December 31, 2002
Jim Finlayson and Laura Leno
Jim and Laura were the top Harrier finishers in the Run Through Time 5K at UVic on New Year's Eve. Jim won the race outright in 14:37, beating Olympic middle-distance aces Graham Hood and Zach Whitmarsh and fellow former national XC team member Graham Cocksedge. Laura was second female overall to Diane Cummins.
December 29, 2002
Dan Harlow
Dan led a large group of Harriers through an 80 minute run in Goldstream Park. He loves to run trails and frequently "tests his fitness level" on the long uphill climbs where he tends to walk away from the rest of the runners.
December 26, 2002
Sylvan Smyth
Sylvan organized another successful Harriers Boxing Day 10-mile Handicap. Over 50 runners braved the cold Boxing Day air, with novice racer Russ Jones winning by just a few seconds over Adena Cronk.
December 23, 2002
John McKay
Long time member and veteran of over 25 years of running at Thetis Lake Park, John led a group of Harriers through his old stomping grounds in Esquimalt to view the Christmas Lights on Wollaston Street and other areas.
December 16, 2002
Kevin Jones
The legendary shuffler, Dr. Spin, ran the Mount Douglas Gutbuster course which included cresting the summit three times. He was led by Dr. A. and Dr. Loose and Spin did not whimper once on the climbs.
December 9, 2002
Wendy Davies
Wendy was the top Harrier in the Beat the Christmas Rush 5K. She was fourth female overall and top master in the race with a time of 20:16.
December 2, 2002
Helena Watling and Linda Gibson
Helena and Linda ran the half marathon in conjunction with the Seattle Marathon. Helena had one of the best races of her life, running 1:30. Helena placed second in her age group and Linda placed third in her age group.
December 2, 2002
Aaron Holmgren, Laura Leno, Adena Cronk, Susan Denny
Aaron and Laura were the first Harriers finished in the Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic. Adena, running her first race, and Susan, running her best race, finished second and third in their age categories.
November 25, 2002
Ken Smythe
Ken has been the Prairie Inn Harriers equipment manager for 21 consecutive years. He is also our "hot chocolate man". Two weeks ago he had a knee replacement and could not make the Thetis Relays or the Gunner Shaw Cross Country but he was there in spirit. He loaned his van and hot chocolate pots to John McKay so that John, Karen Hughes and Sandy Auburn could carry on with the tradition that Ken started 18 years ago by serving hot chocolate on a cold, wet day after a PIH race. He was there the very first year and has never missed a year at Thetis.
November 18, 2002
Doug Gregory
Doug, a long time runner and good friend of Gunner Shaw, helped lay out the Thetis Relays and Gunner Shaw race courses at Thetis Lake. He was there the Friday before the GS race to put up surveyor's flagging, then arrived at 8:00 a.m. the morning of the race to finish the course marking. One hour before the start, he ran the course again to check the markings and he also ran with the last runner over the entire course to take down the flagging. That's 40K in 2 days and he still made it to the Six Mile first to organize the post-race refreshments.
November 11, 2002
Bruce Deacon and Philippe Janicki
Bruce ran all four laps himself in the Harriers Thetis Lake 20K Relay today and beat all but one of the record field of 85 teams. Pacific Athletics won in 1:03:58 and Bruce, running as the PIH Deacon Express, finished exactly one minute behind averaging 16:15 per 5K lap. Nine year old Philippe Janicki ran a tremendous 22:56 to anchor PIH Team Janicki to 5th place in the competitive Junior Mixed Division.
November 3, 2002
Helena Watling, Mike Stone and Marg Melvin
Helena, Mike and Marg captained the three Harriers teams in the Haney to Harrison 100K relay yesterday. Mike's team, the PIH Sneakers, finished fourth overall in 6:04:26. Helena's team, Chicks and Dicks, finished 20th overall and third in the Open Mixed Division in 6:55:09. Marg's team of the Hellions finished 260th overall and was the fourth master women's team. Winner of the Relay was "Not Lost and Not Injured" in 5:27:44. There were 356 teams. Carlos Castillo ran the 100K ultra and finished 6th of 20 ultramarathoners with a time of 9:54:18.
November 3, 2002
Barbora Brych
Barb was fifth of 356 runners on the very difficult, mountainous H2H Stage 7 yesterday. She was clearly the best Harrier of the three PIH teams. Her time of 49:34 for 13.4K was nearly 4 minutes faster than the second female, Nancy Baxendale, and 2 minutes faster than former boyfriend Chad DePol's time.
October 27, 2002
Paddy (Walter) McCluskey
Paddy placed sixth overall in the B.C. Cross Country Championships in Coquitlam today. His time was 32:19 over the 10,175 metre course. The race was won by former Victorian Jerry Ziak in 31:43 and featured 41 of the top cross country senior men in the province. Paddy's performance earned him a spot on the B.C. Senior Men's Team in the Canadian Cross Country Championships which take place in Moncton, NB on November 30.
October 27, 2002
Hillerie Denning and Rob Grant
Hillerie and Rob were the top Harriers in the Shawnigan Half Marathon today. The race was won by Kevin Searle in 1:19:42 and the top female was Charlene Waldner in 1:31:55. Rob was 15th overall, 2nd in his age class, in 1:28:52 and Hillerie was the top master, 6th female, 56th overall in 1:36:44. There were 244 finishers.
October 20, 2002
Lori Bowden
Lori finished third in the Hawaiian Ironman world championships yesterday. It was her fifth appearance in Hawaii where she has collected one gold, three silvers and one bronze medal. Even more fitting, Lori was elected to the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame today. Congratulations to a marvellous, dedicated young lady.
October 13, 2002
Three PIH Teams
The Prairie Inn Harriers swept the team competition at the 23rd annual Royal Victoria Marathon today. The men's team comprised of Kelvin Broad, Walter Cantwell, Tim Tanton and Chris Kelsall finished first overall with a combined time of 11:23:59. The women's team of Sandi Begg, Janice Robinson, Binder Kelsall and Patti Walsh were the top women's team and finished second overall in 14:55:18. The team of Herb Phillips, Rob Grant, Bill Scriven and Randy Jones finished third in the master men's division in 13:32:10.
October 13, 2002
Jon Brown
Jon won the Royal Victoria Half Marathon with a blistering time of 1:02:32. This broke Bruce Deacon's course record by nearly 8 minutes and Jon finished a clear ten and a half minutes ahead of the second place runner, Mark Sherman. There were 2,963 finishers in the Royal Vic. Half. This was the fastest time ever run on Vancouver Island and in Canada for 13.1 miles. His pace per mile was 4:47. Simply outstanding and clearly the highlight of the RVM Festival. You may never ever witness a faster half marathon in your lifetime in the Greater Victoria area!
October 6, 2002
Dr. F.O.
Dr. F.O. was the top bowler last night in the Second Annual Fluff World Championship Bowling Tournament. There were 32 Harriers to put the big ball on the floor. He rolled 292 for two games but his team came up a few pins short and had to settle as runners-up to the World Champions "Bob's Bowling Buds".
September 29, 2002
Nancy Davis
Nancy organized a very successful and popular run, walk and cycle on the Cowichan River Trail followed by lunch at the Zanatta Winery Restaurant. It was the second club social event that she has coordinated with the first being an E&N train trip and retreat on Mount Washington.
September 22, 2002
Carlos Castillo
Carlos was first overall in the 56K Great Lake Walk around Lake Cowichan yesterday with a time of 5:08:50. There were 861 finishers in the inaugural event.
September 15, 2002
Steven Shelford, Brian Kendrick and Wendy Davies
In the Landsend 5K race last weekend, Steven finished second overall in 19:00 while husband and wife team of Brian Kendrick and Wendy Davies both collected silver medals for placing second in the master men's and master women's divisions. It was Brian's first race in 20 years where he was a star runner for the Dusty Sneakers as was Wendy. That is where they met.
September 8, 2002
Sandi Begg
Sandi was the top female in the Landsend Half Marathon today with a time of 1:32:59. She was 45th overall of the 271 finishers. Probably happier for her performance at the awards ceremony, Sandi also won the major draw prize of New Balance shoes.
September 1, 2002
Kevin and Michelle McFadzen
New members, Kevin and Michelle, started running with the Harriers at Prior Lake in July and August. They just moved to Victoria from Lethbridge, Alberta. Their first club race was the Harriers Songhees 5K where Kevin finished 13th overall, 6th in his age division, in 18:39 and Michelle was 9th female, 2nd in her age division, in 23:16.
August 25, 2002
Lori Bowden
Seven weeks after winning the Austrian Ironman and coming within 29 seconds of a world record, Lori won Ironman Canada in Penticton today. Her run split of 2:56 was the third fastest marathon by a woman ever in a triathlon and was faster than all but four men. It was her eleventh first place finish at an international Ironman competition.
August 18, 2002
Christopher Kelsall and Walter Cantwell
Chris recorded a gigantic personal best for 10K by finishing 13th overall of the 179 runners and walkers in the fourth Annual Sound and Silence race today on Lochside Trail. His time was 37:31 which is about a minute better than his previous 10K P.R. Walter finished 3rd overall in 34:51 after setting a target of trying to break 35 minutes in his training lead-up to the RVM. The race was won by Brent McMahon in 32:42 and Gillian Moody, who also ran a P.R. of 35:48, finishing fourth overall. Harriers Bernie Zorn and Christine Thate topped the 10K walking division.
August 17, 2002
Sandi Begg
Sandi topped the women's field today at the Gutbuster III, a 10.5K trail run at Westwood Lake, just north of Nanaimo. Her time was 50 something but times are irrelevant on these adventure runs where distances vary and degree of difficulty is far more important. Expect a lot of elevation change and difficult trail running conditions. Lots of roots and boulders. Steep ups and downs. For her effort, Sandi won a weekend for two at a Nanaimo Lodge including all meals and a new pink running top. Not bad!
August 11, 2002
Mike Stone
At the 24th Annual Delta Half Marathon today, Mike finished 5th overall with a personal best time of 1:17:45 under sunny and hot conditions. He was second in his age division. The race was won by Nanaimo's David Matte in 1:11:31 and there were 493 finishers. Most of the Harriers were at the corn roast that day, but Mike showed up about 3:00 p.m. with a smile from ear to ear and a story to tell about his new P.R.!
August 4, 2002
Paul Petersen and Sandy Mullen
Paul and Sandy were the top Harriers finishers in the 23rd Annual Sri Chinmoy Triathlon today. This is the oldest and longest standing race of its type in British Columbia. Paul was 43rd overall of 244 finishers in 2:26:36 and was 33rd of 135 in the men's division. Sandy was 124th overall in 2:47:04 and was 23rd of 97 in the women's division. The race was won by Mike Basanta in 2:02:26 and Pam Enns in 2:14:59.
July 28, 2002
Ken Smythe
Ken hosted a very successful run and walk in the grounds of Royal Roads today and followed up by inviting 45 plus Harriers to his home on Glen Lake for a swim and BBQ. Ken is retiring this year as Harriers Equipment Manager after 21 years of dedicated service to the club. Bravo Ken, thanks for your tremendous support over the years.
July 21, 2002
Walter Cantwell
At the Great Sooke 12.3 Foot Race today, Walter placed second overall to winner Steve Osaduik with a time of 46:07. He won his age division as did other Harriers Rob Grant and Mark Colegrave. Walter has an ambitious racing schedule leading up to the Royal Victoria Marathon where he hopes to run in the 2:30's. He gave an enlightening talk at the last Harriers monthly meeting outlining his training schedule.
July 14, 2002
Lori Bowden
Lori had an outstanding performance today winning the Austrian Ironman in 8:51:21. She was 7th overall but, more importantly, she recorded a personal best by 4 minutes and narrowly missed the World Record by 29 seconds for a full distance triathlon. It was her tenth Ironman victory and will put her in good position to recapture her world championship status in Kona, Hawaii this September.
July 7, 2002
Sylvan Smyth
Sylvan was third Harrier finished and 14th overall in the Sidney Days 5.2K on Monday and today he is in Calgary at the Calgary Marathon managing a booth to promote the Royal Victoria Marathon on October 13. Sylvan is coordinating technical aspects of the RVM races including overseeing the Start/Finish line.
July 1, 2002
Sandy Stewart and Aaron Holmgren
Sandy was the top master and fifth finisher overall at the Sidney Days 5.2K race today in 18:51 with a brilliant sprint to the finish line to nip age group rival Grant Giles who was given the same time. Aaron, who won the race last year, was second overall of the 147 finishers in 17:31. The race was won by Greg Bennett in 15:57. The course was long by 175 metres.
June 27, 2002
Enock Ketter, Bruce Deacon and Katrina Blomkvist
Enock led the record field of 329 finishers home in the 18th Annual Twilight Shuffle 4 Mile Race in Chemainus tonight. His time of 18:31 erased Gary Barber's course record of 19:04 set in 1991. Bruce finished second overall in 19:09 and collected an incentive bonus for finishing under the elite standard of 20 minutes. Katrina won her age division, finishing 160th overall, in 36:04 on her 19th birthday!
June 23, 2002
Lisa Cantwell
Lisa was the top female Harrier, 831st overall of 1,727 finishers, in 1:55:28 at the Scotiabank Half Marathon today in Vancouver won by Enock Ketter in 1:04:18. Lisa's time was an outstanding 13 minutes faster than her Scotiabank Half last year. Immagine that - one minute per mile improvement!!!
June 22, 2002
Aaron Holmgren
Aaron placed 2nd overall in the Gutbuster 10K Mountain Run at Heart Mountain, Ladysmith today. His time was 50:45. The race features 400 metres in elevation gain and was won by Ruari Carthew in 48:36. There were 67 finishers including Harriers Carlos Castillo who was 13th in 1:02:13 and Randy Jones 43rd in 1:17:17.
June 16, 2002
Bill Scriven and Gwyn Woodson
Bill finished the Nike International Triathlon today in 2:26:59. He was 71st overall out of 216 finishers but, more importantly, won his age division by a staggering one hour and seven minutes. Gwyn also won her age category in 2:30:09 good for 79th overall and 9th female. She beat the next W50 woman by over 9 minutes.
June 9, 2002
Randy Jones
Randy completed back-to-back long races on consecutive weekends, first running well in the Gold River to Thasis 62.5K Great Walk then following up the next weekend with a good performance at the Edge to Edge Marathon from Tofino to Ucluelet.
June 2, 2002
Sylvan Smyth, Carlos Castillo and Walter Cantwell
A trio of Harriers all captured third place overall in their respective races on the weekend. Sylvan placed third in the Panorama Duathlon in 1:36:36, Carlos placed third in the Great Walk 62K in 5 hours 40 minutes and Walter placed third in the Firefighters 10.2K Trail Run in 39:08.
May 26, 2002
Sandi Begg
Sandi was the top Harrier and finished third in her age class, 56th overall of 227 finishers, in the Triathlon for Healing at Royal Roads today. Her finishing time of 1:17:22 was about 4 minutes faster than last year.
May 26, 2002
Dan Harlow and Laura Leno
Dr. Participator and Dr. LLeno T-world topped the field at today's Hare 'n Hounds Adventure Run in Francis-King Park. Dan outguessed and outlegged the other 26 hounds to finish in 33:59 and was awarded the coveted "Top Dog" medal. Laura finished one second behind and collected the "Top Old Bitch" award for being both the first female and first master female finisher.
May 22, 2002
Barbora Brych
New member, Barb Brych, made her debut as a Harrier at the Victoria International Track Meet tonight and placed a respectable 6th in the women's 3,000 metre race. Her time was 9:39.15. Look for more good performances from Barb in cross country, track and road races this summer and fall.
May 12, 2002
Gord Bonwick and Bruce Deacon
Gord was the top Harrier at the UVic 5K in 17:20 and placed 4th overall of the 400 finishers. It was his first Bonus Buds win. Bruce ran a terrific Ottawa Marathon in 2:15:45 to place second overall to winner Joseph Nderitu of Kenya in 2:14:04. Another Kenyan, Jeffery Letting, was third in 2:19:44. There were 2,484 finishers.
May 5, 2002
Mike Stone
Mike capped off a personal best Vancouver Island Race Series with his highest finish ever at the Port Alberni Paper Chase. He finished 3rd overall in 34:48, only 32 seconds behind winner Rob Harmsworth. His time was identical to the previous Series 10K at Sooke River and 24 seconds faster that his TC10K time. Mike obviously likes the tougher, hillier courses!
May 4, 2002
Carlos Castillo and Rob Grant
Carlos won the Harriers Elk/Beaver National Ultramarathon Championships 50 Mile race in 6:58:36. It was his third consecutive 50 Mile victory at E/B and, more importantly, was clearly his best ultra ever with a 42 minute improvement over last year.
Rob finished 7th overall in the feature 100K Division of the National Championships in 9:17:49. This was about 24 minutes faster than last year where he recorded 9:41:28.
May 3, 2002
Jon Brown
Perhaps our fastest club member in the history of PIH, Jon Brown ran an amazing 27:53 for 10,000 metres in Stanford at the Cardinal Invitational Track Meet today. This blistering time only placed him 6th overall in a field of 17 world class athletes; he was 3 seconds behind Jeff Schiebler. The race was dedicated to, and in honour of, Jon's long time coach and manager, Kim McDonald, who died last year.
April 28, 2002
Lori Bowden
Another brand new club member, Lori Bowden, suited up with her Harriers uniform in the TC10K and placed 6th female overall, 2nd in her age division, in 37:02. Lori also came to the club run with the Kenyans on Wednesday prior to the race. With her ambitious triathloning schedule, it is a treat to welcome Lori into some local cross country and road races. Besides her tremendous endurance attributes as evidenced in her full Hawaii Ironman and other triathlon performances, she has some blinding speed to offer in the shorter distance races.
April 21, 2002
Shelagh Machin
Shelagh was our top female Harrier at the Merville 15K and first-time winner of the coveted Bob's Bonus Buds. She was 3rd in her age category and ran 1:12:12 after predicting a 1:12:00 performance. Not bad!
April 21, 2002
Bruce Deacon
Brand new club member, Bruce Deacon, had two outstanding races at the Sun Run and the TC10K. He ran 29:28, 8th overall, 2nd Canadian, of the 42,000 plus in the Sun Run and followed that up one week later with a 30:02, 5th overall, 1st Canadian, at the TC10K with 8,000 plus runners. He was with right the Africans through the 9 kilometre mark and had a chance of winning it all. He has won the TC10K three previous times.
April 14, 2002
Bob Janicki
Bob brought his entire family and friends to participate in the wet and cold club run from Sooke Potholes to Leechtown and back today. Bob ran with the lead group, Philippe ran with the middle group and Martine walked with about five young children. I wouldn't want to pay his food bill at the Cove Point Restaurant following the run! Twenty-two Harriers enjoyed lunch after the club run.
April 7, 2002
Bill Scriven
Bill's 39:52 at the Sooke River 10K today is the first time in over 5 years that he has broken 40 minutes for that distance. Bill also recorded his highest point total ever for an Island Series race within the last three years of 691. He was second in the M55 division, also his highest finish ever.
March 31, 2002
Carlos Castillo and Randy Jones
Carlos and Randy ran the Mount Tzouhalen 10K Gutbuster on Saturday then did the 12 mile East Sooke Park Wilderness run on Sunday. Overall the two probably ran about 20 miles of trail hills without a flat spot anywhere in sight. Pure character.
March 24, 2002
Brian and Nelda Turner
Brian and Nelda ran their first New Balance Island Series race of the year by completing the Bazan Bay 5K today. Nelda collected 17 points and Brian collected 12 points for the club. Congratulations!
March 17, 2002
Robert Hugh Reid and Robert Hugh Reid
Dr. Arthur (Bob) and Dr. Rubber Legs (Rob) were the only two Harriers foolish enough to run two races in the same day. First doing the Mill Bay 10K, then completing the St. Patrick's 3.4K, the Roberts continue to run.....
March 17, 2002
Graeme Benn and Steven Shelford
Both Graeme and Steven ran 10K personal bests at Mill Bay today. Graeme ran 40:49 compared to his 2001 Mill Bay time of 51:34! Steve ran 38:09 compared to his 2001 Mill Bay time of 40:42. Both have shown significant improvement all year.
March 10, 2002
Randy Jones and Bob Flindell
Randy improved his time by 8 minutes over his last year's performance at the Comox Half Marathon today. Bob improved his time by 3 minutes and finished 5th in his age division in 1:28. Both ran personal bests and, considering the driving, freezing rain for the entire race, that is quite an accomplishment.
March 3, 2002
Dan Harlow
Although he claims that he hasn't really run in 7 months, Dan led a strong group of avid trail runners over Babbington Hill in East Sooke Park today and didn't struggle one little bit. A weekly leader at Thetis, Dan thrives on trail running and especially likes Roche Cove and Witty's Lagoon. Mention any trail run on lower Vancouver Island and Dan will be there, leading all the way!
February 24, 2002
Rumon Carter, Herb Phillips and Helena Watling
New members Rumon Carter and Herb Phillips had outstanding runs at the Hatley Castle 8K today. Rumon was the top Harrier, 12th overall of 406 finishers in 28:34 and Herb was 1st in his age division and third Harrier of 38 club members. Helena was 5th female overall and top Harrier in 33:41. A strong climber, Hatley is where Hill-ena excels.
February 17, 2002
Philippe Janicki
8-year-old Philippe led the second running group every step of the way on a demanding 9 mile trail run at the Goldstream Park club run. It was his longest training run ever, one hour and thirty minutes with plenty of hills.
February 10, 2002
Mike Stone
Stoner was our top Harrier at the Cedar 12K finishing 9th overall and winning the Bob's Bonus Buds with a tremendous finishing kick to edge out Greg Stubbs and Cliff Kennell. En route, Mike set personal bests for 5K, 8K, 10K and 12K on a fairly difficult course.
February 3, 2002
Sylvan Smyth
As Race Director, Sylvan put a lot of time, energy and organization into the staging of the 2002 Central Saanich Pioneer 8K. The number of finishers was 610 this year compared to 360 from last year. Congratulations are in order to him and all of the Pioneer Race Committee for turning the race into an outstanding event with a substantial financial profit to the club.
January 27, 2002
Terry Turcotte
Terry is definitely in line for the most improved runner this year. After losing 30 pounds he ran the Pioneer 8K eight minutes and 18 seconds faster than his previous year. At Cedar he shaved a huge 30 minutes, 24 seconds off his previous Cedar time! His points went from 376 to 571. Now that is a big time P.R.
January 20, 2002
Graeme Benn
At the age of 13, Graeme won the 15 and Under age division of the Central Saanich Pioneer 8K in 31:30, a staggering 6 minutes faster than he ran the same course in two years ago. A six minute improvement over 8 kilometres is an enormous accomplishment. He was also voted the PIH Stewart Fall Junior of the Year for the second consecutive year.
January 13, 2002
Jim Finlayson
Flying Finn was first overall in the Central Saanich Pioneer 8K leading a strong field of 610 finishers, up from last years 360. Jim ran a relaxed 25:11. He is on the Canadian Team and is currently training for the World XC Championships in Belfast, Ireland in early March.
January 8, 2002
Simon Cowell, Sandy Stewart and Sandi Begg
At the Annual Harriers Awards Presentations tonight, Simon, Sandy and Sandi were named the Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runners for 2001. All three had outstanding performances throughout the year.
January 1, 2002
Robert Bostrom and Keegan Reid
Robert finished precicely at zero on the clock in the Harriers Annual New Year's Day 10K Memorial Run at Beaver Lake. Keegan was closest to his predicted time for the 2K Memorial Walk, finishing only 25 seconds above zero on the clock.
