anchored the BC Masters' team to a second place finish to Ontario in the Bluenose Provincial Team Championships. Other PIHRT members representing Team BC in Guelph were Eric Kiauka, Steve Osaduik (injured), Morgan Titus, Todd Howard, Jeff Phillips and Kirsty Smith. The eight Harriers at the Canadian Championships involved more senior runners than any other running club in the province. Under the age-grading system, Herb finished 6th in the masters' race of 201 finishers. Wendy was 48th overall, and 8th amongst the women. Herb's finishing time for 8K was 34:06 while Wendy ran 35:21. Using the age-graded tables Herb achieved 82% with an adjusted time of 25:45 while Wendy attained 77% and 31:18. Alain Boucher, from Ottawa, won the masters' race in 27:26 and Toronto's Elizabeth Primrose took the women's crown in 31:29. In the senior men's 10K feature event, the winner was Speed River's Reid Coolsaet in 29:55. Carmen Douma Hussar, from Guelph, won the senior women's 7K in 23:46. Team BC, including Harriers Todd Howard, Eric Kiaula and Morgan Titus, won the senior men's gold medal in the regional scoring of the National Championships while Kirsty Smith and Marilyn Arsenault propelled the senior women's BC Team to a silver medal performance.
November 25, 2007
Nick Best, Joan McGrath and Helena Watling
Nearly 14,000 runners showed up today to run the wet and windy Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon. The feature marathon event was won by Andy Martin in 2:27:11. The top female was Trisha Steidle in 2:59:58. There were 1,237 male finishers and 643 female finishers for a total of 1,880 in the marathon. The accompanying half marathon had 6,213 finishers, 3,548 women and 2,665 men. Nick was 20th overall of the 6,213 finishers in the half, second in the junior division in 1:17:33. Joan arrived late to the start line and left two minutes after the gun went. She finished 8th female overall, 1st in the M45 division in 1:26:53. Had she started on time, she would have finished 3rd of 3,549 women. Helena won the F40 division in 1:31:02. She was 19th female overall. The Seattle Half Marathon winners were Kota Reich in 1:10:00 and Caryn Hefferman in 1:22:39.
November 25, 2007
Kevin Jones
To celebrate his 60th birthday in style, Dr. D.R. Spin ran six half marathons on six consecutive weekends in the deep south of USA and won three gold medals and three bronze medals in his new age category. Starting with the Duke City Half Marathon on Oct. 17 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he placed third. Next he hit gold at the Rio Grande Half Marathon in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Oct. 24. From there, he traveled to the Mid-Southwest Half Marathon Championships in Wynne, Arkansas where he placed third on Nov. 3. Next stop was on Nov. 11 in Huntsville, Alabama for another half and a bronze medal. He took gold in the M60 division at the Ole Man River HM in New Orleans, Louisiana on Nov. 18. Finally, on Nov. 25, he won the Grand Master Award of all runners over 50 years old by placing first in the Southwest Regional Half Marathon Championships in Waveland, Mississippi. What a great and successful way to celebrate a new decade!
November 24, 2007
Jim Finlayson, Lucy Smith, Steve Bachop and Gary Duncan
Jim was the overall winner, Lucy topped the women's field, Steve was top master and Gary placed first in the highly competitive M50 division at the 23rd annual Harriers Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic on the trails of Thetis Lake Park today. Jim's time was 30:36 and there was a great picture of him in Sunday's Times Colonist smiling as he splashed his way to victory through the lake to the finish line on the mail beach under the Island Runner banners. Second place went to Stefan Jacobsen, of Nanaimo, in 31:13 and VFAC's Brad Cunningham took third in 31:15. Lucy was 16th overall of the record 464 finishers in 34:43. She became the first masters' female to win the race outright. Xterra World Triathlon Champion, Melanie McQuaid, was second in 36:06 and Jessalyn O'Donnell was third female in 37:45. Steve, a four-time Gunner Shaw winner and the only master ever to win the race, edged out team mate Gord Christie today 34:12 to 34:24. They were 9th and 13th respectively. Gary ran 36:21 for a 1:42 margin of victory over Peter Curtis in the veteran's division. The 502 registrations and 464 finishers for Gunner Shaw are both records making this event the largest cross country race in British Columbia. Following the awards ceremony, $10,000 from race proceeds was donated to the new Roasamund Dashwood Fine Arts Scholarship at the University of Victoria. Rosamund, a long-time Harrier, passed away in March of this year at the age of 83.
November 18, 2007
Mark Ritchie
Mark, attempting to become a clone of Gary Duncan, showed his hearty appetite for racing today when he completed a double in his annual schedule, first finishing the Bear Mountain 10K, then rushing to Beaver Lake to compete in the Arthur Taylor Memorial 6.4K cross country race. He finished 17th overall at Bear Mountain in 40:59, then took third overall at Beaver Lake in 25:38. His first race started at 10:00 a.m. in Langford and his second started at 2:10 p.m. in Central Saanich. Jon Brown won the Bear Mountain race in 32:58 while Hugh Trenchard won the Beaver Lake race in 23:02. Farisha Arensen, running her first race as a Harrier, placed a strong third amongst the 10 year olds in the Arthur Taylor Cross Country 1.6K kid's division. Farisha's mom, Kirsten, also did the double by racing the Bear Mountain 10K, then racing to Beaver Lake to race the Arthur Taylor Memorial 4.4K XC.
November 18, 2007
Jon Brown and Judith Leroy
Both Jon and Judith nailed course records at the second annual, grueling, up-and-down Bear Mountain 10K today boasting a competitive and record field of 251 finishers, up 43 from last year. Jon's winning time was 32:58. He was followed by Harriers team mates Dave Jackson, second in 34:08 and Jim Finlayson who claimed third in 35:03, coming back after a long series of back injuries. Judith lowered her own course record by 21 seconds to top the women's field in 40:15. She placed 15th overall. Second female was Nancy Feroruk in 44:23 and Becky Schumacher took third in 47:47. The top masters in the race, run on concrete golf pathways, were Arturo Huerta in 39:57 and Jill Lawson in 47:36. The inaugural winners of the event in 2006 were Nik Southwell in 34:04 and Judith Leroy in 40:36.
November 11, 2007
Shane Ruljancich
Today we set a record of 156 finishing teams, there were 162 registered, in the 11th annual Thetis Lake 20K Relay. It was the closest finish in the history of the event with the NTC Compadres edging out Pacific Athletics by one half of one second 1:10:20.0 to 1:10:20.5. Dylan Haight just flew down the last hill to finish one mere step behind winner Stephen Kilshaw. Shane Ruljancich showed a very gutsy effort by running the first lap for the PIH Another Lap team in 17:16, then subbing in and running the last lap due to a missing team member and nailing another great 5K circuit in 17:24. His team finished third overall in 1:10:40; they were second in the senior men's division. Harriers teams won the veteran men's and master women's divisions. Many thanks to all the Harriers who helped at the event with registration, food, awards, course lay-out and tear-down and to the 20 PIH teams that participated. The new registration/refreshments/awards and Adidas Store in the campground seemed to work out well and the new course and exchange zone on the roadway received many compliments from runners on all teams.
November 4, 2007
Simon Whitfield
Simon won his third World Cup title of the year and the tenth of his career in Cancun, Mexico, today, in a thrilling sprint finish with fellow Canadian teammate, Paul Tichelaar, who earned his first World Cup podium. Volodymyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine took the bronze, preventing a full Canadian podium sweep with Brent McMahon in fourth place. Although the sun came out in the afternoon after the women’s race, the gusting winds were still swirling strong, making it difficult and unpredictable conditions for the men. Simon’s teammate Colin Jenkins led the men out of the water and into Transition 1. On the fast 40K bike course, a lead group of 15 men pulled away from the field building its lead with every lap. By the fifth lap, the lead grew to more than two minutes. On the 10K run course, it boiled down to a battle between the Russians and Canadians. Alexander Brukhankov and Yulian Malyshev were pushing hard for the podium but with approximately 400 meters to go Tichelaar tried to break away but Whitfield kept him in his sights and used his signature strong finishing kick to pull ahead of his compatriot. It was a phenomenal day for the Canadian team with three of the top four men. With the win Simon tightens his grip the number two ranking in the world which puts him in position to earn a solid share of the US$250,000 bonus pool which will be finalized after the season finale in Eilat, Israel on December 1. The top 10 men today in Cancun are as follows:
Gold – Simon Whitfield CAN 1:52:05
Silver – Paul Tichelaar CAN 1:52:06
Bronze – Volodymyr Polikarpenko UKR 1:52:08
4 Brent McMahon CAN 1:52:15
5 Yulian Malyshev RUS 1:52:16
6 Samuel Pierreclaud FRA 1:52:47
7 Reinaldo Colucci BRA 1:53:20
8 Stuart Hayes GBR 1:53:26
9 Alexander Brukhankov RUS 1:53:45
10 Dmitry Polyansky RUS 1:53:59 The Cancun World Cup event was Simon's fourth outright victory in less than a month! On October 7 he won the Royal Victoria 8K, the following week he won the New Balance Invitational XC at Beacon Hill Park and last weekend he won the BC Cross Country Championships at Lambrick Park anchoring the PIH senior men's team to a gold medal.
November 4, 2007
Bruce Deacon and Lucy Smith
Bruce was 17th overall, top master and top Canadian at the ING New York Marathon today with a super time of 2:24:19. Lucy was also top master, top Canadian and finished 22nd overall in the female field with a time of 2:48:35. Wendy Terris, who finished second at RVM three weeks ago, was 28th female in 2:50:59. Kenyan Martin Lel won the race in 2:09:04 while the brilliant Paula Radcliffe, of Great Britain, won the women's race in 2:23:09. This premier event of New York Road Runners, is one of the world's greatest road races, drawing more than 90,000 applicants. The race attracts many world-class professional athletes, not only for the more than $600,000 in prize money, but also for a chance to excel in the media capital of the world before two million cheering spectators and 315 million worldwide television viewers. As any one of the more than 700,000 past participants will attest, crossing the finish line in Central Park is one of the great thrills of a lifetime. Two Prairie Inn Harriers certainly shone brightly in New York today.
November 3, 2007
Steve Osaduik and Morgan Titus
Steve and Morgan finished 1st and 3rd on the toughest stage of the 26th annual Haney to Harrison 100K Relay today to anchor their teams of Peninsula Runners and Beaver Buzz Racing Team to a first and third overall position of the 245 finishing teams, consisting of 1,960 runners. Steve ran 49:35 on the hilly 15.12K Stage 3; Mark Bomba was second in 49:56 and Morgan was third in 50:01. Steve's team mates included Ryan Hayden, Matt Johnson, Steve Murenbeeld, Eric Kiauka, Zack Whitmarsh, Aaron Heidt and Jeff Scheibler. Peninsula Runners winning time was 5:42:12, Islanders took second in 5:43:32 and Beaver Buzz Racing Team, from Whistler/Vancouver, was third in 5:45:04. Vancouver Island teams placed first and second overall. The top women's team was the Striking Vikings while the top master's team was VFAC Wheezing Geezers. The last place team, called The Sweat Bandits, finished in 11:01:20.
October 28, 2007
Judith Leroy, Nancy Baxendale, Sandi Heal and Gary Duncan
Harriers swept the top three women's spots overall at the 33rd annual Shawnigan Lake Half Marathon today. Judith, Nancy and Sandi all had strong performances to finish 1-2-3 in 1:24:23, 1:28:14 and 1:35:03 (P.R.). Gary collected two gold medals last weekend and a gold and a silver this weekend with his ambitious appetite in running four races in 8 days. Yesterday, Gary anchored the winning master's team at the BC Cross Country Championships in 28:32 for 7.75K and today he was second in his M50 age division running the Shawnigan Half in 1:24:35, a Shawnigan P.B. by 12 seconds. Last weekend he won his age division at the Goldstream Salmon 5K race in the morning, then at noon he raced to Centennial Park in Central Saanich to collect another gold in the Peninsula Cross Country Challenge. The top three men at Shawnigan were Trevor Wurtele in 1:16:31, Hugh Trenchard in 1:16:40 and Mark Knoop in 1:16:54.
October 27, 2007
Steve Osaduik and Simon Whitfield
Besides fighting a spirited battle with Simon Whitfield on Saturday at the 9.7K BC Cross Country Championships, Steve Osaduik suited up on Sunday to win the 37th annual James Cunningham 9.5K Seawall Race in Vancouver to complete back-to-back great performances. He led a large field of 888 finishers to hit the tape in 29:52 today for the gold medal, while settling for the silver on Saturday at the BCXCs. The top female at the Seawall race was Suzanne Evans in 35:33. Simon, Steve and Mark Bomba ran shoulder to shoulder for almost the full five laps at the BCXCs with Steve and Simon exchanging the lead numerous times. At the end it was Simon winning by 2 seconds over Steve with Mark trailing by 3 seconds. Their times were 29:08, 29:10 and 29:13. This was Simon's third consecutive victory in 3 weeks as he had previously won the Royal Victoria 8K and the New Balance Invitational Cross Country race at Beacon Hill Park. PIHRT won the senior men's, junior men's and master men's titles at the BCs and collected a bronze with their second senior men's red team. PIH also finished 2-3-4 in the All-Comers 4K race with Sylvan Smyth, Walter Cantwell and Chris Kelsall. Congratulations are in order to eight PIHRT members that have been invited to participate at the National Cross Country Championships in Guelph, ON on December 1. Harriers nominated to Team BC following the BC event were Steve Osaduik, Eric Kiauka, Morgan Titus, Todd Howard, Wendy Davies, Kirsty Smith, Herb Phillips and Jeff Phillips. Next up for Steve is the Haney-Harrison Relay in November, the National Cross Country Championships in Guelph in December and the Houston Marathon in January. Next up for Simon is the BG World Cup Triathlon in Cancun, Mexico on November 4.
October 21, 2007
Mark Ritchie
Today Mark joined the Double Club. He finished third in the 5K Salmon Run Run around Goldstream Park Campground this morning in 17:40, then headed to Central Saanich to win the five lap 6.4K open category at the Peninsula Cross Country Challenge in Centennial Park this afternoon in 25:02. Harriers finished 1, 3, 5 on the men's side at the 5K Salmon Run Run with Nick Walker 1st, Mark Ritchie 3rd and Gary Duncan 5th overall.
October 7, 2007
Steve Osaduik, Bruce Deacon, Lucy Smith, Nick Best and Simon Whitfield
Steve won his second consecutive Royal Victoria Marathon in 2:20:14, Bruce set a master's course record in winning the Half Marathon in 1:08:02 and Lucy set an overall Half course record of 1:16:11, lowering her previous mark by one second set in 2003. Nick set a staggering 5-minute junior Half Marathon course record of 1:16:14, besting his next closest rival by 6 minutes and 36 seconds. Simon had the unique distinction of registering for all three events within a three day period. On Thursday he entered the RV Half; on Friday he upgraded to the full marathon in an attempt to pace Steve to a Olympic qualifying standard and on Saturday, his coach said the 8K is the place you should be. He could have won all three! Simon settled for the 8K victory in 24:24. Suzanne Evans was the top female in the marathon, her third consecutive RVM victory, in 2:45:38. Marilyn Arsenualt claimed the win in the 8K in 28:15. There were 1,981 finishers in the marathon, 3,868 in the half, 1,758 in the 8K and 605 in the Kids Run for a record number of 8,212 finishers. Many thanks to the over 250 Harriers that participated or volunteered in key roles to stage the 28th annual Royal Victoria Marathon.
September 30, 2007
Dave Jackson
Fresh off his P.B. and 30:08 victory at the Harriers High Performance Invitational 10K, Dave completed a successful summer with a new half marathon personal best by 43 seconds achieving a time of 1:06:57 in the Great North Run in Newcastle earlier today. He passed the 10 mile mark in 50:45 and finished 19th overall, 1 second ahead of the first woman, Karen Goucher of the USA and nearly 1 minute ahead of the returning Paula Radcliffe. There were over 50,000 runners in the event. London Marathon winner Martin Lel burst clear of fellow Kenyan and world half-marathon record holder Sammy Wanjiru to win the men's race by eight seconds in 1:01:10. The duo made the early running along with three-time winner Hendrick Ramala of South Africa but pulled clear by the halfway mark. Their times for each mile varied wildly, and the pace dipped considerably by the 10-mile mark, but their battle was intense until the end, when Lel powered home. Elsewhere, Ethiopian distance running legend Haile Gebrselassie broke the marathon world record in Berlin in a time of 2:04:26. Harriers' Todd Howard finished in 2:27:47 at Berlin.
September 29, 2007
Marcia Stromsmoe, Gary Duncan and Steve Bachop
Marcia, Gary and Steve all won their age divisions at the Bazett Farm Cross Country race north of Duncan today, one of the longest continuing races in British Columbia boasting 42 consecutive years. Marcia won the F50 5K race, Gary won the M50 5K race and Steve won the feature 7.45K event. Gary continued on to do the extra lap at Bazett and unofficially finished third overall in the open men's race behind Steve Bachop and Rob Harmsworth. There were 66 finishers in this classic Autumn cross country race.
September 23, 2007
Morgan Titus and Adam Campbell
Morgan and Adam showed their extraordinary climbing prowess in the 19th annual Grouse Grind in the north shore mouintains of Vancouver today. In a unique 2.9 mile race with 444 finishers Morgan finished 2nd overall in 27:32 while Adam finished 4th in 29:15. The race winner was Michael Simpson in 26:18, a running pace of 14:36 per mile, climbing at a rate of 32.4 metres per minute in a tough uphill battle all the way to the Grouse Mountain gondola. The top female was Lauren Groves, 13th overall, in 33:02. The final 444th contestant was Rupinder Grewal in 2:18:38. She climbed the course at 6.2 metres per minute and averaged a race pace of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 56 seconds per mile.
September 16, 2007
Phil Nicholls and Gord Christie
Harriers master athlete Phil Nicholls, 48, proved that age is not a factor today as he won the Montana Marathon overall title. Phil overtook leader Tim Phillips, of Glasgow, Montana, at the 39K mark of the high-altitude race in Billings and won going away with a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes and 3 seconds. Phillips, 41, was second in 2:52:08 while Mark Plucinski, 52, of Joplin, Mont., was third in 3:00:50. Masters claimed the top 3 spots at Montana. It was Phil's 14th marathon victory including three RVMs. Gord Christie was second overall and first master in the Montana Half Marathon at Billings in 1:19:04. One day shy of his 46th birthday, Gord won by over two minutes over the next closest master.
September 16, 2007
Lucy Smith, Steve Bachop, Roger Plamondon and Angela Plaondon
Lucy finished second overall to Mark Knoop at the Firefighters Elk/Beaver 10.2K Trail Run today, a unique race that is ranked by weight categories, rather than age categories. The two leaders outdistanced the competition by nearly 5 minutes by hitting the line in 36:05 and 36:26 respectively. Third place went to Jason Gammon in 41:23. On the same day about 45 kilometres west of Beaver Lake, Steve Bachop completely destroyed the field to finish as top Harrier, top runner, top master and he set a blistering master's course record at the Great Sooke 12.3K Foot Race. His time was 44:34, more than 6 minutes ahead of teammate Roger Plamondon, who finished second in 50:50. Roger's wife, Angela, was third overall, top Harrier, top female, top master and 5 minutes ahead of the next woman. Angela's time was 55:15. Stephanie Croft was second in 1:00:14. Both the Firefighters Run and the Great Sooke Foot Race suffered record low numbers mainly due to a date change and an abundance of other races on September 16. The Firefighters E/B had 36 finishers while the Great Sooke FR had 32. Traditionally both of these races have boasted well over 200 finishers when they have staged their event in June.
September 15, 2007
Jesse Lyman
Jesse led the 133-strong field to finish first overall at the Buntzen Lake Enduro 12K race today in Coquitlam with a sparkling time of 1:21:25 to capture the victory by over 7 minutes. Second place went to Vancouver's Jesse Popov in 1:28:31 and Lars Ole Valoen took third in 1:29:15. The top female was Kristina Bangma, of Vancouver, eighth overall in 1:33:22. There were an additional 196 finishers in the Sprint 10K shorter course won by George Belleveau in 50:51.
September 12, 2007
Gwyn Woodson
Gwyn captured a gold, a silver and a bronze medal all within a 6-day span at the World Masters Games in Riccione, Italy. Typically over 40,000 athletes converge annually at a different city in the world to compete in 5-year age categories from 40 years old and up. Gwyn started her remarkable F55 performances by winning the 5,000 metre track race in 20:21. She followed that up with a second place finish in the 10,000 in 42:02. Kathryn Martin, of USA, won that race in 40:06. Finally, Gwyn placed third today in the 8K cross country run won again by Kathryn Martin in 29:27. Italy's Lucia Soranzo was second in 30:36 and Gwyn's bronze medal time was 30:41. Harriers team mates Brian Connon and Bill Hollingshead also performed very well on the track. Brian ran the 5,000 and 10,000 metre races and Bill ran the 800 and 1,500 metre races in Italy.
September 11, 2007
Sandy Anderson. Marcia Stromsmoe, Garfield Saunders and Les MacNeill
Sandy, Marcia, Garfield and Les were simply outstanding at the Senior Games at Nanaimo from September 11th to the 16th. Between the four Harriers, they collected 24 medals! Sandy excelled in field events winning the high jump, long jump, discuss, shot put, pentathlon and many track distances and road races. She collected 9 gold medals and one silver. Marcia won the 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m and relay while collecting bronze in the 200m and 400m. Garfield took gold in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10K, silver in the 800 and placed 6th in the 400. Les won the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10K, took silver in the 800 and was 4th in the 400m. All in all a great Senior Games (55+) for the seasoned Harriers!
September 9, 2007
Jon Brown
Jon continued his quest to run the Fukuoka Marathon in preparation for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 by running an impressive BUPA Great Yorkshire 10K Run in Sheffield, England today. He finished 5th overall in 29:28 against a star-studded Kenyan and Ethiopian field. Race winner was J. Kibowen, from Kenya, in 28:40. Second place went to Australia's J. Letherby in 29:04 and Great Britain's T. Abyu took third in 29:19. The top female was B. Johnson, of Australia, in 32:55.
September 9, 2007
Dee Ogden, Rob Grant, Shane Ruljancich and Wendy Davies
Dee won the master's division in 1:41:21 and Rob came back strongly after a long battle with injuries to capture the M60 division in 1:30:26 at the Lands End Half Marathon in Sidney today. There were 221 finishers in the LE Half, 19 of which were Harriers. Bruce Martell won the race in 1:21:30 while the top female was Julie Pinel in 1:33:23. In the accompanying Lands End 10K race, Shane surged to a personal best of 34:33 to finish third overall. Wendy was top female overall and first master in 43:23. The 10K race, won by Sean Chester in 33:09, had 85 finishers, 13 of which were PIHers. Eric Seedhouse (top master and 4th overall), Herb Phillips (top M65 and 10th overall), Garth Campbell (top M45 and 12th overall) and Simon Pearson (huge P.R. of 39:04 and 13th overall), all had excellent performances at the LE 10K.
September 9, 2007
Dave Jackson, Nick Walker, Ian Hallam and Nancy Baxendale
It was a 1-2-3 clean sweep for the Harriers at the Harbour City 10K today in Nanaimo. Dave hit the tape in 31:23, Nick took silver in 32:42 and Ian collected the bronze podium position in 32:57. The top female and top master was Nancy in 38:40; she was 15th overall of the 230 finishers, 129 of which were women. In the accompanying Harbour City Half Marathon, Vancouver's Jerry Ziak was first home in 1:08:12 followed by Harriers Steve Osaduik in 1:08:41 and Todd Howard in 1:09:41. The fop female in the Half was Calgary's Lisa Harvey in 1:19:01 and the top master was Harriers Kevin Searle, 10th overall in 1:20:05. There were 238 finishers in the HC Half.
September 2, 2007
Simon Whitfield
Daniel Unger has become a national hero, booked a ticket to the Beijing Olympics and shocked the triathlon world all at once. Unger is the new triathlon world champion winning today at Hamburg, Germany in a time of 1 hour 43 minutes and 18 seconds. World number one-ranked Javier Gomez took the silver, just four seconds behind while Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt came across the line for bronze. A full field of 80 dove into Binnenalster Lake in downtown Hamburg for the 1500-metre wetsuit swim. Many were tightly bunched after the swim turnaround but as they exited the water American Andy Potts led the field with Frenchman Stephane Poulat, Gomez and Belaubre nipping as his heels. The four men headed out of transition together and tried to break away from the chase pack. After the first lap the lead inflated to 16 seconds but it didn’t last long before the two groups came together by the second lap of the 40-kilometre flat, technical bike course. A few other men attempted breakaways including Poulat who broke away and opened up a 17-second lead on the bell lap. In that final lap many men began to surge to the front of the pack trying to position themselves for the second transition. German Jan Frodeno had the crowds on their feet as he led the men out onto the 10-kilometre run course. In the final leg, contenders began to fall off the pace and by the midway point, the lead pack emerged and it included Brit Will Clarke, Unger, Gomez, Kahlefeldt and Canadian Simon Whitfield. As expected Gomez began to crank up the pace and by the final two laps, only Unger was able to stay with him. The Spaniard powered ahead and looked on his way to his first world title but buoyed by the cheers of a quarter million Germans, Unger hung on and kept Gomez within sight. In the last kilometere Unger passed Gomez and sprinted to the line for Germany’s first ever elite world championship. As a designated Olympic qualifier for their team, Unger and Jan Frodeno both grabbed the first Olympic spots for the German team. Whitfield, the 2000 Olympic gold medallist, had his best performance at a world championship and also earned a spot on the Canadian Olympic team with his fourth place finish, just four seconds shy of a medal. Clarke, last year’s under-23 world champion, performed solidly in his first elite championship, finishing in fifth place.
September 1, 2007
Dave Jackson, Eric Kiauka and Mark Nelson
Dave, Eric and Mark were all winners at the inaugural Harriers High Performance Invitational Track Classic tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the Oak Bay Track before about 100 cheering fans, many of which were Harriers. Mark won the 3,000 metre race in 9:09, Eric was first home in the 5,000 metres division in 15:02 and Dave won the feature 10,000 metre race with a personal best time of 30:08. Nick Walker claimed 2nd in the 5,000 with a time of 15:17 and Ian Hallam was 3rd in 15:19. Todd Howard took 2nd in the 10,000 in 30:39 and Steve Osaduik placed 3rd in 30:54.
August 26, 2007
Cheryl Murphy, Lucy Smith, Isao Hirayama and Adam Lawrence
Cheryl was 5th female, 61st overall, in 9:59:20, Lucy was 9th female, 120th overall, in 10:18:30, Isao was 269th in 10:46:16 and Adam placed 416th of over 2,900 starters, in 11:08:20, at the 25th anniversary edition of Suburu Ironman Canada in Penticton today. There were 2,588 finishers in the race won by Kieran Doe in 8 hours, 32 minutes and 1 second. The top female was Lisa Bentley in 9:41:01. Isao sliced an incredible 47 minutes off his time of last year and Cheryl recorded the fastest bike and marathon run times of all the female competitors including running faster than the the female winner, Lisa Bentley.
August 25, 2007
Shane Ruljancich, Carolyn Goluza and Garth Campbell
Shane was 4th overall in 59:41, Carolyn was 2nd female, 32nd overall, in 1:12:08 and Garth was 3rd master, 15th overall, in 1:09:05, at the 5 Peaks Whistler Enduro Race today. Morgan Titus, of Whistler, won the event in 53:56 and the top female was Venetia McHugh, also of Whistler, in 1:10:52. There were 251 finishers in the Whistler Enduro 10.8K long course and another 187 finishers in the 5.6K Sport Course. Sturla Lie won the Sport course in 27:13 and Joanna Quarry was the first female in 32:09.
August 19, 2007
Mark Ritchie
Mark, a relatively new member joining the Harriers at our Tuesday Night Workouts at Mt. Doug, ran a personal best time to capture second place overall in the Navy 10K on the streets of Esquimalt today. His finished in 37:17. The race was won by Jared Ludlow-Carroll in 36:10. There were 85 finishers in the event starting and finishing at CFB Esquimalt.
August 19, 2007
Ken and Gerta Smythe
Ken and Gerta hosted a very successful Harriers annual social run, swim and BBQ at their beautiful Glen Lake home. Over 55 club members and families joined in with the festivities even though the rains came down pretty hard until about noon when the barbeques were fired up. More and more Harriers arrived as the sun finally popped out about 12:30 p.m. All-in-all, a great day of running the Galloping Goose or Royal Roads then sharing a burger and beer while enjoying the company of good friends. Next year the club is planning a special celebration commemorating its 30th anniversary. Mark the summer of 2008 on your calendar for a golden PIH 30-year celebration! Many thanks to Ken and Gerta for being such gracious hosts today.
August 12, 2007
Herb Phillips
At the age of 67, Herb finished second overall to race winner Kim Newman in the Delta 5K race held in conjunction with their long-standing half marathon held on Sunday. Kim's time was 18:48 and Herb's was 19:58. The top female was Elsbeth La Pointe in 23:07. The winner of the Delta Half Marathon was Hans Creetes in 1:16:09 and the top female was Parksville's Carla Dunn, 10th overall of the 149 finishers, in 1:23:01. Flashback twenty years to the same race. 1st Alan Carr 1:08:57, 5th Rob Reid 1:10:30, 11th Bob Reid 1:13:14, 1st M40, 31st Garth Ball 1:16:41, 2nd M50, and 39th Herb Phillips 1:17:52, 1st M45. The top female was Isabelle Dittberner in 1:18:29 running a 5:59 pace per mile. There were 639 finishers and the top 28 all ran 1:16:00 or faster to surpass Creetes' victory time of this year.
August 11, 2007
Paul O'Callaghan, Rumon Carter, Judith Leroy and Kirk McNally
Paul, Rumon, Judith and Kirk finished 1-2-3-4 in the third annual Cardinal Law Cadboro Bay Duathlon today organized by Harrier Adam Lawrence. Their times were 1:34:46, 1:37:32, 1:41:39 and 1:42:43. There were 19 finishers in the duathlon including other Harriers Wendy Davies in 1:56:04 and Julie van Veelen in 2:15:23. The accompanying triathlon had 40 finishers and the overall winner was Roland Neville in 1:12:28. The top female in the triathlon, 9th overall, was Orla MacSweeney in 1:24:05. Harriers Rui Batista finished 5th in 1:20:11.
August 5, 2007
Scott Dagnall and Cheryl Murphy
Scott and Cheryl were the top Harriers of the 274 finishers, 172 men and 102 women, in the 28th annual Self Transcendence Triathlon today, the oldest triathlon in Canada. Scott finished fourth overall in 2:05:59 and Cheryl was top female, eighth overall, in 2:11:39. Kelly Guest won the race in 1:56:04, Felipe Van de Wyngard, of Santiago, Chile, was second in 2:03:46 and Victoria's Ben Cotter placed third in 2:05:03. Other Harriers in the event were Paul O'Callaghan 2:17, Bob Janicki 2:22, Adam Lawrence 2:27, Sam van der Merve 2:29, Sara Mackenzie 2:29, Rui Batista 2:29, Alison Sum 2:44 and Sandy Mullen 2:47. The final contestant finished in 4:07:54.
August 5, 2007
Graham Cocksedge and Wendy Davies
Graham won the Self Transcendence Duathlon today by a staggering 24 minutes, 21 seconds with an excellent time of 1:58:27. The event is held in conjunction with the triathlon. Wendy was top Harrier, top master, second female overall, and moved from 14th position to 6th after a bizarre incident resulted in 8 of the top 10 athletes being disqualified. Apparently a course marshal directed runners in positions 2 through 9 on the wrong route, shortening their first 5K run to about 3.5K. Instead of DQing the eight runners immediately, the organizers allowed them to continue and complete the difficult 40K bike course and the second run consisting of 10K. One of the tragic consequences was that Harrier Judith Leroy had a brilliant run-bike-run to finish second overall, about 9 minutes behind Graham, only to have her time and position stripped from the official results. There were 26 finishers in the event following the eight disqualifications.
July 29, 2007
Eric Kiauka and Cheryl Murphy
Eric and Cheryl were not only the top Harriers, but were also the winning male and female in the third annual The Zone Esquimalt 8K today. Harriers finished 1-2-3 in the race with Eric hitting the line in 24:30, Steve Osaduik placing second in 24:32 and Dave Jackson taking third in 24:34. Cheryl's winning time was 28:50, breaking the Esquimalt course record by 1 minute, 42 seconds. Second female, from Bermuda, was Victoria Fiddick in 31:00 and the amazing 56 year old Gwyn Woodson finished third in 32:18. There was a record number of 271 finishers, up 22 from last year.
July 28, 2007
Jesse Lyman
Jesse was the only Victorian of the 229 finishers in the extremely difficult Mt. Seymour 9.5K Enduro Climb in North Vancouver today. He placed fourth overall in 46:20. Ryan Bremner won the race in 44:20, Mark Bennett placed second in 45:29 and J.F. Robert took third in 45:47. The top female was Lana Allen in 56:39. There were 98 female and 131 male finishers. In the accompanying 6K Sport Course there were another 197 finishers. The top male was Brandon Kennedy in 29:35 and the top female was Joanna Quarry in 35:51.
July 22, 2007
Simon Whitfield
Simon won his second ITU World Cup race of the year by taking the victory in Kitzbuhel, Austria today with a winning time of 1:42:56. Second place went to Frederic Belaubre, of France in 1:42:57 in a very close finish and Austria's Brad Kahlefeldt was third in 1:43:01. Just to show how close the top two competitors were Simon won the swim by four seconds, Belaubre was one second faster in the first transition, Belaubre won the bike by four seconds, Simon was 2 seconds faster in the second transition. They both ran 29:11, the fastest 10Ks of the day. It was the first race ever where Simon won both the swim and run segments of the triathlon. He followed up his Austrian win with a bronze medal performance one week later in Salford, England in 1:52:04, 18 seconds behind winner Javier Gomez of Spain.
July 22, 2007
Cheryl Murphy
Cheryl was the second individual overall at the inaugural Sooke International Half Ironman Triathlon today running the best multi-sport race of her life. Jasper Blake won the event in 4:16:41 and Cheryl's time was 4:36:09. Even more impressive is the fact that Cheryl's half marathon run time of 1:22:59 was faster than all the individual men and women in the competition. There were 14 teams and 46 individuals in the race and 59 more competitors in the 500m, 27K, 5K sprint event.
July 15, 2007
Shane Ruljancich and Cara Obee
Shane finished seventh overall and Cara was third female at the Westwood Lake Half Marathon Gutbuster today, earning the two Harriers the overall Series Championship Titles for 2007. Based on their outstanding performances at Royal Roads, Mount Tzouhalem, Mount Douglas and Westwood Lake they amassed more points than any other of the 844 finishers in the Island GB Series.
July 15, 2007
Isao Hirayama and Angela Plamondon
Isao enjoyed his first Gutbuster podium performance and Angela took the gold medal in the women's division at the Westwood Lake 8.6K short course in Nanaimo today, the fourth and final event in the Island Gutbuster Series. First place went to Sean Chester in 41:59, Blake Poirier was second in 48:32 and Isao took the bronze in 48:48. Angela was fifteenth overall of the 139 finishers in 54:32. Stefan Jacobsen, of Nanaimo, won the half marathon long course in 1:44:17 and the top female was Nichole Barrett, from Campbell River, in 2:05:35. There were 106 finishers at the Westwood Half Marathon Gutbuster.
July 8, 2007
Lucy Smith
Lucy has won seven Canadian Cross Country Championships, six Canadian Duathlon Championships and three Canadian 10K Road Running Championships. Today, she added her first Canadian Long Course Triathlon Championship to her long list of accomplishments by winning the Persona Desert Half Iron Race in the sweltering heat of Osoyoos. Her winning time was 4:56:56. Calgary's Rosemarie Gerspacher was second in 4:58:16 and Cynthia Wilson, from Gatineau, placed third in 5:00:23. The top male was Penticton's Jon Caron in 4:22:28. There were 403 starters and 376 finishers at the Desert Half Iron Canadian Championships.
July 8, 2007
Jim Finlayson and Steve Osaduik
Jim placed third in the LA Weight Loss 10K in Calgary today with a time of 31:27. Kenyans swept the top two spots with Henry Githuka taking first place in 29:46 and Thomas Omwenga claiming second in 31:19. The top female was Aster Demissie, of Edmonton, in 34:36. Sandi Heal won her age division of 124 in the F30 division with a time of 44:22 while team mate Randy Jones ran 2:20:34 in the half marathon. Steve placed fourth overall in the Alberta Jeep Dealers Half Marathon in 1:10:37, about four minutes off his potential half marathon time due to altitude. Again Kenyans took the top two positions with Simon Njoroge winning in 1:07:42 and Benard Onsare placing second in 1:09:39. Saskatoon's Jason Warick took third in 1:10:29 and the top female was Lioudmila Kortchaguina, of Thornhill, in 1:16:44. Ken Meyers, of Calgary, won the HSBC Calgary Marathon in 2:33:45 and the top female was Calgary's Amanda McLeod in 2:58:46. There were 750 finishers in the marathon, 2,102 in the half marathon, 1,490 in the 10K and 352 in the Timbits 1.2K kids run for a total of 4,694 finishers at Calgary today, part of their famous Stampede weekend.
July 7, 2007
Eric Findlay and Dee Ogden
Eric and Dee were the top male and female Harriers at the third annual Langford Road Mile run on Goldstream Avenue today, an event that precedes a parade through the heart of Langford. The overall winner was Zack Whitmarsh, of Pacific Athletics, in 4:29, second place went to Kris Swanson in 4:30 and Eric was third of 39 finishers in 4:37. Dee topped the master women's ranks in 6:27 to finish 24th overall of the 15 women, 24 men and 10 Harriers in the race. The top female was Nancy Fedoruk, of the host Frontrunners Westshore, in 5:28. PIHers Ben Kingstone, 5:18 to claim top junior, Gary Duncan, 5:21 to take silver in the master's division, and Kirk McNally, 5th overall in 5:05, all had good mile runs. Darren Skuja won the master men's 40+ division in 5:06 and Patrick Maguire won the master men's 50+ division in 5:53.
July 1, 2007
Steve Bachop, Sandi Heal and Sally Hallam
Steve and Sandi were the top Harriers and Sally ran her best race ever at the 20th annual Sidney Days 5K today under ideal racing conditions. Steve placed third overall, first master, in 16:23. This is his first race in over a year after suffering a serious bicycle accident which restricted him to mainly swimming with very little running and cycling over the last 12 months. Signs look good for a full recovery and a successful return to road running, track racing and the upcoming cross country season. Christine Ridenour, 15 years old, was the top female in 18:46, good for 9th overall of the 140 finishers. This was a 42 second improvement over her Sidney Days time of last year. There were 22 kids in the accompanying 2K run. Sandi was second female overall and Sally placed third female overall with a 4 minute, 37 second improvement on her personal best 5K time set at Bazan Bay in March. It was a clean 1-2-3 sweep for the Harriers ladies in the F30 division with Sandi winning the gold in 20:52, Sally taking the silver in 21:30 and Julie Van Veelen claiming the bronze in 22:23. Many other TNWers placed highly with Shane Ruljancich winning the M30 division and finishing 5th overall in 16:50. Isao Hirayama was 2nd M30, 6th overall in 18:05 with another strong a P.R. Garth Campbell was third M40 in 18:59 and Brian Connon won the M60 division in 19:01. In August Brian will be traveling to the World Master's Games in Italy as part of Team Canada. Dee Ogden was the top female master in 21:55, Marcia Stromsmoe won the F50 division in 22:52 and Alison Sum won the F20 division in 22:17, 25 seconds faster than last year. The race saw a slight drop of 14 in the 5K event from the 154 finishers in 2006.
July 1, 2007
Dave Jackson and Lucy Smith
Dave and Lucy were not only the top Harriers, they were the top male and female overall in the 4th annual HBC Run for Canada 10K starting and finishing at the Legislative Buildings at 8:00 a.m. this morning. For winning, both collected a $1,000 gift certificate from the Hudson's Bay Company. Dave finished in 31:15, seventeen seconds faster than his HBC time of last year and Lucy was 9th overall of the 526 finishers in 35:48. Dave ran the third fastest time in Canada of the 13 cities that host an HBC10K on July 1. There was a strong presence of Harriers at the Victoria event with Todd Howard, Simon Whitfield and Scott Simpson finishing 3-4-5 overall in 31:50, 32:03 and 32:03. Wendy Davies was 2nd F40 behind Lucy and collected $100, Erik Seedhouse, Phil Nicholls and Gary Duncan placed 1-2-3 in the M40 division in 36:06, 36:39 and 37:34. Brian MacDonald M50, Lise Wessels F30 and Daphne Panter F60 all won their age divisions and David Hoskins had a strong kick to finish 4th in the M60 division in 43:28. Chris Callendar ran a big personal best time of 37:58 to place 17th overall and 9th in his M20 age division. The race featured 21 Name Unknowns and was up 86 finishers over last year to a total of 526, fifth largest HBC race in Canada. A regular PIH Chatline poster, Mark Bomba, simply destroyed the field in the HBC Vancouver 10K by winning in 32:21, good for a 4 minute, 11 second cushion over the second place finisher Benjamin Maas who ran 36:30. There were 895 finishers and 84 Name Unknowns in Vancouver. Calgary had 426 runners, Red Deer had 109, Saskatoon had 318 , Winnipeg had 495, Windsor had 261, Algonquin Park had 383, Montreal had 561, Ottawa had 1,531, Toronto had 1,045 and there were 115 finishers in the St. John's NL race.
June 24, 2007
Steve Osaduik, Isao Hirayama, Norm Tinkham, Richard Lee and Helena Watling
Steve placed fifth overall, Isao ran a big personal best, Norm won the over-40 division, Richard was the top M45 athlete and Helena was fourth master at the prestigious 9th annual Scotiabank Half Marathon today in Vancouver. The race starts at the University of British Columbia and finishes at Stanley Park. The gun went at 7:00 a.m. under overcast conditions and the runners faced ideal weather for the first 40 minutes, then a cloudburst hit, and water was running like rivers over the Burrard Bridge and all along the seawall of Stanley Park. Everyone finished looking like a drowned rat and all of their dry clothes were soaked after they were shuttled back to UBC following the race. The event offers $10,000 in prize money and raised over $140,000 in pledges to support 6 local charities. No doubt the front end of the pack was dominated by Kenyans with 23 year old Patrick Nthiwa winning the race in 1:03:09 and collecting $1,500 for first place and another $1,000 for breaking the course record by a mere 2 seconds. Countrymen Danny Kassap placed second in 1:04:02, Joshua Kemei was third in 1:05:46 and Joseph Nsengiyumva took fourth in 1:06:19. Magdalene Mukunzi, from Kenya, won the women's race in 1:14:01. Steve was fifth overall, top Canadian, in 1:06:26, three days following his victory at the Twilight Shuffle in Chemainus. This was a 50 second improvement over his Oak Bay Kool Half Marathon time on May 20. Norm finished tenth, top master of 219 in the M40 division, in 1:12:21. Richard was first of 191 runners in the M45 division in 1:17:55. Isao improved his half marathon personal best time by 4 minutes and one second by nailing a 1:23:13 to finish 49th overall and he displayed a tremendous finishing kick to the line. Helena ran 1:31:53 to register the top Harriers' female performance of the day and finish fourth of 293 in the F40 division. She was 152nd overall. There were 3,352 starters, 3,350 finishers and 4,020 registrations for the Scotiabank Half Marathon.
June 23, 2007
Shane Ruljancich, Craig Payne, Carolyn Goluza, Joanne Rosen and Lara Wear
Shane, Craig, Carolyn, Joanne and Lara excelled at the 4th annual Kusam Klimb in Sayward today along with 24 Harriers and 262 finishers, a record high for Kusam. In the inaugural race in 2004, there were 132 finishers, in 2005 they attracted 199 and last year there were 154 finishers. Shane won the 13+ mile mountain race in 2:38:12. Second place went to Jason Welland, of Campbell River, in 2:40:30 and third place was Nanaimo's John Loewen in 2:43:21. The Harriers ladies finished 1-2-3 with both Carolyn and Joanne breaking the previous course record of 3:05:04, set in 2005 by Maguerite Masson-Wood. Carolyn was first home of 110 female finishers in 2:56:21. She was 11th overall. Joanne was top master and second female in 3:02:51. Lara was third female overall in 3:11:34, good for 24th of 262 finishers. Craig showed a huge improvement of 1 hour, 37 minutes over last year to finish 14th in 3:00:27. Other Harriers who ran well at the Klimb included Peter Curtis, Roger Plamondon, Cory Horner, Sandy Stewart, Dave Dennis, Peter Hollemens, Sam van der Merve, Patti Walsh, Rachel Eyre, Randy Jones and Carroll Elliott.
June 21, 2007
Steve Osaduik, Dave Jackson, Cheryl Murphy and Nancy Baxendale
Steve and Dave finished 1-2 in 19:32 and 20:06 and Cheryl and Nancy were 1-3 in 22:47 and 25:58 at the 23rd annual Twilight Shuffle 4 Miler in Chemainus tonight on a new downtown loop, then out-and-back course through the old lumber mill site. It was Steve's fourth victory at Chemainus, more than any other runner in the 23 years that the race has been staged by Island Runner's Phil Nicholls. Nancy was top female master along with Shawnigan Lake team mate Kevin Searle, who captured the men's master gold medal in 23:01. Kevin was 8th overall of the 452 finishers and Nancy was 22nd. Other Harriers running very well in the 7:00 p.m. Twilight Shuffle include Mark Nelson, 7th overall in 22:53, Gord Christie, 2nd M40 in 23:33, Brian MacDonald, 1st M50 in 24:16, Gary Duncan, 4th M40 in 24:18, Gwyn Woodson, 1st F50 in 26:49, Wendy Davies, 2nd F40 in 28:10 and Dee Ogden, 4th F40 in 29:04. For Steve Osaduik, it was yet another in a string of 2007 victories and he termed the race as a "training run" as he prepares for the prestigious Scotiabank Half Marathon 3 days later in Vancouver. An extremely high performance field including 6 Kenyans, Jon Brown, Jim Finlayson and Ryan Hayden will all be on the starting line for Scotiabank. Top prize is $1,500 for the first male and first female with a $1,000 bonus for a course record.
June 17, 2007
Gerry Etcheverry, Isao Hirayama, Adam Lawrence and Bill Scriven
Gerry, Isao, Adam and Bill all posted huge improvements in their times today at the New Balance Half Ironman triathlon at Elk Lake. The event featured a 2K swim, an 80K cycle and a 20K run. All four Harriers qualified for Ironman Canada in Penticton on August 26, the 25th anniversary of the event with a record field assembled. Gerry was the top Harrier with a time of 4:26:49, an improvement of over 36 minutes from his time of last year. He was 43rd overall compared to 87th in 2006. He was also 4th of 44 in the M45 division. Isao finished in 4:31:40 compared to 5:19:46 last year and was 12th in the M30 division, up from 33rd last year. He improved his overall position from 160th to 55th. Adam's finishing time was 4:52:48, a 34 minute improvement and he moved from 201st overall in 2006 to 125th today. Bill finished first in the M60 age group with an outstanding time of 5:07:00. He had a particularly good swim placing 13th of 181 master men in the triathlon. The race was won by Jon Caron, from Penticton, in 3:50:47, and the top female, 20th overall, was Victoria's Heather Wurtele in 4:15:11. There were 588 finishers in the event including 36 Relay Teams.
June 17, 2007
Gary Duncan, Julie Van Veelen, Marcia Stromsmoe and John Woodall
Gary was the top Harrier, top master and third overall in the 9th annual Do it for Dad 8K at Royal Roads today. He finished in 31:55. Julie was the top female Harrier, 2nd F30 and 16th overall in 39:31. Both Marcia and John won their age divisions with Marcia finishing 26th overall out of 211 participants in 41:17 and John finishing 30th in 41:57. Sean Chester won the race in 28:30 and Shannon Maisano was the top female in 35:37. The following is a description of the event by Gary - "I forgotten what a nice event the DifD is. A jazz band playing in the Royal Roads Y gym before and after the race (saw the Maycocks dancing); kids play area outside; friendly and organized volunteers; happy participants supporting a good cause; yummy hamburgers with platters of lettuce and sliced tomatoes, along with the usual fruit, yogurt and bagels; lots of quality prizes especially to the pledge gatherers; efficient age group medals; aerobics warmup; an all paved easy 4K option; and a convoluted but well marked and marshaled 8K course that is kind of a cross between the Hatley IRS and the RR GB. Maybe 2K paved, 3K gravel/dirt road and the rest single track."
June 16, 2007
Bruce Deacon
After officially retiring from marathoning following his victory at the 2004 Royal Victoria Marathon, Bruce came out of retirement today to compete as a master in the 31st annual Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. Bruce ran 2:21:07 in Victoria (Oct. 2004) and 2:23:02 in Minnesota (June, 2007). He turned 40 on December 5, 2006 and since then is undefeated as a master in four races. He was Canada's top marathoner for seven consecutive years and attended two Olympics and two World Championships at this distance. Grandma's featured many Kenyans and Ethiopians including the overall winner Wesly Ngetich in 2:15:55, followed by four countrymen in 2:17:27, 2:18:00, 2:18:56 and 2:20:27. Bruce was 13th overall of the 6,898 finishers and won the master's division by 3 minutes, 44 seconds over another Kenyan, Gideon Mutisya. There were 593 M40 finishers. The average finishing time was 4:29:41 and there were 2,515 female and 4,383 male finishers.
June 10, 2007
Roger Plamondon, Kevin Searle, Mark Nelson and Rob Reid
Roger was the top Harrier, fifth overall with a time of 3:15:49, in the Edge to Edge Marathon today. He was second in his age division. The marathon was won by Victoria's Nik Southwell in 2:29:28, a great performance on the hilly course from Tofino to Ucuelet on a misty day. Second and third places went to two Swedish runners, Helge Hansen in 2:39:19 and Uli Schubert in 3:08:35. There were 133 finishers in the marathon, 222 in the accompanying half marathon and 58 teams comprising another 290 runners. The total of 645 participants is a record for E2E. Kevin, Mark and Rob placed 1-2-3 in the half marathon with times of 1:22:18, 1:25:47 and 1:27:40 respectively. All three won their age divisions. The top female in the marathon was Kristin Schnurr in 3:33:02 and the half marathon winning female was Jen Segger-Gigg in 1:31:08. Both are from Victoria.
June 9, 2007
Gary Duncan, Sandy Stewart, Joanne Rosen and Claire Morgan
The first annual For the Love of Africa run took place this morning at Beaver Lake Park. The event, initiated and coordinated by Harriers' Karen Hughes, featured a 10K run, 10K walk, 4K walk and 2K walk. There were about 100 participants and 25 Harriers volunteers helping with registration, marshaling, draw prizes, refreshments, finish line and timing. There was an abundance of excellent food and many quality prizes and race shirts. The event was held in 12 degrees under rainy conditions but it didn't dampen the spirits of the runners and walkers. About $5,000 was raised to help build a school in Africa. Many of the top men and women finishers were Harriers. Gary Duncan won the 10K race in 39:39 and Sandy Stewart placed second in 41:31. Michael Wiger was third in 44:34. Joanne Rosen won the women's division and was fifth overall in 44:59. Pam Reinke was second female in 45:10 and Claire Morgan took third in 47:08 while pushing Marina in a baby jogger! All in all, a very successful first-time event.
June 3, 2007
Graham Cocksedge and Lisa Lynam
Graham won the Panorama Classic Duathlon today and Lisa was the top Harrier in the Panorama Classic Triathlon. There were 198 finishers in the Tri and 18 in the Du. The triathlon also featured 17 Youth runners and 8 Relay Teams. Lisa placed second in her age class, 40th overall, in 1:43:11. Graham's winning time was 1:27:08 and John Botelho placed second in the Du in 1:46:17. The winner of the triathlon was Nathaniel Stoffelama in 1:31:43 and the top female, Rachel McBride, finished an impressive second overall in 1:32:22. Besides Graham and Lisa, we had eight other runners at Panorama. Rintje Raap 2nd, Camille Janicki 2nd, Sandy Mullen 2nd, Kim Abraham 3rd, Philippe Janicki 4th, Sandi Begg 5th, Patti Walsh 8th and Steve Wilson 16th rounded out the Harriers field.
June 2, 2007
Shane Ruljancich, Cara Obee, Garth Campbell, Joanne Rosen and Chris Callendar
Shane and Cara were the open male and female long course winners, Garth and Joanne were the top masters, and Chris won the short course today at the fifth annual Mount Douglas GutBuster held under extremely sunny and hot conditions. Shane's winning time for the 11 kilometre course was 48:43, nine seconds faster than runner-up Brad Cunningham. It was not only Shane's first-ever GutBuster victory, but it was also his first win over Brad this year. The pair raced to impressive 5th (Brad) and 9th (Shane) positions at the Iron Knee 25K mountain run in Vancouver one week earlier. Garth beat Gary Duncan for the first time in the master's division 54:45 to 55:20. They finished 8th and 11th overall of the 114 long course finishers. Cara was 18th overall in 58:07, Claire Morgan was second in 1:00:56 and Lara Wear was 3rd open female in 1:02:40 making it a clean sweep for the Harriers ladies. It was the first-ever podium finish for Lara at a GutBuster in 5 years of racing the gruelling mountain events. Joanne was 29th overall in 1:02:26 and Wendy Davies was second master female in 1:05:23. Chris blazed through the 6.5K short course in 25:44 beating runner-up Jeff Hunt by 33 seconds. The top female in the short course was Leigh Anne Isaac, 6th overall in 30:27 and Camie Bentham placed second, 9th overall in 31:05. There were 68 finishers in the short course. The total of 182 finishers at Mount Doug, was exactly the same number as last year.
June 2, 2007
Lucy Smith
Lucy had an outstanding run at the 29th annual Freifhofer's 5K Run for Women today in Albany, New York. She placed 11th overall and was top master with a time of 16:32. There were 2,887 female finishers in one of the most prestigious road races in United States featuring most of the best women runners in the world. Kenyans and Ethiopians dominated the field, however top performances came from women from Australia (overall winner), Great Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Morocco, Canada and United States. The winner, for the second consecutive year, was Australian's Benita Johnson in 15:22. She is a 2:22 marathoner and a 2000 and 2004 Olympian at distances of 5,000 and 10,000 metres. Second place went to Asmae Leghzaoui, from Morocco, in 15:31, and Ethiopian Teyba Erkesso took third in 15:45. The top three masters were Lucy Smith, 11th in 16:32, Russian Firaya Sultanova-Zhdan, 13th in 16:42, and Patty Murray, from Boulder, CO, 15th in 17:02. The starting field was a who's who of elite women. You can view their profiles at http://www.freihofersrun.com/bios.cfm. The legendary Joan Benoit Samuelson finished 44th to win the F50 division in 19:06. This was Lucy's third consecutive master's win since she turned 40 on April 27. She has had victories at the TC10K, Bloomsday 12K and now Freihofer's 5K.
June 2, 2007
Dave Reed, Nancy Tinari and Marcia Stromsmoe
Dave and Nancy were the top Harriers and Marcia won her age class at the Ambleside Masters Mile today in West Vancouver. The popular master's event attracts a top notch field annually in a variety of 40+ ages. There were 114 finishers today in a race won by Rob Lonergan, of North Vancouver, in 4:19. Dave placed 6th overall, second in the M50 division, in 4:35. Nancy was top female of 22 women in the race in 5:03. Marcia ran 6:24 and Les MacNeill took the bronze in the M70 division in 6:39. Under the age-graded system, Dave placed 3rd in 3:58, Nancy was 4th in 4:02, Marcia was 24th in 4:35 and Les was 36th in 4:49.
June 2, 2007
Adam Campbell and Jesse Lyman
Adam was third overall in 50:13 and Jesse was thirteenth in 55:49 of 202 finishers at the 5 Peaks Buntzen Lake 12K Enduro Race at Port Moody today. Morgan Titus, of Whistler, won the event in 49:03 and Vancouver's Simon Driver took second in 49:21. Simon's wife, Katrina Driver, was the top female, 11th overall in 55:00. Two-time RVM champ, Suzanne Evans of New Westminster, was second female in 56:30. There were 214 finishers in a shorter course race at Buntzen Lake won by Eric Muller of Pitt Meadows in 32:11.
May 27, 2007
Kirk McNally, Isao Hirayama and Chris Callendar
Kirk, Isao and Chris finished 1-2-3 at the ninth annual Sound and Silence 10K today on the Lochside Trail and rural roads of Central Saanich. Kirk's winning time was 36:50. Isao was hoping to break his personal best 10K time of 40:00 and nailed a 37:59 to place in his highest position ever in a Vancouver Island race since arriving here in 2004. Chris also P.R'd with a great time of 38:14. Gary Duncan was 4th, top master, in 38:29, and Rob Reid was 6th to win the M50 division in 39:07. The female winner was Adrienne Stedford in 42:51. Second place went to Sarah Thorpe in 43:50 and Harriers' Sally Hallam boasted her first podium finish claiming third in 45:33. Helen Jaques won the 5K race walk in 39:07. There were 153 finishers in the 10K event and 36 in the 5K walk.
May 27, 2007
Bruce Deacon and Kevin Searle
Bruce was the top master at the ING 10K National Championships in Ottawa today and Kevin won the M45 division in the ING Ottawa Marathon with an outstanding time of 2:44:29 to place 38th overall in an elite field loaded with Kenyans and Ethiopeons. Bruce finished 17th overall in 31:16 to hand Steve Boyd his first defeat as a master in over 40 races to date. The feature 10K event was won by Simon Bairu in 28:29 and Richmond's Ryan Hayden finished 12th in 30:41. Kenyan David Cheruiyot won the marathon in 2:10:36 and Rejean Chaisson won the half marathon in 1:12:25. There were 3,115 finishers in the marathon, 7,671 in the half marathon and 3,041 in the 10K race.
May 26, 2007
Cheryl Murphy
Cheryl took the bronze medal at the inaugural Victoria International Half Iron Triathlon at Shawnigan Lake today with a time of 4:45:45. The top female was Kim Loeffler, from Colchester VT, in 4:23:35 and second place went to Linsey Corbin, of Missoula MT, in 4:30:18. Jasper Blake won the men's race in 4:07:28. The Half Iron distances are 1.9K swim, 88K bike and 21K run. There were 149 male finishers, 40 female finishers and 18 teams totaling 107 in the long course. Brent McMahon won the shorter Sprint Distance race in 58:38 which had another 41 finishers.
May 20, 2007
Jim Finlayson, Cheryl Murphy, Phil Nicholls and Dee Ogden
Jim and Cheryl were the top open male and female runners, both setting course records, and Phil and Dee were the top masters at the third annual Kool Oak Bay Half Marathon today held in rainy conditions. Jim won the race in 1:06:47 lowering Steve Osaduik's course record of last year by 10 seconds. Steve Osaduik took second today in 1:07:16 and Steve Murenbeeld claimed third in 1:09:00. Cheryl won the Kool Half for the third consecutive year running a lifetime personal best half marathon time of 1:17:46. Second place female was Heather Wurtele in 1:23:51 and Katrin Jones took third in 1:26:12. The top three master men in the race were all Harriers with Phil Nicholls first in 1:17:43, Rui Batista second in 1:23:41 and Andrew Green third in 1:27:44. Dee's winning time was 1:41:07 and she finished 86th overall of the 501 finishers, a record, up 20 from last year's mark of 481. There were 35 teams in the accompanying Asics Ekiden Relay won by Peninsula Tri-Team in 1:19:42. PIH's Team Tarrant comprised of Les MacNeill, John Woodall, Garfield Saunders and Maurice Tarrant captured the top master men's team in 1:41:01. The team's combined age totals over 290 years with an average age of 73!
May 13, 2007
Lucy Smith
Lucy Smith, running only her second race as a master, won the over-40 division of the prestigious 31st Annual Lilac Bloomsday 12K race in Spokane, WA, last Sunday, the same day as the Vancouver International Marathon. Lucy's time was 41:59 and she was the 11th overall of almost 22,000 female finishers. Kenyan Mbarak Husswein won the master men's division in a record time of 36:06. Both Lucy and Mbarak collected the top master's prize of $1,000 while overall winners, both Kenyans, John Korir and Edna Kiplagat pocketed $7,000 first prize. Kenyans dominated the race with 8 of the top 10 positions. Only John Yuda, 2nd, from Tanzania, and Ridouane Harroufi, 7th, from Morocco, spoiled a clean sweep. Bloomsday has a prize purse of over $60,000. There were 51,000 registrations and 40,323 finishers at the event featuring more than 30 bands and vocalists spread along the picturesque, but challenging, 12 kilometre route. This race is considered as one of the largest and most competitive events in the United States.
May 6, 2007
Todd Howard
Todd led a strong contingent of 5,835 finishers home to win the 36th annual BMO Vancouver International Half Marathon today in 1:09:04. Second place went to Victoria's Nick Hastie in 1:09:29 and Jonas Holmberg, from Falun, Dalarna, took third in 1:10:49. The top three women were Suzanne Evans, of New Westminster, winner of the Royal Victoria Marathon in 2005 and 2006, in 1:18:31, Vancouver's Rita Ivanauskus was second in 1:25:18 and Cheryl Choy, of Seattle, took third in 1:26:02. The accompanying BMO Vancouver International Marathon was won by Kenyan Thomas Omwenga in 2:25:27 and the top female Claudia Camargo, from Argentinia, finished an amazing third overall in 2:35:50. Omwenga and Camargo each pocketed top prize money of $3,000 and Camargo collected another $2,500 as a bonus for finishing in under 2:39:00. There were 3,072 finishers in the marathon, 5,835 in the half marathon and 1,410 in the kids' marafun.
May 5, 2007
Syl Corbett and Darren Froese
Syl won the 50K Canadian Championship division and Darren won his third consecutive 100K race at the 20th annual Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras held today at Beaver Lake Park. Syl led a strong women's field by finishing in 4:34:09. North Vancouver's Ann Taylor was second in 4:36:51 and Rainy Kent, from Burnaby, was third in 4:37:31. Nik Southwell won the men's 50K National Championship with an impressive time of 3 hours, 15 minutes and 44 seconds. Second place in the 50K race was Victoria's Sean Chester, in 3:25:17, and Harriers Rumon Carter placed third in 4:02:21. Randy Rankin, from Maple Ridge, won the men's 50 Mile division in 7:23:53 and Victoria's Lori Herron won the women's 50 Miler in 8:58:46. Barb Bergstrom, from Sooke, won the 25 Mile Walk in 5:59:16 while Barb Owen, of Maple Ridge was the top female in the 100K division with a time of 12:14:41. Darren Froese's winning 100K time was 8:22:36. There was 1 finisher in the 25 Mile Walk, 6 finishers in the 50 Mile race, 31 in the 50K division and 6 in the 100K.
April 29, 2007
Lucy Smith, Bruce Deacon and Dave Jackson
Two days after her 40th birthday, Lucy Smith dominated the women's field by winning the 18th annual Times Colonist 10K today, for her sixth TC10K victory, with a time of 34:24. She was top master and top overall female. Bruce Deacon was also the top master, finishing fourth overall in 31:31. Dave ran a strong race to finish second in 31:06 after a ninth place finish at the Sun Run two weeks earlier. The race was won by Richmond's Ryan Hayden in 30:41. Behind Hayden were Harriers in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th positions. Third place was Jim Finlayson in 31:21 while Marilyn Arseneault was second in 36:15 and Kristina Rody, from Whistler, was third in the women's race in 36:23. Harriers' Carolyn Murray took fourth in 36:30. There were 8,533 finishers, 5,123 women and 3,410 men, in the race. This was up 371 runners from 2006 but fell 167 short of the record of 8,700 finishers in 2005. The blustery conditions slowed down most of the runners as they faced strong headwinds from kilometre 4 to kilometre 8 on the course from the Ross Bay Cemetary to the Breakwater.
April 22, 2007
Jeff Phillips, Stephen Kilshaw, Scott Dagnall and Aaron Thomas
The PIH 'Young Guns' finished 2-3-4-5 today at the 5th annual Sooke Spring Sprint Triathlon. The top five athletes, including race winner Andrew Russell, are all members of the Pacific Sport National Triathlon Centre. Andrew's winning time was 58:07 and he was followed by four Harriers Jeff Phillips, 1:00:22, Stephen Kilshaw, 1:01:37, Scott Dagnall, 1:02:26, and Aaron Thomas, 1:03:19. Jeff, Scott and Aaron are all juniors and have a very promising future in triathlons, road races and cross country running. The top three women at Sooke today were Rachel McBride in 1:07:41, Adrienne Stedford in 1:11:18, and Paige Gardiner in 1:12:26. There were 176 finishers which was an increase of 20 athletes over last year. Ironically PIH took the top 4 spots in 2006 with a different cast of characters. Simon Whitfield won the race with a course record time of 56:48, Kyle Jones finished second in 57:13, Colin Jenkins claimed third in 58:32 and Scott Dagnall took fourth again in 1:02:19. Kirsten Sweetland was the top female last year, 5th overall in 1:02:49, an amazing time and a course record. Jeff Phillips improved from 7th overall last year to 2nd overall today with a time improvement of 4 minutes and 7 seconds.
April 21, 2007
Cara Obee, Carolyn Goluza, Joanne Rosen, Gary Duncan and Garth Campbell
Cara and Carolyn finished 1-2 in the open women's field, Joanne was the top master woman and Gary and Garth were 1-2 in the master men's division today at Gutbuster #2 at Mount Tzouhalem, near Duncan. Cara finished 23rd overall in 1:13:32, Carolyn was 27th in 1:14:34, Joanne was 32nd in 1:17:03, Gary was 14th in 1:07:55 and Garth was 15th in 1:08:05. There were 114 finishers in the 11K long course, down a few from last years total of 127. The race was won by Victoria's Sean Chester in 59:06. Shaun Stephens-Wales, of Roberts Creek, was second in 59:16 and Frontrunners' Brad Cunningham took third in 1:00:25. In the accompanying 6K short course, there were 74 finishers. The race was won by Harriers' Ben Kingstone in 37:01, second place went to Jerome Rozitis in 42:32 and third place was Duncan's Rachel Martin, top female, in 43:44. Of the 188 finishers, there were 20 Harriers, 14 in the long course and 6 in the short course.
April 16, 2007
Jill Hawe and Shelagh Machin
Jill and Shelagh were our two Harriers representatives at the 111th annual Boston Marathon today in New England. Jill had an amazingly consistent run finishing in 3:39:10 to place 276th of 1,556 in her age division. Shelagh hit the line in 4:05:55, 225th of 4,736 in her age class. Jill was 7,753rd and Shelagh was 14,010th of the 20,331 finishers. There were 28,869 registered and 20,638 starters in the event. This was the most dismal day to run the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton east to Boston since the 1970 marathon, which was rain-soaked and colder the entire way. Temperatures Monday hovered in the high 40s, and even as the rain mostly stopped an hour into the race, the headwinds gusted as high as 36 miles an hour, adding resistance that turned many legs to lead. Kenyan Robert K. Cheruiyot and Russian Lidiya Grigoryeva were buffeted but barely bothered. Cheruiyot’s tribulations and Grigoryeva’s training prepared them for this day, giving each the strength to pull away from their slogging challengers in the final miles and collect a $100,000 first place prize. Cheruiyot won his second consecutive Boston title and his third one overall. He finished in 2 hours 14 minutes 13 seconds, the slowest time in 30 years and one that was nearly seven minutes off the course record he set last year. Grigoryeva won the women's race in 2:29:18.
April 15, 2007
Todd Howard and Cheryl Murphy
Todd and Cheryl were both crowned Series Champions even though they missed Race #8, the final event of the Frontrunners Vancouver Island Race Series in Sooke today. Both Todd and Cheryl chose to run the high energy, high profile, high performance, high participation Sun Run and both excelled. Todd finished 20th overall, 5th in the M25 division, in 31:13, and Cheryl was the 6th female overall, 4th in the F35 division, in 34:48. There were 54,317 registrations and 42,703 finishers in the Sun Run, both record totals for the event.
April 15, 2007
Paul O'Callaghan and Nancy Baxendale
Paul and Nancy were the top masters and top Harriers in the Sooke River 10K today to wrap up the eight-race Frontrunners Island Race Series. Paul fought a tough battle with race winner, Nick Walker, for 5 kilometres over the hilly Sooke River Road course before slipping to second place overall of the 336 finishers. Nick's time was 33:02, Paul hit the finish line in 33:59, Brad Cunningham took 3rd in 34:33 and Harriers Shane Ruljancich placed 4th with a 10K personal best of 35:20. Catrin Jones, of Frontrunners, won the women's race in 39:08, Jessalyn O'Donnell, of CeeVacs, was 2nd in 39:34 and IRR's Melina Thibodeau placed 3rd in 40:04. Nancy dominated the F45 division to win the Masters Series Championship by 40 points over Colleen Butler. She also ended up 83 points ahead of the F40 division winner. There were 4,028 finishers in the 8 races, down 858 from the 2006 Series. Sooke River was down 69 runners from last year and the only two races experiencing increases were Bazan Bay 5K and Merville 15K.
April 15, 2007
Dee Ogden and Jeff Phillips
A brand new master and a promising young junior collected their first-ever age division titles at the Frontrunners Island Race Series today. Dee Ogden battled tooth and nail with LGRR's Holly Schmidt for the entire 8 races and finally edged her at the Sooke River 10K to win the F40 division by a slim 1.2 points. Dee had trailed Holly for 7 races but put together a string of four consecutive gold medal performances in the final 4 races enroute to the master's championship. Jeff Phillips, a talented triathlete and cross country star, dominated the M16 division with a convincing 86 point victory over Harriers team mate Ben Kingstone. Jeff had outstanding races at Pioneer, Mill Bay, Hatley Castle and Bazan Bay. Dee and Jeff join seven other Harriers that won their age categories. PIH gold medalists in the Island Series include Kevin Searle, Todd Howard, Brian Connon, John Woodall, Jim Sargent, Jeff Phillips, Nancy Baxendale, Cheryl Murphy and Dee Ogden. Eight Harriers finished 2nd for a silver medal position including Ben Kingstone, Eric Findlay, Shane Ruljancich, Craig Payne, Chris Kelsall, Les MacNeill, Gary Duncan and Sandi Heal. Six more collected a bronze in Camille Janicki, Phillippe Janicki, Jill Hawe, Daphne Panter, Sheldon Croden and Charlie Ireland. PIH dominated the team division with an outstanding 5,509 points. CeeVacs took second place with 2,152 points and CVRR was third with 1,594 points. There were 121 teams competing in the 2007 Series. PIH has won the club title 24 of the 26 years that the Vancouver Island Race Series has been staged.
April 15, 2007
Dave Jackson and Lucy Smith
Dave and Lucy were the top Harriers in the 23rd annual Sun Run today. There was a record number of 54,317 registrations, 42,778 starters and 42,703 finishers in Canada's largest 10K road race. Dave finished 9th overall in 30:33 and Lucy was 4th female, 62nd overall, in 33:51. The Harriers boasted 6 men in the top 20, more high performance finishers than any other club in Canada. Eric Findlay ran a P.R. of 30:59 to finish 13th, Bruce Deacon was 14th, top master, in 31:00, Jim Finlayson was 16th in 31:04, Graham Cocksedge was 19th in 31:13 and Todd Howard finished 20th also in 31:13. Ethiopian Solomon Tsige won the race in 29:22, Dylan Wykes, from Ontario, was second in 29:23 and BC Cross Country Champion, Ryan Hayden from Richmond, finished 3rd in 29:24. This was the closest Sun Run finish in many years. The top three women were Teyba Erkesso, from Ethiopia, in 32:05, Lioudmila Kortchaguiba, a transplanted Russian now living in Ontario, in 33:20, and Calgary's Lisa Harvey in 33:43. Harriers took two gold medals in age divisions - Nancy Tinari and Bruce Deacon, 3 silvers - Dave Reed, Lucy Smith and Kirsty Smith and 3 bronzes - Eric Findlay, Ian Hallan and Richard Lee.
April 6, 2007
Rumon Carter
The inaugural Fletcher's Challenge 12K Trail Race and 6K Family Run/Walk fired on all cylinders this morning on a spectacular course around and above Westwood Lake in Nanaimo. 105 12K runners and 90 6K participants lined up at 10:00 a.m. in some of the best conditions Vancouver Island has seen this year. The 12K course traced a path around some of the favourite trails of Gavin Fletcher, TC Sports Editor, who was killed in a car accident last December. The event, a fundraiser for the Gavin Fletcher Memorial Fund, saw numbers in excess of the most optimistic projections by race organizers. The money will be used to support Gavin's daughters. The race itself was a fun, low-key affair, highlighted by a the great terrain, a strong field and the amazing homemade baked goods that awaited finishers at the end. In the spirit of the event, awards were not handed out for top finishers so that more draw prizes were available for everyone - and great draw prizes they were. The top men were Stefan Jacobsen and John Loewen finishing in a dead heat for first in 44:52. Justin Mark placed third in 45:34 and Dave DePasquale was fourth, top master, in 45:35. The female winner was Wendy Simms in 54:01; she was 23rd overall of 105 finishers (43 women and 62 men). Second female was Ceri Merrett in 54:22 and Michelle Krall took third in 54:32. The top Harrier was Rumon Carter who ran with Race Director, Norm Thibault and his wife Wendy Simms. Their times were 54:01, 54:02, and 54:03. It was nice to see a number of Gutbuster regulars supporting the event including Race Director Bryan Tasaka. Mike and Linda Walsh, owners of RaceDay.ca Timing Company, not only provided the race results but both participated in the 12K as well.
April 1, 2007
Todd Howard, Dee Ogden and Sandi Heal
Todd locked up the 2007 Series Championship by winning the Merville 15K today, Dee locked up the master women's title with another gold medal performance and Sandi claimed her highest-ever Island Series silver medal finishing position within her age division and collected her first-ever BBBs. Todd's winning time was 48:28. Team mate Eric Findlay finished second in 49:32 and Sean Chester took third in 50:36. The top three women were Katrin Jones, from Frontrunners, in 59:42, Kathy Rung, of CVRR, in 1:02:50 and ORCA's Melissa Ross in 1:02:57. There were 296 finishers at Merville, 32 were Prairie Inn Harriers, in race #7 of the 8 race Series. This in an increase of 5 runners over last year. Shane Ruljancich had another strong race finishing 7th overall in 53:35 as did Chris Kelsall, 3rd M40, Brian Connon, 1st M60, Maree Kennell, 2nd F65, and new member running her first race as a Harrier, Julie van Veelen, who placed 4th in the F30 division, just 4 seconds behind Dee. Charlie Ireland, John Woodall and Jim Sargent also took gold medals in their respective M70, M75 and M80 age divisions. It's simply amazing for Jim to be running that well at the age 83 and John beat 144 of 296 runners at the age of 75!
April 1, 2007
Graham Cocksedge
Our Powell River Harrier, Graham Cocksedge, led a strong field of 198 finishers to win the Spring Classic 5K held yesterday in Stanley Park, Vancouver. His time was 15:20. Second place went to Vancouver's Oliver Utting in 15:32 and Hersey Harriers', Rob Lonergan, took third in an identical time of 15:32. Lonergan was top master. The top three women were Liz Such, of Whistler, in 17:29, Vancouver's Meaghan McCollum, in 17:50, and Kristina Rody, from Whistler, in 18:05. The race is hosted by VFAC and directed by former PIH member, Matt Fedoruk.
March 25, 2007
Nancy Tinari, Norm Tinkham, Tina Connelly and Steve Osaduik
Nancy collected $600 for top master honours and Norm, Tina and Steve all placed second and won $400 each in the first annual Run the Ridge 10K in Maple Ridge today. The event featured a $5,800 prize purse with the top 5 open runners winning $600, $400, $300, $200 and $100 while the masters collected $600, $400 and $300. Richard Mosley, of Coquitlam, won the race in 30:32 and Steve was second overall in 30:40. Mark Bomba took third in 31:13. The top female was RVM two-time winner, Suzanne Evans, from New Westminster, in 36:11. Tina was second in 36:19 and Katrina Driver placed third in 36:27. American Michael Lynes, of Tacoma, was the top master in 33:01. Norm was second master in 34:25 and Nancy was top female master in 37:40; she was 18th overall. There were 99 finishers in the 10K event and an additional 62 finishers in an accompanying 5K race, won by Maple Ridge's Brent Wakefield in 17:24. The top female in the 5K was Megan Hadath in 24:07.
March 25, 2007
Cara Obee, Claire Morgan, Shane Ruljancich and Rumon Carter
Cara, Claire, Shane and Rumon were the top two male and female Harriers in the third annual Royal Roads GutBuster 11.7K race yesterday in a torrential downpour making the trails, nice and muddy and slimey. With the banked camber it made for some interesting manouvering and lots of mud and blood. Absolutely perfect cross country racing conditions! This event kicked off the four-race Frontrunners Gutbuster Series with Race #2 at Mt. Tzouhalem scheduled for April 21. Shane finished 4th overall of the 133 long course finishers, Rumon was 8th and Cara and Claire were second and third behind winner Melanie McQuaid who took the women's race in 1:00:25. Shane's time was 53:07, Rumon's was 55:21, Cara ran 1:03:10 and Claire finished in 1:05:19. Melanie was 23rd overall, Cara was 29th and Claire was 34th. Our 11 year old twins from Sooke, Austin and Brandon Willson, were the top Harriers in the 6K short course by finishing in 44:49 and 44:58, good for 21st and 23rd overall of the 96 finishers. NTC athletes dominated both the long course and short course events with AP Baillargeon-Smith winning the 11.7K race in 51:31 and Nathaniel Stoffelama capturing the 6K win in 34:52. The 229 finishers, total of both distances, was a RR record, up from 207 last year and 144 in the inaugural year of 2005. The GutBuster Series continues to grow in size of field and enthusiasm of competitors.
March 18, 2007
Jon Brown, Cheryl Murphy, Todd Howard and Mike Lord
Jon and Cheryl were the male and female winners and Mike showed a superb improvement at the Comox Half Marathon today, Race #6 in the Frontrunners Island Race Series. Jon won the event and BBBs (Bob's Bonus Browns - Newcastle Brown Ale) with an outstanding time of 1:04:55 to achieve 926 points, the highest of any runner so far this year in the Series. He is currently preparing for the Flora London Marathon and all signs look good. Jon was 5 minutes and 1 second ahead of Harriers team mate, Todd Howard, who took second in 1:09:56. Todd ran 4 seconds faster than his time of last year and recorded his highest points total so far this year. With his third silver medal, Todd is in good position to win the 2007 Island Series Men's Championship. Cheryl won her fourth consecutive Series race at the Comox Half Marathon and locked up the overall IRS Women's Championship for her third consecutive year. She finished in 1:18:12 for a personal best Series time and recognition for finishing under the elite USA open women's benchmark. Mike shaved a remarkable 4 and 1/2 minutes off last year's time to attain a 2 minute half marathon P.R., and establish his highest points ever in 23 Island Series races to date. His mark of 796 was 20 points higher than his previous best race. He, too, is preparing for the London Marathon, along with Rumon Carter, Jim Finlayson, Jon Brown and Steve Osaduik. We should have a crackerjack Harriers team in England at the end of April. Honourable mention for runner-of-the-week at Comox goes to Camie Bentham, Jill Hawe and Les MacNeill. Camie took her first bronze medal in the difficult F35 division, Jill collected her first silver in the F40 division and Les nailed his first gold in the M70 age category. Welcome back to Harriers running their first 2007 Series race - Dave and Diane Dennis, Lisa Cantwell, Garth Reid and Stuart Allen. There were 489 finishers at Comox, down 21 from the 510 finishers of last year. So far Bazan Bay 5K has been the only race to show an increase in number of finishers of the six Series races hosted in 2007.
March 17, 2007
Steve Osaduik and Tina Connelly
Steve and Tina were the overall champions in the highly competitive St. Patrick's Day 5K in Vancouver today. The unique race had no age divisions, just 181 men and 286 women fighting it out for the win. It also featured a one mile split bonus prize, of which Steve and Tina also won by leading the 467 finishers from wire to wire. Steve finished in 15:08, 19 seconds ahead of Vancouver's Phillip Rist. Top master runner, Rob Lonergan of North Vancouver, was 3rd in 15:36 and Victoria's Nik Southwell took 4th in 15:45. Tina finished 20th overall in 17:29, for a 12 second margin of victory over Katrina Driver. Michelle Cushing was 3rd female in 18:35. Harriers' Richard Lee was 11th in 16:47 and Victoria's Kirk McNally was 14th in 17:16.
March 17, 2007
Alexa Turcotte, Philippe Janicki and Alea Minter
Alexa was the top girl and Philippe was the top boy, both receiving attractive merchandise prizes, and Alea was the top baby at the 16th annual St. Patrick's Day 3.5K Run from Ocean Pointe Resort tonight. Alexa was 24th overall in 16:15, of the 122 finishers, and Philippe was 16th in 13:57. Alexa followed it up by doing the double and winning a gold medal in the F15 division in the Comox Half Marathon the following day. Outstanding! The pouring rain made for some very slippery conditions on the out-and-back boardwalk course. The race started at 4:00 p.m., which was 2.5 hours earlier than usual, due to the fact that St. Pat's Day was on a Saturday this year. Many of the runners dressed in Irish costumes and green was the colour of choice both for contestant's uniforms and beer served following the event compliments of Vancouver Island Brewery. Wendy Davies was the top female master with her long, green flowing hair. Big Brothers is the charity of choice and the St. Patrick's Day Run has donated over $16,000 in proceeds to BBs over the years. The UVic Vikes dominated the top end of the field sweeping both the men's and women's divisions. Geoff Martinson won the race in 11:04, Nick Walker was 2nd in 11:11 and Rich Lehman took 3rd in 11:53. Kerry Spearing won the women's race in 12:15; she was 6th overall. Second place went to Lyz Gilgunn in 12:31 and Nancy Fedoruk claimed third in 12:47. Lyz was 8th and Nancy was 10th overall. The top baby, in 25:01, was Alea Minter, daughter of Andrea DePol, being pushed in a baby stroller by proud grandmother Diana DePol. Alea won a baby-sized Frontrunners t-shirt. There were 10 DePols in the race and at the awards ceremony, a long-time 16-year tradition for this running Harriers family.
March 11, 2007
Nancy Tinari and Bruce Deacon
Nancy and Bruce were the top masters in the inaugural Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K at Stanley Park in Vancouver today. This unique race had 23 elite, invited runners from British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario do two 4K laps in front of 700 other runners who ran the same course one hour later in an allcomers race. This made for an excellent spectator event. Bruce finished 7th overall in 25:30 and Nancy was 17th overall in 30:39. Second male master was Tom Nixon, of Vancouver in 31:20 and second female master was Rita Ivanauskas, also of Vancouver, in 31:27. Richmond's Ryan Hayden won the elite race in 23:46, narrowly edging Harriers' Jon Brown by 6 seconds. Steve Osaduik was 4th in 24:35. Calgary's Lisa Harvey won the women's elite race, finishing 9th overall in 27:45. Harriers' Lucy Smith was 10th overall, 2nd female, in 27:51. Tina Connelly was 5th in 29:06. Ben Lee, of Burnaby, won the Harry's Spring Run-Off Allcomers 8K in 27:13. Harriers' Brian McDonald was 5th overall and won the M50 division. The event raised $105,000 for prostate cancer research. There were 741 registrations but only 454 finishers due to the extremely cold, wet and windy conditions on the seawall in Stanley Park.
March 11, 2007
Estoban Huerta, Maree Kennell and Paul Christopher
Estoban, Maree and Paul established impressive personal bests today at the Synergy Health Management Ltd. Bazan Bay 5K in the downtown streets of Sidney. Estoban, son of Canada's famous and fastest race-walker Arturo Huerta, improved his Bazan Bay 5K time by a staggering 6 minutes and 39 seconds. His pace per kilometre improved from 5:35 to 4:15! Estoban's position in the M15 age class jumped from 15th of 20 last year to 6th of 25 this year and his overall position was an incredible 164th compared to 518th last year. Maree won her first-ever gold medal in the F65 division of 13 finishers and recorded her highest points rating of 486 in four Island Series races to date. Paul scored 600 points which is the first time he has reached this milestone in 20 Series races as a Harrier. He moved from 294th overall last year to 184th this year, an increase of 110 positions in a much deeper field of 1,147 finishers. His time of 21:40 sliced 1 minute and 7 seconds off last year's time and he won his first-ever ribbon by finishing 10th of 47 in the M50 division. Chris Callendar, 18:34, and Craig Payne, 18:37, also had excellent personal best races at Bazan Bay.
March 11, 2007
Cheryl Murphy and Eric Kiauka
Cheryl and Eric were the top Harriers and BBBs winners at the Synergy Health Management Ltd. Bazan Bay 5K today under extremely rainy and cool conditions. There were 1,600 registrations, a Series record, and 1,147 finishers, also a big record in the 26 years the Series has been staged. The previous high finishers mark of 909 was also set at Bazan Bay last year. Trevor O'Brien, from Newfoundland, outkicked Eric Kiauka to win the race by a mere second, 15:09 to 15:10. Steve Murenbeeld placed third in 15:21 while Harriers' Eric Findlay was 4th in 15:27. Cheryl topped the women's race in 17:22 to finish 36th overall in a highly competitive men's and women's field. Marilyn Arseneault was 2nd in 17:46 and Jen MacLean, from Vancouver, took 3rd in 18:24. The Harriers boasted 77 finishers and 10 gold medals in the race with Ian Hallam, Richard Lee, Paul O'Callaghan, Cheryl Murphy, Gary Duncan, Brian Connon, Nancy Baxendale, Dee Ogden, John Woodall, and Maree Kennell all winning their age divisions.
March 4, 2007
Adam Lawrence, Paul O'Callaghan and Gary Duncan
Adam staged a very successful second annual Layritz 8.8K Trail Pursuit today by increasing his finishers from 10 last year to 40 this year. The race went off well and results were posted on the web site within a few hours of the finish. He also made a ton of delicious chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate for all runners and volunteers. Paul, 42, won the race despite a 12 minute handicap in a unique event where the oldest runners start first and every 5 year age category starts 2 minutes later. Paul's running time was 32:25, his handicap time was 44:25, a course record for quite a difficult cross country race. Last year's winner, Gary, placed second overall at the age of 49. His actual running time was 35:10 with a 10:45 age class handicap for 45:55. Of the 40 finishers, 5 were Harriers. The top female was Catrin Jones from Frontrunners in 38:15 with a 14:04 handicap for 52:19. She was 14th overall.
February 25, 2007
Craig Payne, Ben Kingstone and Shane Ruljancich
Craig, Ben and Shane showed huge improvements on the challenging Royal Roads course today by establishing P.R.s at the Hatley Castle 8K race. Craig jumped from 37:41 last year to 31:35 this year, a remarkable improvement of 6 minutes, 6 seconds. He finished 3rd in his age class, 41st overall this year, compared to 18th in his age class, 166th overall last year. It was the first time in 9 Series races where Craig has averaged under 4 minutes per kilometre. Ben did the unthinkable by running Hatley Castle 8K faster than he ran Pioneer 8K, a much easier course. His time at Hatley moved from 32:12 to 29:41, a 2:31 improvement over 2006. He was 4th in the highly competitive junior age division. Shane has been improving every race and Hatley was a first-time effort for him. He ended up running 28:49 which was 1 minute, 8 seconds faster than his Pioneer time of last year. He won a bronze medal in his age division and finished 12th overall compared to 49th at Pioneer in 2006 where he was 9th in his age class.
February 25, 2007
Bruce Hawkes, Eric Findlay and Cheryl Murphy
Bruce completed his 100th consecutive Island Series race, Eric broke a consecutive string of six straight Steve Osaduik victories and Cheryl won her first-ever Hatley Castle 8K at Royal Roads today in Race No. 4 of the Frontrunners Series. The awards ceremony started with a special presentation to Bruce entitled the "VIRA Century Endurance Award". Over a 12-year period from 1995 to 2007, he was recognized for completing 100 consecutive Island Series races. This has been no mean feat, as one year he ran the Elk/Beaver 50K Ultramarathon on Saturday and followed it up with the Bazan Bay 8K on Sunday. No injuries or illnesses have kept him from his century goal. Bruce has now run more IRS events than anyone else in the 26 history of the VIRA Series. Eric won his first-ever Island Series race by pulling away from Todd Howard in the last 500 metres; the two team mates ran shoulder to shoulder for the first 7.5K. Harriers swept the top three spots with Eric placing first in 26:05, Todd taking second in 26:14 and Graham Cocksedge claiming third in 26:57 after completing a hard 45K cycle from the ferry to Royal Roads. Cheryl dominated the women's race by winning in 29:43. UVic's Nancy Fedoruk was second in 31:32 and Harriers' Nancy Baxendale took third, top master in the field, in 31:59. There were 392 finishers at Hatley, down 52 from last year's 444.
February 18, 2007
Richard Lee and Helena Watling
Richard and Helena were not only the top masters but were the top overall male and female in the Historic 8K in Langley today. Richard, 45, won the race by over 2 minutes with a time of 28:01. Second place went to Mikey Ross, of Mission, in 30:08 and Vancouver's Duncan Wood finished third in 30:16. Helena, 43, was 7th overall out of 206 finishers in the Historic 8K, run in conjunction with the Historic Half Marathon. She finished in 34:27. Jan Leech was the second female in 37:00 and Krista Gilbert took third in 39:45. There were 47 men and 159 women in the race including five other PI Hellions besides Helena. Anita Carter and Sandi Berry finished 1-2 in the F50 division, Alana O'Connell was 5th in the F40 division and Bev Cardle and Leona Winstone were 5th and 6th in the F50 division.
February 18, 2007
Eric Findlay, Lucy Smith, Paul O'Callaghan and Robbie Cracknell
Eric Findlay ran a strong race by chasing team mate Eric Kiauka for 3 kilometres in the second annual Bear Mountain 3.5K Summit Challenge today. After taking the lead for about 100 metres, he relinquised it to overall winner Kris Swanson, who won the race in a new course record time of 13:12. Eric F. was 2nd in 13:24 and Eric K. was 4th in 13:51. Paul was the top master, 7th overall, in 14:31 while Robbie was top junior, 10th overall, in 14:55. Lucy led the women's field in 15:03, breaking her own course record by 22 seconds. She was 11th overall of the 102 finishers, exactly the same number of finishers as in the inaugural year of 2006.
February 11, 2007
Norm Tinkham, Judith Leroy and Jack Miller
Norm was the top master in 1:13:59, Judith was the third F30 finisher, 5th female, in 1:22:59 and Jack was the top M60 runner in 1:24:18 at the First Half half marathon in Vancouver today. The race was won in a course record time of 1:04:44 by Richmond's Ryan Hayden, running his first-ever half. The top female was Lisa Harvey in 1:16:42. Harriers' Steve Osaduik finished 3rd in 1:06 54. There were 2010 finishers in this event that sells out in one day of online only registrations.
February 11, 2007
Jim Finlayson, Cheryl Murphy Austin Willson and Brandon Willson
Jim and Cheryl collected the Bob's Bonus Buds and Austin and Brandon collected the Bob's Bonus Bears (Gummies) at the Cedar 12K today, race number 3 of the Island Series. Jim followed up with his Mill Bay win by taking the victory at Cedar in 38:29. PIH team mates Todd Howard and Eric Findlay finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in 38:46 and 39:28. Cheryl was top female in 43:24. She was 19th overall of the 363 finishers. Twins Austin and Brandon took 3rd and 4th in their M15 age category at the age of 11. They are new members this year and have run all three Series races to date. They are nephews of Sandy Auburn.
February 10, 2007
Simon Whitfield, Adam Campbell, Kyle Jones and Colin Jenkins
Simon and Adam took the 1-2 positions in the second annual Sedona Half Marathon while Kyle and Colin took 1-2 in the accompanying 5K race. Simon's time was 1:13:06 and Adam's was 1:13:53 in an extremely hilly, hot and humid course at 4,500 feet altitude in southern Arizona. There were 492 finishers in the half and 487 in the 5K. The top female half marathoner was Victoria's Jill Savage in 1:23:17. She was 7th overall. Kyle's winning time was 15:44 and Colin's was 16:22. Third place went to Victoria's Daniel Wells in 17:07. They were the only 3 Victoria men in the race. Eighteen year old Kirsten Sweetland had an enormous race in the 5K by finishing top female, 7th overall, in 18:34. The seven Victoria triathletes, along with the rest of the Canadian Team managed by Adam Campbell, are currently training in Flagstaff in preparation for the upcoming Olympic qualifying year.
February 10, 2007
Dave Jackson and Eric Kiauka
Both Dave and Eric ran personal best 3000 metre races at the highly competitive 2007 Husky Classic Track Meet today in Seattle. There were 88 runners in the 3K race spread over 5 sections. Dave ran 3rd to finish in 8:20.13 in Section 3 and Eric was 7th in Section 2 in a time of 8:12.95. Full results are available at http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/c-track/stats/2006-2007/07classic.html
February 4, 2007
Lucy Smith, Bruce Deacon and Gary Duncan
Running their very first Island Series race as a master, Bruce and Lucy achieved top over-40 honours at the Mill Bay 10K last Sunday, while Gary claimed his second consecutive gold medal in the M50 master ranks. Bruce finished 7th overall in 33 minutes flat, while Lucy was top female, 19th overall, in 35:38 to win her first package of Bob's Bonus Buds. Gary dominated the M50 category, running 38:03 and winning his age class by almost a minute and a half. G's leadership and hard work at TNWs has resulted in another top level performance. Dr. Hip recommended that he head down to the local Y to immediately take some neck strengthening exercises so that he could support the 8 gold medals hanging over his shoulders by the time the final race at Sooke River rolls around. Bruce, Lucy and Gary join a long list of other successful Prairie Inn Harriers masters also atop their respective age categories including Colleen Butler, Angela Plamondon, Roger Plamondon, Brian Connon, John Woodall, Maurice Tarrant and Jim Sargent.
January 28, 2007
Jim Finlayson, Cameron Levins and Jeffrey Phillips
Jim, Cam and Jeff finished 1-2-3 today at the Mill Bay 10K run under cold, crisp and sunny conditions with an early start of 9:00 a.m. A thin layer of frost greeted the runners on the out-and-back race course. Their times were 31:52, 32:41 and 32:47, earning them a star for running under the USA age group standard and achieving a top performance of 1% or better of all runners in North America in their respective age categories. Jim won the M35 division while Cam and Jeff, both 17, finished 1-2 in the M19 division. The top three females in the race were also Harriers - Lucy Smith, 35:38, Carolyn Murray, 36:05, and Cheryl Murphy, 36:35. There were 511 finishers at Mill Bay, down 149 from their record year of last year with 660 finishers.
January 21, 2007
Steve Osaduik, Eric Kiauka, Jeff Phillips and Carolyn Murray
Steve, Eric and Jeff swept 1-2-3 overall positions at the Pioneer 8K today. Carolyn captured the top female spot and collected BBBs for her first time. Steve won the race for his second consecutive year in 24:18. Eric ran 25:33 and junior sensation, Jeff, posted an impressive 25:35 to break the long-standing 19-year-old M19 record of Paddy McCluskey, set in 1988. Carolyn passed early leader, Jen MacLean, in the last 400 metres for a 5 second margin of victory. She was 31st overall of the 494 finishers in 29:14. With the date change due to snow and ice on January 14, the Pioneer 8K saw a drop in attendance of 235 runners from their 2006 record year of 729 finishers.
January 21, 2007
Sandy Anderson, Shawn Nelson, David Hoskins and Cathy Noel
Sandy, Shawn, David and Cathy boasted the most improved times for the club over last year's race results at the Pioneer 8K today. Sandy shaved 2 minutes, 48 seconds off her time of 2006, David improved by 1:58, Cathy lowered her time by 1:45 and Shawn jumped from 43rd overall to 13th overall with his time of 27:00, an improvement of 2 minutes and 11 seconds.
January 15, 2007
Gerry Etcheverry
Gerry was the first friend to step forward to help another friend in need. He brought a huge vat of home made turkey stew to 1251, has modified his rigorous Ironman training schedule to accommodate exercising two active dogs regularly and has recently spent two days shovelling ice and snow from a friend's driveway to allow vehicle access. With all this upper body work, power cranking and hill training, he will be assured to enjoy personal bests at the New Balance Half Ironman in June, the Ironman Canada in August and the World Ironman Championships in Hawaii in October. We certainly wish him the very best of luck. His big heart and sheer determination will carry him a long way!
January 8, 2007
Steve Osaduik
Steve ran 24 races in 2006 and finished first overall in 15 of them. He was second in 4 others including the BC Cross Country Championships. He ran road races, track, cross country and mountain races. Of the 24 events, 15 were BC Athletics or Athletics Canada sanctioned races. Even more impressive, Steve won 14 of 15 road races that he entered including the Times Colonist 10K for the third consecutive year, the James Cunningham Seawall Race in Vancouver, the Royal Victoria Marathon breaking a 25-year-old course record, the Haney-Harrison Relay and the Canadian Half Marathon Championships in Edmonton. In 2006, he ran a 10K P.B. of 29:57, a 5K P.B. of 14:16, an 8K P.B. of 23:39 and a marathon P.B. of 2:16:49, the fastest marathon time run by a Canadian in Canada in the last 5 years. Steve has won the Frontrunners Island Race Series championship title 5 of the last 6 years. No other road runner in British Columbia or Canada can match these performances in 2006. He has been nominated as the BC Athletics Senior Road Runner of the Year and Cross Country Runner of the Year. Winners will be announced at the Annual General Meeting in Richmond this Saturday evening. With his brilliant year, I predict Steve will win them both hands down.
January 1, 2007
Bruce Deacon, Aaron Holmgren, Nancy Baxendale and Angela Plamondon
Running his first race as a master since turning 40 three weeks earlier, Bruce staged a huge fight with youngster Aaron Holmgren in the Run Through Time at UVic last night to mark the end of 2006. The Harriers duo ran stride for stride for the entire 5 kilometres before Aaron's young legs out-kicked Bruce's seasoned legs at the tape for a one second margin of victory, 15:39 to 15:40. Craig Odermatt, of Pacific Athletics, took third in 15:50. Nancy and Angela finished 1-2 in the master's ranks and 1-3 overall in the women's field. Nancy won the event in 18:40, Charlene Waldner placed second in 18:45 while Angela finished third in 19:11. There were 350 runners and all proceeds went to Runners of Compassion - Victoria Chapter. Many valuable draw prizes followed in the UVic auditorium.
