Harriers Runner of the Week

December 10, 2023

Andrew Russell, Patricia Roney, Shane Ruljancich and Lindsay Fraser

Andrew and Patricia were the top Harriers today in the 10 Mile race while Shane and Lindsay were the top Harriers in the accompanying 5 Mile race at the 20th annual Stewart Mountain Challenge today, the third and final race of the Thetis Lake Adventure Series.  Andrew finished first overall to win the 10 Miler in 1:10:17 while Patricia placed 10th overall of the 103 finishers in 1:18:07.  Shane was the overall winner in the 5 Miler in 38:51 and Lindsay won the F40 Division as top master in 53:23.  A big shout out goes to Race Director, Gary Duncan, who not only directed and managed volunteers for each of the three races, but he also ran each race and today placed 7th overall in the 5 Mile race and was first in the M60 division in 46:49.  The 5 Mile race female winner was Ruby Nicholas, who won the F10-19 age category as well in 40:29, to place 4th overall in the 5 Miler which attracted 40 finishers.

December 1, 2023

Herb Phillips

It is with sadness to report that Herb Phillips passed away today.  He was selected to Canadian Master's Hall of Fame in 2019 and was also selected to the Harriers Hall of Fame in 2017 along with Simon Whitfield, Maurice Tarrant, Lucy Smith and Ulla Hansen.  Based on recommendations made by the Hall of Fame Committee, the CMA Board inducts into the Canadian Masters Athletics Hall of Fame individuals who are judged to have made significant contributions to masters athletics in Canada, in either of two categories – as Athletes or as Executives or Administrators. For the year 2017, one individual will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, in the category of Athlete, Herb Phillips, from Burnaby, BC. Herb Phillips has competed in masters running for almost 35 years, winning in Road Races from the Mile to 100K, Track events from 800m to 10000m, and in Cross Country events. Some highlights are: 11 Age group Gold Medals in Canadian Cross Country Championships, from 1992 to 2007; 12 Canadian age group records on the Track and the Roads, including two M55 records set in 1995, the 10K Road and the Marathon, which remain as records today, 22 years later; In 2000, the Gold Medal winner in three 100K events, including the Canadian Championships and the World Championships; An estimated total in his career of over 1,040 races, totaling over 102,000 miles.  Herb joined the Prairie Inn Harriers in 2003 and was an active member proudly wearing our race singlet for 20 years. He was also inducted into the Prairie Inn Harriers Hall of Fame in 2017 along with Ulla Hansen, Maurice Tarrant, Lucy Smith and Simon Whitfield. Sadly, Herb passed away on December 1, 2023 at the age of 83. He will be missed by the entire running committee.

November 25, 2023

Peggy Hunter and Shane Ruljancich

Peggy and Shane were the top Harriers today at the 39th annual Gunner Shaw Classic, race number 2 of 3 in the Thetis Lake Adventure Series which attracted 212 finishers and raised a large number of donations for the Harriers Foundation.  Peggy was first in the F60-69 age category in 54:28 while Shane placed 9th overall, 4th in the M40-49 division, finishing in 39:34.  The overall race champions were Jeremy Clegg, from Ladysmith, in 36:45, and Victoria's Julia Tschanz, in 39:10.  Julia placed 7th overall and won the F30-39 age division.

November 25, 2023

Jen Millar and Alexa Dow

Jen was first overall in the Master Women's 8K Canadian Cross Country Championships held in Ottawa with a winning time of 31:02.  Alexa took a silver medal by placing second overall in the U18 Girls 4K with a time of 14:47, a mere 15 seconds behind the U18 Girls winner, Eleanor Voykin, who broke the tape in 14:32.  A total of 1,110 runners participated at the National Cross Country Championships today.  Next year's event will be held in London, Ontario.

November 18, 2023

Chris Wille and Joseph Camilleri

Chris completed his remarkable 145th Clover Point 5K Park Run today by placing 15th overall of 77 finishers; his time was 24:17.  The race winners were Matthew Winkler, in 18:50, and Kaylee Bertrand, in 22:13.  Honourable mention goes to Marcia Stromsmoe who completed her 125th Park Run today by winning her age category in 30:08.  Meanwhile Joseph may have set an all-time record for the incredible number of 1,368 photos taken at the 27th annual Thetis Lake Relay on November 11, Remembrance Day.  There's virtually a picture of every one of the 400-plus Thetis Relay participants on our website.

November 11, 2023

Zoe Hamel

Zoe had an outstanding performance today by winning the Solo Division of the 27th annual Thetis Lake 20K Relay.  There were a total of 92 teams and Zoe placed 17th overall; she was first of 8 Solo Teams, 7 of which were men.  Her time was 1:21:15.  The overall winning team was The Franchise, a Speedfarm Men's Team in 1:04:40.  The top Harriers Men's Team was Run to the Hills comprised of Andrew Pape-Salmon, Sean Poynton, Trevor Scoville and Shane Ruljancich and they placed 16th overall in 1:21:03.  Of the 92 teams, 15 were Prairie Inn Harriers teams all of which received complimentary entries.

October 22, 2023

Zoe Hamel and Gary Duncan

Besides Steve's great performance in Duncan today, both new member Zoe, and lifetime member Gary, had excellent performances at the Cowichan Autumn Classic.  Zoe was the first female in 38:56 and she finished an incredible third overall of 161 finishers in the 10K race.  Gary topped the M6069 division finishing 13th overall of 229 finishers in the accompanying 5K race.  His time was 22:40, just 3 seconds behind fellow back-to-back teammate Steve Hallam who zipped past in the final 100m to place 12th overall in 22:37.  The men’s 10K race winner was Duncan's Thomas Duke in 38:38, and Zoe in 38:56, while the 5K race winners were Nanaimo’s Jason Basaur in 16:39, and Victoria’s Scalette Devonte in 16:56.  These were not the best times though, as home town Dusty Spiller ran the 5K in 16:20 then ran the 10K in 34:05 to win the Combo race in a combined time of 50:24.  The top female in the Combo was Meg Lewis-Schneider of Victoria who ran the 5K in 18:21 and the 10K in 37:12 for a combined time of 55:33 good for second overall.

October 22, 2023

Steve Hallam

Steve, a new club member this year, ran back-to-back races at the Qualicum Bay Trail Series on October 21 and the following day at the Cowichan Autumn Classic 5K in Duncan on October 22 and he did well in both events.  Steve placed 66th of 216 finishers in 1:05:04 at the Qualicum Bay Trail Race and was third in the M40 division the next day at the Cowichan Autumn Classic.  Steve believes in high mileage training as he has run over 3,000 kilometres so far in 2023 and has 2 more months to go.  This pure "Old School" training of high mileage weekly will lead to personal best results in every race at any distance.  Paste this to your fridge!

October 21, 2023

Mark Mrozinski, Brandon Willson and Andrew Cook

Mark was the top Harrier in the 6 race Island Trail Series overall Short Course awards with 65 age-group placement points in a system that gives 10 points for 1st, 9 for 2nd, etc with points doubled at the two harder races of Cobble Hill and Mt Washington.  Mark also finished first in the M6069 category while Brandon was first in M2029 with 47 points.  Gary Duncan was second in his category with 60 points from 5 age-group wins in 5 races. Andrew was the top Harrier in the Long Course awards with 34 points good for 2nd in his M3039 category. Holly Pirozzini F6069 was the star of the series finishing with a perfect 80 points over 6 short course races. More impressive was that she was the first woman overall at Mt Washington with an incredible 3 minute margin, and a close second at Port Alberni.

October 21, 2023

Patricia Roney and Brandon Willson

Patricia placed 13th overall of 216 finishers at the Qualicum Beach Trail Race held in Qualicum Beach today.  Her time was 2:11:05 and she was the first female to finish.  The race winner was Brad Goresky of Victoria in 1:57:24.  There were 106 male finishers and 110 female finishers today at the Qualicum Beach trail event.  It was the sixth and final race of the Vancouver Island Trail Series.  were Gordon Hunter, 49:05, and Hayley Dickenson, 54:24.The top Harrier in the 5K race was Brandon Willson who placed second in the M20 age division in 54:24.

Patricia placed 5th overall of 216 finishers at the Island Trail Series Qualicum Bay Long Course Race held in Qualicum Bay today. Her time was 2:11:05 and she was the first female to finish.  The long race winner was Brady Goresky of Victoria in 1:57:24.  Brandon was the top Harrier in the accompanying Short Course race, finishing 10th overall and 2nd M2029 in a time of 54:24, while Gary Duncan won his M6069 category in 58:05 good for 25th overall.  The overall short course winners were Gordon Hunter in 49:05 and Hayley Dickenson in 52:24.  There were 106 male & 110 female finishers in the long course, and 96 male & 198 female finishers in the short course today at the Qualicum Bay trail event.  It was the sixth and final race of the Vancouver Island Trail Series.

October 18, 2023

Alexa Dow and Charli Mlotshwa

Alexa and Charli emerged as female and male race champions at the Vancouver Island Cross Country Championships held in Oak Bay today.  Alexa, representing Kelsey School, finished first in 18:22 to win the Senior Girls race.  Second place went to Mady Eames, of Claremont Secondary, who was second of 114 finishers in 20:10.  Charli, from Oak Bay High School, finished first of 106 boys in the race.  His time was 16:05 which placed him 35 seconds ahead of his Harriers team mate, Tyler Brown, who finished second in 16:40.  There was a total of 451 finishers in four different age divisions including Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Boys and Senior Girls.

October 14, 2023

Charli Mlotshwa

Charli finished first of 48 participants in the 5,000 metre race at the BC Track and Field Championships today held at Crescent Park in Surrey and hosted the races were hosted by Ocean Athletics Track and Field Club.

October 13, 2023

Michael Barber and Liam Stanley

Athletics Canada named 17 athletes from across the country to represent Team Canada at the 2023 Parapan Am Games which will be staged from November 17 to November 26 in Santiago, the capital city of Chili.  Both Michael and Liam have set numerous age class and distance records locally and we wish them the very best of luck at the Santiago Games.

October 8, 2023

Joseph Camilleri

Joseph won a silver medal in the M70 Division of the WANDA Age Group World Championships held today in Chicago and received literally hundreds of congratulations on messages our Harriers Facebook Page; 177 well done messages so far and counting.  Joseph described the event as follows:  "The Chicago Marathon was one of two events in one.  In the primary race, the Chicago Marathon, I finished in third place in the M70 division and received a bronze medal.  The sub-event was the WANDA WMM Age Category World Championships which I finished second in the M70 division good for a silver medal."  Congratulations are in order to Joseph for his two-medal performance at the Chicago Marathon today by finishing in 3:28:56.  Tom Hutchinson, from the United Kingdom, won the M70 age division in 3:27:17.  The overall race champion of the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Kelvin Kiptum from Kenya, set new world record of 2:00:35 lowering the mark of the previous marathon record holder, Eluid Kipchoge.  The first female was Sifan Hassan, from the Netherlands, with a time of 2:13:44.  There were 48,296 finishers at Chicago today.

October 8, 2023

Care Nelson, Catrin Jones, Amanda Polus and Cathy Noel

Care placed second of 71 F35 finishers today in 2:53:20 at the 43rd annual Royal Victoria Marathon while Catrin was first F40 of 73 finishers in 2:54:22.  The RVM champions were Aidan Anderson, 2:29:06, from Campbell River, and Lydia Tay, 2:49:49, from Burnaby.  The Marathon had 1,455 finishers.  Over 3,000 volunteers were on hand to assist Cathy Noel, Race Director, in managing a very successful Royal Victoria Marathon Festival.  There were a total of 7,008 finishers in the four different distances offered over the weekend.

Teferi Kebede Balcha

October 8, 2023

Teferi was the second master in the M40 age category by finishing the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in 1:10:15 today which attracted 3,161 finishers.  Andrew Russell placed third of 170 M40 finishers while Jim Finlayson was first M50 of 86 finishers in 1:11:51. The Half Marathon race champions were Cameron Levins, from Black Creek, and Makenna Fitzgerald, from Calgary.  Their times were 1:01:08, a new course record for Cam, and Makenna who finished in 1:17:30.  One time Harrier student member Cam of Black Creek BC, now 34, broke the previous mark of 1:02:32 set by Harrier Jon Brown in 2002.  Cam holds the North America record for the marathon at 2:05:36 while Jon Brown twice finished fourth in the marathon at the Olympics for Great Britain.  This was a training race for Cameron who is looking for a top finish at the upcoming New York Marathon.

October 8, 2023

Daniel Mulushet and Patricia Roney

Daniel placed second overall at the Royal Victoria 8K Road Race today which drew 1,859 finishers.  Daniel's time was 24:12 which was 25 seconds back of the race champion, Matthew Travaglini, from Calgary, who broke the tape in 23:47.  Patricia was fourth female overall placing first of 122 F35 finishers in a time of 28:55.  The first female in the 8K was Victoria's Gabriela Dubues-Stafford who finished in 26:43.  Other Harriers winning their age group were Trevor Scoville M55, Gary Duncan M65, and Brian Connon M75.

October 7, 2023Liam Stanley and Michael Barber

Liam Stanley and Michael Barber

Liam finished second overall and placed first in his M25 age category in 16:11 while Michael finished third overall and placed first in his M20 age category today in 16:31 at the new Royal Victoria 5K Road Race held on the streets of Oak Bay in conjunction with the Royal Victoria Marathon held the following day.  The race winners were Victoria's MacKenzie Lascalle, in 15:56, and Maya Fish, from Canmore, Alberta, in 21:13.  The 5K attracted 537 finishers.

September 24, 2023

Lucille Knox

New member, Lucille, completed the challenging Udine Half Marathon today which took place on the cobblestone streets in Northern Italy.  She was the lone Canadian and one of the very few in her F65 age category.  Lulille's husband, Jack, long-time writer for the Times Colonist and author of two books "Opportunity Knox" and "On the Rocks" sent a report on their experience in Italy which is shown below.

Lucille Knox’s Report by her Husband Jack – Udine Half Marathon, September 24, 2023, Northern Italy

Lucille Knox’s Prairie Inn Harriers top earned her curious glances when she ran a half-marathon in northern Italy in September. She was the lone Canadian – and one of only a few 65-year-old women – to tackle the cobblestoned course in Udine, a beautiful city far off the tourist track. Lucille had a special reason for choosing this race, though: Udine was her grandparents’s hometown before they left for Canada a century ago.

The Maratonina di Udine didn’t disappoint. Events were spread over three days. A challenging, 400-metre time trial up a steep, twisting hill to Udine’s 16th-century castle was followed by a chaotically fun, 800-metre run-with-your-dog stampede through the city’s historic centre, a one-kilometre run for kids and, on the Sunday, a 9K that overlapped with the half-marathon. The $40 early bird registration fee for the latter included a good-quality running shirt, plus a nice medal at the finish line (not to mention flushableportapotties at the start).

If the other 800 runners, three-quarters of them men, took the half-marathon seriously (the atmosphere was a bit less festive than, say, the Royal Victoria Marathon) they were also welcoming; one competitor spoke to Lucille non-stop for two kilometres even though neither of them could understand a word the other said. The day was hot and muggy, which is why Lucille’s husband Jack limited his participation to cheering from roadside (“Can’t you go faster? I’m getting bored”) with a glass of wine in hand. Lucille just drank in the sensation of running through the same streets her grandparents had strolled all those years ago.

September 16, 2023

Trevor Scoville

Trevor finished second overall today at the 233rd Clover Point 5K Park Run with a personal best time of 18:54.  He achieved the highest age-graded position with a two minute margin of victory in the M55 age category.  There were 75 finishers and the top male and female were Mathew Winkler, 18:02, and Ally Boileau, 22:37.  Honourable mention goes to Harriers Chris Wille who completed his 139th consecutive Park Run today and to Marcia Stromsmoe, who finished first in the F70 age category in 30:31, and she completed her 100th Park Run.

September 16, 2023

Catrin Jones and Care Nelson

Catrin was the fifth female finisher placing 11th overall of 25 finishers in 5:39:37 at the 18th NACAC Beaver Flat 50K Canadian Championship race today in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, while Care was 13th overall in 49:39 and took the bronze medal position by placing as the third female in the 10K Up and Down NACAC Canadian Championship.  Care placed 13th overall of 20 finishers.  The 10K Up and Down winners were Liam Meirow in 40:43 and Gabrielle Orie, in 47:22 while the 50K race champions were Chris Balestrini, in 4:11:25, and Sarah Biehl, in 5:10:26.  Both distances were sanctioned as National Championships by Athletics Canada and the Prairie Sky Running Club was the host club.

September 10, 2023

Andrew Cook and Adele Nylen

Partners Andrew and Adele were the top Harriers today by placing 19th and 38th overall of 239 finishers including 121 men and 118 women in the most popular 28K distance of the 2-day Finlayson Arm Ultramarathons.  Andrew was second of 13 in his M25 age category finishing 19th overall while Adele was also second of 13 in her F20 age category.  Honourable mention goes to Harriers Andrew Pape-Salmon who won his M50 age category, placing 36th in 4:08:59.  The race winners were Theo Jankowski, in 2:54:34, and Lindsay Christante, in 3:18:07.

September 9, 2023

Lori Chestnut

Lori was the fourth female, in 15:43:24, and placed first in the F50 division at the extremely challenging 50 Mile race, part of the Finlayson Arm Ultramarathons held today starting and finishing in Goldstream Park.  The race champions were Nanaimo's Tommy Mlazgar, in 9:57:89, and Darbykai Standrick, from Powel River, 10:57:11, finishing second overall of 45 finishers in the 50 Mile race.  The race course invloved climbing to the summit and back down Mount Finlayson, Mount Work and Stewart Mountain.  Other distances at Finlayson were 50K and "The Double" where runners ran both courses.  Formerly known as Lori Bowden in her triathlon days, Lori was twice crowned as World Champion by winning the 1998 and 1999 long distance Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon.  She also won Australian and Canadian Triathlon Championships and was named the Triathlon Canada Athlete of the year in both 1998 and 1999.

September 9, 2023

Chris Callendar and Shelagh Machin

Chris had a terrific performance by finishing second overall of 86 finishers at the 232nd Clover Point 5K Park Run today.  His time was 18:23  Shelagh was the top Harrier by winning her F65 age category in 25:01.  The male and female race champions were Paul Blazey, in 17:25, and Kate Harrell, in 22:47.

August 26, 2023

Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the top Canadian by placing 15th in the female marathon at the World Athletics Marathon Championships in Budapest, Hungary today.  Her time was 2:33:12 which was a 2023 season best.  Natasha's Canadian team mate, Sasha Gollish, also ran a season best of 2:45:09 to place 61st of 65 finishers.  There were 78 starters in the women's marathon however 13 did not finish in the extremely hot conditions.  The overall race champion was Amane Shankule, from Ethiopia, in 2:24:23.  Another Canadian athlete, Evan Dunfee, from Vancouver, finished 4th overall in the World Athletics 20K Race Walk with a great time of 1:18:03 which was a new Canadian Record.  Alvaro Martin, from Spain, was the 20K Race Walk champion in 1:17:32 which was also a Spanish Record.

August 19, 2023

Andrew Russell

Andrew placed 5th overall of 306 finishers at the Squamish 50K Mountain Race today and completely dominated the M40 age category in 5:13.  He was 14 positions and more than 27 minutes ahead of the second place M40 master finisher.  The race was the 18th Annual NACAC Mountain and Trail Run Championships as participants travelled from North America, Central America and the Caribean to the challenge themselves at the event.  The 50K winners were Brandon Gardiner from North Vancouver, in 4:45, and Robin Mildren from Baltimore, MD, in 5:30.  There was also a 50 Mile race, a 23K race and another extremely difficult 50/50 race where participants had to run both the 50K and 50 Mile races!

August 19, 2023

Andrew Cook

Andrew was the first Harrier today by placing 10th overall of 103 long course finishers at the Mount Washington race, event number five of eight in the Vancouver Island Trail Series.  His time was 1:34:41 earning Andrew a bronze medal as he placed third in his M3539 age category.  The race champions were Dominik Klinovsky, 1:17:14, and Georgina Ginther, first of 32 females and finishing 19th overall in 1:39:58.  There was also a short course offered at Mount Washington today which attracted 163 finishers and the short course winners were Tyler D'Arcy, in 46:01, and Holly Pirozzini, in 1:02:13.

August 12, 2023

Kristopher Swanson

Kristopher was the race champion today at the Emperor's 20K Challenge in Tumbler Ridge, BC, by winning the extremely challenging mountain race in 1:32:09; he was also the top 40+ master.  Kristopher, now living in Burnaby, BC, was an active high performance Harrier for 9 years between 2009 and 2017 while he lived in Victoria.  The first female, Madison Trelvetree, finished 11th overall today in 1:53:37 at the Emporer's 20K Challenge.

August 6, 2023

Alexa Dow and Tyler Browne

On the front page of the Times Colonist sports section today, the headline read "Island athlete named as Canadian flag-bearer for the Youth Commonwealth Games."  The athlete chosen for this honour is a member of our Harriers Youth Team, Alexa Dow, from Cowichan Bay.  Alexa will compete in the 800 metre and 1,500 metre races being held today and tomorrow in Trinidad and Tobago.  In July, Alexa broke the Under-20 provincial record for 1,500 metres which had stood since 1994, by clocking 4:18.64 at the Harry Jerome Track Classic in Langley.  Canada will send 74 athletes to comprise their National Team at the Youth Commonwealth Games with the second Harrier being Tyler, also a PIH Youth Team member, who will compete in the 3,000 metre race.  The Youth Commonwealth Games take place from August 4 to August 11 where over 1,000 athletes will participate in seven different sports with track and field being one of them.

July 29, 2023

Logan Roots

Logan was an active member of the Harriers for 7 years between 2010 and 2016 before moving to Cumberland BC.  Today he finished first overall of 136 finishers at the Devil's Ladder 50K ultramarathon in Cumberland; his time was 4:35:03.  The first female was Nanaimo's Emily Bugoy who placed 6th overall in 5:41:26.  There were two shorter races offered at the Devil's Ladder including a 30K won by Adam Welsh, from Quebec, in 3:17:02, and a 15K won by Ryan Tidman, of Comox, in 1:21:35.

July 15, 2023

Andrew Russell and Gary Duncan

Andrew had an extremely strong performance in Port Alberni today by finishing second overall and he was the top M40 master at the fourth Vancouver Island Trail Series event.  His time was 1:39:26 on the Long Course won by Nicholas Lightbody in 1:37:06.  Mercedes Vince was the top Long Course female in 2:00:14 with a 12 minute margin of victory over Sarah Thornber, who finished in 2:12:46.  Adrian Thow won the Short Course race in 46:38 while the first female was Desneige Zvonarova, F40 from Port Alberni, in 56:11.  Gary had a very strong performance by winning the M65 division and placing 21st of 164 Short Course finishers, in 58:51.  There were a total of 280 finishers today including 116 in the Long Course and 164 in the Short Course.

July 3, 2023

Care Nelson and Catrin Jones

Athletics Canada announced today that both Care and Catrin have been named to the 8-member team that will compete in the first-ever NACAC Mountain and Trail Championships to be held on September 16, 2023 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.  There will be 500 athletes participating all traveling from many parts of North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

July 1, 2023

Chris Callendar and Trevor Scoville

Chris and Trevor finished third and fourth overall of 75 finishers today at the Clover Point 5K Park Run which produced two "firsts" at the 222nd 5K race staged in Victoria on Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m.  For the first time in 7 years, a female was the overall race winner as Emily Tresidder, of Speedfarm, crossed the line in 18:21, ten seconds clear of the top male, Sebastian Harper who finished second in 18:31.  Also for the first time ever, Trevor won his M55 age category with his highest 4th place ranking in countless Park Runs to date.  His time was 19:14 while Chris won the M40 age category in 18:45, good for third place overall today.

June 23, 2023

Natasha Wodak

Natasha once again emerged as a Canadian Champion at the 10,000 metre track race today at the Pacific Distance Distance Carnival in Langley, BC.  Her winning time 32:42 on the track.  Kate Ayers was 29 seconds behind finishing second in 33:11.  The top male in the 10,000 metre race was Jeremy Coughler, from London, Ontario; he finished in 28:46.

June 24, 2023

Patricia Roney and Andrew Russell

Patricia was the female race champion at the rugged Kusam Klimb mountain trail race today.  She placed 13th overall of 496 finishers with a time of 2:46:24.  Mount H'Kusam is 1,482 metres to the summit and the 23 Kilometre race starts at sea level and finishes at the top of Mount H'Kusam.  The event slogan is "Are You Tough Enough!"  Nicholas Lightbody was the race champion finishing with a great time of 2:18:16.  Andrew finished third overall and was the top M40 master athlete in 2:19:37.

June 10, 2023

Johnny Atkinson and Tim Green

After participating in numerous Clover Point Park 5K Park Runs on early Saturday mornings, Johnny finally emerged as the overall race champion today by busting a fine time of 20:30.  He not only won the race but he also topped the M50 age division.  Tim won the M40 age category in 24:07 and finished 5th overall.

May 28, 2023

Jim Finlayson

Jim had an outstanding performance at the Oak Bay Half Marathon today.  Wearing Bib No. 1, he finished second overall of 735 finishers and he won the M50 age category by a substantial margin with a tremendous time of 1:16:46.  The race champion, Jared Sweet, broke the tape in 1:15:54.  The top female was Jenny Bulk; she finished 14th overall in 1:23:50.  The accompanying 10K race attracted 541 finishers and the first male and female were Robert Johnson, 35:07, and Monica Taylor, 7th overall in 39:24.  Finally, the event also offered a 6-person half marathon relay race which drew 31 teams.  The winning team was Nike Victoria in 1:16:58.  All in all the three different races produced 1,462 finishers.  Special thanks go to Race Director, Nick Walker, of Frontrunners Victoria for a very well organized race.

May 28, 2023

Natasha Wodak

Chalk up yet another Canadian Championship title for Natasha today as she was the top female at the National 10K Road Race Championships in Ottawa by finishing in 32:51 and placing 32nd overall of 5,318 finishers.  Vancouver's Leslie Sexton was the second female finishing in 36th place overall with a time of 33:13.  Moh Ahmed was the men's champion in 28:21 while former PIH member, Cam Levins, placed second in 28:39.

May 13, 2023

Care Nelson, Brandon Willson, Lucy Smith and Partricia Roney

Care was the top female and placed 4th overall of 122 finishers at the Cobble Hill long course today, part of the Vancouver Island Trail Series.  Her time was 2:00:57.  The male champion was Dominik Klinovsky in 55:03.  Brandon, from Sooke, placed 9th of 220 short course finishers in 1:17:51 while Lucy won her F55 age category in 1:20:18.  Patricia, now living in Winnipeg, had a remarkable race in the short course by finishing second overall of 220 finishers in 1:08:04.  Nick Walker was the short course champion with a winning time of 1:03:45.  Honourable mention goes out to Gary Duncan as he placed 26th and won his M65 age category in 1:20:18.

May 7, 2023

Dawn Wilson, Catrin Jones and Johnny Atkinson

Dawn had a stellar run of 39:40 to place second in her F60 age category at the Vancouver 8K Road Race, part of the BMO Vancouver International Marathon festival today.  Johnny had a respectable marathon time of 3:13:54 and was well up in his M50 age division.  Catrin also ran the marathon and placed 65th overall of with a time of 2:52:22.  The full marathon attracted 4,958 finishers and the race champions were Yuki Kawauchi, 2:17:05, and Dayna Pidhorseky, 2:34:27.  The popular half marathon had 8,892 finishers and the race winners were Mohamed Aagab, 1:06:55, and Natalia Allen, 1:14:50, while the 8K road race had 2,045 finishers and the winners were Logan Arthur, 27:22, and Krysta Boyer, 6th overall in 32:02.  The BMO Marathon Festival today attracted an enormous grand total of 15,893 finishers in all three races.

April 30, 2023

Teferi Balcha, Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones

Teferi was first in the M40 age category and placed 9th overall at the massive Times Colonist 10K today boasting 6,672 finishers including 3,853 women and 2,819 men.  The race champions were Thomas Nobbs, in 29:43, and Dayna Pidhorseky, in 34:33.  Teferi finished 9th overall and was first in his M40 age category in 31:36 while Andrew was 3rd in the M40 category in 34:14.  Catrin was second in the F40 division and she was the seventh female with a finishing time of 37:39.  At an event of this size, it is simply amazing of how many people register but don't show up on race day.  There were 7,613 registrations and 6,672 finishers which meant that 941 runners either did not finish or most of which did not start.  At $75.00 per participant for the entry fee, it translates to $70,575 in surplus money going into the race organizing committee's bank account.

April 23, 2023

Teferi Balcha, Andrew Russell, Catrin Jones, Christine Thate and Natasha Wodak

The eighth and final event of the Vancouver Island Road Race Series took place in Sidney today as Teferi was the first M40 master and finished fourth overall at the Bazan Bay 5K hosted by Team West Coast.  He crossed the finish line in 15:05 closely followed by team mate Andrew, who was 18 seconds back in 15:23.  Tereri and Andrew were first and second in the M4044 master's division.  Catrin finished second in the F4044 division in 18:03 while the first female finisher overall was Victoria's Jennifer Erickson, F3034, in 16:41.  The top three runners were Yemane Mulugeta, M1619, from Surrey, BC, in 14:38, while Jaxon Kuchar, M1619, of Trail, BC, placed second in 14:41 and Victoria's Gabe Van Hazewijk, M2024, took third overall in 14:48.  At the awards presentations, held in the Mary Windspear Theatre, the Prairie Inn Harriers were presented with the VIRA Championship Cup in the club awards category of 25 teams while  Christine was awarded the new "Most Inspirational Runner" trophy, voted and selected by her peers.  Natasha achieved the "Best Overall Performance Score" of 923.7 points which she achieved at our Harriers Pioneer 8K on January 8th where Tasha also set her fourth Canadian age category record for 8 kilometres all achieved at our Pioneer race between 2013 and 2023.  Several other club members won their age categories at Bazan Bay including Amanda Polus, F2529, 18:47, Lucy Smith, F5559, 18:58, Paul Siluch, M6569, 19:25, Max McArthur, M-U16, 19:39, David Hoskins, M7579, 22:44, and Gwyn Woodson, F7074, 24:37.  Over the course of eight races, the Vancouver Island Runners' Association raised $6,000.00 for their charity of choice which was the Victoria Hospitals Foundation. 

April 15, 2023

Care Nelson and Brandon Willson

Care was the top female today by finishing 7th overall of the 127 finishers at the Royal Roads 10K long course of the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  Her time was 45:11, first F35 and first female to finish.  Victoria's Brady Goreski was the overall 10K winner in 41:39.  Brandon was the top Harrier in the 6K short course by placing 6th of 189 finishers in 28:10 and winning his M25 age category.  The short course 6K champions were Lyall Chalmers, 26:47, and Carley Gering, 7th overall in 28:19.

April 15, 2023

Phil Nicholls

Phil, the loyal sponsor of our three annual Thetis Lake Races, dusted off his racing flats today and won the M60 division of the Esquimalt 5K Fun Run, formerly the Navy 5K Run, breaking the tape in 21:25.  The overall 5K winners were Philippe Traverse, in 16:40, and Shannon Pike, in 19:11.  Phil is also a three-time Royal Victoria Marathon champion, 34 years ago, by winning the event in 1986, 1989 and 1990.  He initiated and directed the Twilight Shuffle race in Chemainus for many years (1985 to 2014) before moving his store to the Fairfield Plaza in Victoria where he staged the Twilight Shuffle 5K in Fairfield, at the University of Victoria, Clover Point and Thetis Lake Park between 2015 and 2019.

April 10, 2023

Catrin Jones, Care Nelson and Natasha Wodak

BC Athletics and Athletics Canada announced their rosters for the World Athletics Marathon Championships in Budapest, Hungary on August 19 and the NACAC National Mountain Race Championships in Swift Current, Saskatchewan on August 19 and 19.  Natasha was selected to Team Canada for the World Marathon Championship while both Catrin and Care were selected to Team Canada for the NACAC Mountain Race Championship.  We wish them all the best in these two high profile, high performance events.

Michael Moon

April 10, 2023

Our Prairie Inn Harrier from Surrey, BC, completed his 25th Boston Marathon today, Easter Monday, in very wet conditions crossing the finish line in 3:42:19.  Michael is a 15-year member since joining our club in 2008.  He proudly wore his red Prairie Inn Harriers racing singlet and all along the course and at the finish line, over 20,000 spectators cheered him along calling out "Go Harriers Go!"  There were 15,175 finishers today and the race champions were Evans Chebet, 2:05:54, and Hellen Obiri, 2:21:38.  The prestigious 127th Boston Marathon has a limited field of 30,000 participants annually.  I had the pleasure of running the Boston Marathon in 1982 and it was one of the highlights of my racing days from 1986 to 1991 where I competed in 253 events.

April 9, 2023

Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones

Andrew and Catrin were the top male and female Harriers today at the Westcoast Sooke 10K.  Andrew placed second overall of 316 finishers and he was first M40 in 32:43 while Catrin was first F40 in 38:43.  Besides Andrew and Catrin, several other club members won their age categories including Lucy Smith, F55, Max McArthur, M-U16, Trevor Scoville, M55, Gary Duncan, M65, Joseph Camilleri, M70, and David Hoskins, M75.  The race champions were both from Speedfarm with Brennen Smith breaking the tape in 32:17 and Jennifer Erickson was the first female in 37:13.  There were a total of 25 Prairie Inn Harriers in the event and the club stands a good chance of winning the 2023 team championship following the final race at Bazan Bay next Sunday.

April 7, 2023

Andrew Pape-Salmon

Andrew was the top Harrier today, Good Friday, by finishing 9th overall of 113 finishers at the 14th annual Fletcher's Challenge, a difficult 16K mountain run starting and finishing at Westwood Lake, just north of Nanaimo.  This is an old school, rugged challenge, on difficult trails not for the faint at heart and the race only has two age categories of U40 and 40+.  Liam Hobbs, from Nanaimo, led the field to finish first overall in 1:22:39.  Nanaimo's Ali Adams was the first female finishing 10th overall in 1:36:09.  A shout out goes to Gary Duncan, who in workmanlike fashion did the double by nailing a good Fletcher's Challenge time of 1:46:51 today in Nanaimo then he won his age class two days later on Easter Sunday at the Westcoast Sooke 10K, Race 7 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Series.  Bazan Bay in Sidney will wrap up the 2023 Series on April 23.

April 2, 2023

Keith Mills

Since his return to racing this year after a long absence, Keith had a terrific run today by placing second overall of 406 finishers at the McLean Mill 10K in Port Alberni.  Keith's time was 34:57 and he was also the top M40 master by a wide margin.  McLean Mill 10K is race 6 of 8 events in the Vancouver Island Series with the Westcoast Sooke 10K and the Bazan Bay 5K remaining.  Today's race winners were Victoria's Jonathan Walker, of Esprit Running Club, in 33:38, and Nanaimo's Emily Bugoy, of Mettle Heart Endurance Club, in 37:43.

March 19, 2023

Mike Janes and Catrin Jones

Catrin and Mike were the top Harriers today at the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon in Courtenay, Race 5 of 8 in the Island Series.  Mike's time was 1:25:53 and he placed 10th of 48 in the M35 age category while Catrin, 1:23:30, was 2nd of 35 runners in the F40 in division.  Other Harriers running well were Dawn Wilson, 1:44:18, 2nd F60, and Johnny Atkinson, 1:28:11, 2nd M50.  The event attracted 547 finishers and the race champions were Jackson Bocksnick, 1:08:40, and Kylie Acford, 1:20:21, both from Victoria.

Natasha Wodak

March 19, 2023

Natasha was the top Canadian female today finishing in 1:12:33 at the highly competitive United Airlines New York City Half Marathon attracting 2,500 participants.  Natasha's pace per mile was 5:33 and she placed 8th in the elite women's division.  The overall male and female race winners were Jacob Kiplimo, in 1:01:31 and Hellen Obiri, in 1:07:21.

March 12, 2023

Keith Mills and Catrin Jones

Keith was the first Harrier placing 7th overall of 444 finishers today at the challenging Hatley Castle 8K held at Royal Roads.  He also placed second in the M40 age category in 28:35.  Hatley is Race 4 of 8 in the 2023 Vancouver Island Race Series.  Catrin, one of our best ultramarathon runners, had a stunning performance by finishing a mere 3 seconds behind the female race champion, Emily Bugoy.  Their times were 30:48 and 30:51.  The overall race winner was Brennen Smith in 25:55.  Honourable mention goes to Lucy Smith for dominating the F55 age category.  She finished in 33:32, more than 4 minutes ahead of the second place F55 female.

March 5, 2023

Randy Jones, Alana Jones and Lisa Cantwell

Randy and Alana did a superb job of hosting and directing the 3rd annual Another Brick in Nepal 5K and 10K races today.  This is the only running event approved by CRD Parks Branch that can be held in East Sooke Park.  At the age of 58, Lisa had a terrific race by finishing third overall of 26 finishers in the 5K race with a time of 47:15.  The male and female 5K champions were 67-year-old, Eric Rotgans, in 45:00 and Bri Fitzgerald, 31, top female by finishing in 46:25.  There were 57 finishers in the 10K race won by Guy Polden in 56:28.  Hilary Cochrane was the first female finishing a very strong second place overall in 59:25 on the rugged, hilly 10K trail course.  Link to Joseph's terrific ABIN photo album:  https://photos.pih.bc.ca/2023-Running-and-Racing/Another-Brick-in-Nepal-March-5-2023/

March 5, 2023

Cathy Noel and Lucy Smith

Cathy successfully directed her 11th annual Goddess Run at a new location on the trails of Elk and Beaver Lake Parks.  Lucy was the top Harrier by finishing 23rd overall of 256 finishers in the 5K race with a time of 28:18; she was also first of 44 finishers in the F50 age category.  There were a total of 507 finishers in both the 5K and 10K divisions.  Olivia Reyers won the 5K race in 21:35 while Mariah Kelly dominated the 10K race in 38:30; she was more than 5 minutes ahead of the second place runner.  Honourable mention goes to club member Sandra Mullen, 48:45, who was 9th overall in the 10K race and first of 37 in the F60 age category.

February 12, 2023

Keith Mills and Lucy Smith

Keith placed third overall of 432 finishers at the Cedar 12K today with a time of 42:27, he was the first master by winning the M40 age category.  Lucy was the fourth female overall winning the F55 division in 48:07.  Both the first male and female winners were members of Esprit Runners coached by club member Jim Finlayson.  Logan Roots, of Cumberland, won the race in 38:56 while Victoria's Meg Lewis-Schneider was the first female placing 9th overall in 43:57.

February 11, 2023

Amanda Polus and Trevor Scoville

Amanda was the first female and placed third overall of 69 finishers today at the Clover Point Park Run; her time was 19:13 for the 5K event.  Trevor was fourth overall and was the top master by winning the M55 age category and finishing a few seconds behind Amanda.  Matthew Winkler was the race champion in 17:12.  Several other club members won their age category including Jordan Cheung (M25), Tim Green (M40), Dorothy Camilleri (F65) and Marcia Stromsmoe (F70).

February 7, 2023

Ella Ballard, Liam Stanley and Natasha Wodak

BA Athletics announced their athletes for 2022 major awards today and three Harriers achieved top honours.  Ella was selected as the Female Cross Country Athlete of the year.  She placed first overall at the BC Cross Country Championships, second at the BC High School Cross Country Championships and third at the Canadian Cross Country Championships.  Liam was selected as the Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year for establishing T37 Canadian Records for both 1,500 Metres and 800 Metres.  Natasha achieved the title of Female Road Race Athlete of the Year for winning the Canadian Half Marathon Championship and the 10K National Championship races in 2022.  She is currently ranked #1 in Canada for for four different distances - 8 Kilometres, 10 Kilometres, Half Marathon and Marathon.

February 4, 2023

Amanda Polus and Joseph Camilleri

After joining the club just a week ago, Amada's debut race wearing her new Harriers singlet was the Clover Point 5K Park Run where she had outstanding success by finishing as the first female and placed fourth overall of 67 finishers with a terrific time of 19:27.  Matthew Winkler won the race in 18:01.  Joseph was 42nd overall and took the silver medal by finishing second in his M70 age category in 31:41.  More importantly, he raised $1,095.00 as a fundraiser for his hero, Terry Fox.  Several other Harriers did very well today in their respective age divisions including Chad DePol, first M50, Tim Green, first M40, Marcia Stromsmoe, second F70, Dorothy Camilleri, second F65, and Jane McDonald, third F65.

January 28, 2013

Andrew Russell and Natasha Wodak

At tonight's Harriers Annual Awards Ceremony, Andrew and Natasha achieved the highest honour by winning the Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner Award.  Both athletes turned 40 in 2022 and are still running like 20-year-olds!  Andrew was the top master at the Pioneer 8K and the Hatley Castle 8K in February and in April he topped the M40 division at the Bazan Bay 5K and Times Colonist 10K.  His standout performance of 2022 was in May at an extreme mountain race in Issaquah, Washington called the Tiger Claw 25 Mile Mountain Challenge where he finished second overall and set the fastest time ever by a Canadian athlete.  In June Andrew was the race champion at the Royal Victoria Half Marathon with a personal best time of 1:11:10.  Our female Most Valuable Runner travelled extensively to run Marathons in Boston, Berlin and New York City.  Natasha was also the first female and placed third overall of 176 finishers at the Run Barbados 10K.  In January she set her third Canadian age class record at our Harriers Pioneer 8K, a race that she has won a remarkable 8 times.  In February she set a Course Record and another Canadian Record of 1:11:32 at the Vancouver First Half Half Marathon then lowered it to 1:10:01 at the New York Half Marathon in March.  Her Canadian Marathon Record of 2:23:12 was set in Berlin.

January 28, 2023

Natasha Wodak

Today, BC Athletics announced candidates for their 2022 Athlete Awards Program and Natasha was one of three possibles for the Female Master Road Runner of the Year based on her outstanding performances throughout 2022.  Other candidates for this award include Kelowna's Malindi Elmore and David Guss from Vancouver.  Some of Natasha's highlights include setting three Canadian Records at the Harriers Pioneer 8K, setting the Canadian Marathon Record in Berlin, setting the Canadian Half Marathon in Vancouver and finishing as the top Canadian at the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon.

January 22, 2023

Catrin Jones and Andrew Russell

Catrin won the F40-44 division in 37:43; she was first of 40 women in her age category, while Andrew won the M40-44 division in 32:36; he was first of 36 men in his age category and placed 5th overall of 575 finishers at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race 2 of the Vancouver Island Race Series.  They were the top male and female Harriers.  The race champions were Victoria's Solen Wood in 30:47 and Triathlon Canada's Colette Reimer; she placed 26th overall in 37:17.  Cobble Hill attracted 31 club members and, besides Catrin and Andrew, 4 others won their age categories including Max McArthur, M-U16, Owen Sandquist-Sherman, M16-19, Lucy Smith, F55-59 and Edith Price, F70-74.  Next up in the 2023 Island Series is the Cedar 12K, near Nanaimo, which takes place on Sunday, February 12.

January 8, 2023

Natasha Wodak and Andrew Russell

Natasha and Andrew were the top Harriers today at the 44th Annual Harriers Pioneer 8K, Race 1 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Race Series and Race 1 of 16 in the BC Super Series.  The 2023 Pioneer Race also served as the BC 8K Road Race Championship.  Natasha was the first female to finish in 26:20 which was her third Canadian Record set at Pioneer.  She established the Overall Open 8K record of 25:28 in 2013 which still stands today, she then set the F35 Masters national record of 25:55 in 2020 while today she established the F40 Masters national record of 26:20.  The men's race champion today was Thomas Nobbs, of the Vancouver Thunderbirds, in 24:01.  Andrew was the top master winning the M40-44 division in 25:54 and placing 8th overall of 619 finishers with 306 men and 313 women.  Besides Natasha and Andrew, 5 other Harriers won their age categories including Jim Finlayson, M50-54, Melanie McQuaid, F50-55, Lucy Smith, F55-59, Ella Ballard, F16-19 and Max McArthur, M-U16.  Joseph Camilleri has offered a terrific photo album of Pioneer with an incredible 2,247 pictures!  https://photos.pih.bc.ca/2023/Harriers-Pioneer-8K-Jan-8/

January 1, 2023

Griffin Hunt

Griffin provided the most accurate prediction by finishing at exactly zero on the run clock when he completed the 10 Kilometre circuit of Elk and Beaver Lakes to win the top prize of the 38 Harriers at the 27th annual Harriers New Year's Day Memorial 10K Run and 2K Walk.  Club members donated $570.00 towards the Harriers Foundation supporting community projects , athlete travel and youth development.  Here is a link to Joseph's terrific photo album of the event >>>>> https://photos.pih.bc.ca/2022/Harriers-New-Years-Day-Memorial-RunWalk/

December 11, 2022

Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the female champion and finished third overall of 185 finishers including 110 men and 66 women at the Run Barbados 10K under extremely hot conditions today.  Her time was 35:57 which was over 2 minutes ahead of the second place female.  The male 10K champion was Alex Ekesa in 34:29.  The Run Barbados Weekend featured 6 different races with distances of 3K, 5K, 7K, 10K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon.

December 4, 2022

Andrew Russell and Gary Duncan

Andrew finished second overall at the 19th annual Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge with a time of 1:08:48 while Gary, besides directing the race, was the third master of 25 M40 runners in 43:01 in the 5 Mile race.  The 10 Mile champions were Nicholas Lightbody, 1:07:18, and Mercedes Vince, 1:19:06, and the 5 Mile champions were Warwick Sanderson, 40:44, and Alyssa LeFort, 45:18.  There were a total of 146 finishers in both 5 Mile and 10 Mile races

November 26, 2022

Andrew Russell

Andrew was the race champion winning the 38th annual Gunner Shaw 10K Classic in 34:08 while Lindsay Christante was the top female finishing 14th overall in 40:47.  There were a total of 198 finishers including 20 Harriers racing and another 30 club members volunteering.

November 5, 2022

Ella Ballard, Tyler Browne and Charli Mlotshwa

Ella placed second to race winner, Ruby Broadbent, in the Senior Girls provincial schools cross country championships held on a beautiful sunny day at Royal Roads.  Their times were 21:44 and 22:19 and there were 68 senior girls finishers.  Tyler was first overall of 53 finishers in the Senior Boys race with a winning time of 16:16 while Charli won the Junior boys race in 13:30.  There were a total of 234 finishers in the four different races including 68 Senior Girls, 53 Senior Boys, 73 Junior Boys and 40 Junior Girls today.

October 23, 2022

Kieran Baird

Kieran was first overall of 148 finishers at the Cowichan Autumn Classic finishing in 37:40.  There was also a short course in Cowichan which attracted 132 finishers.

October 9, 2022

Teferi Kebede Balcha and Andrew Russell

Teferi was the race champion at the 42nd annual Royal Victoria Marathon, breaking the tape in 2:25:26, while Andrew won the accompanying Royal Victoria Half Marathon in 1:11:10.  The 8K Road Race winner was Vancouver's Thomas Broatch in 23:42.  There were 1,190 finishers in the Marathon, 2,664 in the Half Marathon and 1,900 in the 8K Road Race for a total of 5,754 finishers in all three races.  Several other Harriers won their age categories in the Half Marathon including Cheryl Nicholls (F50), Valerie Bell (F60) and Andrew Russell (M40), while Ella Ballard (F19), Andrea Minter (F45), Dawn Wilson (F60), Gwyn Woodson (F70), Charli Mlotshwa (M16) and Shane Ruljancich (M45) topped their age class in the 8K Road Race.

September 25, 2022

Natasha Wodak

Natasha North Vancouver Harrier, broke Malindi Elmore’s Canadian marathon record in Germany with a marvelous 2:23:12 performance at the Berlin Marathon. This is a minute and 38 seconds faster than Malindi’s 2:24:50, set a Houston in 2020. Natasha finished 12th in a very competitive and surprising women’s race, managing negative splits, finishing the first 21.1 kilometres in 72:20 and the second half of the race in under 72 minutes.  She also ran the fastest half marathon time ever, worldwide, for a master 40+ female athlete.

September 17, 2022

Andrew Russell

Andrew placed third overall of 85 finishers at the first-ever Canadian Trail Running Champions at Vernon today with a time of 44:12.  The race winner was Robert McCann in 41:44 and Jeff Archer placed second in 43:57 in an extremely difficult 11K uphill course.  There were 8 different races attracting 282 finishers in distances of 100K, 80K, 50K, 27K and 11K Uphill.

July 23, 2022

Andrew Cook

Andrew placed first in the M30 age category and was 9th overall of 82 finishers today in Port Alberni at the Vancouver Island Trail Series long course.  His time was 2:02:19.  The race was won by Courtenay's Logan Roots in 1:41:25.

July 2, 2022

Dick Palfrey and Colleen Auringer

Club members started a fund-raising program to gather medical equipment to be sent to Ukraine to help with their injuries resulting from the war with Russia.  Several wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes as well as an abundance of bandages and braces were collected and sent free of charge thanks to long-time club member, Dick Palfrey, for arranging the complimentary shipping.  Coleen arranged for collection of wheelchairs and walkers from local Care Homes.  The total value of this equipment was $1,000.00.

July 1, 2022

Keith Mills and Dawn Wilson

Keith and Dawn were the top male and female Harriers at a special edition of the Clover Point 5K Park Run held today to celebrate Canada Day.  Keith placed second overall of 49 finishers to win the M40 age category in 17:53 while Dawn ran a personal best time of 22:58 to place second in the F60 division.  The overall race winner was Jennifer Erickson in 17:10.  Other Harriers running well in their age divisions included John Atkinson, first M45 in 20:00, and Marcia Stromsmoe, first F70 in 30:02.

June 18, 2022

Mark Mrozinski, Christine Thate and Phil Nicholls

Master division runners, Mark and Christine, were the top Harriers at the Navy Run 10K in Esquimalt today while Phil was the top master Harrier in the accompanying Navy Run 5K race.  Mark, our Ladysmith club member, placed 2nd in the M60 division in 46:32 and Christine, our most consistent Harrier, placed 4th in the F60 division in 1:34:44 while Phil, our long-time sponsor of the Thetis Lake Trail Series, placed 1st in the M60 division in 22:49.  There were a total of 383 finishers at the Navy Run including 182 in the 10K and 201 in the 5K.  The 10K race champions were Victoria's Phillippe Traverse, 34:31, and Nanaimo's Natasha Parsons, 5th overall in 38:27.  Michael-Lucien Bergeron, from Stanley Bridge, PEI, won the 5K race in 17:03 and Victoria's Bailey Toupin was the top 5K female; she placed 11th overall in 20:28.

June 11, 2022

Andrew Russell and Lucy Smith

Andrew placed second overall of 180 finishers with a time of 1:25:34 on the 17K long course of the Westwood Lake Trail Gutbuster course today held on the rugged trails of Mount Benson, just north of Nanaimo.  It was race #3 of the 6-race series with other events hosted in Royal Roads, Cobble Hill, Transfer Beach, Mount Washington and Qualicum Bay.  Lucy won the F50 division on the Westwood Lake 10K short course in 1:00:13 which included 203 finishers.  The race champions were Mel McCutcheon, 1:22:50, and Natasha Parsons, 1:33:13, in the 17K course and Nick Walker, 51:32, and Heather Lister, 58:12, in the short course.  New member, Charles Perin, had a good result in his first race as a Harrier by finishing 7th overall on the long course in 1:26:59.

June 4, 2022

Lucy Smith, Cathy Noel, Mike Emerson and Gary Duncan

At the 10th annual Victoria Goddess Run in Langford today, four of our members stood out for an outstanding performance, excellent race management and reliable volunteering assignments.  Lucy won the 5K race in 21:21; she was almost a minute ahead of the second place runner, Yana Hempler, who finished in 22:15.  Cathy was the Race Director and she organized an excellent team of volunteers and sponsors to host the two races, 10K and 5K distances on new, hilly courses off West Shore Parkway.  Over $6,000.00 in draw prizes was presented to the participants following the races.  Mike set up the two courses and picked up all the signage and equipment following the races while Gary accurately measured and marked both courses and was the Lead Cyclist for the 10K champion, Erin Sask, who broke the tape in 45:17.  There were a total of 576 finishers today including 277 in the 5K and 199 in the 10K.

May 29, 2022

Jim Finlayson and Joseph Camilleri

Two Harriers master athletes had great performances today with Jim, just 2 months shy of his 50th birthday on August 8, completely destroying the field of 642 finishers at the Oak Bay Half Marathon, while Joseph travelled to Alberta to win the M70 division at the Calgary Half Marathon that attracted an enormous 1,597 finishers.  Jim broke the tape in 1:14:31 and he was nearly 6 minutes ahead of second place finisher, Perrin Peterson, M20, who finished in 1:20:05.  The first female was Samantha Willow; she placed 4th overall in 1:20:25.  In the accompanying Oak Bay 10K race, the champions were Alden Roy, an M19 junior runner from Portland, and Victoria's Meg Lewis-Schneider, F20.  Their times were 32:43 and 36:31.  There were a total of 1,413 finishers at Oak Bay including 642 in the half marathon, 521 in the 10K, 150 in the half marathon relay and 100 in the Kid's 1K Run.  Meanwhile Joseph, 1:39:41, dominated his age category by winning the M70 division by a staggering 30 minutes over the second place finisher, Peter Charlton, who crossed the line in 2:09:47.  The half marathon race champions were Matthew Travaglini, 1:09:06, and Emily James, 11th overall in 1:20:16.  There were 4,482 finishers today in Calgary including 80 in the ultramarathon, 655 in the marathon, 1,597 in the half marathon, 1,229 in the 10K and 921 in the 5K race.  The Calgary Marathon, sponsored by Servus Credit Union, boasts the longest running marathon in Canada entering its 58th year since starting in 1963.  Today's race raised over $350,000 to support 73 different charities.  This half marathon was a tune-up for Joseph to travel to England on October 2 for a 10-day trip to compete in the London Marathon, a world championship road race for all age categories.

May 23, 2022

Cathy Noel, Bertrand Bozek and Gary Duncan

The second annual Douglas Street Mile took place today ahead of the Victoria Day Parade and attracted 51 finishers.  The event raised over $20,000.00 for Parkinson Wellness Projects.  The race champions were Harriers Bertrand Bozek in 5:37.4 and Victoria's Elizabeth Vranjkovic in 6:38.5.  Several Harriers were involved with Cathy Noel as Race Director, Bob Reid managing the finish line and preparing the results, Lucy Smith as Lead Cyclist and Randy Jones, Alana Jones, Martha McNeeley and Mark Seebaran working the finish line, Joseph Camilleri producing the photo album, Christine Thate managing race package pick-up and Gary Duncan measuring and marking the course.  Gary also ran a great race finishing fourth overall and he was first in the 60 and over Senior Division in 6:16.4.  Three of the first four finishers were club members including Bertrand (1st), Samson Haire (2nd) and Gary (4th).  Other Harriers placing well in their age divisions were Marcia Stromsmoe (third female), Laura Lanchbery, Jane McDonald and Christine Thate.   Results by Bob Reid pdf xlsx

May 14, 2022

Darcy Kernel, Christine Thate and Andrew Russell

Saturday morning offered two long distance races with two Harriers volunteers and one Harriers high performance athlete shining brightly.  The first race was the 35th Annual Harriers 2:18 Run  Elk/Beaver Ultras which featured 4 different distances of 100K, 50K, 40K and 50 Miles.  The 100K was a Canadian Championship event recognized by the Association of Canadian Ultramarathoners.  Race Director Darcy and Christine manually recorded individual lap times for 48 runners as they completed their 10K circuit of Elk and Beaver Lakes.  The twosome worked for 12 solid hours from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm until the final runner crossed the finish line.  The 100K winner was Victoria's Tyler Shaw in 9:06:29 in his first ultramarathon, Steven Cologne, of Vancouver, won the 50 Mile race in 7:44:35, Gene Lecuyer, from Delta, was the 50K champion in 3:49:59 and Calgary's Hilary Thomas was first in the 40K Walk in 6:02:18.  Runners travelled to the race from Surrey, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Qualicum Beach, Duncan, Nanaimo, Hornby Island, Powell River, Pitt Meadows, Courtney, Kelowna, Shirley, Vernon, Burnaby, Becancour, QC, Strathmore, AB, Edmonton, AB, Los Angeles, CA, Toronto, ON, Dalas, TX and Calgary, AB.

Also on May 14, Andrew traveled to Issaquah, Washington to tackle the grueling Tiger Claw 25 Mile Mountain Race placing a very respectable second overall without knowing who was in the lead for the entire race!  In a unique format where participants had to run four different 10K circuits over muddy loop trails and they could select the loops in any particular order, the first 5 or 6 runners all chose different loop sequences and could not determine who was in the lead until they crossed the finish line.  The race also featured 7,500 feet (2,400 metres) of elevation gain and descent.  At the end Vancouver's Mike Sidic broke the tape in 4 hours flat while Andrew crossed the line 3 minutes later in 4:03.  The race organizers described the event on their website as follows: "Tiger Mountain, the biggest of The Issy Alps, has long been the training ground to some of trail running’s greatest runners. Technical trails, relentless climbs and quad-blowing descents make for perfect training and trail fun. Never has a race like this existed in the Issy Alps - until now. This is your chance to explore some of the toughest grinds under the lush canopy of fir and moss. Tiger Claw is a unique challenge consisting of four of the most difficult ascents of Tiger Mountain’s West peaks. The best part, you choose the order in which you ascend! To EARN an official Tiger Claw finisher, you must complete all four loops within the 9 hour time cutoff."  A more detailed race report from Andrew is posted on our PIH Slack Page under the "General" heading.  He had an outstanding performance south of the border.

April 24, 2022

Teferi Kebede Balcha, Jonathan Toombs, Jack Stanley, Andrew Russell and Maia Watson

Of the 2,181 finishers at the 33rd annual Times Colonist 10K today, Harriers club members finished first, second, third and fourth overall for the first time in the 33-year history of the event.  All four Harriers were in different age categories taking gold medals in the M20, M25, M35 and M40 divisions.  Bruce Deacon is currently coaching Teferi and has coached both both Jonathan and Jack as members of the Harriers Youth Team before they graduated from high school to run for their current University Teams.  Teferi broke the tape in 31:02 and was both the overall race champion and the top 40+ master.  Jonathan took second overall and won the M25 division in 31:35, Jack was third overall and won the M20 division in 31:42 while Andrew placed fourth overall and took the M35 title in 31:52.  The four Harriers jostled back and forth for the entire 10 kilometres on a perfectly calm and clear race day.  The top three women were Jen Millar, F40, finishing first in 36:13, followed by Care Nelson, F35, placing second in 36:50, and taking third place was Lucy Smith's daughter, Maia Watson, F20, in 37:47.  Lucy, a six-time TC10K champion in the early 2000's, also topped her F50 age category today in 39:03.  It was the very first time that Maia has ever finished a race ahead of Lucy, her Harriers Hall of Fame and Nova Scotia Hall of Fame mother.  There were 2,181 finishers today of the 4,923 TC10K registrations, with many no-shows resulting from carry over registrations from 2020 and 2021.  Usually the Victoria TC10K and Vancouver Sun Run 10K are one week apart on  annual race schedules, but unfortunately this year, they were on the same Sunday.  Lucas Bruchet, two-time Harriers Pioneer 8K winner, was first to finish the Sun Run today in 28:28 while Leslie Sexton was the top female in 32:37.  A former Harrier, Geoff Martinson, now living in Vancouver and also a two-time Pioneer winner, was second in the M35 division in 31:47.  The Sun Run took a much larger hit by losing 45,218 participants due to the 2-year Covid carry overs.  There were 55,215 registrations in 2022 with only 9,999 finishers today.

April 18, 2022

Natasha Wodak and Malindi Elmore

Although Malindi is not a Harrier, she is a close friend and training partner of Natasha and both or them ran very well today at the 126th annual Boston Marathon.  Malindi was the 11th female finisher and placed second in the F40 division and Natasha was 19th female, 3rd F40, in a very competitive field including many top Kenyan, Ethiopian, American and Japanese athletes.  Malindi ran 2:27:58 and Natasha finished in 2:35:08 both achieving a World Class Standard by the Boston event committee.  The overall male winner was Evans Chebet, of Kenya in 2:06:51, and the top female was Peres Jepchirchir, also from Kenya, finishing in 2:21:02.  There were 28,604 starters at Boston including 1,654 Canadians.  Worth mentioning, Trevor Hofbauer, winner of the Comox Valley Half Marathon in March, ran 2:10:52 today and he placed 15th overall and was the top Canadian athlete.  Both Malindi and Trevor are from the Okanagan and today they registered the fastest Boston times ever by a Canadian athlete.  The event the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world and has been for the past 126 years with strict qualifying times for each age division.  I had the pleasure of running the Boston Marathon forty years ago in 1982.

April 15, 2022

Shane Ruljancich and Sheila Nykwist

Shane, first M40 and fourth overall in 1:28:08, and Sheila, second F40 and fourth female overall in 1:40:23, were the top Harriers today at the rugged Fletcher's Challenge 10 Mile mountain race on Mount Benson just north of Nanaimo, starting and finishing at Westwood Lake.  The race champions were Dominik Klinovsky, in 1:22:29, and Ali Adams, first female and ninth overall in 1:35:25.  There were 109 finishers including 55 men and 54 women.

April 10, 2022

Andrew Russell and Lucy Smith

Andrew placed first in the M40 division and was fifth overall in 15:13 while Lucy was first in the F55 division in 18:33.  Both were the top Harriers today at the Bazan Bay 5K in Sidney, Event #6 in the Vancouver Island Race Series.  The male and female race champions were both from Calgary with Matthew Travaglini breaking the tape in 14:36 and Courtney Brohart, 24th overall, winning the women's race in 17:03 after an exciting battle with Jen Millar who finished one second back in 17:04.  There were 455 finishers today.  Other Harriers running very well at Bazan Bay were the entire Hunt family that helped in securing second place for the Harriers in the team standings by overtaking Run to Beer Comox.  Jeff Hunt was second M45, Cooper was second M15 Griffin was second M19 and Teagan was fourth F19 adding valuable points to the Harriers total.  CeeVacs won the team category with 2,243 points, Prairie Inn Harriers were second with 1,996 points and Run to Beer Comox took third with 1,766 points.  Of particular note at Bazan Bay today were the performances of Bruce Hawkes (both a STARR and PIH member) running his 209th consecutive Island Series race in 34:20 and Jim Sylvester, of CeeVacs, finishing in 1:13:26 one week after is 99th birthday.  Simply incredible!

March 27, 2022

Mark Ritchie and Sheila Nykwist

Mark and Sheila were the top Harriers today at the Westcoast Sooke 10K, Race 5 of 6 events in the 2022 Vancouver Island Race Series.  Mark finished 25th overall of 332 finishers in 40:10 while Sheila was second in the F45 age category crossing the line in 41:20.  The Sooke 10K winners were Logan Roots from Courtenay in 32:31 and Victoria's Christine Bant in 37:36; she was 10th overall of the 174 female and 158 male finishers.  Ironically the top four runners at Sooke are all former Prairie Inn Harriers members including Logan Roots, now with Comox Valley Road Runners, Jim Finlayson, now with Esprit Running Club, Nick Walker, now with Frontrunners Athletic Club and Aaron Holmgren, now with Peninsula Track and Field Club.  Next up is the Bazan Bay 5K hosted by Team West Coast on Sunday, April 10 where the Series wraps up by presenting overall and age category awards.

March 20, 2022

Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the top Canadian at the New York City Half Marathon today, an event which draws tens of thousands of finishers and boasts to have one of the strongest fields of elite male and female international athletes.  The top three men in New York today were Rhonex Kipruto, Kenya, in 1:00:30, Edward Cheserek, Kenya, in 1:00:37, and Teshome Mekonen, Ethiopia, in 1:00:40, while the top three women were Senbere Teferi, Ethiopia, in 1:07:35, Irine Cheptai, Kenya, in 1:07:37, and Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal, Norway, in 1:08:07.  Natasha was the 7th female to finish and established a new Canadian Half Marathon Record by running a personal best time of 1:10:01.

March 26, 2022

Walter Cantwell

Walter was the first Harrier finishing third overall and winning the M50 division today at the Clover Point 5K Park Run; his time was 19:13.  The top male was Chris Walsh, 17:46, and the top female was Karen Seyffarth, 23:47.  Several other Harriers ran well in their respective 5-year age divisions including John Atkinson, first M45, Rob Grant, first M75, Marcia Stromsmore, first F70, Chris Wille, second M60 and Sean Mitchell, third M45.  This was the 9th Clover Point Park Run of 2022 and it was the 156th running at Clover Point since the race started there in 2017.

March 13, 2022

Jeff Hunt and Sheila Nykwist

Jeff and Sheila were the top Harriers today at the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon, race 4 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Race Series, hosted by Comox Valley Road Runners.  Jeff was 31st overall, second M45 in 1:26:53, while Sheila was third F45 in 1:33:18.  The male and female champions were Trevor Hofbauer, of Peachland, in 1:08:21, and Christine Bant, of Victoria, in 1:25:15.  Roselyn Smith, of Courtenay, set a new F70 Canadian Half Marathon Record of 1:45:28 at the Comox Half today.

April 5, 2022 

Andrew Russell, Catrin Jones and Natasha Wodak

Andrew, Catrin and Natasha have been selected to receive our 2021 Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner Award.  Both Andrew and Catrin have shone with their tremendous long distance performances at ultramarathons.  In August, Andrew won the Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras and set a new open men's 50K course record while Catrin finished second overall to Andrew and she won the women's race by a substantial margin.   Andrew is always one of the top finishers at the VIRA races, Times Colonist 10K and Royal Victoria Half Marathon or 8K Road Race.  In September, Andrew placed second overall at the Alpine Meadows 60K Ultramarathon in Whistler and, in October, he was the race champion of the rugged Dez Vista 50K in Port Moody.  Catrin won the 12-Hour race in Duncan as part of the One Track Mind Ultras setting a new F40 Canadian Record of 81.6 Kilometres in 6 Hours.  Andrew was named as our 2020 Most Valuable Runner while Catrin was selected as our 2020 Master of the Year.  Natasha needs no introduction as she continues to win countless events throughout North America and is ranked as Canada's best athlete with National Records for the Marathon, Half Marathon and 8 Kilometre distances.  She is no stranger to the top of the podium as Natasha races frequently throughout Canada and the United States and always gives her best performance.  She was part of Team Canada in the Marathon and 10,000 Metre race at the past two Olympic Games held in Rio and Tokyo.  On April 18, 2022 Natasha will toe the line at her first ever Boston Marathon as the world-class event celebrates it's 126th year.  This is Natasha's 11th Harriers  Most Valuable Runner Award since joining the club in 2010.

March 5, 2022

Christine Thate, John Atkinson and Joseph Camilleri

Christine, John and Joseph have been selected to receive the 2021 Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award.  Christine is one of our most active club members by running a high volume of races annually and volunteering at most of our 8 Harriers-hosted events.  She tackles every distance from 5 Kilometres to a Marathon and, although she finishes near the back of the pack, Christine always accomplishes her mission with a positive attitude and a smile when she crosses the finish line.  Johnny showed a huge improvement in his race times in 2021 and he is a regular at the Saturday Morning Clover Point Park Runs, winning a few and always finishing in the top 5 runners.  As a volunteer, John not only runs the race, but he often offers to be a sweep and return back to accompany the last runner to the finish line for the Pioneer 8K, Gunner Shaw Classic, Thetis Lake Relay and Stewart Mountain Challenge.  In October, 2021 he remarkably brought the last runner in for all 10 races at the BC Cross Country Championships hosted by the Harriers at Beaver Lake Park.  Joseph deserves a huge thank you for his dedicated photography, not only at all PIH races, but at all races on Vancouver Island including the VIRA Series, Times Colonist 10K, Royal Victoria Marathon and many others.  His photo albums are appreciated by all participants as each runner is happy to see their picture at the start, middle and finish of their race in conjunction with viewing the race results.  Joseph is an excellent ambassador for the Harriers as he takes every opportunity to promote and advocate for the club drawing many other running clubs and participants to visit our website for his great photo albums.

March 5, 2022

Shane Ruljancich

Shane has been selected to receive the 2021 Alex Marshall Master of the Year Award.  He ran the three Thetis Lake races in 2021 and achieved a gold medal performance at all three Harriers-hosted events.  On November 11, he anchored his team of "TNW 4" to a first place finish of 1:13:37 in the Master's 40+ Division at the 25th annual Thetis Lake Relay.  Their Master's team placed 5th overall of 78 teams.  On November 27, Shane was first in the Master's M45 Division in 37:19 to place 8th overall of 313 finishers at the 37th annual Gunner Shaw Classic, and on December 5, he once again took a gold medal by winning the Master's 40+ division in 1:15:31 at the 18th annual Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge.  He placed 14th overall of 117 finishers.

March 6, 2022

Liam Stanley

Liam has been selected to receive the 2021 Sandy Auburn High Achievement Award for the second consecutive year as he also won the High Achievement Award in 2020 where he set World T37 Record of 15:54.5 at UVic's Centennial Stadium.  On March 6, 2022 Liam returned to Centennial Stadium and lowered his World Record by 15 seconds to 15:39.08.  On March 13, 2021 he also set a T37 1,500 Metre World Record of 4:08.31.  Liam is definitely a world-class paralympian. Athletics Canada Report

March 5, 2022

Gary Duncan and Jane McDonald

Gary and Jane have been selected as our 2021 Maurice Tarrant and Rosamund Dashwood 60+ Veterans of the Year.  Jane has consistently been improving her race performances by stepping up her training with daily 10K runs around Elk and Beaver Lakes.  In the summer months she increases her distance to 21 kilometres every second day so her weekly training total becomes 112 kilometres. The benefit with her longer weekly training sessions has resulted in improved personal best times at many of Jane's races including several Clover Point Park Runs.  In October she successfully completed the Royal Victoria Half Marathon and one week later she ran the Cowichan Wine Run showing a feat of stamina.  Gary joined the Harriers in 1999 and, besides measuring, certifying and running every race on Vancouver Island, he has received an incredible 30 perpetual club awards during his 24 years as a Harrier!  He was awarded the Robin Pearson Most Improved Runner in 2003, the Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier in 2005, the Alex Marshall Master of the Year in 2006 and 2007, the Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner in 2008, the Excellence in Running and Club Leadership in 2011 and received a Harriers Lifetime Membership in 2015.  He has won the the Sandy Auburn High Achievement Award four times, the Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance trophy five times and the John Thipthorpe Durability Award an incredible thirteen times.  Gary celebrated his 65th birthday in 2021 and his 30th club award is a brand new trophy to add to his collection.  Congratulations to Jane by winning the Rosamund Dashwood 60+ Veteran of the Year and to Gary Duncan for winning the Maurice Tarrant 60+ Veteran of the Year.

March 5, 2022

Michael Barber and Sean Mitchell

Michael and Sean have been selected as our 2021 Robin Pearson Most Improved Runners.  Michael set multiple National Records at 800 Metre and 1,500 Metre races in the T20 Para Class.  He consistently lowered his times throughout the racing season.  On the first leg of the Thetis Lake Relay, Michael ran the fastest time of 15:24 topping more than 300 other runners.  His 1,500 Metre National Record time ranks him 13th in the world and his 800 Metre National Record time ranks him in first place globally.  In August, Sean ran a Bazan Bay Time Trial recording his personal best time of 19:26 and on Labour Day, September 6, he ran another personal best time of 5:38 at the Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile.  He was the second master finisher at the UVic Cross Country Open race in 25:18 and recorded his fourth personal best time of 2021 by running the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in 1:29:346.  Finally, Sean anchored his master's team to a second overall position at the Thetis Lake Relay on Remembrance Day, November 11.

March 5, 2022

Miguel Batallas, Alexa Dow, Basil Parker and Angelina Shandro

Miguel, Alexa, Basil and Angelina have been selected as our 2021 Stewart Fall U20 Junior Runners of the Year.  Miguel was the first Harrier finisher at the Gunner Shaw Classic placing 4th overall of 313 finishers in November and he was the first Harrier finishing 6th overall at the Virtual TC10K race in April.  He also placed 24th at the highly competitive BC High School Cross Country Championships.  Alexa was second at the BC High School Cross Country Championships and placed third at the U16 BC Athletics Provincial Cross Country Championships.  She won the 800 Metre and 2,000 Metre races at the BC Endurance Challenge and ran one of the fastest times recorded in Canada for the U16 1,500 Metre race.  Alexa was also a valued member of the Harriers' National Record setting U20/U23 Distance Medley Relay Team.  At the age of 14, Alexa was recognized as the U16 Female Runner of the Year by BC Athletics.  Basil placed fourth at the U18 BC Endurance Challenge 800 metre race recording a personal best time.  Showing his versatility, he placed ninth at the BC High School Cross Country Championships.  Angelina moved up from sprinting to the world of middle distance running. She won the U20 800 metre race and the Senior 1,500 Metre race at the BC Endurance Challenge and earlier in the season ran a time that ranked her second in Canada over 1, 500 Metres and fifth in Canada over 800 Metres.  In the Fall, Angelina won the U20 BC Cross Country Championships and placed fifth at the National XC Championships in Ottawa.  Along with Alexa, Angelina was also a valued member of the Harriers National Record setting U20/U23 Distance Medley Relay Team.

March 5, 2022

Dawn Wilson, Anita Carter and Leigh Sunderland

Volunteers are a key component to the success of the seven races that the Harriers host annually and we like to reward their efforts by presenting the Mike Emerson Volunteer of the Year award.  The Harriers Board is pleased to recognize Dawn, Anita and Leigh for the hours that they generously offer their help, particularly at our most popular events including the Pioneer 8K, Elk/Beaver Ultras, Thetis Lake Relay, Gunner Shaw Classic and Stewart Mountain Challenge.  The reliable threesome are often the first ones to step in and assist with registration, package pick-up, course layout, food, refreshments, clean up and any other tasks required by the Race Directors.  It is through the dedicated and experienced volunteering that Dawn, Anita and Leigh continue to offer at Harriers races that our events are recognized as some of the most popular and successful races on Vancouver Island drawing many compliments from participants, parents and coaches.  It is an honour to announce the three winners of the 2021 Mike Emerson Volunteer of the Year award, Dawn Wilson, Anita Carter and Leigh Sunderland.

February 27, 2022

Andrew Russell and Lucy Smith

Andrew and Lucy were the top Harriers today at the highly successful 43rd Annual Harriers Pioneer 8K.  Due to extremely icy, unsafe conditions the race was postponed from it's original date of January 9 to today on the Sunday usually reserved for the Port Alberni 15K Paper Chase.  Andrew won the M40 division in 25:23 to place 7th overall in a strong men's field while Lucy won the F55 division in 31:46.  She is a 4-time Pioneer women's champion since the event started in 1980.  Today's overall race winners are both 2021 Olympians with Tristan Woodfine, from Cobden, Ontario, topping the men's field in a new North Saanich course record of 23:10 and Genevieve Lalonde, of Moncton, New Brunswick but currently living and training in Victoria, winning the women's race in 25:58, a mere 3 seconds off Natasha Wodak's North Saanich course record of 25:55 set last year.  The Harriers Pioneer 8K was also a BC Athletics provincial road race championship event where second place finishers, Brendan Wong, from Coquitlam, and Victoria's Kate Ayers were crowned as BC 8K champions.  Their times were 24:31 and 27:31.  The top three male and top three female finishers were all running their firse-ever Pioneer 8K.  There were 393 finishers today, down somewhat from past numbers due to the COVID cancellation in 2021 and icey conditions forcing a seven-week postponement this year.  A VIRA media release is here >>>  2022 Pioneer Race Report

February 26, 2022

Aaron Holmgren

Aaron has been selected as our 2021 Dave Reed Trail Runner of the Year.  He excels at cross country events and always turns in a good performance while racing on trails.  In September, at a new course at UVic, he anchored the Harriers master men's team to a first place finish at the high performance meet and the year before, Aaron won a bronze medal at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in Abbottsford.  Also at the 2021 Canadian Cross Country championships in Ontario, he was the first master in the 8K race by finishing in 28:55 for a 44 second margin of victory over the defending champion, Jean-Pierre Poulin from Quebec, who finished in 29:30.  He is a past overall winner of the Harriers Gunner Shaw Classic and Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile where he set a new course record in 2018 when it was held on the gnarly trails of Thetis Lake Park.  Aaron coaches his two sons, Coen (age 10), and Emillian (Age13) as well as their school mates as part of the Peninsula Track and Field Club.

February 19, 2021

Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones

Both Andrew and Catrin have been selected to win the 2021 John Thipthorpe Durability Award primarily for their tremendous long distance performances at ultramarathons.  In August, Andrew won the Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras and set a new open men's 50K course record while Catrin finished second overall to Andrew and she won the women's race by a substantial margin.   In September, Andrew placed second overall at the Alpine Meadows 60K Ultramarathon in Whistler and, in October, he was the race champion of the rugged Dez Vista 50K in Port Moody.  Catrin won the 12 Hour race in Duncan as part of the One Track Mind Ultras setting a new F40 Canadian Record of 81.6 Kilometres in 6 Hours.  No strangers to the Harriers awards program, Andrew was named as our 2020 Most Valuiable Runner while Catrin was selected as our 2020 Master of the Year.

February 13, 2022

Andrew Russell, Sheila Nykwist and Natasha Wodak

Two significant and well-established races were staged today and it was the over-40 master athletes that shined brightly in both events.  Andrew, M40, won the Hatley Castle 8K at Royal Roads in 26:46 while Sheila was the top female Harrier placing first in the F45 division in 33:06.  Second place overall in 27:21 was Aaron Holmgren, M40, and also a Harrier but he races for Peninsula T&F Club as he coaches his sons and their school mates in North Saanich.  The top female at Hatley was Nanaimo's Natasha Parsons, F35, she was 23rd overall of the 412 finishers in 31:47.  Meanwhile in Vancouver, Natasha, F40, set a course record and a new Canadian Record of 1:11:32 by winning the women's division at the First Half Marathon.  Lucas Bruchet, of Miles to Marathon Running Club, won the men's division in 1:03:25 also setting a new course record.  There were 1,725 finishers today at the First Half Marathon.  An Athletics Illustrated report on both races is here >>>  2022 Hatley Castle and Vancouver First Half Marathon Report

February 12, 2022

Jeff Hunt

Congratulations and a special thanks are on order to Jeff Hunt for stepping up to lead the Harriers Tuesday Night Workouts (TNW) after a long reign by Bob Reid and Gary Duncan as group leaders.  TNWs started in 2000 with Bob leading a small group of Christopher Kelsall, Gerry Etcheverry and Louise Proulx running two minutes hard, followed by one minute easy, around the trails of Thetis Lake Park.  In 2014 workouts moved to the trails of Mount Douglas Park before finally relocating to their current starting point of Cedar Hill Recreation Centre in 2016 led by Gary and Bob.  In 2017 Shane Rlujancich joined Gary as a team leader and they alternated in directing TNWs for four years.  Jeff took over leading TNWs in 2021 and continues in 2022 as well as racing and supporting many other Harriers-hosted events.  For his efforts, Jeff has been recognized to receive the Excellence in Club Leadership Award for 2021.

February 5, 2022

Joanne Cowan

Joanne Cowan has been selected to win the 2021 Harriers Courage to Come Back Award.  This is the first Runner of the Week report that will feature 22 club members receiving 12 different awards for the shortened 2021 race calendar due to Covid restrictions.  Joanne was in a serious car accident in 2020 where she sustained lasting injuries.  She began running again in her 70's and came back to win the F70 division of the 2021 Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile and anchor her team in the Harriers Thetis Lake Relay.  In her earlier years she was an avid ultramarathon runner and a World Dragon Boat Champion.   She runs daily with her faithful canine training pal, Merlin, where she accomplishes high monthly mileage.

January 29, 2022

2021 Harriers Award Winners

Due to the COVID pandemic during the past two years, a good deal of annual running events were cancelled or postponed.  We did, however, have a number of club members that managed to compete at local, provincial, national and world championship races.  Over the months of February and March of 2022 we will be announcing Harriers 2021 recipients for Courage to Come Back, Excellence in Club Leadership, Durability Award, Trail Runner of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Junior of the Year, Most Improved Runner, Veteran of the Year, High Achievement Award, Dedicated Performance Award and Most Valuable Runner.

January 23, 2022

Aaron Holmgren and Sheila Nykwist

North Saanich's Aaron Holmgren and Calgary's Sheila Nykwist were the top Harriers today at the Cobble Hill 10K, Race 1 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Series, hosted by CeeVacs Road Runners.  Aaron finished 5th overall in 33:35 and was first of 19 finishers in the M40 division.  Sheila was the 6th female overall and finished first in 40:45 to top the F45 division of 20 finishers.  The race champions were Logan Roots from the Comox Valley in 31:56 and Meg Lewis-Schneider of Victoria in 35:38; she was 12th overall and runs for Esprit Running Club coached by Harrier Jim Finlayson.  Jim won the M50 division in 33:57 and Esprit placed 4 athletes in the top ten overall today.  The Cobble Hill 10K had 413 finishers, down slightly from the 2021 total of 505 finishers.

January 22, 2022

Michael Barber

Michael was interviewed by Athletics Canada recently and today he was featured in their News Bulletin with the article addressing how Michael had become a National Para-Athlete.  He described his development as follows, "I actually started running at a very young age - six years old.  My dad, Gary Barber, who ran for Canada in the Commonwealth Games, set up a running club for very young kids who experienced difficulties playing team sports.  We started out with three kids who also had autism and, within a few years, we had over thirty runners in our group.  Most of them had invisible disabilities.  We would play lots of running games of hide and seek in the forest and this was a great way to develop a love of running.  As I got older, dad changed this club from a games approach to a more traditional running group.  I loved every minute of it.  When I became a teenager, I joined Victoria's Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club.  They had a Harriers Youth Team which was coached by Bruce Deacon.  My dad still coaches the young club athletes but I had outgrown that group.  In my late teens, I learned that I could be a Para-Athlete.  This was not an easy task getting classified but it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made.  Bruce has been an excellent coach for me.  I have another Para-Athlete, Liam Stanley, to train with, the Victoria Western Hub to support me, and things couldn't be better with my running."

January 15, 2022

Alexa Dow

BC Athletics recently announced that Harriers Youth Team member, Alexa Dow, has been awarded with the Under-16 Female Cross Country Runner of the Year at the age of 14.

January 8, 2022

Natasha Wodak

BC Athletics acknowledged Natasha for setting two Canadian Records last year, first being a new F35 Half Marathon national record and the second was an F35 national 8K record Natasha set at our 2020 Harriers Pioneer race.  BC Athletics on Twitter

On April 18, 2022 Natasha will join Team Canada team mates and Olympians, Malindi Elmore and Kate Bazely, at the 126th running of the world-famous Boston Marathon, an event that is announcing the strongest and most competitive men's and women's fields in their 126-year history.  Boston Bound for Canadian Trio

January 1, 2022

Gary Duncan

Gary won the prize at our 26th annual Harriers New Year's Day Memorial 10K Run at Beaver Lake by finishing with 4 seconds on the clock in his predicted time run around both Beaver and Elk Lakes on 6 inches of snow-covered trails.  He received a gift of English bisquets which he shared with many of the other 35 participants.  Donations were received from club members to support further Harriers Foundation initiatives and an incredible sum of $1,330.00 was collected today.

December 31, 2021

Alex Marshall

It is with sadness to report that today is was learned from his wife, Dianne, that Alex "Mother" Marshall, our running club's founding father, died of cancer on August 18, 2021.  He was 88 years old, born on November 25, 1933.  Alex "Mother" Marshall and Bruce "Gunner" Shaw founded our running club, Prairie Inn Harriers, 45 years ago in 1978, and PIH has grown to be one of the largest and one of the most successful clubs in the province.  He was a mechanic by trade and owned his own garage/gas station at the corner of Harriet Road and Burnside Road.  I met Alex in 1976 while I was working with the provincial government and I especially enjoyed our daily lunch hour runs with Alex and the gang of 10 to 15 other runners from the downtown YW/YMCA.  He was there every weekday without fail for over 25 years before retiring and he always enlightened the conversation during our spirited runs.  Alex was also a regular participant in our 5-time West Coast Trail runs where we covered 44 miles in less than a day and Alex never missed a Saturday morning run on the trails of Thetis Lake Park with Gunner and a  group of Harriers friends.  Alex initiated and directed both the Royal Victoria Marathon and the Central Saanich Pioneer 8K Road Race, two high performance races that continue today, 43 years after starting in 1980.  Both Gunner and Mother were the best running friends that I have ever met and I will continue to instill their values into new runners that I meet along the way.  Bruce and Alex are Lifetime Members and have also been inducted into our Harriers Hall of Fame.

December 26, 2021

Mark Seebaran and Gary Duncan

Mark won the 23rd annual Harriers Boxing Day 10 Mile Road Race while race organizer, Gary, won the 5 Mile race on a snow-filled day in Central Saanich.  The race attracted 11 registrations but, due to the cold extremely slippery snow-filled roads, only 6 runners started and finished including 4 in the 10 Miler and 2 in the 5 Miler.  The race starts and finishes at the Prairie Inn Neighbourhood Pub where our running club was founded in 1978 by the late Bruce "Gunner" Shaw and Aex "Mother" Marshall.

December 5, 2021

Adele Nylen and Gary Duncan

Adele was the first female Harrier to cross the finish line and win the F20 division in 1:30:15 at the extremely hilly and difficult Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge.  She was the fourth female overall of the 117 finishers.  The 10 Mile race champions were Tyler Trace, 1:10:10, and Lindsay Christante, 1:20:41, while the 5 Mile race champions were Patrick Montgomery, 41:09, and Kate Haber, 44:46.  Race Director, Gary Duncan, not only did an excellent job of managing the 18th annual event, but he also placed second overall in the 5 Miler in 42:19 to win the M60 division by almost 20 minutes!  There were a total of 158 finishers today including 117 in the 10 Mile race and 41 in the 5 Mile race.

November 27, 2021

Miguel Batallas

At the age of 16, Miguel was the top Harriers runner today by placing 4th overall of 313 finishers at the 37th annual Harriers Gunner Shaw Classic on the gnarly trails of Thetis Lake Park.  His time was 36:43 and he won the Junior Men's age category by a substantial margin.  The overall race champions were Lehm Maguire, in 34:34, and Sarah Burger, 25th overall in 42:13.  The event was initiated in 1985 in honour of Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club founding member, Bruce "Gunner" Shaw who was tragically killed in a car accident in 1984.  During the 37 years of the event, our club has donated $26,067 to the University of Victoria to support the Gunner Shaw Memorial Athletics Bursary as well as over $275,000 to 7 other scholarships and bursaries established by PIH at Camosun College and UVic.

November 20, 2021

John Atkinson

For the second consecutive Saturday morning, John had an excellent race emerging as race champion by breaking the tape in leading 54 participants to the finish line.  His time was 19:33.  The top female was Erikka Naemi who was 6th overall in 22:25.  Several other Harriers ran well with many winning their age category or running a 5K personal best time.  They included Sean Mitchell, 4th overall, Brian Connon, 8th, Chris Wille, 12th, Ed MacDonald, 30th, Maianna Marquette, 36th, Marcia Stromsmoe, 38th, and Jane McDonald, 47th.

November 11, 2021

Susan Norrington and Gary Duncan

Susan and Gary were tremendous volunteers at the 25th annual Harriers Thetis Lake Relay enjoyed by 78 teams running in the pouring rain throughout the day.  Susan coordinated the Race Package Pick-up and assisted all team captains in recording and posting the lap times and finishing times on the master display boards.  Later she helped complile the awards team list.  Gary not only ran the race, but he also produced the race results and presented the awards as soon as the final runner finished.  He helped with tear down and clean up before heading home for a nice hot shower.

November 6, 2021

John Atkinson

John had an excellent race this morning by finishing third overall of 55 finishers at the Clover Point 5K Park Run.  His time was 19:11 and he was first in his M45 age category.  The race winners both ran personal best times with Peterson Perrin breaking the tape in 17:23 and Karen Seyffarth was the female champion in 23:30.  Several other Harriers ran very well with Brian Connan winning the M70 division, Chris Wille was third M60, Rob Grant, first M75, Marcia Stromsmoe, first F70, Maianna Marquette, first F35, Jane McDonald, third F60 and Ed MacDonald, fourth M55.

October 30, 2021

Catrin Jones

For the second consecutive year, Catrin was the overall winner at the One Track Mind Ultra Marathons held at the Cowichan Sportsplex track in Duncan today.  Hosted by CeeVacs Running Club, the event featured two races, a 12 Hour Division and a 24 Hour Division.  Last year, Catrin set a 6 Hour Canadian Record of 75.58 Kilometres on her way to a 50 Mile overall victory where she finished the 50 Mile Race in 6:09:11.  Today, Catrin won the 12 Hour Race by covering 81.6 Kilometres.  Second place went to Brittany Carey, 81.2 Kilometres, while Morgan Leroy was the top male, 72.4 Kilometres.  There were eight female finishers and one male finisher in the 12 Hour Division.  Etienne Durocher won the 24 Hour Division covering 204.8 Kilometres.  Long-time Harriers, Maurice "The Eagle" Beaulieu and his son, Logan, finished 4th and 6th overall with Moe running 101.2 Kilometres and Logan running 91.2 Kilometres in 24 Hours.  There were seven male finishers and no female finishers in the 24 Hour Division.

October 24, 2021

Andrew Russell

Andrew finished first overall at the rugged Dez Vista 50 Kilometre Mountain Race today at Belcara Regional Park near Port Moody.  His time was 4:21:31 and he was 7 minutes ahead of the second place finisher, Charlie Sikkema, 4:27:23, and 10 minutes clear of the bronze medalist, Ian Weir, who crossed the finish line in 4:31:35.  The first female was Hailey Van Dyk, from Squamish; she finished 21st overall in 5:27:03.  There were 303 finishers at the Dez Vista 50K with the final runner completing the course in 9:41:18.

October 23, 2021

Gary Duncan, Jeff Beddoes, Ken Webb, Joseph Camilleri, John Atkinson and Mike Emerson

Harriers masters club members played a significant role in staging the tremendously successful Provincial Cross Country Championships today at Beaver Lake Park, hosted for the fourth time by the Harriers.  Gary, age 64 and working on his birthday, and Jeff, 62, arrived bright and early at 7:15 am to setup the race course over the next 4 hours in time for the first of 10 races to begin at 11:15 am.  They also ran the master's race at 12:55 pm and tore the course down, packing all equipment in the trucks by 5:00 pm. Gary recorded 31,000 steps at the event, 17,000 before his 8K race, then 8,000 steps after the race.  Ken, 79, was our second oldest club volunteer; he took the bus from his home downtown and was on-site at 7:45 am before the equipment trucks arrived.  He spent the balance of the day setting up and taking down the race course as well as cheering all 468 finishers traveling to the event from all over the province.  Joseph, 71, took hundreds and hundreds of action shots and posted his photo albums on the Harriers website and on our Facebook Page.  Johnny Fox, 48, (A.K.A. Johnny Boi Atkinson) ran 10.4 kilometres from his home in Vic West to Beaver Lake, then ran with the final participant sweeping all 10 races offering encouragement and support along the way.  He clocked a total of 48.5 kilometres for the day including 10.4 commuting and 38.1 kilometres while pacing the last runners in every race.  Mike, at the young age of 82, was at Bob's at 7:00 am to load and deliver an equipment truck to the venue then he acted as a Harriers Parking Official from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm before loading the trucks and returning the equipment at 6:00 pm.  All in all, Mike put in 11 solid hours of volunteer work at the event.  Bob, 74, directed the race and emailed volunteer assignments to 40 club members, 16 BC Athletics Officials and 2 BCA staff members prior to the event.  To honour Gary's 64th Birthday, he was joined by Jeff, John, and Ken for a celebration beer and snacks at the nearby Howard Johnson Hotel.  A special thanks goes out to all 40 Harriers volunteers that helped at the BCXCs and to the 16 BC Athletics officials that travelled to support the event.

October 17, 2021

Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the fourth female and third Canadian to finish in a star-studded, huge field today at the Scotiabank Waterfront 10K held in Toronto; the race doubled as the 2021 Canadian Road Race Championships.  Her time was 33:33 and she was 55th of 3,372 finishers.  The race champions were Ben Flannagan, breaking the tape in 28:41, and 2021 RVM 8K winner, Sarah Inglis, first female, finishing 45th overall in 31:59.  As Inglis is Scottish, rather than Canadian, she was ineligible for the Canadian title or the prize money.  Leslie Sexton, 47th, was crowned as the Canadian 10K Champion with Cleo Boyd, 53rd, taking second and Natasha claimed the bronze medal and $1,500.00 as the third Canadian female.  The Scotiabank Waterfront 10K management team offered $20,000.00 in prize money with first place male and female winning $5,500.00, second place claiming $3,000.00 and third place winning $1,500.00 in both the men's and women's races.  There were 4,804 registrations and 3,372 finishers leading to an incredible number of 1,432 no-shows.  With the entry fee set at $70.00 per registration, the event organizers pocketed $100,240.00 in proceeds from the 1,432 runners that stayed home instead of racing today!

October 10, 2021

Cathy Noel and Gary Duncan

Cathy and Gary played key roles in staging a very successful Royal Victoria Half Marathon and 8K Road Race today featuring the first major mass participation event in 18 months due to Covid cancellations and postponements in 2019 and 2020.  Cathy was the General Manager and Race Director leading a team of 50 committee members and 3,730 participants to the finish line on a beautiful sunny day.  Gary accurately measured, marked and certified the race courses.  Prior to the races, he rode both courses to check the signage and marshal locations then he ran the 8K race finishing second to Harriers team mate, Paul Siluch, in the M60 division.  The Half Marathon attracted 2,284 finishers and both male and female winners were from Calgary with Matthew Travaglini topping he men's field in 1:06:44 and Leanne Klassen finishing first in the women's field in 1:17:15.  The 8K race had 1,446 finishers and the winners were Reid Muller in 24:00 and Sarah Inglis with a new female course record of 25:35.  The top Harriers in the Half Marathon were Robert Johnson, 1:18:06, and Catrin Jones, 1:24:31, while the top Harriers in the 8K were Mike Angrove, 28:15, and Dayna Jones, 33:45.

September 26, 2021

Andrew Russell and Patricia Roney

Andrew finished second overall in 6:06:20 to 60K race champion and former Victorian, Shaun Stephens-Whale, who won today's race in 5:41:19.  The top female was Jennifer Schaub, 7:28:18, she was ninth overall of the 101 finishers in the 60K Whistler Alpine Meadows Ultramarathon.  Patricia was the top female in the 25K race in 2:28:29 while the male winner was Max King in 1:55:41.  The 13K champions were Jordan Geunette, in 1:04:12, and Brooke Spence, third overall in 1:12:41.  Six other Harriers ran well at the Ultras hosted by Coast Mountain Trail Running Club including Larry Nylen, 35th, and Lisa Cantwell, 49th, of 61 finishers in the 13K, Andrew Cook, 8th, Walter Cantwell, 41st, Adele Nylen, 45th, and Valarie Bell, 124th, of 180 finishers in the 25K.

September 25, 2021
Aaron Holmgren, Sean Mitchell and Gary Duncan

The Harriers team of Aaron, Sean and Gary were rewarded today by capturing championship medals in the Master Men's category of the very successful Vikes Cross Country Open. The event featured men's, women's and kid's races and attracted some of the top cross country runners from UVic, UBC Vancouver, UBC Okanagan and Trinity Western College.  It was held on a new 2 kilometre grass circuit across Cedar Hill Cross Road from the Henderson Recreational Centre and is an excellent venue for future cross country races.  Gary laid out the 2 kilometre and 1 kilometre circuits, the grass was freshly cut and hay bales were added for a jump midway through the course.  

September 19, 2021
Catrin Jones

Catrin was the female race champion today finishing fourth overall at the Calgary 50K Ultramarathon in 3:38:07; she dominated the women's category by finishing 13 minutes ahead of the second female.  The male winner was Calgary's Duncan Marsden in 3:10:52.  There were 63 finishers at the Calgary 50K including 44 men and 19 women.

September 8, 2021
Michael Barber

Michael finished fourth overall today and established a new T37 Course Record of 4:06.95 in the 1,500 Metre race at the Tokyo Paralympics.  His Canadian team mate, Nathan Riech, also from Victoria, won the race in 3:58.92, also setting a T38 Paralympic Course Record.

September 6, 2021
Aaron Holmgren and Leigh Sunderland

Aaron was assigned Bib Number 1 prior to the race and he did not disappoint spectators and organizers by finishing first overall at the 4th edition of the Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile held on a new out-and-back race course in View Royal using the paved E&N Regional Rail Trail.  Aaron's time was 4:30.5 while runner-up, David Guss, from Kelowna, established an new Provincial and National M60 record of 5:03.0.  Ollie Carroll, from Guelph, Ontario, finished third in 5:19.4 while the top female was Harriers Leigh Sunderland who finished 12th overall in 7:21.1.  There were a total of 16 finishers in the Magical Mile.

September 4, 2021
Andrew Russell

Andrew finished sixth overall of 26 finishers today at the grueling uphill-and-downhill Handloggers 10K BC Mountain Running Championships on Bowen Island; his time was 1:05:03.  The race winners were Alexandre Ricard, from Squamish, in 57:38, and North Vancouver's Andrea Lee in 1:17:42.  In the accompanying Handloggers Half Marathon which attracted 36 finishers, the race champions were Matthew Dorton, Coquitlam, in 1:43:39 and Laurel Booker, North Vancouver, in 2:02:22.

August 21, 2021
Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones

Andrew and Catrin finished first and second overall and were the only two Harriers participants in the 34th annual 2:18 Run Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras today which attracted 17 finishers including 16 in the feature 50K race and 1 in the 40K ultra walk.  Andrew set a new course record of 3:13:13 while Catrin finished in 3:40:06, narrowly missing Lori Bowden's course record of 3:34:18 set 21 years ago in 2000.  Alice Dean set a course record in the 40K ultra walk by finishing in 4:59:41 breaking Martha McNeeley's previous record of 5:01:49 set in 2009.  Runners travelled from Tsawwassen, Duncan Lantzville, Nanaimo, Sooke, Burnaby and London, Ontario to participate.  A special thanks to Race Director, Darcy Kernel, and Timer, Christine Thate, for their tremendous support on race day. 

August 6, 2021
Natasha Wodak

Under extremely hot 30-degree temperatures in Sapporo, Japan, Natasha fought a courageous battle to finish the Olympic Marathon in 2:31:41 and place 13th overall of 88 of the finest female marathoners in the world.  Canadian team mates, Malindi Elmore and Dayna Pidhorsesky finished 9th and 73rd in 2:30:59 and 3:03:10 respectively.  Dayna has been fighting a soleus tendon injury for the past year.  Natasha's and Malindi's performances were the first time in history that two Canadian marathoners have finished in the top-15 overall in the grueling event.  The twosome are also almost master athletes with Tash being 39 years old and Malindi is 41.  The three medalists at the Olympic Games marathon were Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya, gold in 2:27:20, Brigit Kosgei, Kenya, silver in 2:27:36 and Molly Seidel, U.S.A., bronze in 2:27:46.  The extreme temperatures in Japan forced a venue change from Tokyo to Sapporo but the hot temperatures still played havoc as 88 women started and only 73 finished forcing 15 exhausted drop-outs along the way.

July 24, 2021
Michael Barber

Michael set two T20 Canadian Records today at the Harriers High Performance Track meet under the direction of our Youth Team coach, Bruce Deacon.  Michael's time of 1:55.28 in the 800 Metre race and 4:00.62 in the 1,500 Metre race were both new Provincial and National Records along with personal best times for him.  The Harriers women's team comprised of Alexa Dow, Ella Ballard, Angelina Shandro and Clara Chudley also set a U23 Canadian Record of 12:05.42 for the 4,000 Metre Relay race.  Several other club members were on hand to assist with the organization of the two-day event.  Besides Bruce as Meet Director, Chris Kelsall did the announcing and Joseph Camilleri posted two terrific photo albums on our website.

June 29, 2021
Garfield Saunders and Jason Loutitt

It is not often that the Runner of the Week is a report of sadness, but unfortunately within the past few weeks we have lost a high performance runner, Jason Loutitt, and the spouse of one of our Lifetime Members, Garfield Saunders.  Garfield recently announced the passing of his wife, Marg, after a long illness; she was in her mid-80s.  Garfield is a long-time Harrier who joined the club in 1984 and was honoured with a Harriers Lifetime Membership in 2008.  He received the Alex Marshall Master of the Year Award in 1986, the John Thipthorpe Durability Award in 1990, the Maurice Tarrant Veteran of the Year Award in 2008 and 2014, the Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award in 2006 and 2015, the Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier Award in 2006 and the Mike Emerson Excellence in Volunteering Award in 2007 and 2011.  Jason joined the Harriers in 2007 and was a high performance athlete for 10 years before moving to Squamish in 2016 to raise a family.  During his time in Victoria, he placed second overall at the Royal Victoria Marathon and won several local races including the Bear Mountain 10K, the Harriers Gunner Shaw Classic, the Harriers Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge and the Harriers 100K Elk/Beaver Ultramarathon.  He finished first overall in many events ranging from 10 Kilometres to 100 Mile races with consistency and complete dominance.  A few of his extreme athletic performances included running the 2007 Blue Planet Around the World Race in record time and cycling from Whistler to Halifax and back; a twice across-Canada 12,000 Kilometre ride which he accomplished solo in 44 days without a support vehicle.  While with the Harriers he won several club awards including the Harriers Mountain Runner of the Year in 2008, the Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner in 2009 and the Harriers Ultramarathoner of the Year in 2011 and 2012.  In 2008 he joined a group of 30 Harriers to run the demanding alpine trail course from Obstruction Point to Hurricane Ridge, north of Port Angeles.  His Harriers team mates were completely exhausted after the grueling, extremely hot, 13-mile journey and they were happy to enjoy their ride back down the mountain in club support vehicles - but not Jason!  He ran back the trail for another 13 hot miles and managed to beat our three support vehicles to the ferry terminal.  Jason passed away on June 7 at the young age of 47 and will be sadly missed; here is a link to his obituary: ---->  https://www.squamishfuneralchapel.com/book-of-memories/4647611/Loutitt-Jason/index.php?fbclid=IwAR0vSoiDbWlpdzD6krWPGRYvQjIhLQYhHCrljnn6rUde2on1sRHTRP3XxMc   If you have 24 minutes to watch a very enthusiastic, exciting and motivational video of Jason leading Team Canada at the grueling, 70 Kilometre 2011 IAU Mountain Running World Championships in Connemara, Ireland, attached is a link: ----->  https://vimeo.com/182941978  I thoroughly enjoyed my runs, friendship and comradery with Jason in his 10 years while he was with the Harriers.

June 9, 2021
Jack Boden and Liam Dwyer

Two members of our Harriers Youth Team had excellent performances tonight at the Victoria Track Classic held at Centennial Stadium attracting 18 high performance athletes in six different men's and women's events.  Jack won the 800 Metre race in 1:52.87 while Liam won the 3,000 Metre race in 8:30.01.  Other Harriers Youth Team members also ran well with Gabe Van Hezewijk placing second in the 3,000 in 8:36.57 while Jonah Brost was fourth in 9:07.07.  In the women's 1,500 Metre race, Angelina Shandro placed fifth in 4:33.72.  All were personal best times for the five young Harriers.  Race champions, besides Jack and Liam, included Aiden Schandl, 53.31, in the men's 400M, Hannah Arychuk, 1:00.41, in the women's 400M, Lindsey Butterworth, 2:01.63 in the women's 800M and Genevieve Lalonde, 4:11.01, in the women's 1,500M race.

June 5, 2021
Natasha Wodak

Athletics Canada recently announced the athletes nominated to participate as Team Canada in the men's and women's marathon at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer.  Based on her remarkable time of 2:26:19 in Chandler, Arizona last December, Natasha was named as one of the three Canadian team members along with Malindi Elmore, of Kelowna, and Dayna Pidhorsesky, from Tecumeh, Ontario.  It is not the first time that Natasha has been to the Olympics as she was also a part of the women's 10,000 Metre Team in 2016.  The following link is the full story about the 2021 Canadian Marathon Teams compliments of Cleve Dheensaw at the Times Colonist:     https://www.timescolonist.com/sports/levins-from-black-creek-and-wodak-from-harriers-club-named-to-olymp-marathon-team-1.24327142

May 17, 2021
Christine Thate

Christine finished a busy virtual race schedule by completing the Goddess Run just after finishing all eight races in the 2021 Island Race Series.  Last month she did the virtual One Hour Challenge and the virtual TC10K.  In May, she also tackled the Sarah Beckett virtual 5K event in the Western Communities.  Christine's most outstanding event of this year was completed today by receiving her official signed certificate in finishing the 105 Mile Tour du Mont Blanc Virtual Adventure Challenge, a run that she started on April 2 and finished on May 16.  Leading up to her future races Christine's training runs with partner, Pat Hayward, include covering the E&N paved rail trail and the railway line at Shawnigan Lake.  Christine has won the Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier award a record number of four times for her vast majority of events that she accomplishes annually.

May 5, 2021
Miguel Batallas, Chris Callendar, Leigh Sunderland and Maurice Tarrant

At the TC10K Virtual Race during the month of April, Miguel was the top Harrier by finishing 6th overall and he placed second in the M10-19 age category with a time of 39:47.  Harriers team mates, Andrew Pape-Salmon, finished 7th overall and was first in the M50-59 division in 39:56, while Jordan Cheung won the M20-29 division in 41:00, Paul Siluch won the M60-69 division in 40:24 and Andrea Minter won the F40-49 division in 44:55.  The TC10K champions were Nick Walker, 31:32, and Alexa Bryant, 42:45.  In the accompanying Garden City Virtual 5K Race, Chris was the top Harrier and finished first overall of the 175 finishers with a time of 19:38 while Leigh was the top female Harrier in third place overall, and she was first in the F60-69 age category in 24:20.  Maurice, at the age of 91, continued his magnificent string of never missing a Times Colonist race in 31 years since it started in 1990 by finishing 135th overall accompanied by his faithful training partner and daughter, Claire Tarrant-Rowley, as they ran five laps around McMinn Park in Cordova Bay to finish 134th and 135th overall both in 53:51.  Women dominated the 5K race with 6 finishing in the top 10 runners overall and there were 126 female finishers compared to 49 male finishers.  The 10K race had 1,172 finishers and another 175 finishers were in the 5K race for a total of 1,347 in both virtual events.  This compares to 7,518 finishers in 2019 when the event was a mass participation race compared to this year's virtual solo race.

May 2, 2021
Joseph Camilleri

Today, Joseph completed the Virtual Abbott Global Marathon by running 4 laps of the paved pathway around the Victoria International Airport.  His finishing time of 3:23:02 was a personal best by 3 minutes over his 3:25:58 at the 2019 GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon and today he was ranked second overall in Canada in the M70 age category.  The M70 Global Marathon winner was Michael Jong in 3:22:48 while the top F70 female, Roslyn Smith of Comox Valley Road Runners, took the bronze medal in 3:58:02.  Joseph was supported at the aid stations by Ken Webb and his wife, Dorothy French Camilleri, while Jane MacDonald and Christine Thate were on hand to cheer him in at the finish line with a silver medal performance.  Joseph was 197th overall of 1,094 finishers in the worldwide Global Marathon event.

April 17, 2021
Natasha Wodak

Natasha placed fourth overall in an elite women's division today at the Spring Run-Off Virtual 8K which attracted 14 high performance women and 18 high performance men of the total of 306 Run-Off finishers from across the country.  Leslie Sexton, Kingston, Ontario, won the women's elite race in 25:53 and Ben Preisner, Milton, Ontario, won the men's elite race in 22:28.  Natasha finished in 27:12, while Harriers team mate, Catrin Jones, was 12th in 30:34 in the elite women's division.

March 13, 2021
Liam Stanley

Liam set another T37 World Record in the 1,500 Metre race tonight at the Victoria Twilight Meet held at UVic's Centennial Stadium.  He ran a personal best time of 4:08:31.  It was his second T37 World Record as he set a 5,000 Metre World Record of 15:54.5 on December 13, 2020 at Centennial Stadium.  In tonight's meet, Nathan Reich also set a T38 World Record with a personal best time of 3:52:56.  Both Liam's and Nathan's records are pending ratification by Athletics Canada.

February 28, 2021
Maurice Tarrant, Liam Stanley, Catrin Jones, Natasha Wodak and Ulla Hansen

Over the first two months of 2021, BC Athletics acknowledged several athletes and volunteers for both their outstanding athletic performances or community service in 2020.  Of BCA's list of several  acknowledgements, the Harriers were the only club in the province with more than one member receiving praise.  Maurice, at the age of 90, was acknowledged for setting his 76th Canadian age category record which he achieved in January at the Pioneer 8K while Liam was recognized for his 5,000 Metre T37 World Record that he set at UVic in December.  Catrin was singled out for two Canadian long distance records, first for the 50 Mile distance set at the Harriers "No Frills" Five-Oh Ultras in Victoria in October and, the second, for a Six-Hour National Record that she established at the One Track Mind Ultras in Duncan in November.  Natahsa was also acknowledged for two new Canadian Records, the first being set in the F35 Master's Division at our Pioneer 8K and the second which she ran one week later at the Half Marathon distance in Houston, Texas.  She also ran the second fastest marathon time for a female in Canadian history with a stunning 2:26:19 set in Chandler, Arizona.  Ulla, a remarkable athlete in her racing years, turned her attention to volunteering where she was honoured for Outstanding Community Service by chairing and directing the highly successful Pan American Cross Country Championships at Bear Mountain Golf and Country Club in February.

February 21, 2021
Dawn Wilson and Gary Duncan

The Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award goes to Harriers who have contributed much more than running to our club. It is a pleasure to recognize two people this year who unselfishly gave their time to Harriers events and many other running-related duties.

Our female winner was honoured in 2020 by receiving a Harriers Lifetime Membership and, in 2019, she won the Mike Emerson Volunteer of the Year Award. She cared for and led John Atkinson on many training runs by summiting 29 hills in the Harriers Wilderness Challenge including a hike to the top of Mount Blinkhorn with Wilderness Challenge Coordinator, Bob Reid. She volunteers as race package pick-up team leader for all major events that the club hosts annually. When the pandemic hit in March, 2020, group training and racing were suspended by provincial health authorities, BC Athletics and Athletics Canada. In September some restrictions were lifted and a “Return to Training” policy was issued by BC Athletics specifying that each club must designate a Health and Safety Officer to monitor our members health and keep a detailed record of attendance at our Tuesday Night Workouts and Saturday morning trail runs at Thetis Lake Park. She immediately volunteered for this position and did an admirable job in keeping track of names and dates for all club runs.

Our male winner is no stranger to this trophy as his name is already inscribed five times on the perpetual trophy. He has also won the John Thipthorpe Durability Award a record number of fourteen times. In 2020, he finished five races in the Island Race Series including the Harriers Pioneer 8K, Cobble Hill 10K, Cedar 12K, Hatley Castle 8K and Port Alberni Paper Chase 15K by placing a very close second in the M60 division to Comox Valley’s rival, Dave Brenchley, who won the M60 gold medal. He ran an incredible 129 hills in the Harriers Wilderness Challenge narrowly missing the Platinum Level “King of the Mountains” winner’s total of 141. He is an expert and certified course measurer and accurately measures virtually every race course on Vancouver Island including the 2020 Pan American Cross Country Championships at Bear Mountain. Besides setting up the Pan Am course and tearing it down, he ran two races including the All-Comers 5K where he won his age category and the Canada v. United States Masters Championship where he anchored the Canadian Team to a gold medal and the Vancouver Island Runners’ Association Challenge to another gold medal for the Harriers Team. He has been on our Board of Governors for 8 years including 7 years as Vice President and this year stepping up to be our 2021 Club President. He was presented with a Lifetime Membership in 2015.

The presence of our two Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award winners is felt throughout the club and throughout the entire running community.  Their dedicated performance includes race direction, volunteering, managing event tasks, course measurement, racing, helping at social events, leading club runs at Tuesday Night Workouts and at Thetis Lake Park and serving as valuable Board members by doing all the detailed, behind the scenes work, that keeps the Harriers engine running and our club’s wheels in motion. Both award recipients are incredibly dependable and thoroughly reliable in carrying out their duties.  We are fortunate to have these two Harriers as our friends and as our leaders and we thank them for their continuous and valuable contributions to the club.

Congratulations to the Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award winners – Dawn Wilson and Gary Duncan

February 14, 2021
Liam Stanley

Our Sandy Auburn High Achievement Award winner goes to the club athlete that has done something extraordinary or spectacular during the year. On December 18 at UVic’s Centennial Stadium while proudly wearing his Harriers singlet, Liam Stanley crushed the Canadian 5,000 metre record by an incredible 59 seconds and, in the process, he set a T38 WORLD RECORD of 15:54.5 lowering the previous mark of 16:07.5 by 13 seconds.  Liam is a para-athlete that specializes in the 1,500 metre event where he has won silver medals at both the 2019 World Para Track and Field Championships in Dubai and at the 2019 Para Pan American Games in Peru.  Liam is part of our Harriers Youth Team and is coached by Bruce Deacon who was on hand on Liam’s special night cheering him on during his world record-breaking performance.  The next day Liam sent a heartwarming message to the Prairie Inn Harriers thanking our club for the continued support over his 6 years of training and racing with our team.  We wish Liam all the success in the world with his 1,500 metre gold medal attempt this summer in Japan at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics. What an honour it must have been for a young Harriers athlete as he stepped of the track following the best performance of his life!

The following day Athletics Canada wrote a report with bold headlines of Stanley Stands on Top of the World and the tribute continued with: If you are going to break a record, you might as well smash it. If you’re going to smash a record, it might as well be the world record. Liam Stanley followed both those rules this weekend in British Columbia, obliterating the T37 5,000 metre world record with a time of 15:54.5. The 23-year-old runner from Victoria finished 13 seconds ahead of the world record, held by Denmark’s Christoffer Vienberg, and was almost a full minute faster than the Canadian Record, held by Shayne Dobson. “With a lap to go, that’s when I knew I was probably going to break the record,” said Stanley. “That’s when I first realized it and, after that, I just tried to run as fast as I could.” Even knowing that a world record result was within his reach, Stanley was not completely prepared for the final time after he had crossed the finish line. “I was really tired right after, but as time went on it started to sink in and I started to feel very good and really proud.” Running at the UVic Centennial Stadium, his plan was to start slow and to increase the pace in the second half. His plan worked! “We did the first 2 kilometres pretty slow and then picked it up. The guys in front of me did a great job and I just had to stay calm and run my race.”

Congratulations to the Sandy Auburn High Achievement Award winner – Liam Stanley

February 7, 2021
Colleen Auringer and Andrew Galbraith

The Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier Award is presented annually to members that represent the club regularly and consistently throughout the year whether they are training, racing or volunteering. This year we are honouring two members. Our female winner, took on many challenges in an effort to stay busy and sane through our unique year.  She started with Capra “Keep yourself from going crazy” Challenge in April by doing four workouts per week in addition to her regular runs. She took up the Harriers Wilderness Peak Challenge in the Sooke Hills from June through to the end of September.  She first gathered maps and compasses and started to plot trail runs; she learned as much as she could about navigating the Sooke Hills, memorized the names and locations of trails and came up with ideas for routes.  Excited by the Wilderness Challenge and anxious to learn more, she kept going, designing and modifying routes and looking at more options.  The numbers kept adding up, George’s Gorgeous Bluff was hill ‘Number 100’ conquered but there were still more to explore.  If it showed as a peak on the GPS, it counted, and as she researched further, some of those mysterious hills had names after all. Time ran out at 141 peaks, hills, and bluffs enough to crown her Queen of the Mountains. While doing the Sooke Hills Wilderness Challenge, she also completed the Van Isle 460 Challenge by running 460 kilometres in one month, the Capra 30x30 Challenge in November and then in December she was awarded the coveted elf slippers for the Island Fat Ass 24 ADVENTure runs leading up to Christmas which included all of the local parks from East Sooke to Victoria.  She’s been filling any spaces with cross training including the Great Big Move Team Challenge, golfing and cycling too. This active lady never stops moving!

Our male winner, found himself drawn in to multiple events and, without even realizing it, he’d upped his regular three runs a week and was now out running five days a week and hiking the other two.  This Harrier was out day after day encouraging and crewing his wife as she gathered miles. He was summitting Mount Douglas four times a week before breakfast as well as circling Elk/Beaver with the owls and making regular visits to Thetis Lake and Goldstream Regional Parks.  He’s an old school runner, never wears a watch or counts miles just runs for the love of it. He enthusiastically threw himself into to the Harriers Wilderness Challenge to complete as many peaks in the Sooke Hills as possible over the five months of summer.  He was loving the long runs and exploring the mountains.  After completing the initial bronze, silver and gold levels, he couldn’t wait to take on more, reminding him of the joy of where he grew up spending all day in the wilderness.  He looked forward to the next adventure, once or twice a week every week for five months into the hills averaging eight different hills a week.  He won the King of Mountain Award with a total of 141 peaks by scaling Mount Blinkhorn for their final climb with his two female Queen of the Mountains companions and with Wilderness Challenge organizer, Bob Reid, leading their last summit on a new hill in Metchosin. In December he took on the Island Fat Ass ADVENTure runs leading up to Christmas venturing into the Sooke Hills and through the blizzard at Mount Doug.  He ploughed through snow and leapt creeks in the Sooke Hills summiting both Townsend and Sugarloaf the day after the snowstorm.  This Harrier has really come out of his shell this year; he tackled a new challenge and took on the trails with pure gusto.

Congratulations to the Susan Reid Most Consistent Runners – Colleen Auringer and Andrew Galbraith

January 31, 2021
Maurice Tarrant

On January 4, 2020, Maurice Tarrant celebrated his 90^th birthday with 75 friends in attendance at the Prairie Inn Neighbourhood Pub, our running club’s inaugural roots in 1978. He is the only active 90-year-old club member of the 1,500 plus runners who have been part of the Harriers over the past 44 years. One week later, at the 41^st annual Harriers Pioneer 8K Road Race, he set his 77^th Canadian Age Category Record by topping the M90 division. Maurice is simply the best master runner in Canada! At the Royal Victoria 8K road race Maurice has established course records for M60, M65, M70, M75, M80 and M85 divisions and he has run every single one of the thirty Times Colonist 10K races since they started in 1990 establishing age category records in virtually every single age division from M50 to M85. He was born in Devon, England, and he started his running career at the age of 10 by delivering newspapers for both a morning and evening route and also running to and from school each day. At 17, he was active in both rowing and rugby and he joined the Royal Air Force when he turned 21. Maurice ran cross country, track and road races from age 24 to 29 and represented Devon at an Inter-Country Meet at White City. He preferred the longer distances such as races of three miles and six miles on the track. He stopped running at age 30 and began refereeing soccer for 10 years while living in Quebec. He joined the Harriers 40 years ago in 1982 which was the very first year of the Vancouver Island Race Series. Maurice won every Series race that year in his M50 age division and has gone undefeated in more than 250 consecutive races setting several provincial, national and WORLD age category records along the way. No other athlete in any other sport has dominated his age division to the point of being undefeated 250 consecutive times. He doesn’t just lower Canadian Records, Maurice completely demolishes them. For a one-mile track race, most athletes are happy to shave just a few tenths of a second off the current record. In 1987 the M50 one-mile record was 6 minutes flat. Maurice ran a Masters’ Mile race at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium that year one full MINUTE faster the 6:00 record lowering it to 5:00. At Merville in 2005 he dropped the M75 Canadian 15K Record from 1:11 to 1:05, a staggering 6-minute improvement that had stood for more than 20 years and now he has held it for the past 15 years. He has won the Alex Marshall Master of the Year Award an incredible nine different times between 1988 and 2003. He won the Harriers Veteran of the Year in 2004 and 2005 before the club executive renamed the trophy in his honour and, in 2006, the new Maurice Tarrant Veteran of the Year Award was established for runners 60 and older. In 2010, he was named as our Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner along with Natasha Wodak and Lucy Smith being the female winners. There is no doubt whatsoever that Maurice is the greatest master ever to wear a PIH uniform and he ranks as a top master athlete worldwide. He has set some national and international records that may stand forever and he has established a winning streak on Vancouver Island that is unparalleled, and perhaps unachievable, by any other runner. There are approximately 500 running clubs in Canada spanning 10,000 runners. None, besides Prairie Inn Harriers, could boast a Most Valuable Runner over 80 years of age. In 2011, at the age of 81, Maurice set 15 Canadian Records bringing his total to 65 National Age Class Records. Also, imagine going undefeated for 250 consecutive races on Vancouver Island and never being topped in your age division for 30 straight years. Unthinkable, incredible and truly inspirational to all of us. Maurice is the finest and most honourable member with what he brings to the Harriers, to the Victoria running community and to all of the Vancouver Island events where he chooses to participate and showcase his skills. On January 31, 2021, Maurice received yet another award from BC Athletics for his “Outstanding Athletic Performance” at the 2020 Pioneer 8K in achieving his 77^th Canadian Record, one that may never be surpassed. A huge cheer goes out to Maurice Tarrant for all the accolades and the well-deserved awards he has received during the past four decades as a Harrier; he belongs atop the Canadian Masters Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to the 2020 Maurice Tarrant Veteran of the Year - Maurice Tarrant

January 24, 2021
Elaine Galbraith

The John Thipthorpe Durability Award is presented each year to the member who has run more than any other Harrier.  2020 has been a unique year in many ways and this year we have a break in tradition with a new winner other than Gary who has collected the durability honours for the past 15 consecutive years.  This Harrier, at a loose end with races being cancelled, turned to a virtual race, but not just any virtual race!  It was the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee and the race was directed by the legendary Lazurus Lake.  In true “Laz” style, it wasn’t just 1,000 kilometres, it was 1,022 kilometres in distance and then he announced additional incentives, the “1,000 Mile” and “Double Crosser” awards.  He also added imaginary buzzards on the difficult trail course, to push up the pace.  Our Harrier took on the challenge and completed the RAT (Race Across Tennessee), the BAT, (Back Across Tennessee) and the CAT (Continuing Across Tennessee) to complete 3,076 kilometres in 122 days.  One month after starting this challenge, our own club members, Bob Reid and Andrew Russell, threw out a Harriers Wilderness Challenge to complete as many peaks as possible in the Sooke Hills Wilderness Park over five months of summer.  She set out to achieve the bronze, silver and gold levels as a new place to gather miles and, driven by the joy of discovery, she kept going once or twice a week every week from May through September into the hills averaging 8 peaks per week and gathering over 116,000 metres of elevation during her 3,076 kilometres of distance.  In September, she was crowned with the platinum Queen of Mountains Award with an incredible total of 141 peaks at the Harriers Wilderness Challenge.  Following these events she signed up for the Circumpolar Race Around the World, which continues into 2021, and the Capra 30x30 Challenge in November just to keep the legs ticking over.  In December she took on the Island Fat Ass 24 ADVENTure runs leading up to Christmas which included running all of the local parks from East Sooke to Victoria.   Sooke Hills were even more challenging in winter.  The black diamond trails at Mount Douglas Park were scheduled on the day of our snowstorm and then she went back to Sooke Hills including Mount Townsend and Sugarloaf Mountain which were perhaps the most challenging the day after the snowstorm.  Gathering 116,000 metres of elevation over 6,200 kilometres on foot, her car now qualifies for low mileage insurance rates which is a good thing as she went  through a good deal of running shoes this year! 

Congratulations to the 2020 John Thipthorpe Durability Award winner – Elaine Galbraith

January 17, 2021
Catrin Jones and Joseph Camilleri

Both our male and female Masters of the Year had remarkable performances at ultramarathons in 2020. The female winner also topped the women’s category by finishing second overall to team mate, Andrew Russell, at the 2019 Vancouver Island Race Series then continued with success at the 2020 Series by finishing first in her F40 division at the Pioneer 8K, Cobble Hill 10K, Cedar 12K, Hatley Castle 8K and Port Alberni Paper Chase 15K where she set a new F40 course record by seven minutes. She finished as the top female of the Island Series. Her magnificent ultramarathon performances started in August where she won the Dirty Feet 50K trail race in Kamloops and followed it up with victories at the Harriers Five-Oh “No Frills” Ultras in October and the One Track Mind Ultras at the Cowichan Sportsplex Track at Duncan in November. She set two Canadian 50 Mile Records at the Harriers Five-Oh "No Frills" Ultras at UVic where she established a national Open Women's and an F40 Master Women's Record of 6:09:11. The One Track Mind Ultras included One-Day (24 Hours), Two-Day (48 Hours) and Six-Day (144 Hours) races on the track.  The Association of Canadian Ultramarathoners recognizes both "Distance" records such as 50K, 100K, 50 Miles, 100 Miles, and "Hour" records such as Six Hours, Twelve Hours, Twenty-Four Hours and Forty-Eight Hours. During her run she set a new Canadian Six-Hour Record of 75.580 Kilometres for both Open Women and F40 Master Women.  The previous record was 74.930 Kilometres set on February 23, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia by Bernadette Benson.  Last year our 2020 Master of the Year was selected as one of our 2019 Most Valuable Runners.

With 2020 seeing most traditional races cancelled, our male Master of the Year, also known as "Crazy Legs", jumped at the opportunity when the club organized the Harriers Five-Oh "No Frills" Ultras and he signed up for his first-ever ultramarathon.  At the age of 70, he finished with a very respectable time of 4:27:59 to win the 50 Kilometre race.  It seems that he had caught the "long distance bug" as he followed this first ultra 50K victory in October with an outstanding M70 victory at the One Track Mind 24 Hour Solo Run in November at Duncan. He exceeded most of his expectations at this event as he had set an original target of 70K (One kilometre for every year since birth), but instead he ended up running 107 kilometres (close to 70 Miles) including 100K of non-stop running and 7K of walking to complete the 24 Hour race.  He hopes that things return back to normal in 2021 as he is already booked for the Chicago Marathon which was originally scheduled in 2020 but cancelled due to Covid-19.  He is also hopeful to participate at the Masters World Championships to be held in Tampere, Finland, on March 24 to 28, 2021. Last year our 2020 Master of the Year was selected as one of our Most Improved Runners and he continues to improve with every race. Considering that the Master of the Year category includes all club athletes from 40 to 90 years old, our male winner has had a remarkable year at the young age of 70. He continues to create popular photo albums of most races on Vancouver Island with one of his best albums being taken at the Pan American Cross Country Championships at Bear Mountain in February. He is also an active member on our Harriers Facebook page by posting current event notices and photographs.

Congratulations to the 2020 Alex Marshall Masters of the Year – Catrin Jones and Joseph Camilleri

January 10, 2021
Andrew Russell and Natasha Wodak

Although most major races were cancelled in 2020 due to the worldwide coronavirus epidemic, a few of our high-performance athletes still found events both on and off Vancouver Island where they each performed admirably. Our male Most Valuable Runner was the 2019 Island Race Series overall champion and continued his success at the 2020 Harriers Pioneer 8K where he placed third in his M35 age category against a highly competitive, elite field of runners. In February, he travelled to Port Moody and completely destroyed the field of 178 finishers by placing first overall at the rugged Coast Mountain 25K Ridge Run posting a time of 2:17:28 more than eleven and a half minutes ahead of the silver medalist, Brandon Gardiner, from North Vancouver. In May, he won the Global One Hour Virtual Race where he covered 17.7 kilometres in 60 minutes to top the list of 57 competitive athletes from 8 different countries. In October, our Most Valuable Runner placed first overall at the Victoria Cross Country Classic at Beaver Lake. Perhaps his finest contribution to the club in 2020 was introducing the Harriers Wilderness Challenge in the Sooke Wilderness Park and the Sea to Sea Regional Park. He provided a list of 53 Hill names, elevations and maps to begin the 5-month Harriers Wilderness Challenge from May through September where he also conquered 32 peaks along with his faithful 4-legged companion, Wallace. A total of 83 club members participated scaling a remarkable combined number of 2,078 hills in the Wilderness Challenge.

Our female Most Valuable Runner traveled extensively through Canada and the United States in 2020 and had tremendous performances at many championship events. Her journey started with our 41^st annual Harriers Pioneer 8K where she won for the 7^th time in the past ten years and finished with her second sub-26-minute performance, a feat that no other female athlete in Canada has achieved. Her brilliant 25:28 in 2013 at Pioneer is still the current Canadian 8K Record. One week after her January victory at Pioneer, in Houston, Texas, she set another Canadian Record at the Aramco Half Marathon finishing in 1:09:41 becoming the first Canadian female ever to run under 70 minutes. In May, she was the top female at the Global One Hour Virtual Race running 16.1 kilometres in 60 minutes and anchoring the PIH team to a gold medal performance. On Canada Day, July 1, she won the 2020 Canadian 10K Championship virtual road race near Abbottsford in 32:41 to repeat her previous victory at the 2019 Canadian 10K Championship in Ottawa. In October, she led a female relay team, The Quarantine Queens, to yet another Canadian 42.2K Championship by beating all teams from Eastern, Central and Western Canada and bringing the honours to British Columbia by running the longest leg of 11.1 kilometres to secure the team’s victory. On December 20, she wrapped up her outstanding year by running perhaps the best race of her life at the Marathon Project in Chandler, Arizona. She ran a personal best time of 2:26:19 lowering her marathon P.B. by 9 minutes and recorded the second fastest time for a female in Canadian history just missing the national record of 2:24:50 set by Kelowna’s Malindi Elmore at the 2020 Houston Marathon. The Marathon Project was limited by invitation only to 50 elite men and women participants from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, England and Ireland and our Most Valuable Runner was the leading Canadian athlete. Her time was more than three minutes below the Athletics Canada qualifying standard of 2:29:30 for the Summer Olympics so now she has qualified for both the marathon and 10,000 metre events where she holds the 10,000m Canadian Record of 31:41. Unfortunately, both distances are scheduled for the same day so her training will have to be fine-tuned through this spring and summer to suit the event she has chosen for the Olympic Games scheduled to take place July and August in Tokyo, Japan.

Congratulations to the 2020 Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runners - Andrew Russell and Natasha Wodak

January 1, 2021
Jeff Hunt

Jeff emerged as the overall champion of the Thetis Lake Triple Series by recording a cumulative time of 3:28:22 while running solo over the Thetis Relay, Gunner Shaw and Stewart Mountain race courses.  He placed first at Gunner in 42:15, first at Stewart in 1:23:31 and second at the Relay in 1:22:36.  Robert Johnson was the Relay winner in 1:22:31, 5 seconds faster than Jeff.  With Covid-19 restrictions still in place, no mass-participation events are permitted, forcing our three Thetis Lake races to be virtual events held during the months of November and December.  A total of 11 runners participated with Jeff, Robert and Gary Duncan being the only three club members to run all three courses.  Andrew Cook, Rhys Harrison and Bill Scriven completed two courses, Gunner Shaw and Stewart Mountain, and the balance of 5 runners each covered one course.  A link to the final results is here ----->>>  2020 Thetis Lake Solo Series Results

December 25, 2020
Maurice Tarrant

Maurice received a nice Christmas gift by mail from the Canadian Masters Athletic Association signed by Acting President, Vern Christensen.  It was a certificate recognizing his time of 1:13:09 as an official Canadian M90 8 Kilometre record which he set on January 12, 2020 at our 41st annual Harriers Pioneer 8K.  This new age category is Maurice's 76th Canadian Record during his incredible running career since he joined the Harriers in 1983.  His 90th birthday was January 4, about a week before notching this 76th national record.  In his illustrious racing career Maurice has finished FIRST in his age category an unprecedented 250 consecutive times while racing on Vancouver Island!  He is truly the best master athlete ever to wear a Harriers singlet.

December 20, 2020
Natasha Wodak

Natasha ran the second fastest marathon time in Canadian history today by breaking the tape in 2:26:19 at the Marathon Project in Chandler, Arizona qualifying her for the Canadian Team participating at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.  On a warm day in Arizona, she lowered her personal best marathon time by a staggering 9 minutes from her previous mark of 2:35:16.  The Marathon Project featured 50 male and 50 female invited high performance athletes and the race champions were two United States runners, both running personal best times.  Sara Hall was the first female, also running the second fastest time in American history, in 2:20:32, while Martin Hehir topped the men's field in 2:08:59. The first Canadian finishers were Natasha and Ben Preisner, running his first-ever marathon in 2:10:17, and qualifying him for the Tokyo Olympics.  A full story on the race with a link to results is here ----->>>  https://athleticsillustrated.com/martin-hehir-and-sara-hall-win-with-a-statement-at-the-marathon-project/

December 13, 2020
Liam Stanley

Pictured on the front page of the Times Colonist Sports section this morning, while proudly wearing his Harriers singlet, Liam Stanley smashed the Canadian 5,000 metre record by an incredible 59 seconds and, in the process, he set a T38 WORLD RECORD of 15:54.5 lowering the previous mark of 16:07.5 by 13 seconds.  Liam is a para athlete that specializes in the 1,500 metre event where he has won silver medals at both the 2019 World Para Track and Field Championships in Dubai and at the 2019 Para Pan Am Games in Peru.  Liam is part of our Harriers Youth Team and is coached by Bruce Deacon who was on hand at UVic's Centennial Stadium Friday night cheering Liam on during his world record-breaking performance.  The next day Liam sent a heartwarming message to the Prairie Inn Harriers thanking our club for the continued support over his 6 years of training and racing with our team.  We wish Liam all the success in the world with his 1,500 metre gold medal attempt this summer in Japan at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics.  A full report from Athletics Canada is here ----->>>  https://athletics.ca/stanley-on-top-of-the-world/

November 30, 2020
Gary Duncan

Gary was the lone Harriers representative at the virtual BC Cross Country Championships today as 117 participants from across the province competed in 28 different age divisions from 9-year-olds running 1.5 kilometres to seniors and masters running 8 kilometre courses in their respective cities.  Gary, 63, placed 4th of 8 finishers in the 40+ Masters Division in 32:33 by running a grass loop course at Lambrick Park where PIH had previously hosted the 2006 and 2007 Championships.  The top masters today were Neil Holm, of Comox Valley Road Runners, in 29:01, and the first female was Corinne Issel, 34:40, from Ocean Athletics Track and Field Club.  Due to Covid-19, the mass start BCXC Championships were replaced by virtual races today but next year, with Covid restrictions relaxed, the Harriers can look forward to hosting the 2021 Championship event at Beaver Lake Park and attracting over 350 athletes of all ages.  The BC Athletics report with a link to the BCXC virtual race results is here ------->>>   https://www.bcathletics.org/News/bc-cross-country-championships-virtual-challenge-results/3054/

November 27, 2020
Teagan Hunt and Griffin Hunt

Two of the winners of our 2019 Harriers Family of the Year, Teagan Hunt, was crowned Queen of the Hill today by winning the one mile uphill race from the bottom to the top of Mount Douglas while her brother, Griffin, Grade 9 and racing against boys 3 years older than him, placed third overall in 7 minutes, 53 seconds.  Teagan reached the summit in 9 minutes and 2 seconds to win the Grade 12 girls' championship for her third time in the past four years.  The event was part of the Lambrick Park Secondary School's 26th annual King and Queen of the Mountain Run.  The boys' winner, for his third consecutive year, was Grade 11 student, Aiden Grew, who scaled the hill in 6 minutes, 51 seconds.  Two days earlier, Griffin also placed second overall in the Junior Boys Cedar Hill Chip Trail 3.6 kilometre time trial in 13:27 by running around the golf course.  Aiden Grew won the Cedar Hill Senior Boys race as well in 12:04.

November 15, 2020
Catrin Jones and Joseph Camilleri

For the second time within the past four weeks, both Catrin and Joseph had magnificent ultramarathon performances!  Today, at the Cowichan Sportsplex Track in Duncan, Catrin set two more Canadian Records to accompany the two Canadian Records that she set on October 18 at the Harriers Five-Oh "No Frills" Ultra at UVic where she established a national Open Women's and an F40 Women's 50-Mile Record of 6:09:11.  Today's event was called the "One Track Mind Ultras" and it included One-Day (24 Hours), Two-Day (48 Hours) and Six-Day (144 Hours) races on the track.  The Association of Canadian Ultramarathoners recognizes both "Distance" records such as 50K, 100K, 50 Miles, 100 Miles, etc. and "Hour" records such as Six Hours, Twelve Hours, Twenty-Four Hours, Forty-Eight Hours, etc.  During Catrin's run she set a new Canadian Six-Hour record of 75.580 Kilometres (47 Miles, 1,694 Yards) for both Open Women and F40 Women.  The previous record was 74.930 Kilometres (46 Miles, 984 Yards) set on February 23, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia by Bernadette Benson.  With 2020 seeing most traditional races cancelled, Joseph, otherwise known as "Crazy Legs", jumped at the opportunity when the Harriers organized the Five-Oh "No Frills" Ultras and signed up for his first-ever ultramarathon.  At the age of 70, he finished with a very respectable time of 4:27:59 to win the 50K race while Catrin won the 50 Mile race in 6:09:11.  It seems that Joseph had caught the "long distance bug" as he followed his first ultra with the most recent One Track Mind 24 Hour Solo Run today in Duncan.  Joseph says that he exceeded most of his expectations at this event as originally he set a target of 70K (One kilometre for every year since birth), but instead he ended up running 107 kilometres (close to 70 Miles) including 100K of non-stop running and 7K of walking to complete the 24 Hour race.  He hopes that things return back to normal in 2021 as he is already booked for the Chicago Marathon which was originally scheduled in 2020 but cancelled due to Covid-19.  He is also hopeful to participate at the Masters World Championships to be held in Tampere, Finland, on March 24 to 28, 2021.  Christine Thate, Jane MacDonald and myself were on hand in Duncan to run a few laps and cheer both Catrin and Joseph on with their record-breaking performances.  https://runningmagazine.ca/sections/runs-races/catrin-jones-breaks-canadian-50-mile-6-hour-records-weeks-apart/

November 1, 2020
Michael Barber, Basil Parkins, Grace Fulton and Maddy Eames

Michael, 16:40, and Basil, 17:13, placed first and second in the Junior Division for 17 to 20-year-olds in Heat #5 of 6 races at the Salish Sea Cross Country Series in Surrey today.  Grace, 21:18, and Maddy, 21:45, placed second and third in the Juvenile Division for 14 to 17-year-olds in Heat #2.  There were 13 participants from our Harriers Youth Team of the 57 total finishers in the 6 Heats.  Other clubs represented included West Vancouver T&F Club, UBC Thunderbirds, Coquitlam T&F and City Track Club.

October 18, 2020
Catrin Jones and Joseph Camilleri

Catrin had an outstanding performance today by setting both an F40 and an Open Women's 50 Mile Canadian Record at the Harriers "Five-Oh" No Frills Ultras by running 42 laps of Ring Road in 6:09:11.  She shattered the previous record of 6:14:45 set in 2014 by Beverley Anderson at a 50 Miler in Sacramento, California.  Joseph, running his first Ultramarathon ever, won the 50K Division in 4:27:59 and establishing him as one of the top five M70 runners in Canada.  In the shorter accompanying races, Shane Ruljancich won the 50 Minute race and Sean Mitchell won the 5 Mile race in 34:07.  A report from Athletics Illustrated is available >>>>  https://athleticsillustrated.com/catrin-jones-takes-canadian-masters-50-mile-record-justin-kent-runs-half-marathon-best-after-being-denied-world-championships-debut/

October 18, 2020
Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the fastest runner and anchored the Quarantine Queens to a first place performance in an Eastern Canada vs. Western Canada virtual marathon relay race today.  Natasha ran an 11.11K leg in 36:45 while team mates Kinsey Middleton ran 10.55K in 37:02, Malindi Elmore ran 10.55K in 36:03 and Emily Setlack ran 10.0K in 32:49 for a team time of 2:22:39 to secure the victory at the Athletics Canada 42K Relay Challenge.  Second place went to The Rockin' Rock Ladies, of Newfoundland, 9 minutes back in 2:31:30 while third place went to The Bayfront Bellas, from Ontario, in 2:45:14.  A full report from Athletics Illustrated is here >>>>   https://athleticsillustrated.com/west-coast-dominates-athletics-canada-42k-relay-challenge/

October 17, 2020
Andrew Russell

Andrew emerged as the race champion today at Beaver Lake by winning the Victoria Cross Country Classic, Race #1 of the Salish Sea XC Invitational Series which includes other events in Surrey, West Vancouver and the Nanaimo.  Andrew's time was 15:01 while runner-up, Devon Meadows of Coquitlam Track and Field Club, finished 6 seconds back in 15:07.  There were 101 registrations and 72 finishers in the event which featured 6 different Heats of runners.  Other Harriers winning their age categories were Johnnie Toombs and Lyndon Clazie, son of Dawn Wilson.  There were 21 club members in the races including 18 Youth Team members.

October 1, 2020
Colleen Auringer, Elaine Galbraith and Andrew Galbraith

The Harriers Wilderness Challenge wrapped up yesterday involving 83 participants including 76 Harriers and 7 canine Harriers.  Colleen, Elaine and Andrew were crowned "King and Queen of the Mountains" as they scaled an unbelievable 141 hills and mountains in the Sea to Sea and Sooke Wilderness Regional Parks over a five-month period between May 1 and September 30.  They were our Platinum Level champions and received platinum medals along with beautiful, embroidered Nike and Oakley hooded sweatshirts compliments of 2:18 Run.  No one even came close to their staggering number of 141 different summits.  The event was the brainchild of Andrew Russell and Bob Reid managed the team with monthly email messages reporting progress of each club member.  Draw prizes were presented to Lara Wear as the Gold Level winner (30 or more peaks) - $100 Gift Card from 2:18 Run, to Ron Woolley as the Silver Level winner (20 or more peaks) - $75 Gift Card from the Empress Hotel, to Steve Wilson as the Bronze Level winner (10 or more peaks) - $50 Gift Card from the Six Mile House, to Otis Nylen as Top Dog of the Mountains (67 peaks) - Gift Pack including two free dog washes from Bosley's and to Matthias Schoeck for the Best Wilderness Picture during his 72 summits where he had an encounter with a large black bear standing a mere 5 metres ahead of him on the trail, yet Matthias had the courage to snap a photo before gently and slowly retreating.  His prize was a Harriers green hoodie and a pair of Harriers gloves for his upcoming fall and winter runs.  As a side note about wildlife, Andrew Cook had a record ten encounters with black bears and one with a cougar during his 66 hills however it gave him a sound knowledge of the vast wilderness trail network and the confidence when confronting and handling wildlife obstacles during his run.  Overall the Harriers Wilderness Challenge was deemed an outstanding success in the absence of the many local races cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.  The Harriers Wilderness team conquered a total 2,078 summits over the 154 days of the challenge.

September 17, 2020
Simon Whitfield

It was 20 years ago today, on September 17, 2000, when Simon unleashed his tremendous finishing kick to become the first-ever triathlon gold medalist at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.  When he came off the bike portion of the race, there were more than 20 runners ahead of him as he started the 10 kilometre run.  He passed them all and caught the leader in the last few hundred metres while sprinting to the finish line showing his victorious enthusiam to the roaring crowd.  Here is a one-minute video to relive that brilliant moment for an outstanding Victoria athlete ----->   https://twitter.com/TeamCanada/status/1306630783407398912

August 30, 2020
Catrin Jones

Catrin traveled to Kamloops today and claimed the title of female champion at the Dirty Feet 50K trail race.  She finished an amazing second overall of 44 finishers with a time of 4:33:22.  Jacob Hiom, of West Vancouver, was the men's winner in 4:16:21.  Catrin's margin of victory was a tad over 6 minutes ahead of the second place female, Joanna Brewer, who finished third overall in 4:39:36.  With Covid-19 restrictions still in place, there was a maximum of 45 starters and 44 runners finished including 28 men and 16 women.  The accompanying Dirty Feet 25K trail race was won by a Kamloops home-town athlete, Dave Zimkelt, in 1:56:56, while the top female, Kelsey LePard from Delta, finished second overall in 2:13:51.  Full race results are here ----->   https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=220533

July 27, 2020
Elaine Galbraith

Elaine has excelled in the months of July and August by running mega-miles, far more than any other club member.  She leads the Harriers Wilderness Challenge with over 130 summits scaled to date along with her trusty navigator, Colleen, and her faithful husband, Andrew.  Elaine's most outstanding distance achievement this summer was completing three legs of the Tennessee Challenge where she ran 3,066 kilometres in three months (122 days) for an average of 25 kilometres per day.  Her 3,066 kilometres is the equlivant of running from Victoria to Tofino ten times!  To prepare her for the Fall Challenge, she was following a 4-month training program developed by the Lazarus Lake, Race Director of the Barkley Marathons described by many as "The toughest footrace in the world."  Over the 34 years of the Barkley which started in 1986, 1,000 runners have attempted the race course and only 15 have finished; that's .01% of the 34-year field!  In her first month of training, Elaine covered 1,022 kilometres in 39 days to complete her 1,000K target with this quote, "I've never in my life put so many kilometres on my feet before this Tennessee Challenge!"  Lazarus Lake's real name is Gary Cantrell and he is definitely an 'old school' runner and Race Director by designing "almost impossible" race courses.  Here is a very interesting story on Lake's background and accomplishments ----->  https://www.outsideonline.com/2392166/barkely-marathons-lazarus-lake

July 1, 2020
Natasha Wodak

For the second consecutive year, Natasha was crowned as the 2020 Canadian 10K Champion based on her first place performance of 32:41 at a virtual solo road race today on the Lower Mainland near Abbotsford.  She also won the 2019 Canadian 10K title in Ottawa in 32:30.  Rachel Clif was runner-up today, Canada Day, in 33:35.  Due to the pandemic, mass start races are not permitted but virtual races allow runners to compete on their own course.  Justin Kent won the men's Championship virtual race in Fort Langley in 28:52 while Lucas Bruchet placed second in 29:17.  The following is a link to the Athletics Illustrated story: ----->  https://athleticsillustrated.com/wodak-predicted-3241-and-kent-goes-sub-29-to-take-first-virtual-canadian-10k-championships/

May 17, 2020
Andrew Russell, Robert Johnson, Natasha Wodak and Chris Kelsall

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in early March, virtually all organized races were cancelled and some were replaced by virtual races.  Wiped off the regular race schedule was A.B.I.N., Comox Half, Sooke River, Bazan Bay, TC10K, Sun Run, Vancouver Marathon, Victoria Marathon and many others.  The unique "Global One Hour Virtual Race", brainchild of Chris Kelsall, emerged as an alternative for race-starved Vancouver Island runners and many other athletes from all over the world.  They registered from 6 Provinces, 7 States and 8 countries including England, Scotland, North Ireland, Poland, Germany, Australia, United States and Canada.  The concept was simple.  Any runner could register and run solo for one hour sometime between between May 1 and May 17 on the course and day of their choice.  The objective was to cover as many kilometres as possible in one hour.  Andrew and Natasha emerged as male and female champions with Andrew covering 17.67 km. and Natasha, 5th overall of 57 finishers, covering 16.10 kilometres.  Robert placed a strong second overall to Andrew with 16.87 km. while Natasha easily dominated the women's field by running her one hour split during the first part of her 21.1 km. virtual Vancouver Half Marathon and winning that event as well.  She finished 2.5 kilometres ahead of Edmonton's Alexandra Gordichuk, the second female in 21st place, who covered 13.65 km.  The team competition required 5 finishers per team to count on the reverse-scoring system with the lowest score winning.  Prairie Inn Harriers claimed the top spot with 29 points, Comox Valley Road Runners placed second with 39 points and the Tuesday Night Late Workout team took third with 93 points.  Other members of the winning Harriers team, besides Andrew, Robert and Natasha, were Sean Chester, 15.74 km. and 63-year-old Michael Lax, 14.65 km.  A total of 94 participants entered in the main event as well as secondary events including Elevation Gain, Elevation Loss and Race Walking.  A full report on the race is here >>>  https://athleticsillustrated.com/andrew-russell-and-natasha-wodak-win-the-global-one-hour-virtual-race-prairie-inn-harriers-eke-out-win-over-comox-valley-road-runners/ 

March 8, 2020
Lyndon Clazie and Catrin Jones

Lyndon, 7th overall of 262 finishers, and Catrin, 9th overall, were the top Harriers today at the Port Alberni Paper Chase 15K, Race #5 of 8 in the Island Race Series.  Lyndon won the M20 age category in 58:16 and Catrin won the F40 age category in 58:34.  Catrin's performance was outstanding; she was the first female and first master in the race and broke Carolyn Coffin's F40 course record of 1:05:05 set in 2018 by six and a half minutes!  The men's race winner, Victoria's Richard Reid, also set a new course record of 50:08, lowering Dusty Spiller's mark of 52:04 also set in 2018.  There were 12 Harriers at Port Alberni today which was too few to hold the Series lead as CeeVacs Roadrunners moved into first place with three races left including the Comox Half Marathon, Sooke River 10K and Bazan Bay 5K.  The two Greater Victoria races should bolster our club's number of participants in search of the 2020 Series championship title.

February 29, 2020
Gary Duncan, Tom Michell and Jonah Brost

Gary and Tom worked tirelessly for two weeks preparing the race course for the Pan American Cross Country Championships at Bear Mountain on leap year, Saturday, February 29.  They made several trips up the hill to Bear Mountain to dig out rocks and cover a creek bed with pallets, hay bales, plywood, rubber mats and sand to make the course safe and runnable for the athletes.  On race day Gary was a "Super Hero" for, he not only designed and measured the course, he set it up, tore it down, raced the opening Community 5K race and won his age division and also raced the final CanAm 5K event again winning his age division.  Along the way he helped the Harriers win the VIRA Challenge Cup and he helped Team Canada win the CanAm Masters' Championship Cup along with Lucy Smith, Herb Phillips and Paul Siluch.  All in a day's work for Gary!  There were 8 different races at the Pan Ams featuring 524 finishers with the Community 5K race being the most popular attracting 40 finishers.  The Community 5K winners were Jonathan Behnke, 18:06, and Ally Ginther, 9th overall in 20:51.  Harriers' Ian Searle was second to finish in 18:29.  Several club members won their age divisions including Michael Barber (M20), Shane Ruljancich (M40), Sean Mitchell (M45), Gary (M60) and Sarah Bryan (F14).  Jonah Brost had an outstanding race in the Junior Men's Youth Cup by topping the largest field of 66 finishers on his way to the gold medal.  In the Junior Men's race there were 10 members of our Harriers Youth Team and all of them ran very well including Jonah, Kevin Song, Zach Charlsworth, Brodie Cote, Miles Powell, Trevor Neil, John Deacon, Julien Cameron, Rowan Schouten and Basil Parkins.  Great leadership was provided by Harriers' Ulla Hansen, President, Victoria International Cross Country Association, (VICCA) and to Bruce Deacon, Pan Am General Manager.  Approximately 50 club members were either on the planning committee or helped as venue coordinators and task volunteers on race day making the event tremendously successful for 500+ athletes from 14 countries and 600+ spectators, coaches, BC Athletics officials and Athletics Canada officials from across the country.  Victoria did Canada proud by hosting a pleasing and highly successful event which we are hoping will help VICCA win the bid to stage the World Cross Country Championships in 2023 at Bear Mountain, a championship event considered to be the most competitive and most popular race in the world with numerous countries sending their national teams.

February 23, 2020
Ian Searle, Shane Ruljancich and Catrin Jones

Ian placed second overall, 13 seconds back of CeeVacs race champion, Dusty Spiller, at the Hatley Castle 8K today which featured 370 finishers; their times were 27:03 and 27:16.  Shane, 28:39, and Catrin, 32:00, were the top masters with Shane finishing eighth overall and Catrin was the the third female.  The female race champion was Julia Tschanz, 11th overall in 30:26.  There were 33 Harriers at Hatley Castle and several finished first in their age categories including Ian (M25), Shane (M40), Catrin (F40), Griffin Hunt (M15), Liam Stanley (M20) and Andrew Pape-Salmon (M50).  The Harriers boasted 5 of the top 10 finishers and extended their Series points lead over CeeVacs Road Runners and Bastion Running Club.  A shout out goes to last year's Most Consistent Runner, Christine Thate, who improved her Hatley Castle time by 10 minutes today over her last year's finishing time at the challenging Royal Roads race course.  The 370 finishers included 188 men and 182 women which was 13 more than the total of 357 of last year.  Hatley Castle marked the half way point in the 2020 Island Race Series with four events completed and four remaining.  Next up is the Port Alberni 15K on March 8.

February 22, 2020
Andrew Russell, Naomi Russell and Juan Jaramillo Reina

Andrew completely destroyed the field of 178 finishers at the rugged Coast Mountain Ridge Run 25K trail race near Port Moody today.  He finished in 2:17:28, a staggering eleven and a half minutes ahead of the second place runner, Brandon Gardiner, who hit the line in 2:28:53.  Naomi was 12th of 68 females in the accompanying 13K race in 1:34:24.  The top female for the long course was Jenny Quilty; she was 11th overall in 2:50:32.  The short course winners were Samuel Perrin, 1:02:49, and Jeanette Hazlett, 12th OA in 1:12:36.  Juan Jaramillo, Andrew's training partner, finished 8th in the 25K race in 2:42:50.  There were a total of 338 finishers at Run the Ridge including 178 in the 25K and 160 in the 13K.

February 9, 2020
Sean Chester, Craig Odermatt and Patricia Roney

Sean and Craig had great performances today at the Cedar 12K near Nanaimo.  They placed third and fourth overall in 41:47 and 42:25 with Craig setting a new M50 course record breaking Phil Nicholls' mark of 42:52 established 11 years ago in 2009.  Patricia was the top female Harrier and second female of 214; she placed 12th overall in 46:33 just 18 seconds back of the female champion, Bastion's Melissa Ross, who finished 10th OA in 46:15.  Jonathan Behnke, of Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club, won the race in 40:06.  He grew up in Nanaimo and was a member of host Bastion Running Club before moving to Vancouver.  Cedar 12K is Race #3 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Series and featured 385 finishers including 171 men, 214 women and 20 Harriers.  Prairie Inn continues to lead the club standings after 3 races with 1,280 points.  CeeVacs Roadrunners are in second place, 1,133 points, and Bastion Running Club, 1,000 points, are third.

January 31, 2020
2019 PIH Award Winners (25 Categories, 55 Winners - Some club members won multiple awards)

Prairie Inn Harriers held their annual Awards Ceremony and dinner at the Gorge Vale Golf Club tonight with 109 club members and spouses/guests in attendance.  A special "thank you" goes to Dawn Wilson for organizing the event at a new venue featuring excellent views, food, parking, catering and seating arrangements for an enjoyable and memorable evening.

PRAIRIE INN HARRIERS - 2019 AWARD WINNERS

                      LIGHTHEARTED AWARDS

Harriers Happy to be Back Award - Trevor Scoville and Sylvia MacMahon                                                                                                                 

                     NON- PERPETUAL AWARDS

Harriers Fittest Couple - Andrew Russell and Naomi Russell                                                   

Excellence in Club Leadership - Lara Wear                                          

Excellence in Park Runs - Wendy Davies                                                                                    

Families of the Year Award - 1. Catherine, Greg and Emmanuelle Caws     2. Richard, Jeff, Teagan, Cooper and Griffin Hunt

Excellence in Photography - Joseph Camilleri

                  PERPETUAL AWARDS

Harriers Cyclist of the Year - Adam Lawrence and Shannon Coutts

Molly Reid Top Dog of the Year - Wallace Russell                                                                                              

Island Race Series Runner of the Year - Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones                                                                  

John Thipthorpe Durability Award - Gary Duncan and Patricia Roney                                                                                           

Dave Reed Trail Runner of the Year - Sean Chester and Patricia Roney

Bob Reid Bright Shining Light Award (Rookie of the Year) - Samson Haire, Lyndon Clazie and Nicola Oldroyd

Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier - Jane McDonald and Christine Thate 

Mike Emerson Volunteer of the Year - Paul Birney and Dawn Wilson

Stewart Fall Under-20 Junior of the Year - Jack Boden, Michael Barber and Alisa Lyesina

Bruce Deacon Under-16 Junior of the Year - Miles Powell, Ella Ballard and Griffin Hunt

Robin Pearson Most Improved Runner - Joseph Camilleri, Jack Boden and Tamara Van Lieshout      

Maurice Tarrant and Rosamund Dashwood Veterans of the Year - Brent Scott and Melinda Williamson

Sandy Auburn High Achievement Award - Gary Duncan

Alex Marshall Master of the Year - Craig Odermatt and Catrin Jones

Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award - Gary Duncan and Bob Reid

        Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner - Andrew Russell, Aaron Holmgren, Catrin Jones and Natasha Wodak

                            SPECIAL AWARDS

Harriers Lifetime Membership Award - Randy Jones and Dawn Wilson

Canadian Record Achievement Award - Maurice Tarrant

Governor General Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteering - Bob Reid

January 26, 2020
Jim Finlayson, Craig Odermatt and Catrin Jones

Master athletes shone by topping the field today and setting three course records at the Cobble Hill 10K, Race #2 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Race Series.  Jim won the race outright in 31:51 breaking Craig's M45 mark of 32:57 set in 2015.  Craig also set a new M50 age category course record of 32:57 lowering Vince Brotherston's time of 35:13 set at the 2014 Cobble Hill event.  Marilyn Arsenault set a new F50 record of 37:42, lowering Harriers' Nancy Baxendale's 2011 time of 38:29.  Jim, M45, won both the senior and master trophies for being the men's race champion and Jen Millar, F40, won both the senior and master trophies for being the women's race champion; she placed 19th overall of 504 finishers.  Catrin was second F40 behind Millar and was the top female Harrier by placing 28th OA in 38:24; she was 4th of 250 women in the race.

January 19, 2020
Natasha Wodak

Natasha set a new Canadian Half Marathon record of 1:09:41 at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon today becoming the only Canadian female ever to run under 70 minutes and breaking Rachel Cliff's Canadian mark of 1:10:06.  Natasha's time was also under the qualifying standard and she will be eligible for selection to Team Canada to participate at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan this July and August.  Kelowna runner, Malindi Elmore, also set a Canadian Marathon Record of 2:24:50 at the accompanying Chevron Houston Marathon breaking Rachel Cliff's record of 2:26:56 set in Japan last March.  A full story of Natasha's Houston performance is compliments of Chris Kelsall, Athletics Illustrated:  https://athleticsillustrated.com/national-records-and-monumental-comebacks-rule-the-day-in-houston/  Here is an IRun Nation Magazine interview with Natasha following the Houston race:   http://irun.ca/index.php/can-you-go-faster-still-i-hope-so-thats-the-goal-natasha-wodak-on-her-new-canadian-record/

January 19, 2020
Craig Odermatt

For the fourth consecutive year, Craig enjoyed a warm weather break from the rain, snow and wind in Victoria by traveling to Lahaina, Hawaii and taking part in a 15K race today as part of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon weekend offering a marathon, half marathon, 15K, 10K and 5K races.  He placed first overall in the 15K race for the fourth year in a row with a time of 56:12 and was just over 9 minutes ahead of the second place finisher who ran 1:05:14.

January 18, 2020
Mark Seebaran, David Baroff and Nicola Oldroyd

New member, Mark, returning member from Prince George, David, and our U.K. member, Nicola, all had great performances at the Clover Point 5K Park Run today under blustery windy and wet conditions.  Mark and David, both representing the M55-59 age category, finished first and second overall of a small field of 17 finishers; their times were 23:41 and 23:43.  Nicola was first of 9 females by placing 4th overall in 23:21.  The only other Harrier in the race, Wendy Davies, was 5th female, 10th overall, in 26:41.  The poor weather conditions resulted in the smallest field to date of 127 Park Runs held at Clover Point.

January 12, 2020
Jim Finlayson, Natasha Wodak and Maurice Tarrant

On a day dominated by Greater Vancouver runners, where they swept the podium today by placing 1-2-3 in both the men's and women's divisions at the 41st annual Harriers Pioneer 8K Road Race, Jim and Natasha were the top Harriers and both set new age category course records.  Jim, M45, placed 7th overall of 548 finishers in 25:32 and Natasha, F35, placed 11th overall in 25:55 to claim her seventh Pioneer victory.  She is the only female to break 26 minutes twice and her previous time of 25:28 set in 2013 is still a Canadian 8K road record.  The top three men were all from the Langley Mustangs Endurance Group coached by former Harrier, Mark Bomba, with James Lam breaking the tape in 24:23, followed by Blair Johnston in 24:26 and Joel De Schiffart took third in 24:38.  Two Vancouver Thunderbirds finished second and third behind Natasha with Natalia Hawthorn taking the silver medal in 26:49 and Julia Howley claiming bronze in 28:34.  Maurice set his incredible 76th Canadian age class record by topping the new M90 category in 1:13:09 accompanied by his daughter, Claire Tarrant-Rowley.  A big shout out goes to new Race Director, Jeff Beddoes, for coordinating his team of 40 Harriers volunteers at the event which was run in favourable conditions with a slight wind until the final runners finished and made their way to North Saanich Middle School for refreshments and the awards ceremony.  About 10 minutes after the last runner finished, the clouds opened up and rain pounded down for the rest of the day.  The race report, which was a BC 8K Road Race Championship, is here compliments of club member, Chris Kelsall:  https://athleticsillustrated.com/james-lam-and-natasha-wodak-win-provincial-8k-road-championships-in-victoria/

January 1, 2020
Chris Abraham

Although Chris is not a club member, he was the winner of our 24th annual Harriers Predicted Time 10K Memorial Run at Beaver Lake Park today by finishing with just 2 seconds on the clock.  Chris was visiting from Kingston, ON, and he joined the 68 Harriers and one other guest from New Zealand for the run around Elk and Beaver Lakes.  The event is a fundraiser for our Harriers Foundation projects and $540 was raised in donations which the club executive thanks each participant for their generosity!  To date, more than $380,000 raised by the Harriers Foundation has been donated to scholarships, bursaries and community initiatives since the Foundation was initiated at the 1985 Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic at Thetis Lake Park.

 

 

December 28, 2019
Brent Stetchman and Laura Lanchbery

Brent was the top male Harrier finishing 3rd overall and winning his M45 age category in 19:39 and Laura was the top female Harrier; she was 3rd female, 2nd F30 in 24:58 while running with her husband Thom who finished with an identical time at the Clover Point 5K Park Run held today.  The race winner was a newbie visiting from England, Creighton Connolly, of Lincoln Wellington Athletic Club, in 18:50, one second ahead of multi-time winner, Matthew Winkler, 18:51.  The first female was Rachel Soares finishing 6th overall in 20:36.  There were a total of 54 finishers including 16 new runners and 10 Harriers.  Today's 124th consecutive Clover Point Park Run surpassed the magic mark of 1,000 participants since it started on August 12, 2017.

December 21, 2019
Samson Haire and Michael Angrove

Featuring a Christmas theme with participants running in costumes, Samson and Michael placed first and second overall of 40 finishers at the 123rd edition of the Clover Point Park Run today.  Their times were 16:43 and 18:49.  Other Harriers at the race were David Baroff, first M55 in 21:27, Chris Wille, third M55 in 24:41, Wendy Davies, second F60 in 26:23 and Marcia Stromsmoe, first F70 in 27:51.

December 15, 2019
Natasha Wodak

Run the North listed the top 10 moments in 2019 Canadian Running and Natasha was ranked as the 7th greatest performance with her 10,000 metre gold medal finish at the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.  Vancouver team mate, Rachel Cliff, placed third as the two Canadians claimed two positions on the podium of the international field of athletes.  The full list of all 10 of the greatest moments in 2019 is here:   https://runthenorth.substack.com/p/top-10-moments-in-canadian-running

December 14, 2019
Michael Angrove, Thom Lanchbery, David Baroff and Laura Lanchbery

Michael, 20:01, Thom, 21:01, David, 21:54, and Laura, 22:00,  finished 1-2-4-5 with Harriers claiming four of the top five positions of 36 finishers at Clover Point Park Run #122 today.  Other club members included Nicola Oldroyd completing her 133rd Park Run in 28:02 with the first 11 run in England as a member of Bristol and West Athletic Club, and Rob Grant, 28:18, to win the M70 age category.

December 8, 2019
Gary Duncan, Griffin Hunt and Sean Chester

Gary not only co-directed the 16th annual Stewart Mountain Challenge,  he set up the start finish area, marked the loop around Thetis Lake, assisted with the timing, presented the awards and he was the top Harrier in the 5 Mile race finishing 6th overall, first M60, in 44:06.  Griffin was 52 seconds behind Gary in 44:58 to place 7th OA and 2nd place in the M01-19 division.  Sean was the first Harrier in the 10 Mile race finishing 4th overall in 1:20:22.  There were 46 finishers in the 5 Miler won by M20 Chauncey McEachern, 40:12, and the first female was F19 Hanna Stoddard in 45:51.  There were 101 finishers in the 10 Miler won by Nanaimo's M40 Jeremy Clegg, 1:16:07, and the first female was Victoria's F20 Katie Nelson in 1:32:47.  The 147 finishers today was 29 more than last year's total of 118.

December 7, 2019
Natasha Wodak

Natasha reversed the role with Sarah Inglis at yesterday's race by winning the women's division and finishing 4th overall of 228 finishers today at the Columbian Emeralds International 10K, part of the 5-event Barbados Race Weekend offering a marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K and a One Mile Road Race.  Natasha's time was 36:08 which was 12 seconds clear of Sarah who finished 5th OA in 36:20.  The race winner was Yves Sikuwabo in 32:17.  Sarah and Tash  finished 1-2 in the women's division in 1:22:16 and 1:22 20 the day before at the Fortress Half Marathon also won by Yves Sikuwabo in 1:13:09.  Sarah and Natasha were 7th and 8th overall of 453 finishers and were 5 minutes ahead of the third female, Veronica Jepkosgei, who finished in 1:27:16.  The five races in Barbados had a total of 2,120 finishers.

December 6, 2019
Natasha Wodak

Today, Natasha was named to the four-person senior women's team to participate as a Team Canada representive at the upcoming Pan American Cross Country Championships at Bear Mountain on February 29, 2020.  She is the lone PIH club member with team mates, Kristen Lee, of Vancouver, Victoria Coates, Hamilton, ON, and Genevieve Lalonde, Moncton, NB.  Lee is coached by former Harrier, Richard Lee, while Coates was a PIH member while living and triathlon training in Victoria 10 years ago.  Lalonde is the current Canadian Cross Country champion after winning the National Championship race in Abbottsford last weekend.  Team Canada is coached by Glenroy Gilbert and a link to the Athletics Canada article listing the complete roster is here:  https://athletics.ca/2020-pan-am-cross-country-cup-team/?mc_cid=4d1090d2cc&mc_eid=059258bfec

November 30, 2019
Andrew Russell and Aaron Holmgren

Andrew was the race champion whle Aaron placed third overall of 53 finishers in the master men's race at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in Abbotsford today.  The Harriers dynamic duo placed 1-2 in the M35 division with times of 25:53 and 26:28.  Sandwiched between them was Graham Cocksedge, former UVic star, now living and teaching in Powell River,  Graham placed second overall in 26:26, to win the M40 division.  Andrew and Aaron, coupled with Craig Odermatt (12th) and Gary Duncan (38th OA and third M60) led Prairie Inn Harriers team to podium gold with 16 points as the top Master Men's team of 6 teams from across the country.  Second place team went to Newmarket Huskies with 51 points and Fast Trax took third with 93 points on the reverse scoring system.  The Harriers Youth Team was well represented with 11 club members running in various age categories with Delaney Chan and Jack Boden turning in excellent performances in the U18 and U20 divisions.  Ontario's Mike Tate won the senior men's title in 29:10 while last year's champion, Lucas Bruchet from Vancouver finished 2 seconds back in 29:12.  The top senior women's winner was Genevieve Lalonde, from New Brunswick, in 33:22 while Langley's Sarah Inglis took second in 33:31.  Harriers Natasha Wodak placed 4th in 34:14 in a strong women's field.  There were a total of 10 different age category races at the National XC Championships attracting 588 finishers.

November 23, 2019
Aaron Holmgren, Shane Ruljancich and Tamara Van Lieshout

Aaron and Tamara were the top male and female Harriers at the 35th annual Gunner Shaw Classic today held under sunny skies at Thetis Lake Park.  Aaron emerged from the "Shoe Wash" puddle as race champion breaking the tape in 34:18; he was 37 seconds clear of second place finisher, Tyler Trace, who sloshed through the lake in 34:55 followed by Nanaimo's Jeremy Clegg, third in 35:14 to claim the top master's title.  Shane, 35:26, was second master and placed fourth overall.  Tamara was first of 16 in the F30 division in 44:15; she was 4th of 82 females to finish the race.  The female race champion was Julia Tschanz; she finished 13th OA in 38:16.  Gunner Shaw was Race #2 of the Thetis Lake Series and featured 216 finishers, up 39 from last year's total of 177.

November 17, 2019
Gary Duncan, Rob Reid and Laura Lanchbery

Gary and new member Laura had strong performances today at the Bear Mountain Resort 10K, billed as Canada's toughest 10K with three significant hills - Baby Bear Mama Bear and Papa Bear run on concrete golf cart paths around the golf course.  Gary placed 18th overall of a record high of 584 finishers and claimed first place of 20 finishers in the M60 division; his time was 44:04.  Rob was second M60; he finished 62nd overall in 48:58.  Laura was the top female Harrier and placed 8th of 108 in the F30 division in 49:37.  The race winners were Daniel Damian, 37:24, and Carley Pearson, 13th OA in 43:07.

November 11, 2019
Gary Duncan, Dawn Wilson, Ian Searle and Michael Barber

At the 23rd annual Thetis Lake Relay today, with beautiful sunny conditions, Gary and Dawn teamed up on PIH Thongs 'n Dongs, a veteran mixed team that not only won its division in 1:32:10, but T 'n D, complete with their bikini attire, was selected as the 2019 Most Unique Team Name of 79 finishing teams in the race. Gary also played a key role in compiling the results and presenting awards while Dawn coordinated the registration, race package pick-up and awards program.  Ian ran a tremendous stage anchoring the PIH Victoria Sunday Lawn Bowling Society - Second Sextennial Shindig team to a first place finish in 1:04:10.  Michael coordinated and managed five Harriers Youth Teams that finished third, fifth, tenth, seventeenth and nineteenth overall of the 79 teams.  PIHYT teams handily won the Junior Men's, Junior Women's and Junior Mixed divisions with times of 1:08:03, 1:08:43 and 1:20:04.  Note on the sunny race day - Victoria experienced the driest month ever recorded in November, 2019, with the least amount of rainfall since weather records started in the early 1900's.  No wonder all the Albertans want to move here as they shovel snow at home!

October 27, 2019
Catrin Jones, Gary Duncan and Yuki Otsubo

Catrin placed 6th overall of 136 finishers and was the top female master in 1:26:08 at the MEC Half Marathon today at Beaver Lake Park.  Gary and Yuki were 10th and 11th overall in the most popular of 3 races, the MEC 10K featuring 316 finishers.  Their times were 42:27 with Gary winning the M60 division and 42:32 with Yuki winning the M55 division.  There were 145 finishers in the 5K, 316 in the 10K and 136 in the Half for a total of 597 finishers at Beaver Lake today.  The race winners were Glenn Jasechko, 1:18:24, and Care Nelson, 1:25:49 in the Half, Chris Walsh, 38:20, and Fiona Benson, 40:32, in the 10K and Michael Mandonnet, 17:31, and Patricia Obee, 20:58, in the 5K race.

October 26, 2019
Andrew Pape-Salmon and Tamara Van Lieshout

Andrew was 10th overall of 292 finishers, 1st M50 and 2nd master, in 1:01:37, and Tamara was the top female Harrier; she was 45th overall in 1:09:45 today at Perseverance 11K trail race in Cumberland.  Other Harriers at Perseverance were Sara Pape-Salmon, 1:29:11, Pamela Dinn, 1:20:42, and Adrien Low, 1:07:19.  The race winners were Alexander Lee, 55:41, and Gillian Clayton, 1:04:28.

October 26, 2019
Andrew Russell, Aaron Holmgren and Jonah Brost

In Race #5 of 10, one of the feature 8K events with Junior, Senior and Master Mens categories, Andrew, 26:35, and Aaron, 26:40, finished 1-2 of 22 finishers in the master's division and Jonah, 26:58, was the top Junior runner.  The three Harriers finished tightly packed in 13th, 14th and 15th positions overall of 50 of the best runners in the province.  There were a total of 351 finishers in the 10 races which included 29 Harriers, 22 of which are part of our Youth Team.  A special thanks to all of the club members who volunteered today to make the race a tremendous success.

October 20, 2019
Garth Campbell and Shannon Coutts

Garth and Shannon were the top male and female Harriers at the Tripleshot CrossFondo today by finishing 16th and 52nd overall of 192 finishers in the pouring rain, not ideal cycling conditions.  There times were 2:20:21 and 2:44:19 where Garth placed first in the M60 division and Shannon placed first in the F50 division.  The Tripleshot race champions were Victorians Dave Vunic, 2:08:59, and Holly Henry, F19; she was 9th overall in 2:16:59.  The accompanying Doubleshot CrossFondo featured 66 finishers and was won by Henry Sherry in 1:31:09 and Emma Taylor in 1:51:47.

October 20, 2019
Dee Ogden

Dee was the top Harrier placing 9th overall of 99 finishers today with a time of 27:25 at the Cowichan Autumn Classic 5K.  She was first of 18 in the F50 age category and 6th of 76 women in the race.  The race was won by Luke Kurelja, a teenager from Nanoose Bay, in 23:02, while 11 seconds behind was the first female placing second overall, 42 year old Angela MacLean of Ladysmith in 23:13.  There were 99 finishers in the 5K, 88 finishers in the accompanying 10K and 38 of those ran "the double 15K" including Christine Thate who finished the 5K, then 5 minutes later ran the 10K to receive a very nice medal and tumbler of wine from Zanatta Vineyard.  The race slogan is "Run Now, Wine Later".

October 19, 2019
Sean Chester, Patricia Roney, Adele Nylen and Larry Nylen

Sean was the race champion of the 13K long course today in 1:03:17 at the Mount Tzhouhalen Gutbuster Trail Series race near Duncan.  Patricia continued her dominating mountain running performances by placing 7th of 109 finishers to claim the top female honour, 2 minutes clear of runner-up, Carley Pearson; their times were 1:13:37 and 1:15:36.  Running her very first race ever, Adele seriously kicked her father's rear end on the 7K short course by finishing 26th of 106 finishers in 47:43.  She was third of 11 in the F20 division and 6th of 71 women in the race.  Dad, Larry, was almost 3 minutes behind his speedy daughter in 50:23.  He was 33rd OA and 6th in the M50 division.  The short course champions were Shelby Drope, in 31:54, and Brittany Brooks, 11th OA in 32:05.

October 19, 2019
Wallace Russell and Otis Nylen

New first-year canine members took top and bottom honours today at the final and 12th Annual Harriers Hounds 40 Metre Sand Sprint at Thetis Lake Park.  Wallace collected the Molly Reid Championship Trophy and Top Dog gold medal by winning the race in 4.60 seconds.  Otis was 7th and picked up the Most Easily Distracted Gold Medal for being the final Hound in 6.26 seconds.  Last year's champion, Katie Hamilton, finished 6th today in 6.14 seconds compared to her winning time last year of 4.59 seconds.  Over the 12 years of the event, the H.H. 40 metre race has attracted 40 different dogs with Bebe Reid making the most appearances with 11  She was the Top Dog in 2010 and 2011.

October 13, 2019
Sanson Haire, Catrin Jones, Joseph Camilleri, Sean Chester, Jim Finlayson, Jonah Brost and Aaron Holmgren

Samson, 2:43:52, Catrin, 2:46:50, and Joseph, 3:25:58, all ran tremendous marathons, Sean, 1:12:07, and Jim, 1:12:29, were the top Harriers in the half marathon while youngster Jonah, 26:09, and hot-streak Aaron, were the best Harriers in the 8K today at the 40th Annual GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, Half Marathon and 8K Road Race.  Samson placed 7th overall of 1,125 finishers with a personal best by 20 minutes and he was first of 70 finishers in the M25 division, fast-charging Catrin simply ran out of road as, over the last kilometre, she gained more than a minute on eventual race champion, Andrea Lee, who finished 8th overall in 2:46:45 with Catrin a mere 13 seconds back in 9th place overall.  Joseph ran a 4 minute personal best time of 3:25:58 in his second marathon ever after running 3:29:56 in his marathon debut at the 2017 Vancouver Marathon, he was second in the M65 division today.  Sean finished 6th overall of 1,200 men, 2nd of 154 in the M35 division in the half marathon while Jim was 8th overall of 2,887 finishers to win the M45 division by 3 minutes which included 121 in his age category.  Jonah and Aaron were 5th and 6th overall of 2,237 finishers in the 8K, Jonah won the M16 division and Aaron was 3rd of 73 finishers in his M35 division.  The 8K Road Race proved to be the most competitive event of the three races as both Vancouver's Justin Kent, 23:14, and Sarah Inglis, 25:43, also from Vancouver, broke long-standing records held by Victoria's Gary Barber (23:23 in 1989) and Ulla Hansen (26:24 in 1991).  The marathon winners were Eric Finan, from Eugene, and Andrea Lee, of North Vancouver; their times were 2:17:51 and 2:46:45.  The half marathon champions were Will Norris, 1:06:20, from Spirit Lake, and Cleo Boyd, 1:13:38, of Kingston.  There were a total of 7,136 finishers including 1,125 in the full marathon, 2,887 in the half marathon, 2,237 in the 8K and 887 in the 1.5K Kid's Run.  Today's total of 7,136 finishers was 373 more than last year's total of 6,763 finishers.

October 5, 2019
Ian Searle

Running his first Clover Point Park Run 5K today, Ian topped the field by finishing in 16:09 which was very close to the course record.  His margin of victory at the 113th Clover Point event was more than 4 minutes over Douglas Wood who finished second in 20:22.  The top female was Catalina Manders; she finished 7th overall of 46 finishers in 23:45.  Nicola Oldroyd was the first female Harrier to finish, 11th overall in 24:51, she was the second female.  Team mates Wendy Davies won the F60 division in 25:40 and Marcia Stromsmoe won the F70 division in 29:25.

September 28, 2019
Rowan Schouten, Michael Lax and Nicola Oldroyd

Rowan, running his first ever 5K Clover Point Park Run today, finished second overall to race winner Matthew Winkler.  There times ware 17:52 and 19:18.  Michael and Nicola also had outstanding performances by finishing third and fourth overall of 36 finishers in 20:09 and 21:40.  Michael achieved the highest Age Grade rating of 80.98% to win the M60 division by a staggering 7 minutes.  Nicola was the first female in the 112th edition of the race and finished in her highest overall position of the 130 Park Run events that she has completed in the past two years in Great Britain and Canada.

September 22, 2019
Aaron Holmgren, Lyndon Clazie and Catrin Jones

Three consecutive weekends have resulted in three consecutive victories for Aaron who topped the field of 204 finishers at the Sidney by the Sea 8K race today run in the pouring rain.  His time was 26:57 which was 21 seconds ahead of runner-up Chris Bueley who finished second in 27:18.  Lyndon, Dawn Wilson's son, took 4th place overall in 30:25 while Catrin finished 4 seconds back in 5th place in 30:29.  She was the first of 133 female finishers and took the F40 master's honours earning $100 in prize money as the top female and $50 more as the top master in the 8K race.  The accompanying 5K was won by Peterson Perrin, 17:19, and Laura Lanchbery, 21:24, was the female winner.  The 5K race attracted 182 finishers.  Sidney by the Sea had a combined total of 467 finishers in the 8K, 5K and 1K Kid's Run.

September 15, 2019
Aaron Holmgren and Gary Duncan

For the second consecutive Sunday, both Aaron and Gary had stellar races leading the field at the 39th annual Terry Fox Run in Central Saanich, an event managed by Marilyn Hodgson for her fifth year.  Aaron easily won the race consisting of two 5.4K laps then ran a third lap with his sons, Coen and Emilian.  Gary finished second overall to Aaron at Central Saanich and, after a pancake breakfast, immediately headed for Mile 0 to participate in the Victoria edition of the Terry Fox Run managed by marathon great, Rob Reid.  Gary joined some others for a second lap of the Dallas Road course and the festivities.  Although there are some misquotes from Gary published by Wolf Depner of Peninsula News, here is a link to his story.  https://www.peninsulanewsreview.com/news/central-saanich-terry-fox-run-feeds-off-enthusiasm-of-race-organizer/

September 8, 2019
Aaron Holmgren, Gary Duncan and Dee Ogden

Aaron was the race champion while Gary and Dee won their M60 and F50 age categories for the third consecutive year at the Metchosin Days 5K today.  Aaron finished in 16:22 which was 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Shawn Nelson who finished in 15:37.  Gary placed 7th overall of 123 finishers in 19:46 and Dee was 48th in 25:57.  The first female in the race was 14 year old Sarah Lewis; she was 6th OA in 19:33.  Aaron's two young sons, Emilian and Coen, both had super runs finishing 3rd and 5th of 10 in the M01-12 division as they are 9 and 10 years old.  Their times were 24:29 and 31:44.  To complete the family sweep, Aaron's wife Elena, was 8th F35 in 35:10.

September 8, 2019
Andrew Russell and Naomi Russell

The husband and wife Russell team both had great performances at the Finlayson Arm extreme mountain ultras today featuring three distances of 28K, 50K and 100K held over Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Goldstream and Gowlland Tod Regional Parks.  Andrew completely destroyed the opposition in the most popular 50K race which attracted 183 starters and 124 finishers.  He was first home in 5:34:51 dominating the race by winning in over 51 minutes ahead of second place Jody Duke who finished in 6:25:58.  The top 50K female was Meghan O'Brien, she was 8th overall in 7:15:25.  Naomi was 7th in her age category and placed 16th of 101 females in the 28K race.  She was 48th overall of 167 finishers in 4:21:12.  The 28K winners were Robert Bruelle, 3:01:39, and Julie Desramaux, 6th OA in 3:24:46.  The 100K attracted 25 starters and 17 finishers.  The longest race, 100 kilometres, was won by 48 year old Katrina Bencsics in 18 hours, 39 minutes and one second.  The top male, 31 year old Jeffrey Mottl, finished second in 20:11:41 which was one hour and 32 minutes behind Katrina.

September 7, 2019
Gary Duncan, Michael Lax and Nicola Oldroyd

Gary and Michael were first and second in the M60 division and they were the top two Harriers at the 109th Clover Point Park 5K Run today.  They placed 4th and 7th overall of 66 finishers in 19:48 and 20:52.  Nicola was the first female and top Harrier by placing 10th overall in 21:20.

September 2, 2019
Craig Odermatt

While visiting an east coast friend in Yale, Craig dropped down south of the border and entered a race which served as the USA 20K Road Race Championship and he did very well indeed.  Craig took first place in the M45 division and was the second master with a time of 1:14:57 which placed him 83rd overall of 554 finishers.  The event was called the Faxon Law New Haven 20K in Conneticut.  The race champions were Leonard Korir, a Kenyan currently living in Colorado Springs, breaking the tape in 59:06 and Sara Hall, of Flagstaff, topped the women's field in 1:05:46; she placed 37th overall.

August 24, 2019
Jack Boden, Liam Dwyer, Kevin Song and Delaney Chan

Running as first-timers at the 107th Clover Point 5K Park Run today, the three male Harriers Youth Team members, Jack, Liam and Kevin finished 1-2-3 in 15:52, 16:09 and 18:01 with remarkable performances to blast away from the 64 finishers  Jack also set a new course record breaking Matthew Winkler's 26-time Park Run winner's previous mark of 16:07.  Delaney finished 8th overall in 19:56 to top the women's field and win the Junior 15-17 division.  Her time was the second fastest women's time missing the course record by a little over one minute.  Lauren Wilson holds the women's record of 19:12.  Youth team member Julian Cameron finished 5th in 19:42 which boasted 5 PIH youths in the top 8 runners overall.

August 23, 2019
Liam Stanley

On opening day of the Parapan American Games today in Lima, Peru, Liam notched a silver medal in the 1,500 Metre race where Canadians finished 1-2 by completely dominating the event.  Nate Riech broke the tape in 4:03.72, followed by team mate Liam in 4:12.13 and third place went to Jhon Gomez Pinto, from Columbia, in 4:55.22.  The top three athletes all recorded personal best times for the distance.  The following day Liam collected a bronze medal by finishing third in the 400 Metre race in 55:22.  Harriers Youth Team member, Michael Barber, also competed in the 1,500 Metre race and Harriers 2018 Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner, Patricia Roney, was part of the Canadian staff performing as the Lead Physiotherapist.

August 17, 2019
Catrin Jones

Catrin finished 13th overall of 376 finishers at the rugged Squamish 50 Mile trail race today with a time of 9:33:54.  She was the top F40 master in the event winning her age category by a stunning 23 minutes over Boise Idaho's, Joelle Vaught, who finished in 22nd position in 9:56:32.  The race champions were Chris Mocko, from Boulder, Colorado, in 7:39:32 and Jeanelle Hazlett, from Auckland, New Zealand, in 9:10:15.  The accompanying races the following day included 50K both won by Squamish runners, Brendan Urlocker, 5:14:53, and Tara Holland, 6:15:41 and a 23K won by Alexandre Ricard, of Squamish, in 1:43:30, and Anne-Marie Madden, from Vancouver, in 2:00:47.  There were a total of 817 finishers at the trail ultras including 264 in the 23K, 177 in the 50K and 376 in the 50 Miler.

August 10, 2019
Sean Chester, Lyndon Clazie and Gary Duncan

Sean and Lyndon were the top Harriers on the long course while Gary had an amazing run by finishing third overall of 117 finishers on the short course at the Mount Washington Trail Running Series today, the fifth and final event of the series.  Sean was the race champion by finishing first overall of 97 finishers in the 14K race and Lyndon was 7th overall and third M20; their times were 1:11:09 and 1:18:21.  The top female for the long course was Jodi Onucha, F50, she was 16th OA in 1:26:29.  The 8K short course winners were Chris Walsh, 50:49, and Brittany Brooks, 6th OA in 57:45.  Gary ran 53:49 to win the M60 division and finish a mere 3 minutes behind the race champion.

August 10, 2019
Michael Angrove and Wendy Davies

After initiating the first Park Run on Vancouver Island and successfully directing 104 consecutive 5K races at Clover Point on Saturday mornings, Michael was in the spotlight today by finally running one of these events and finishing an incredible second overall, a slim 14 seconds behind race winner, Alec Sabey, in a record field of 77 finishers today at Park Run #105.  Their times were 17:16 and 17:30 and the first female, Clair Lloyd, placed 12th OA in 22:15.  Harriers' Wendy Davies and Shelagh Machin were second and third in the F60 age category in 25:04 and 25:53.

Kevin won his first race ever by topping the field of 107 finishers at the Cobble Hill Trail Series 12K short course today in 1:16:18 while Naomi was the top female Harrier finishing 13th overall in 1:29:23; she was the 4th of 79 females in the race.  Gary opted for the 20K long course and placed 9th of 92 finishers to win the M60 age category in 2:22:24.  The race winners were Kevin Spahn and Francesca Casciola, 1:28:32, for the short course, and Timothy Drews, 2:01:05, and Tara Pollock, 2:26:07, were the long course winners.  There were a total of 199 finishers in both events.

May 2, 2019
Natasha Wodak

Natasha, listing PIH as her club, placed 7th in a very competitive field at the Payton Jordan 10,000 metre race in California today; her time was 31:43 achieving the 31:50 Canadian qualifying standard for the 2019 World Championships in Germany and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.  She had previously set the Canadian 10,000 metre record of 31:41 at this same track in 2015.  The winner of race was Sifan Hassan, of the Nike Oregon Project, in 31:18.  Another Vancouverite, Rachel Cliff, placed 10th of 15 finishers in 31:54.  Natasha and Rachel finished 1-2 in our Harriers Pioneer 8K in January.  A full story from the Payton Jordan race is here: --->  https://athleticsillustrated.com/editorial/strong-canadian-10000m-performances-at-2019-payton-jordan-invitational/

April 28, 2019
Andrew Russell and Cheryl Nicholls

The 30th annual Times Colonist 10K was held today under sunny and bright conditions.  The race featured 8,911 registrations and 7,571 finishers with an additional 800 participants in the 1.2K Kid's Family Run.  Andrew and Cheryl were the top male and female Harriers placing 10th and 98th overall in 32:09 and 39:23.  Andrew was third in the M35 age category and Cheryl was second in the F45 age category.  Prairie Inn Harriers won the top Club award with the fastest average time of the first 10 finishers from 181 teams in 16 different team categories.  Haron Sirma, from Kenya, broke the tape for the second consecutive year in 29:38 while Scottish star, Sarah Inglis, set a female new course record by finishing 12th overall in 32:23.  Jonah Brost, M19, Brent Scott, M60, and Joseph Camilleri, M65, all took gold medals in their respective age categories.

April 19, 2019
Shane Ruljancich and Patricia Roney

Shane and Patricia were the top male and female Harriers at Flethcher's Challenge mountain run today at Westwood Lake in Nanaimo.  Shane placed 8th of 217 finishers in 1:18:52, he was second in the M40 age category, and Patricia was the second female by finishing 12th overall in 1:19:30.  The race champions were both from Westwood Running Club in Nanaimo with Shelby Drope crossing the finish line in 1:06:26, and Melissa Ross taking the women's title; she was 6th overall in 1:16:53.

April 14, 2019
Natasha Wodak and Geoff Martinson

Natasha and Geoff were the top Harriers at the massive 35th annual Sun Run in Vancouver today.  Natasha, 32:38, was the first female claiming her third Sun Run victory by placing 33rd overall of 33,878 finishers.  Geoff placed 8th overall in 30:18; he was second in the M30 age division.  It was a photo finish with Justin Kent, of Burnaby, and Calgary's Trevor Hofbauer both finishing with identical times of 29:30 and Kent enjoyed his first Sun Run victory.  The second place female behind Natasha was Kinsey Middleton, from Boise, in 32:47.  There were 41,342 registrations and 33,878 finishers in the Sun Run with 7,464 DNS's.

April 14, 2019
Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones

Andrew and Catrin emerged as male and female champions of the 2019 Vancouver Island Race Series following Bazan Bay, the final race in the series.  There were 222 runners that ran the minimum of 5 races to qualify for series awards and Andrew placed first with an average of 846 points while Catrin placed third overall, top master, with 823 points.  Runners-up were UVic's Matt Noseworthy, 837 points, and TWC's Sara Kelly, 739 points.  Prairie Inn Harriers won the team title of 3,038 finishers on 52 clubs with 3,525 points.  Bastion Run Club placed second with 2,865 points and CeeVacs was third with 2,541 points.  Six Harriers won their age categories including Andrew, M35, Catrin, F40, Fiona Peters, F45, Binder Kelsall, F50, Edith Price, F60, and Joseph Camilleri, M65.

April 14, 2019
Jonathan Toombs, Andrew Russell and Shane Ruljancich

Jonathan, Andrew and Shane were the top three Harriers today at the Bazan Bay 5K, the 8th and final event in the 2019 Vancouver Island Race Series.  Jonathan was third overall of 472 finishers in 15:10, Andrew was first M35 and fifth overall in 15:17 while Shane was second M40 master in 16:46 and placed 13th OA.  The race champions were Martin Sobey, 14:56, and Julia Tschanz, 26th OA in 17:26.  There were 36 Harriers at Bazan Bay and another 8 PIH members that did not show their team name.

April 13, 2019
Patricia Roney, Gary Duncan, Kevin Spahn and Lisa Cantwell

Patricia was the top female and placed 4th overall of 125 finishers in 49:55 on the 10K long course at Royal Roads today, Race #1 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Trail Run Series.  Gary was the M60 age category winner and top Harrier; he was 10th overall in 52:18.  Kevin and Lisa were the top Harriers in the 6K short course by placing 4th and 34th overall of 107 finishers.  Kevin won the M40 age category in 28:55 and Lisa won the F50 age category in 38:44.  The race champions were Gregory Lariviere, 45:49, and Patricia, 49:55, for the long course and Will Rice, 27:41, and Kyra Gillette, 29:08, for the short course.

April 7, 2019
Andrew Russell, Catrin Jones, Joseph Camilleri and Rintje Raap

Extraordinary ultrarunners, Andrew and Catrin, virtually locked up their championship titles for the 2019 Vancouver Island Race Series with strong performances at the Sooke River 10K today under sunny and pleasant racing conditions.  Andrew topped the field of 281 finishers by winning the event in 32:03 and Catrin was the first master, second female and she placed 18th overall in 37:37.  The female champion was a former Harrier and UVic Vikes runner, Julia Tschanz; she was 14th OA in 37:00.  Andrew set a new M35 course record breaking Neil Holm's 17-year long-standing mark of 32:29 set in 2002 with a 26 second improvement and Catrin set a new F40 course record breaking Harriers' Nancy Baxendale's 14-year long-standing mark of 37:59 set in 2005 with a 22 second improvement.  Joseph continued his fine 2019 racing year with a M65 second place performance by finishing 44th in 41:46.  He wore a tribute on the back of his Harriers singlet to Rintje Raap, a Sooke resident and 40-year Prairie Inn Harriers club member, who passed away on March 27 at the age of 80.  Rintje loved to run marathons and he often won the master's category in the Royal Victoria Marathon.  His final marathon was in 2013 where he ran the famous Athens Marathon in Greece following the footsteps of soldier Pheidippides who ran the first ever marathon from the battlefield town of Marathon to Athens 2,500 years ago in 490 BC.  The Athens Marathon used the same course for the 2004 Olympic Games where another Harrier, Jon Brown, placed 4th overall in 2:12:46.  Sooke River 10K was the 7th of 8 events in the 2019 Island Race Series with Bazan Bay completing the Series next Sunday in Sidney.  PIH is on top of the list of 52 teams and in a prominent position to win the first place club award.  Andrew and Catrin are in first and third positions overall of the 251 runners eligible for 2019 Series awards.

April 6, 2019
Dan Stefanson, Gary Duncan and Dee Ogden

Dan, Gary and Dee were the top Harriers at the Esquimalt 5K today in bright but windy conditions with all three winning their respective age categories.  Dan was 14th of 379 finishers, first M50 in 20:05, Gary was 15th, first M60 in 20:19, and Dee was 55th, first F50 in 24:49.  Both Dan and Dee also set new age division course records.  The race champions were Aiden Longcroft-Harris, 15:52, and Aisling Owton, 20th OA in 20:35.  Esquimalt's Mayor, Barb Desjardins, was a participant and finished 277th in 40:58.

April 3, 2019
Natasha Wodak

Natasha, Harriers 8-time Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner, was named as the North Shore Female Athlete of the Year at the North Vancouver Awards Presentations held in March for her outstanding local and international performances in 2018 and her previous strong results including a Sun Run victory, six Pioneer wins and several Canadian records.  The full story of her rise to fame is here --->   https://www.nsnews.com/sports/natasha-wodak-keeps-speeding-up-1.23779224

March 31, 2019
Adrian Low, Tamara Van Lieshout, John Catterall, Gary Duncan, Kevin Spahn and Joseph Camilleri

Six recent Harriers 2018 award winners continued their 2019 success stories with excellent performances at the MEC Thetis Lake races today.  "Harriers Fittest Couple", Adrian and Tamara, were the top Harriers in the most popular 10K race placing 10th and 25th overall in 49:56 and 53:50 while "Better Late than Never" John was 26th sprinting to the line in 53:50 to finish in a tie with Tamara.  Both John, M55, and Tamara, F25, won their age categories as did "Mr. Durability" Gary, M60-99, who placed 12th OA in 50:36.  "Most Improved Runner", Kevin, was 17th OA, 2nd M40 in 51:01.  "Veteran of the Year" Joseph was the top Harrier in the 5K race and also won his M60-99 age division in 20:10; he was 10th overall of 219 finishers.  MEC race winners were Adrian Thow, 17:38, and Samara Cockburn, 19:31, in the 5K, Robert Johnson, 43:37, and Msicha Snopkowski, 51:29, in the 10K and Glenn Jasechko, 1:14:08, and Carlin Goos, 1:26:57, in the 17K race.  There were a total of 539 finishers at Thetis Lake today including 219 in the 5K, 220 in the 10K and 100 in the 17K.

March 24, 2019
Ian Searle, Antoine Minfray and Catrin Jones

Ian and Antoine finished second and third overall of 393 finishers at the Comox Half Marathon today, both winning their age categories while Catrin was the top female Harrier, 10th overall and second F40 in 1:22:38.  Ian was first of 19 in the M25 division in 1:15:03 and Antoine, a member of the Harriers Youth Team, was first of 7 in the M16 division in 1:15:37.  The race champion was Victoria's Matt Noseworthy with a commanding lead of over 6 minutes by breaking the tape in 1:09:28 and the top female was Victoria's Marilyn Arsenault; she was 7th overall, 1st of 19 in the F50 division in 1:21:18 for a new F50 course record.  There were 26 Harriers at the Comox Half, Race #6 of 8 in the Island Series.  Besides Ian and Antoine, other club members winning their age categories were Fiona Peters, 1st of 25 in the F45 division and Edith Price, 1st of 12 in the F65 division.  The 393 finishers today was up 21 from the total of 372 finishers of last year.

March 16, 2019
Natasha Wodak and Aaron Holmgren

Natasha and Aaron both ran 5K personal best times at the highly competitive St. Patrick's Day 5K at Stanley Park in Vancouver today.  Natasha's time of 15:36 was a F35 Canadian Record.  She placed 28th overall of 1,222 finishers and was the second female, 7 seconds back of Scottish runner, Sarah Inglis, who placed 20th in 15:29 to top the women's field of 681 female finishers.  The men's winner was Kelowna's John Gay in 14:04 ahead of 541 men and 681 women.  Aaron placed 35th in 15:45 to finish first of 65 runners in the M35 division.  There were 12 Harriers at the race including 7 from our Youth Team and 5 seniors and masters.  Jack Boden led the Youth Team in 15:55 to finish 39th, Craig Odermatt, 65th and 2nd M45 finished in 16:41 and Catrin Jones, 18:00, was 117th and 2nd behind Natasha of 94 in the F35 age category.  Due to the early start, all 12 club members had to miss the PIH Awards Night on Friday and 7 of them (Natasha, Aaron, Craig, Catrin, Jonah Brost, Liam Stanley and John Atkinson) were award winners for their excellent performances in 2018.

March 16, 2019
Andrew Russell

Andrew was fourth overall of 439 finishers and first M30 at the 27th annual Chuckanut 50K trail ultramarathon in Bellingham.  His time was 2:47:17.  He sent this report, "Quick recap from the Chuckanut 50k today.  Great course, Gunner Shaw-like conditions with dry patches, mud, snow, ice which made for quite an adventure. I was in 6th place coming off the mountain to the final 10K of rail trail.  Quickly I dropped to 7th and stayed there for a while.  In the final 3K I found another gear and caught 3 other runners to finish in 4th place overall."  The race winners were Hayden Hawkes, Cedar City, in 2:25:34, and Vancouver's Kathryn Drew, 28th OA in 2:59:37.  Harrier Elaine Galbraith finished 364th of 439 in 5:13:45; she placed 11th in the F50 age category.

March 15, 2019
Natasha Wodak, Patricia Roney and Craig Odermatt

Natasha, Patricia and Craig were selected as the three Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runners for 2018 at our Annual Harriers Awards Dinner tonight held at Cedar Hill Golf Course.  There were a total of 42 awards presented in 20 different categories.  The full awards script with each winner's highlights is available by clicking on "About" then selecting "Harriers Annual Awards".  Here is a list of the winners' names --->  Complete List of 2018 PIH Award Winners

March 10, 2019
Dan Stefanson, Dan Jacklin and Joseph Camilleri

A pair of Dans were the top Harriers at the Port Alberni Paper Chase 15K today to finish 15th and 16th overall of 225 finishers; they placed 1st and 2nd in the M50 age category with Dan S. running 1:02:49 and Dan J. finishing 3 seconds back in 1:02:52.  There were 16 Harriers at Port Alberni and Joseph set a new M65 age class record of 1:05:16 while Fiona Peters was 1st of 12 women in the F45 division.  The race champions were both first-time winners from Nanaimo's Bastion Run Club with Jackson Isnor, M16-19, breaking the tape in 55:05 and Jessica McKierahan topping the women's field and the F35 category; she finished 23rd overall in 1:04:37.

March 10, 2019
Andrew Russell and Patricia Roney

Andrew and Patricia completely destroyed their opposition today at the second annual Another Brick in Nepal rugged 10K course in East Sooke Park.  Andrew won the race for his second consecutive year in 48:55, more than 4 1/2 minutes ahead of second place finisher, Jericho O'Connell who finished in 53:29.  Patricia was also a repeat 10K winner by finishing 5th overall of 93 finishers in 57:39; she was more than 8 minutes clear of the second female, Nina Francisco, who finished 11th OA in 1:07:27.  The winners in the accompanying ABIN 5K race were Aiken Nelson, 31:54, and Flynn Owen La Boucan, 3rd overall of 59 finishers in 34:32.  Harriers Dee Ogden was the top 5K master, 11th OA in 39:28.  The combined total of 152 finishers was 42 greater than the inaugural 2018 race and this year well over $8,000 was raised to build another school in Nepal.  Race Director, Randy Jones, was delighted with the event and all 152 participants enjoyed the warm, sunshine and hot Nepali food at the finish line.

March 9, 2019
Walter Cantwell and Lisa Cantwell

Walter and Lisa traveled south to Page, Arizona, with 5 other Harriers to participate in the Antelope Canyon Ultras and Trail Half Marathon featuring four different trail/sand/rock/canyon races with distances of 100 Miles, 50 Miles, 55 Kilometres and 21.1 Kilometres.  Walter had a terrific run by finishing first M50 and third overall in the rugged half marathon, clearly the most popular race with 639 finishers.  The top male was Tony Delogne, from Scottsdale, AZ, in 1:38:24, followed by 14-year-old, Cody Slim, of Kabeto, AZ, in second place, 1:48:16, and Walter third in 1:50:15.  The top female was Autumn Rose Greba, from Gibsonia, PA; she was 5th overall in 1:52:15.  Harriers Larry Nylen, 2:28:42, placed 81st, Ron Wooley, 2:28:57, was 82nd, Colleen Auringer, 2:29:07, was 84th and Colleen's sister, Lois Woolley, placed 261st of 639 Half Marathon finishers in 3:02:31.  Lisa Cantwell was 121st of 261 finishers in the 50 Mile race to place 5th in the F50 division in 12:33:03 and Valerie Bell was 41st of 296 finishers in the 55K race in 7:37:25; she was 2nd in the F45 division.  There were a total of 1,243 finishers in the 4 races at Page, AZ, today.

March 3, 2019
Andrew Russell, Catrin Jones and Craig Odermatt

In a repeat performance of their championship runs at Cobble Hill, both Andrew and Catrin were the top Harriers and first male and female today running on a brand new Cedar 12K race course near Nanaimo.  The Cedar 12K was originally Race #3 of the Vancouver Island Series, but was postponed from February 10 to today due to heavy snow and difficult driving conditions in February.  Andrew's time was 38:56, good for a 15 second margin of victory over runner-up and Hatley Castle 8K champion, Matt Noseworthy, who crossed the line in 39:11.  Catrin completely dominated the women's field by finishing in 45:20 which was 2 minutes and 44 seconds clear of the second female, Victoria's Heather Hillsburg, who finished in 48:04.  Catrin was the top female master in the race and Craig had an outstanding run by finishing sixth overall to claim the top master men's position by 21 seconds over Campbell River's Mark Cryderman.  Their times were 41:42 and 42:03.  There were 308 finishers at Cedar which was 28 more than last years total of 280.

February 24, 2019
Jonah Brost, Shane Ruljancich and Patricia Roney

Jonah was the first male Harrier by placing 5th overall of 356 finishers in 28:23 at the Hatley Castle 8K today, Race #3 of the 2019 Island Road Race Series; he was first in the M16-19 age category.  Shane was the top master winning the M40 division and placed 6th in 28:52, one position and 29 seconds back of Jonah.  Patricia was the top female Harrier in 31:29, 19th overall and third of 184 female finishers; she was second in the F30 division to race winner, Julia Tschanz.  The race champions were both former UVic Vikes with Matt Noseworthy breaking the tape in 26:53 and Julia Tschaz finishing 12th in 30:21.  The 356 finishers was 35 more than last year's total of 321.  All three 2019 Series races have shown and increase in finishers with Pioneer (+66), Cobble Hill (+28) and Hatley Castle (+35).  Next up is the Series is the re-scheduled Cedar 12K on March 3.

February 16, 2019
Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the second Canadian behind Jessica O'Connell to anchor the Canadian National Team to a second place finish to the United States National Team at the North American, Central American, Caribbean Cross Country Championships today in Trinidad and Tobago.  The race winner was Breanna Sieracki, 36:34, followed by Jessica O'Connell, 36:37, in second place, USA's Jessica Tonn, 36:40, third and Natasha, 36:50, taking fourth place of 21 finishers representing teams from United States, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad/Tobago, Puerto Rico , Costa Rica and El Salvador.  The top 4 runners of 6 per National Team counted in the scoring and USA runners placed 1st, 3rd, 6th and 8th for 18 points, Canadian runners placed 2nd, 4th, 5th and 9th for 20 points and Mexican runners placed 7th, 14th, 15th and 19th for 55 points.

January 27, 2019
Andrew Russell and Catrin Jones

New members in 2018, Andrew and Catrin, were the male and female race champions at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race #2 of 8 in the 2019 Island Race Series.  Andrew finished in 32:23 which was 53 seconds faster than Nanaimo's Shelby Drope, 33:16, who was the 2018 Island Series Male Champion.  Catrin was also the 2018 Series Female Champion and her winning time of 36:44 today placed her 19th of 454 finishers and 13 seconds ahead of the 2017 Series Female Champion, Jen Millar, who finished 23rd overall in 36:57.  Liam Stanley had a strong race by finishing 10th OA to win the M20 age category in 35:36.

January 20, 2019
Craig Odermatt

For the third consecutive year, Craig enjoyed a warm weather break from the rain, snow and wind in Victoria by traveling to Lahaina, Hawaii and taking part in a 15K race today as part of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon weekend offering a marathon, half marathon, 15K, 10K and 5K races.  He completely destroyed the field of 94 finishers in the 15K by placing first overall in 53:59 and winning by over 7 minutes.  Second place went to the top female, Caile Kohlbrenner, of Keihi, HI, in 1:01:10 and Anthony Lopez, from Morgan Hill, CA, placed third in 1:04:59.

January 20, 2019
Natasha Wodak

One week after her Pioneer 8K victory, Natasha traveled south to Texas to set a new P.B. of 1:10:33 at the Chevron Houston Half Marathon.  She was 10th female and top Canadian  behind 8 Kenyans and an American woman in a highly competitive, elite race featuring a massive 12,988 finishers.  Natasha's previous best half marathon time was 1:11:20 which she ran in New York in 2015.  She also won the 2018 GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon last October in 1:11:45 which was a new course record.

January 13, 2019
Andrew Russell and Natasha Wodak

Andrew and Natasha finished third and fifth overall of 547 finishers at the 40th annual Harriers Pioneer 8K today in North Saanich under cool, but sunny conditions.  Their times were 25:24 and 26:04 with Andrew winning the M35 age category and Natasha winning the F35 age category; she was the top female overall with a new Canadian F35 master's 8K record.  The Pioneer race champion was Anthony Tomscich, a first-timer from Vancouver, in 24:44, followed by Vancouver team mate, Christopher Taylor, who placed second in 25:05.  On the female side, Vancouver runners swept the podium with Rachel Cliff taking second place behind Natasha in 26:15 and Jen Moroz placing third in 28:25.  Five of the six prize money cheques were presented to Lower Mainland athletes.

January 1, 2019
Eugene Leduc

New Year's Day Birthday-boy, Eugene, finished with only 9 seconds on the clock to win the 23rd annual Harriers Memorial 10K Predicted Time Run at Beaver Lake Park today among 45 other club members.  For his efforts Eugene was awarded a box of Belgian Biscuits which he shared with his PIH team mates before retiring to eat more cookies and drink hot chocolate at the Beaver Lake Picnic Shelter.  A total of $580.00 was collected in donations to support future Harriers Foundation projects.

December 31, 2018
Chris Callendar

The front end was rather light this year at the annual Run Through Time 5K at UVic, but that didn’t deter Chris Callender from posting a new course P.B. of 17:55 to lead from start to finish and take the win about 2 1/3 minutes ahead of Gary Duncan in second place.  A young girl and boy sprinted past Mike Richards at the end to finish next about 10 seconds back.  Lucy Smith running with daughter, Maia Watson, was top adult female another minute back.

December 26, 2018
Antonia Frappell, Joanne Frappell, Shane Ruljancich and Lindsey Fraser

The daughter and mother team of Antonia, from Bloomington, IN, and Joanne, from Victoria, started 1-2 and finished 1-2 at the 20th annual Harriers Boxing Day 10 Mile Handicap race from the Prairie Inn Neighbourbood Pub to the west end of Mount Newton Cross Road and back, twice.  Joanne started one minute behind her daughter and finished 3 minutes, 55 seconds back of Antonia at the end of the run; their running times were 1:35:03 and 1:38:58.  Shane was the final starter and ran the fastest time of the day in 1:02:27 to move up three positions and place 9th of the 12 finishers including 3 women and 9 men.  Lindsey finished third to record the fastest women's time of 1:24:33 as the women swept the top three handicapped finishing spots while the men finished 4th through 12th. Seven hikers/runners and 2 dogs summited Mount Newton on the trails of John Dean Park in the pouring rain and the majority of the runners and hikers gathered for lunch at the Prairie Inn afterwards.  A special thanks goes to Race Director, Gary Duncan, for his leadership and management of this "shake out the turkey" semi-competitive, social event one day after Christmas where everyone wins a prize.

December 1, 2018
Richard Knowlton, Johnny Atkinson, Gary Duncan and Dawn Wilson

Richard, John and Gary were the first three male Harriers and Dawn was our top female Harrier at the 35th annual LGRR Gunner Shaw Memorial Cross Country 10K held at Jericho Park this morning.  Richard, currently living in Surrey, placed 21st of 148 finishers, he was third of 13 in the M35 division in 41:45, John was 24th, fifth M45 of 12 in 42:31, Gary was 33rd, first M60 of 14 in 44:21 and Dawn was 86th, third F55 of 5 in 51:17.  Joseph Camilleri had a strong race winning the M65 division in 46:33 and Bill Leuze was fourth M55 of 14 in 47:15.  North Vancouver's Alexandre Camplell won the 10K race in 35:18 and Vancouver's Honor Walmsley was the first female, 8th overall in 39:15.  Winners of the accompanying 5K race were Ryan Gouron, of Burnaby, in 19:20 and Isabella Brunoro, from Coquitlam, in 20:03.  There were 68 finishers in the 5K including Harriers Leigh Sunderland who placed 4th of 16 in the F40 division in 25:57.  Joseph, Gary and Bill missed the sold out 7:00 am ferry by 8 vehicles, and arrived 20 minutes late for the race start, but thanks to Race Director, Mark Williams, and Startline Timing they were allowed to start late and have their chip times plugged into the race results before the awards ceremony where Gary and Joseph won blue ribbons in their age categories.

November 27, 2018
Chris Callendar, Dawn Wilson, Gary Duncan and Lindsey Fraser

New this year, MEC hosted a Race Series wrap-up event at their store in conjunction with a staff and friends appreciation night.  Medals and prizes were awarded to the top 3 overall male and female Series finishers as well as the top 3 in each age group in both the 5K and 10K divisions based on best 3 placements by gender and age group in the 5 race series.  Four Harriers attended and each not only won their age group handily, they also finished top 3 in their gender overall.  Chris (M35) and Dawn (F55) finished second male and female overall respectively in the 5K series, while Gary (M60+) and Lindsey (F40) finished third male and female overall respectively in the 10K series.  As well as medals and merchandise prizes for both, all won a free race entry for their age group, and a free series entry for their gender place.  Other 10K age group Harriers included Michael Lewis (3rd M25), Kevin Jones (2nd M60+) and Rob Grant (3rd M60+).

November 3, 2018
Andrew Russell, Jon Brown and Patricia Roney

Andrew was the race winner in 34:59, Jon was the top master and finished 5th OA in 36:03 and Patricia was second female, 4 seconds behind the women's champion, Melissa Ross, at the 34th annual Victoria Gunner Shaw Classic today.  Their times ware 40:12 and 40:16 to place 12th and 13th.  Seven members of the Lions Gate Road Runners made the trip from Vancouver and 34 Harriers were part of the 177 finishers on a clear and cool day.  The Gunner Shaw Classic wraps up the Thetis Lake Adventure Series including the Stewart Mountain Challenge, Thetis Lake Relay and the Magical Mile.  Lions Gate hosts their Vancouver Gunner Shaw race at Jericho Park next Saturday.

November 24, 2018
Natasha Wodak and Tyler Dozzi

Natasha placed second in the Senior Women's Canadian Cross Country Championships held in snowy, cold and muddy conditions today in Kingston, Ontario.  The female Canadian XC champion was Genevieve Lalonde, of Speed River in 33:47, with Natasha 19 seconds behind in 34:08 on the 8K course.  There were 56 finishers in the Senior Women's race.  Tyler, representing UBC, won the Junior Men's race in 24:48 ahead of 104 finishers with Andrew Alexander, University of Toronto, finishing second in 24:51.  Vancouver's Lucas Bruchet, 29:54, added the Senior Men's Championship title to his victories at the BC Cross Country Championship in Abbotsford and at our Harriers Pioneer 8K to cap off a stellar racing year on the roads, track and trails.  Speed River's Mike Tate placed second of 138 finishers in the Senior Men's race in 30:07.  There were 8 Harriers competing in Kingston including Natasha, Tyler, Liam Dwyer, Bridget Mateyko, Alisa Lysenia, Findlay Day, Kalum Delaney and Craig Odermatt who placed 3rd in the Master's M45 Division in 34:06.  Here is the BC Athletics report on how well our provincial teams did at the Nationals: http://www.bcathletics.org/News/bc-teams-dominate-at-national-xc-championships/2849/

November 18, 2018
Melanie McQuaid

Melanie "Racer Girl" was the first female and top master today at the large and popular Bear Mountain 10K billed as "Canada's Toughest 10K.  She finished 7th overall of 512 finishers in 41:24 almost 4 minutes ahead of the second female, Nanaimo's Jamie Wigmore, who was 21st in 45:14.  The male champion, Matthew Winkler, broke the tape in 37:51 which was 28 seconds ahead of Brandon Jones, 38:19.

November 17, 2018
Aaron Holmgren and Sonja Yli-Kahila

Aaron was the male champion in 6:56 and Sonja was the female champion in 10:10 at the third and final edition of the Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile today on the gnarly trails of Thetis Lake Park.  Shane Ruljancich won the master men's division placing third overall in 7:18 and Leigh Sunderland won the master women's division in 11:27.  There were 23 registrations and 20 finishers including 18 Harriers.  The race will be cancelled in future year due to lack of entries.

November 11, 2018
Jonah Brost, Cooper Langard, Joe Robertson and Jack Boden

Jonah, Cooper, Joe and Jack ran a very fast 1:06:07 to win the Junior Men's division and place second overall of 68 teams at the 22nd annual Harriers Thetis Lake Relay today, a mere 30 seconds behind Shelby Drope's senior men's team of Nanaimo in a Nutshell who won the event in 1:05:37.  There were 8 Harriers Youth Teams, 5 Harriers Solo runners and a total of 28 Harriers teams involved as part of the 68 teams.  Leif Baradoy, 1:14:52, was the top Solo male finishing 7th OA and Patricia Roney, 1:16:30, was the top Solo female finishing 9th OA.

November 3, 2018
Andrew Russell, Patricia Roney and Aaron Holmgren

Andrew and Patricia were the race champions of the 15th annual Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge today with Andrew finishing in 1:06:19 and Patricia placing 8th overall of the 90 finishers in 1:18:29.  There were 34 Harriers in the 10 Miler and 7 of them finished in the top ten including Andrew, 1st, Shane Ruljancich, 3rd, Leif Baradoy, 5th, Matt McCrank, 6th, Juan Jaramillo, 7th, Patricia, 8th, and Cory Horner, 9th.  Several runners went off-course including Marilyn Arsenault and Andrew Pape-Salmon.  Aaron convincingly won the accompanying 5 Mile race in 31:44, two and a half minutes ahead of second place Robert Brunelle of the Island Striders.  The top female, Bailey Washbrook, placed 5th overall in 40:38.  There were 28 finishers in the 5 Mile race including 8 Harriers.

October 28, 2018
Kevin Song and Chris Callendar

Kevin and Chris finished 1-2 in 19:05 and 19:14 at the MEC 5K race of 204 finishers at Beaver Lake today with Kevin topping the junior division and Chris winning the M35 age category.  The first female was Shannon Colman placing 12th OA in 22:30.  One position behind in 13th spot was long-time member, Chad DePol, who won the M45 division in 22:57.  The first female Harrier in the 5K was Dawn Wilson who finished 29th in 25:13 to win the F55 division.  The 10K winners were Dylan Dalgas, 37:28, and Claire Clarke, 42:16, and the half marathon winners were Adam Buzinsky, 1:15:46, and Ceilida Pinsky, 1:30:13.  There were a total of 634 finishers in the MEC5 with 204 in the 5K, 265 in the 10K and 165 in the half marathon.

October 27, 2018
Natasha Wodak

Natasha was crowned provincial champion by leading the field of 57 finishers to win the senior women's BC Cross Country Championships in Abbotsford today.  Her time was 25:20 in the 8K race and she was followed by Lisa Brooking, second in 25:41 and Sarah Inglis, third also recording a 25:41.  Pioneer winner for the past two years, Lucas Bruchet, won the senior men's race in 22:03 which had 106 finishers and included juniors, seniors and masters.  There were a total of 18 Harriers competing in 11 different races.  Next year and the following year, our club will host the BCXC Championships at Beaver Lake Park on October 26, 2019 and October 24, 2020.

October 24, 2018
Jack Amos, Liam Kirkendale and Alisa Lyesina

Jack won the Senior Boys race in 21:25 today at the Vancouver Island Cross Country Championships at Beaver Lake Park as the Harriers Youth Team dominated the race by placing 8 of the top 11 finishers while running for their respective schools.  Alisa was second overall in 25:47, behind the Senior Girls winner, Elise Coates, from Wellington, who broke the tape in 25:24.  Liam won the Junior Boys race in 14:24 and Iris Tinmouth won the Junior Girls race in 16:26.  There were a total of 365 finishers in 4 races including 92 Senior Boys, 91 Senior Girls, 102 Junior Boys and 80 Junior Girls.  The 4 races included 21 members of the Harriers Youth Team representing 8 different schools and all of them ran very well.

October 21, 2018
Aaron Holmgren, Gary Duncan and Lindsey Fraser

Aaron placed first overall in the Cowichan Autumn Classic 5K today in 16:47 followed by the female winner, Jill Ramstead, who was second overall in 20:47 of the 106 5K finishers.  Gary and Lindsey placed second and seventh overall by running both 5K and 10K races with combined times of 1:05:21 for Gary and 1:13:49 for Lindsey.  Richard Light, 58:40, and Emily MacDonald, 1:10:19 were the winners of the combined 5K/10K Cowichan Autumn Classic event which attracted 45 finishers.  The 10K champions were Martin Cortvriend, 46:04, and Emily Zecchino, 49:31, and the 10K had 82 finishers.  Richard and Gary actually finished 2-3 overall in the 5K and 1-2 in the 10K ahead of Martin, but like all combined participants were removed from those results.  Gary on legs already shattered from the 20km and 900m of elevation of yesterday's Cobble Hill Gutbuster, then went and did the new Cedar 12K course, twice, on bicycle measuring it for certification.

October 20, 2018
Andrew Russell, Naomi Russell, Patricia Roney and Wendy Davies

Andrew, 1:46:43, was the top Harrier and long course race champion of the Cobble Hill Gutbuster today while his wife, Naomi, was the top Harrier on the short course finishing in 1:34:50, 30th overall of 119 finishers including 83 women and 36 men.  Patricia was the first female and placed 5th overall of 94 long course finishers in 2:09:42 while Wendy was first of 8 women in the F60 division in 1:35:54.  The short course winners were Melissa Ross with a remarkable first overall performance of 1:13:46 edging out the male winner, Jake Thornburn, by 3 seconds as he finished second in 1:13:49. Also racing well in the long course were Gary Duncan, 10th overall and 1st M60 in 2:16:41 and Aoibhe Glynn, 2nd female 11th overall in 2:18:28, Charlene Walder (F40) 10th and top master female in 2:46:13, Melinda Williamson top F50, and Brent Scott 2nd M60.  In the short course Collen Auringer was 1st F50, and Lisa Cantwell 3rd.

The 6 race Vancouver Island Trail Series wrapped up with an evening buffet and series awards in the quaint Koksilah hall.  Harriers dominated in the Gutbuster long course division with Patricia and Aoibhe Glynn finishing 1-2 for women, and new club members Andrew and Juan Jaramillo for men, based on best 3 placements with double points for Mt Washington.  Finishing atop the 10 year age groups in the long course were Juan (M30), Patricia (F30), Melinda Wiiliamson (F50) and Gary Duncan (M60).  Gary not only won his age group in all 6 races, he also beat all the M50's in each, and all the M40's in some.  Picking up 2nds were Aoibhe (F30), Charlene Walder (F40), Brent Scott (M60), and in a strange scoring scenario overall winner Andrew (M30).  Lisa Cantwell won the F50 age group in the short course division. 

October 14, 2018
Melanie McQuaid and Shannon Coutts (Riders of the Week)

Melanie, 45, finished 7th overall of 166 finishers in the Tripleshot Crossfondo today with a time of 2:09:02, a mere 3 seconds behind the top female, Leah Kirchmann, 19, of Dundas, who was 6th in 2:08:59.  Shannon had a brilliant 1:26:56 performance in the accompanying Double Crossfondo by placing second overall of the 61 finishers.  She was about 5 minutes back of the Doubleshot winner, Rob Anthony, who broke the tape in 1:21:35 and Shannon, 50, was more than 12 minutes ahead of the second female, 16-year-old Brynn Johnston, from Comox, who finished 7th overall in 1:39:36.  Victoria's Max McCullock won the longer Tripleshot Crossfondo race in 1:53:30.

October 7, 2018
Jim Finlayson and Catrin Jones

Running perhaps his best race in the past 6 years since turning master in 2012, Jim placed 5th overall in 2:25:29 at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon today and won the master's division by a staggering 9 minutes over Ian Fraser from Port Townsend who finished in 2:34:26.  Of more significance was 2:25:29 was only about one minute off his time of 2:24:14 when he won the race outright in 2005, 13 years earlier!  Catrin, a two-time Victoria Marathon champion, was the third female, and 2nd F35 to finish today, 22nd overall in 2:49:41.  The race winners were Daniel Kipkoech, for his fifth consecutive Victoria Marathon victory, in 2:22:39, and Emily Setlack, from Cold Lake, AB; she was 16th overall in 2:46:20.  There were 1,047 finishers in the marathon, 2,739 finishers in the half marathon, 2,165 finishers in the 8K and 1,000 finishers in the Kid's 2K for a total of 6,951 finishers at the 2018 event, Victoria's largest distance race.

October 7, 2018
Sean Chester and Natasha Wodak

Sean and Natasha finished 5th and 7th overall of 2,739 finishers in the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon today with Sean hitting the line in 1:11:00 for a personal best performance and Natasha breaking the tape with a new course record of 1:11:45, lowering her previous GFV Half Marathon record of 1:14:06 set in 2012 and recording a seasonal best time today very close to the female Canadian Half Marathon Record currently held by Rachel Cliff.  Natasha (F35) was the only Harrier to win an age group, and Sean (M30) was the lone 2nd.  Shane Ruljancich (M40), William Boothman (M50), and Brent Scott (M60) all placed 3rd.  The race champions were Trevor Hofbauer, of Calgary, in 1:05:18 and Natasha in 1:11:45 who also won the BC Half Marathon Championship as part of BC Athletics Super Series starting with the Harriers Pioneer 8K in January and concluding with the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon in October.  Here is a link to the BC Athletics race report: http://www.bcathletics.org/News/winners-crowned-at-the-bc-half-marathon-championships-and-bc-super-series/2838/

October 7, 2018
Aaron Holmgren, Craig Odermatt and Trevor Neil

Aaron was the top Harrier by placing 5th overall of 2,165 GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K finishers with a time of 26:11.  Close behind in 7th position was the top master, Craig, who finished in 26:43 and Trevor won the M13-15 age category in 30:10.  The 8K winners were Justin Kent, from Burnaby, in 23:43, and Sarah Inglis, of Surrey, 9th overall in 27:27.  Along with Trevor and Craig (M45), other Harriers winning their age group were Leigh Sunderland (F55), Gary Duncan (M60), and Maurice Tarrant (M85).  Aaron (M35), Melanie McQuaid (F45), and Dawn Wilson (F55) all claimed 2nd, while Camie Bentham (F45), Phil Nicholls (M55), and on gun time Paul Siluch (M60) took 3rd.

September 23, 2018
Gary Duncan, Dawn Wilson, Aaron Holmgren, Craig Odermatt and Brandon Jones

Gary and Dawn were the top Harriers at the second annual Seaside 8K in Sidney today while club members took the top three spots in the accompanying Seaside 5K.  Aaron, M30, won the 5K race in 16:13, Craig took second in 16:32 to win the M40 age category and new member, Brandon, was third in 16:44 to win his M20 age category.  The first female in the 5K was Sara Kelly, 9th overall of 140 finishers, in 19:56.  The popular Seaside 8K had 217 finishers and was won by Robert Johnson in 27:01.  Jen Millar had a strong race finishing 4th OA in 29:06 to win the women's crown.  Gary was 11th to top the M60 age category in 31:42 and Dawn was 38th in 38:48 to win the F50 age category, she was 8th female to finish.

September 16, 2018
Natasha Wodak

Natasha claimed back-to-back victories on consecutive Sundays by winning the Yorkville 5K last weekend and finishing as first female today in 33:12 at the Under Armor Vancouver Eastside 10K, she was 14th overall of 2,434 finishers.  The men's Eastside 10K winner was Trevor Hofbauer in 29:24 followed by two-time Harriers Pioneer 8K champion, Lucas Bruchet, who was second in 29:50.  The second female was Leslie Sexton,15th OA in 33:44.  Former race winner and top male Harrier, Geoff Martinson, placed fifth today in 30:44.

September 9, 2018
Gary Duncan and Dee Ogden

Gary and Dee were the top master Harriers for the second consecutive year at the Metchosin Days 5K today.  Gary had a great run by placing 4th overall of 101 finishers to win the M60 age category in 19:07.  Dee was first in the F50 age category in 25:08.  The top three men were Shawn Nelson, 17:37, Nicholas Bradley, 18:00, and Coates Kaspar, 18:41, while the top three women were Sarah Lewis, 19:41, Courtenay Cameron, 20:05, and Ella Ballard, 20:36.  Ella is a member of our Harriers Youth Team and she won the Bruce Deacon U15 Junior of the Year Award in 2017.

September 9, 2018
Patricia Roney

Patricia was the first female and placed 8th overall of 94 finishers at the Finlayson Arm 50K Ultra today; she finished in 7:04:33.  The 50K winner was Mike Sidic in 5:35:56.  There were 25 finishers in the longer 100K race with Evgeny Sotnikov winning in 15:27:12 and Adele Van Wyk taking the top female honours in 17:50:56.  The 28K featured 153 finishers and the winners were Andrew Russell, 2:36:14, and Cheryl Davies, 3:25:16.

September 9, 2018
Natasha Wodak

Natasha won the Canadian 5K Road Race Championship today in Toronto by finishing as first female in 15:58; she was 20th overall in the National Championship Division featuring 147 high performance runners from all 10 provinces.  The second female was Toronto's Kate Van Buskirk, 21st OA in 16:02, and third place went to Julie-Anne Stachi, from London, 26th OA in 16:24.  The men's winner was Ben Flannigan, Ann Arbor,MI, in 13:56, second went White Rock's Lucas Bruchet, 14:12, and Guelph's Mike Tate took third in 14:18.  The prize money was $2,500, $1,500 and $500 for the top three men and women in the championship division.  The accompanying all-comers Bang and Olufsen Yorkville 5K race had 879 finishers with James Ritchie, 18:01, and Jessica Warren, 18:53, emerging as race winners.

September 3, 2018
Shane Ruljancich, Cory Horner, Heather Simpson, Sheila Nykwist and Wendy Davies

Shane was the Top Old Dog (Master), winning the event in 58:41 at Thetis Lake Park for the 6th Edition of the Harriers Hare 'n Hounds Adventure Trail Run.  Corey Horner finished second in 1:05:30 and was awarded the Top Dog (Senior) trophy.  On the ladies side, there was a tie for Top Bitch with Sonja Yli-Kahila and Heather Simpson finishing in a dead heat in 1:13:29 to place 3rd and 4th.  Sheila Nykwist was 6th finisher in 1:40:06 and received the Top Old Bitch award while Wendy Davies was 7th in 1:40:10 to be named the Top Oldest Bitch.  The Long Lost Dog (final finisher) was Johnny Atkinson in 2:14:55.  Runners follow a pre-set course following coloured ribbons and had to make a choice at every trail intersection.  The swiftest runner that makes the fewest mistakes usually emerges as Top Dog and Top Bitch.  There were 20 starters and 10 finishers as the final 10 runners got lost because someone vandalized the course by taking down the ribbons in the last kilometre of the race.  All participants and helpers headed straight to the Six Mile House for fluid replenishment and a number of laughs.  Special thanks go to Gary Duncan for setting the course and producing the results, Joseph Camilleri for a tremendous photo album, Jeff Beddoes for flagging and de-flagging the long course and to Bob Reid for marking the short course and presenting the awards.  H 'n H Runs have been held on the 1st, 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th and 40th anniversaries of the Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club.

September 1, 2018
Michael Lax and Johnny Atkinson

Michael and Johnny placed 1-2 of 33 finishers at the Clover Point #56 Park Run 5K today with times of 19:03 and 19:05.  They were more than two minutes clear of Jez Millard who was third in 21:25.  Michael became the oldest person to win a Park Run worldwide by topping the field as a 60-year-old.  His age-graded performance of 84.95% was ranked as 10th best M60 worldwide of 1,576 Park Runs held in 20 countries and his run today was the 4th fastest M60 time globally of 1,292 veteran men finishers.

August 26, 2018
Craig Odermatt

Craig had an outstanding race today at the Edmonton 10K, part of the Edmonton Marathon weekend which included a full marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K races.  Craig placed 6th overall of 914 finishers and claimed the top master's rank.  His time of 33:34 was his fastest 10K result in the past 3 years.  The Edmonton 10K champions were Zain Syed Ahmed, 31:07, and Emma Cooke-Clarke, 9th overall in 34:46.

August 26, 2018
Will Boothman, Michael Lax, Gary Duncan and Chris Callendar

Will, Michael, Gary and Chris ran different distances and were the top Harriers at the MEC#4 races at Sooke Potholes today.  Will was first M50 in the 15K event and placed third overall in 1:02:14 while Michael was one position back in 4th overall to win the M60 division in 1:02:41.  Gary was first M60 in the 10K event and placed 5th overall in 42:26 and Chris was first M35 in the 5K event and placed third overall in 19:00.  The race winners were Simon Dennis, 1:01:42, and Katrianna Skulsky, 1:09:25, in the 15K, Matt Walsh, 36:18, and Bronwyn Ambrock, 43:09, in the 10K and Matthew Winkler, 18:39, and Sarah Lewis, 21:57 in the 5K.  There were 100 finishers in the 15K, 125 in the 10K and 109 in the 5K for a total of 334 finishers at Sooke today.  Due to technical issues all 3 races were overdistance.

August 19, 2018
Catrin Jones

Catrin emerged as the female champion by finishing 9th overall of 360 finishers at the Squamish 50K trail ultramarathon today at the mountain biking hub of BC featuring miles and miles of technical trails with lots of elevation gain and loss.  Catrin's time was 5:53:58 on the rugged course; she was about 8 minutes ahead of the second women, North Vancouver's Jeanelle Hazlett, who finished 13th OA in 6:01:55.  The men's winner 50K was Etienne Robert, from Nelson, in 5:18:58.

August 18, 2018
Garth Campbell

Since Garth has transitioned into cycling from running, he has steadily climbed the elite ladder to the top of the pack as evidenced at the Tour de Victoria today where he was a mere 5 seconds behind the 160 Kilomerre (100 Mile) winner, Nicholas Rowe who finished in 4:33:43 compared to Garth's 4:33:48.  The lead pack of 15 riders were all in a tight pack and any one of them could have broken the tape.  All of them finished within 10 seconds of each other with four finishing in 4:33:45 and another six finishing in 4:34:46. The Tour de Victoria featured 7 different race courses with distances of 7K, 15K, 30K, 60K, 100K, 140K and 160K.

August 12, 2018
Gary Duncan, Lisa Cantwell, John McKay and Susan Norrington

Gary, Lisa, John and Susan all received gifts for outstanding contributions to the club and to the Harriers 40th Anniversary Reunion Celebration which was held at Bob's house today at McKenzie Lake under beautiful, sunny conditions.  Gary was appreciated for his leadership at Tuesday Night Workouts throughout the year and for his incredible appetite for racing by representing the Harriers and competing in over 50 races annually.  Lisa was thanked for her management of PIH communications by distributing email blasts on upcoming Harriers events and for her success in long distance ultramarathons.  John, a 40-year member, and Susan, a 17-term PIH President, were acknowledged for playing significant roles on the Harriers Reunion Subcommittee where they reached out to many past members to invite them to the celebration.  The men received an attractive garment and an etched glass tumbler while the women received a different garment and an etched glass vase with flowers.  There were 100 attendees at the celebration including 6 children and 6 canine Harriers.  Each participant was presented with a 40th Anniversary commemorative shirt.  Here's a group picture: 2018 Harriers 40th Reunion Group Photo

August 11, 2018
Kris Swanson

Canadian mountain-runner and Harrier, Kris Swanson, once again won the Emperor’s Challenge Mountain Run today, a rugged, 20 kilometre race that leads over the summit of Mount Babcock south of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern British Columbia.  His time was 1:25:01. This was the 20^th Emperor’s Challenge, and Kris has won the event nineteen times, a North America Athletics Record and approaching a World Record for the most consecutive victories by one person at the same annual event.  The top female was Lindsay Carson, she finished in 1:39:42. A full Emporer's Challenge report from the BC Athletics website is here: http://www.bcathletics.org/News/kris-swanson-takes-win-19-of-20-at-the-emperors-challenge/2815/

August 11, 2018
Lyndon Clazie, Patricia Roney, Finn Battersby and Dawn Wilson

Lyndon and Patricia were the top Harriers on the long course and Finn and Dawn where the top Harriers on the short course at the Mount Washington Gutbuster today, Event #5 of 6 races in the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  Lyndon finished in 1:20:35 to place 6th overall of 87 finishers and third in the M20 age category while Patricia was the first female and 10th overall in 1:27:20.  Gary Duncan M60 also had a strong race to finish just behind Patricia and top master in 1:27:31.  The long course male champion was Ryan Schissler finishing in 1:16:49.  The short course featured 104 finishers and the winners were Hugo Chrisholm, 54:46, and Alexis Cecill, 1:01:19.  Finn placed 22nd to win the M16 age category in 1:09:53 and Dawn placed 49th to win the F50 age category in 1:19:18.

August 11, 2018
Chris Callendar and Michael Lax

Chris and Michael placed first and second overall of 63 finishers today at the Clover Point 5K Park Run in Beacon Hill park.  Their times were 18:52 for Chris and 19:25 for Michael.  The first female was Elizabeth Venables placing 14th in 22:38.  This was the 53rd consecutive Saturday morning for the Clover Point 5K race, a free event for all participants. 

August 6, 2018
Craig Odermatt and Dee Ogden

Craig placed second overall and was the top master in 21:01 of 104 finishers at the Nautical Days 4 Mile Race in Comox today, an event always celebrated on BC Day.  Dee placed second in the F50 age category in 33:18 to finish 66th in the field.  The race winners were Lam James, M20, in 20:57 and Nicole Hutchinson, F20; she was 5th overall in 22:39.

July 21, 2018
Dayna Jones

New member, Dayna Jones, traveled to Vancouver to take part in the Summerfast 10K in Stanley Park, an event organized by Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club under the leadership of long-time coach, John Hill.  She placed a respectable 7th of 191 in her F30 age category with a time of 42:51 and was the 22nd female finisher.  The race champions were Dylan Wykes and Rob Watson, both hitting the finishers' tape in 32:09.  The female winner was Stephanie Pennycock, from Kirkcaldy, Scotland, with a blazing fast time of 34:27.  She was 7th overall of 402 finishers at the Summerfast 10K.

July 22, 2018
Craig Odermatt

Craig traveled to Alberta today to take part in the inaugural lululemon Edmonton 10K and placed second to Calgary's Simon Stewart in the master's division; Craig was 22nd overall of 4,161 finishers with a time of 35:13 while Simon Stewart finished 12th OA in 34:04.  The first three men were Canada's top marathoner, Reid Coolsaet, Hamilton, 30:08, Evan Esselink, Guelph, 30:20, and Trevor Hofbauer, Calgary, 30:27 and the top three women were Leslie Sexton, London, 34:07, Sasha Gollish, Toronto, 34:36, and Vancouver's Dayna Pidhoresky in 35:04.  They placed 13th, 18th and 21st overall.  The inaugural Edmonton 10K this morning was very much a celebration of running in Alberta’s capital. The city and a capacity crowd of 5,000 runners were ready. When registration for this latest Canada Running Series event, partnering with lululemon athletica, opened on April 5th, it sold out in a remarkable 13 hours and 27 minutes.  There were a total of 4,785 registrations including 3,757 women and 1,028 men.  The 4,161 finishers indicated that 824 participants either did not start or did not finish.

July 14, 2018
Patricia Roney and Lyndon Clazie

The Ladysmith Gutbuster at Holland Creek, Event #4 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Trail Series, was held today and featured a longer course of 19K with some incredibly long, steep uphills.  The Harriers ladies finished 1-2-3 on the long course with this year's Bright Shining Light winner, Patricia, claiming top female position, 5th OA in 1:45:11, last year's Bright Shining Light, Aoibhe Glynn, taking second place and was 13th OA in 2:00:17 and next year's potential Bright Shining Light, new member and a Prior Lake Saturday morning regular, Sheila Nyquist, placing third, 19th OA in 2:06:52 to claim the top F40 master's position.  Other long course Harriers' performances were also outstanding with Gary Duncan winning the M60 division in 1:54:08, Charlene Waldner placing second to Sheila in the F40 division in 2:12:09 and Melinda Williamson winning the F50 division in 2:23:21. The race champion was Andrew Russell in 1:29:55, over 3 minutes ahead of runner-up, Duncan's James Richardson who finished in 1:33:05.  Lyndon placed 2nd overall on the Ladysmith short course in 44:03 almost 5 minutes behind the blazing fast German, Sebastion Enke, from Kuhschnappel, who won the race in 39:41.  The short course female winner was Danielle Thompson, F40, who was 12th OA in 54:07.  Other Harriers running well over the short course were Kevin Spahn, 1st M40 in 48:30, Dan Stefanson, 1st M50 in 51:24, Dawn Wilson, 1st F50 in 1:01:40 and Lisa Cyr-Cantwell, 2nd F50 in 1:05:07.  There were 95 finishers on the long course and 107 finishers on the short course.

July 14, 2018
Michael Lax and Chris Wille

Michael, at 60 years old, led from start to finish to take the victory and become the oldest runner to win a Clover Point Park Run, an event that has been staged for 49 consecutive Saturdays in Beacon Hill Park starting at 8:00 am.  His winning time was 19:43 which was 10 seconds faster than the second place finisher, Jamie Tait, who hit the line in in 19:53.  The top female was Shavaun MacDonald; she placed 7th OA in 23:13 of 25 finishers.  Chris finished 6th in 22:39 to win the M55 division in 22:39.

July 8, 2018
Brett Carter and Melanie McQuaid

Brett placed 8th overall to claim a silver medal in the M30 division today at the X-Terra Victoria Sprint Triathlon with a swim in Durrance Lake, a mountain bike ride on the Hartland Trails and a trail run in Partridge Hills.  He finished in 1:49:36.  The Sprint winners were Jacob Sanders in 1:1:31:37 and Monique Robertson; she was 6th OA in 1:44:05.  In the longer Championship Division, Melanie was the second female, the top master and finished 19th overall in 2:34:48.  She was two positions behind the female winner, Julie Baker from United States, who finished 17th OA in 2:32:52.  The men's winner in the Championship Division was Kieran McPherson in 2:08:03.  Victoria's Brent McMahon placed 4th in 2:14:34.  There were 31 finishers in the Sprint race and 103 finishers in the Championship race.

July 7, 2018
Patricia Roney, Nicki Haugan and Bailey Haugan

Patricia continued her dominance at trail races by finishing second overall to race winner Nick Walker at the X Terra 15K Trail Run today, a preliminary event to the XTerra Championship and Sprint Triathlons being staged tomorrow meeting at Durrance Lake.  Their winning times were 1:06:47 for Nick and 1:09:58 for Patricia.  New club members that have recently moved to Victoria from Fort Saint John, the mother and daughter combination of Nicki and Bailey, finished together and were both timed at 1:16:25 and placed 6th and 7th overall of 23 finishers.  Nicki, 41, was the top master while Bailey, 19, was the top junior.  Bailey is an unusual name for a female, yet there were two of them in the 23 finishers with Baylee Woodley finishing 9th in 1:27:23.  Also for the first time, it was the Nick and Nicki show on the Partridge Hills trails.

July 5, 2018
Michael Barber and Liam Stanley

Seven members of the Harriers Youth Team were in Ottawa over the week of competitions at the Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships held at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.  Michael achieved a gold medal in the para-ambulatory 800 metre race finishing first in 2:02.80 and he placed sixth in the U20 1,500 metre race in 4:34.87 against a strong field.  Liam claimed a bronze medal in the 1,500 metres with a time of 4:06.20 which was a para-amblatory U20 National Record.  Other Harriers performed well including Jack Amos, third in the 5,000 metres in 15:23.68, Kalum Delaney, fifth in the 5,000 metres in 14:55.00, Liam Dwyer, twelfth in the 3,000 metre steeplechase in 10:14.42, Cooper Langard, 18th in the 5,000 metres in 4:13.25 and Alisa Lyesina, sixth in the 800 metres in 2:15.00.

June 28, 2018
Natasha Wodak

Specializing in longer distance races such as 10Ks and half marathons, Natasha tested her "short speed" and threw her hat into a 1,500 metre race and did admirably well by finishing 8th of 14 runners from Canada, United States and Great Britain at the Harry Jerome Track and Field Classic tonight in Burnaby.  She ran 4:17.93 to finish about half a second behind Canadian team mate, Rachel Cliff, who clocked 4:17.39 to place 7th.  The race winner was Sasha Gollish, from Toronto, in 4:08.56.

June 24, 2018
Jim Finlayson

Jim ran 1:10.28 and was the top master placing 5th overall of 3,504 finishers today at the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon.  He took first place in the M45 division while Jerry Ziak was the second master in winning the M40 division in 1:11:50; he was 7th overall.  The race winner, for the sixth time, was Kenyan Kip Kangogo in 1:07:23 and the female champion was TC10K winner, Dayna Pidhoresky; she was 11th OA with a P.B. of 1:13:04.  The winners of the accompanying 5K race were Mark Klassan, 16:36, and Stephanie McGregor, 19:17.  There were 4,155 registrations and 3,504 finishers in the half marathon and 2,464 registrations and 2,016 finishers in the 5K.

June 24, 2018
Gabe Van Hezewijk and Liam Stanley

Several members of our Youth Team were in Comox today and most of them reached the podium.  Gabe won a M18-19 gold medal in the 1,500 metre race Comox Summer Solstice Track and Field Meet today by finishing with a personal best time of 3:59.42.  Team mate, Jack Cooper took the silver in 4:03.21.  Liam set a Canadian Record in the para-ambulatory M20-34 Senior Men's division by running 2:00.58 for 800 metres.  Other Harriers receiving gold medals included Jordan Price, M14-15, 2:12.34 in the 800m, Brodie Cote, M16-17, 2:05.07 in the 800m, Olivia Hopkins, F14-15, 2:35.50 in the 800m, Alisa Lyesina, F16-17, 2:12.31 in the 800m, and Bridget Cameron, F-18-19, 2:28.82 in the 800m.  Besides Jack Cooper, Michael Barber won a silver medal in the M18-19 division of the 800m in 2:05.07 while Liam Hoogewetf took a bronze in the 800m in 2:16.94.

June 23 and July 7, 2018
John Atkinson

John, M45, had his best two races at Clover Point Park Runs #46 and #48 where he placed third of 32 finishers in 19:49 on June 23 then two weeks later he finished first overall of 24 finishers in 19:18.  Rob Livingstone, M25, won the June 23 race in 19:15 and the top female was Mary Jane Henderson, F60, in 24:27.  The top female in the July 7 race was Jackie Shiels, F30, in 24:12.  Ed Hooper, M45, was second in both races running 19:49 and 19:42.

June 20, 2018
Phil Nicholls and Dan Stefanson

For the 34th consecutive year, Phil continued to direct the Twilight Shuffle 5K with this year's event starting at Clover Point and running an out-and-back course towards the breakwater.  Former Twilight Shuffle winner, Dan Stefanson, was the only Harrier in the race and he finished 6th OA to win the M50 division in 19:51.  The race attracted a mere 28 finishers with Park Run 5K and Magical Mile winner, Matthew Winkler, breaking the tape in 16:19 and Navy 10K winner, Danny Morin, finishing second in 16:40.  The top female, Kelly Halvorsen, placed 11th OA and was the first female in 21:21.

June 17, 2018
Mark Ritchie, Dee Ogden and Joseph Camilleri

Mark was the top Harrier placing 6th overall and winning the M45 division in 39:35 at the Navy 10K race while Dee was the top Harrier; she won the F45 division and was the 5th female finisher in the accompanying 5K race on the roads of Esquimalt.  Her time was 24:47.  Besides posting a terrific photo album, Joseph also ran well in the 10K by claiming a gold medal in the M65 division in 42:27.  There were 206 finishers in the 10K won by Danny Morin in 37:16 and Kelsy Traverse in 45:22.  There were 222 finishers in the 5K won by Matt Walsh in 16:19 and Kamma Wiggins in 21:41.

June 17, 2018
The Holmgren Family, Bertrand Bozek, Gary Duncan and Paul Siluch

After not racing for 12 years, Aaron Holmgren came back with a vengeance today by dominating the field of 175 finishers and winning the Raymond James Father's Day 5K race with a time of 16:30.  He was nearly 4 minutes clear of the second place runner, 20-year-old Andrew Hall, who finished in 20:18.  Aaron's wife, Elana, was 37th in 35:59 to place third in the F30 age category, his 7-year-old son, Coen, was 11th to place second in the M19 division in 27:29 and his 9-year-old son, Emilian, placed 14th to claim third in the M19 division in 29:19.  Aaron's last competitive race was in 2007 at the Harriers Pioneer 8K where he ran 25:59 to place 6th of 494 finishers in a race where two of his Harriers team mates finished 1-2 with Steve Osaduik winning the race in 24:18 and Eric Kiauka taking second in 25:33.  There were more than 50 Harriers finishers in that 2007 event and another 50 club members were volunteering.  Immediately after the Father's Day 5K, Aaron renewed his Harriers membership and upgraded from an Individual to a Family membership and registered his wife and two sons.  He lives in North Saanich and intends to do the 2019 Harriers Pioneer 8K (some 13 years after his last Pioneer race) and he plans to enter a Family team with his sons in this year's Thetis Lake Relay and also will run with them in the Magical Mile.  The Father's Day event had an accompanying 10K race which attracted 36 finishers and Bertrand, Gary and Paul placed second, third and fourth overall right behind winner, 20-year-old Derek Juno, who crossed the line in 37:53.  Bertrand, 41:09, finished first in the M40 division, Gary, 42:06, finished first in the M60 division and Paul, 43:10, finished first in the M50 division.  The charity event raised funds for prostate cancer research.

June 16, 2018
Natasha Wodak

With a new sponsor of Lululemon Athletica, the Toronto Waterfront 10K took a huge jump in female participants with 5,270 ladies and 2,136 gentlemen in the event for a total of 7,406 finishers in the race which was also the official Athletics Ontario Championship in all age categories.  Natasha finished 14th overall in 33:15, twelve seconds behind Toronto's Sasha Gollish who won women's the race in 33:03 and was 14th OA.  It was the Sasha vs. Tasha show as they exchanged the lead for the entire 10K. Tightly packed behing Natasha was Kenyan Anteneh Emebet, 18th in 33:34 for third place and the 2018 TC10K champion, Dayna Pidhoresky; she was 19th in 33:39.  Canada's top marathoner with a 2:10 to his credit, Reid Coolsaet from Hamilton, won the men's race in 30:11.

June 15, 2018
Craig Odermatt

Craig was the only Harrier in the race and placed 6th overall of 737 finishers in 16:41 to win the M45 division at the Longest Day 5K hosted by Vancouver Thunderbirds and held at the University of British Columbia.  He was the second master to former Victorian Jerry Ziak who finished 4th in 16:10.  The race winners were Vancouver's Ryan Brockerville, 15:20, and Andrea Lee, she finished 13th OA of 397 women in 17:21.  Anthony Tomsich won the accompanying Longest Day 10K in 32:59 which attracted 296 finishers including 163 men and 133 women.  The first female was Emma Chadsey; she finished in 39:10 and placed 17th overall.  The Longest Day races were the last official duty of Maurice Wilson who retired today from BC Athletics after a 10-year stint as Manager of Road Running and Cross Country.  Maurice was a frequent visitor to Victoria to attend Harriers-hosted events, the GoodLife Fitness Marathon, TC10K, VIRA meetings and races and USports Cross Country Championships.  He will be replaced by Clif Cunningham who is a popular Race Director of the Canada Run Series races including the Vancouver Scotiabank Half Marathon and 5K and the Vancouver Eastside 10K.

June 10, 2018
Kevin Song, Will Boothman and John Atkinson

Kevin finished third overall in 18:40 to win the M15 age category at the MEC 5K at Royal Roads today, Will was the top Harrier finishing 6th OA in the 10K race in 41:06 to win the M50 division while John was the first club member in the half marathon by finishing 6th OA in 1:30:15; he was first in the M45 age category.  Gary Duncan had a strong race in the 10K by placing 9th OA in 42:32 to win the M60 division and Yuki Otsubo ran 1:37:19 in the half marathon to finish 10th OA and place second in the M55 division.  The race winners were Perrin Peterson, 17:55 in the 5K, Ben Puszka, 39:09 in the 10K and Martin Know, 1:27:41 in the half marathon.  There were a total of 514 finishers at the three MEC races including 190 in the 5K, 235 in the 10K and 89 in the half marathon.

June 9, 2018
Natasha Wodak

Natasha placed 4th of 30 international runners in the High Performance Women's 5,000 Metre race at the Portland Track Festival tonight with an excellent personal best time of 15:29.  Athletes from United States, South America, Central America and Japan were competing in the 5,000m race but it was Canada that led the way by taking three of the top four positions with Jessica O'Connell winning the silver medal in 15:18, Rachel Cliff claiming the bronze in 15:23 and Natasha 4th in 15:29.  The race champion was Marielle Hall, of Nike Bowerman Track Club, in 15:16.  Japanese runner, Riko Matsuzaki from Sekisui, was fifth with a time of 15:31, two seconds behind Natasha.

June 9, 2018
Kevin Spahn, Sonja Yli-Kahila, Shane Ruljancich and Aoibhe Glynn

Rejuvenated by the Harriers Trail Running Clinic offered by Sonja and Shane, Kevin had a great performance by using his clinic skills and finishing second overall on the short course at the Westwood Lake Gutbuster trail race in Nanaimo today.  His time was 1:03:18 for the 10.4K course, about 5 minutes behind race winner, Hugo Chrisholm of Victoria, who finished in 57:59.  Sonja was the second female placing 8th OA in 1:07:18, two minutes back of the female winner, Keely Matheson, who finished 6th in 1:05:05.  Shane was the top master and second overall at the 17K long course in 1:21:21 while Aoibhe (Ee-Fah) was the first female and placed 8th overall in 1:38:34, just a few minutes ahead of our Harriers running machine, Gary Duncan.  Gary was 9th to win the M60 age category in 1:40:16.  The long course winner was Nanaimo's Travis Pirozzini as he broke the tape in 1:21:01.  Travis was also the Harriers Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Challenge champion held last November.  There were a total of 191 finishers at Westwood Lake including 84 completing the short course and 104 finishing the long course.

June 8, 2018
Liam Stanley

Liam was selected to win the Athletics Canada Arnold Boldt Award as Ambulatory Athlete of the Year for 2017 as he set many National 800 and 1500 metre records.  Brent Lakatos won the most prestigious Jack W. Davies Athlete of the Year Award while Melissa Bishop took home the Cal D. Bricker Memorial Trophy for the Outstanding Performance of the Year.  Vancouver's Evan Dunfee, race walker extraordinaire, won the Fred Begley Memorial Trophy for Off-Track Athlete of the Year.  The full list of award winners are shown in today's Athletics Canada announcement: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=en&shva=1#trash/FMfcgxvwzRhPVPGphZRVRBvqvbFnFvKl

June 3, 2018
Chris Callendar and Jean-Francois Gagne

Chris won the Olympic North Discovery Half Marathon today, an event from Sequim to Port Angeles that featured 918 finishers in the most popular of the four distances offered.  His winning time was 1:22:14.  The top female in the Half Marathon was Nicole Lerner; she finished 6th OA in 1:28:38.  The winners of the accompanying Full Marathon were Keith Laverty, 2:34:44, and Amy Young, 13th OA in 3:18:20.  Harriers' J-F Gagne placed 11th in the marathon in 3:14:15.  The marathon had 225 finishers, the 10K had 345 finishers and the 5K had 218 finishers.

June 2, 2018
Bailey Haugan, Daphne Panter and Cathy Noel

New club member, 19-year-old Bailey Haugan, had an outstanding debut in her first race as a Harrier by finishing first and winning the overall championship in the 7th Annual Goddess Run 5K in an event that had a total of 950 registrations, 791 starters and 787 finishers in 2 different distances.  Bailey's time was 19:20 good for a 2-minute margin of victory over last year's winner Sophie Mallory who finished second in 21:20.  Liv Rabien placed third in the 5K in 23:42.  Daphne Panter, long-time Harrier, won her F70 age category in 35:54 in a sprint to the line for a one-second victory over Miranda Anderson, 35:55.  The winner of the Goddess Run 10K race was Jenner Court in 41:20 followed by Chantelle Smith in 44:08 and Karlie Leclaire finished third in 44:38.  Cathy Noel, founder of the Goddess Run and Race Director since its inception in 2012, continued her superb administration and management of the women's-only event at a new venue at Belmont Secondary School in Langford.  The Goddess Run boasted 467 finishers in the 5K race and 320 in the 10K for a total of 787 finishers on two new courses taking all participants through Westhills and bucolic Irwin road with the 10K adding a mid-course out-and-back section along sylvan Humpback Road.  Gary Duncan who refined and measured the courses also directed and was one of the Cycling Officials and lead cyclists for the event.

May 27, 2018
Ian Searle and Catrin Jones

Ian ran a personal best of 2:36:30 at the Ottawa Marathon today improving his time by about 4 minutes over his inaugural event, the Victoria Marathon, last year where he ran 2:40:42.  In Ottawa Ian was the 7th Canadian to finish and was 25th overall of 2,751 finishers.  The race featured Ethiopians and Kenyans taking the top 8 positions overall with Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay breaking the tape in 2:08:52.  The first female was also an Ethiopian as Gelete Burka finished 13th OA in 2:22:16.  New club member, Catrin Jones, was the top Canadian female at the Calgary Marathon by finishing 9th overall and second female in 2:52:37 of 688 finishers.  The race winners were both Kenyans with Feyera Dadi finishing first in 2:16:37 and Caroline Kiptoo winning the women's race; she was 6th overall in 2:43:36.  Catrin has had a remarkable 2018 first by winning the Vancouver Island Road Race Series and following it up with two marathons within less than a month, first by winning the British Columbia championship in Vancouver on May 6 by running 2:50:45, then three weeks later winning the Canadian Championship in Calgary on May 27 in 2:52:37.  She is a welcome addition to the club and was recently selected to represent Team Canada at the World 100K Championships in Croatia this September.  A full report on the performances of Ian and Catrin are shown in this link to the Victoria Sports News written by club member, Chris Kelsall: http://victoriasportsnews.com/victoria-marathon-runners-compete-well-in-ottawa-and-calgary/

May 27, 2018
Michael Angrove and Johnny Boi Atkinson

Michael had a very strong race finishing second overall to race winner Adam Buzinsky at the Oak Bay KOOL 10K today attracting 464 finishers.  Their times were 34:13 and 36:56 with Adrian Thow placing third in 38:07.  The top female was Carley Pearson, she placed 8th OA in 40:06.  Harriers Brent Scott, Maddie Perry and new member, Dayna Jones, all had good results with Brent winning the M60 age category in 39:40, Maddie winning the F19 division in 46:16 and Dayna winning the F30 division in 43:20; she was third female overall of 305 women in the race.  Adam O'Meara and Elsabet Lapointe were the champions in the accompanying Oak Bay KOOl Half Marathon with winning times of 1:15:05 and 1:26:19.  Johnny Boi Atkinson was the top Harrier finishing 30th overall of 627 finishers in1:31:39.  There were 464 finishers in the 10K, 627 in the Half and 108 in the Relay for a total of 1,099 at Oak Bay.

May 26, 2018
Natasha Wodak and Craig Odermatt

Natasha captured a silver medal today at the Tamarack Ottawa 10K National Road Race Championships by finishing second in 33:45 to Vancouver BCEP team mate, Rachel Cliff, who was the top Canadian in 32:23.  They were the 5th and 7th females in a star-studded international field of 7,389 finishers and they placed 28th and 42nd overall.  The race was won by Ethiopians Andamlak Berta, 27:48, and Alia Mohammed, 31:36; she was 19th OA.  Craig topped the M45 age category and placed 50th overall in 34:07.  The top Canadian male was Evan Esselink, from Guelph, ON, by finishing 9th in 30:31.

May 21, 2018
Patricia Roney (is on a Tremendous Terror Trail Tear!)

Patricia has just completed four mountain races on four consecutive weekends recording four consecutive female victories with one second place overall finish, two third place overall finishes and one seventh place overall finish at the Royal Roads Long Course 15K in Victoria, the Mount Tzhouhalem 17K Long Course in Duncan, the Cumby 25K Long Course in Cumberland and Sun Mountain 25K Long Course in Winthrop, WA.  Simply an outstanding performance and perhaps the highlight of the year for any club member!

May 20, 2018
Patricia Roney

Patricia had a brilliant race by finishing third overall of 275 finishers today in Winthrop, Washington at the Sun Mountain 25K extreme trail race.  She was the only club member registered and finished in 2:10:48, good for a nine minute margin of victory over the second female, Stacey Cleveland, of Penticton, BC, who finished 6th OA in 2:19:18.  Patricia received a 95.96% achievement ranking which was the highest performance rating of all 275 men and women.  The top three runners at Sun Mountain were Brent Winegar, Bothell, WA, 1:58:25, Michael McNeill, Richmand, WA, 2:09:09, and Particia Roney, Victoria, BC, 2:10:48.

May 12, 2018
Andrew Pape-Salmon, Patricia Roney and Aoibhe Glynn

Andrew was the race champion in the Cumby 13K Short Course while Patricia and Ee-Fah (Aoibhe) finished 1-2 in the women's field of the 25K Long Course at the Cumby Ultras in Cumberland today.  Andrew won the 13K race in 1:08:48 and the short course female winner was Melanie Sakowski, 7th OA in 1:21:03.  Derek Vinge won the 25K race in 1:55:22, Patricia was third OA in 2:08:29 and Ee-Fah was seventh OA in 2:17:16.  There were 205 finishers in the 13K short course and 134 finishers in the 25K long course for a total of 339 at the Cumby trail events.

May 12, 2018
Leif Baradoy and Lisa Cantwell

Leif was the first place male finishing the 50K Division in 4:28:13 while Lisa was third female master and 11th overall of 21 finishers in 5:33:07 at the 31st Annual Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras today featuring 34 finishers in four different distances.  They were the only two club members racing while several others volunteered under the leadership of Race Director, Darcy Kernel.  The 100K Division was a Canadian Championship and Victoria's Jerry Hughes won the race in 8:40:26.  The top female, Bonbon Reszel also from Victoria, was the female National Champion by finishing third overall in 10:48:27.  The 50K race was won by 40-year-old Kyla Beattie in 4:26:32 followed by Leif in 4:28:13 and Andre Erlank in 4:28:35.  The 50 Mile winners were Greg McHale, from Carcross, Yukon, in 7:31:09, and Calgary's Hilary Thomas in 10:40:50 and the 40K Walk was won by Danika Milne in 6:30:05.  The final finisher in the 50K was the legendary Ann Trason from Auburn, California, who walked the 50 kilometres with a colourful uniform and Nordic poles in 11:40:38.  Trason, now 48, was considered to be the greatest utramarathoner of the century by setting 20 world records and winning the Western States 100 Miler 17 times over her illustrious career in the 1990's and early 2000's.  She was chosen as North America's Ultramarathoner of the Year several times frequently beating all of the men in 50 and 100 mile races held throughout the United States and Canada.

May 6, 2018
Natasha Wodak, Jim Finlayson, Dawn Wilson and Lyndon Clazie

Natasha was the top female in the Vancouver International Half Marathon today with a winning time of 1:14:01 and Jim was the top M45 master in 1:12:32.  They placed 12th and 15th overall of 9,235 finishers in the most popular race of the 5 events offered including a marathon, half marathon, marathon relay, 8K road race and a kid's run.  Dawn had a great 8K race winning her F55 age category in 40:25; she was 106th of 2,638 finishers and topped the F55 field of 82 women in her age division.  Dawn's 20-year old son, Lyndon Clazie, ran a personal best of 3:07:35 in only his second marathon lowering his P.B. of 3:10:03 which he established in Victoria last year.  He was fifth M20 and 79th OA today and first M19 and 59th OA in Victoria in 2017.  Perhaps he will go sub-3:00 at the GoodLife Fitness Marathon in October.  The Vancouver International Marathon boasted 3,757 finishers and was the official BC Championship road race.  The marathon champions were Vancouver's Rob Watson, in 2:27:38, and Zhiling Zherg, from China, 7th OA in 2:43:50.  Island Series 2018 winner, Catrin Jones, finished as third female in 2:50:45 and was awarded the female Provincial Marathon Championship title.  The 8K winners were Jeppe Harboe, 27:19, and 15-year-old Maya Kobylanski, 35:35.  Harriers' Chris Callendar placed 5th overall in 30:00.  The half marathon winners were George Towett, of Mexico, in 1:04:03, and North Vancouver's Natasha, in 1:14:01.  A full report on the event is here: http://bmovanmarathon.ca/recap-2018

May 5, 2018
Sean Chester, Patricia Roney and Gary Duncan

Sean, our club member currently living in Trondheim, Bratsberg, Norway, placed third overall of 140 finishers at the Mount Tzouhalem Gutbuster in Duncan today by running 1:17:05 on the long course.  The race winner was Nanaimo's Shelby Drope in 1:11:54 followed by Andrew Russell in 1:14:41.  Patricia was the top female Harrier and first place female by finishing 7th overall in 1:21:20 in the most exciting female race in the 16-year history of Gutbusters on Vancouver Island.  She staged a fierce tooth-and-nail battle with Nanaimo's Melissa Ross with Patricia passing Melissa on all the uphills then Melissa catching up and passing Patricia on all the downhills.  At the end the two were dead even with a 50-metre sprint to the finish line where it took a photo finish to determine first place as both were timed at 1:21:20.  Patricia was awarded the gold medal by 1/100th of a second over Melissa.  Gary, in his solid workmanlike Harriers fashion, placed 15th in 1:29:21 to win the M60 division with a 4-minute margin of victory over Merville's Keith Wakelin who hit the line in 1:33:37.  There were 134 finishers in the Mount Tzouhalem short course won by Tyler Leach in 46:44 with the top female, Bailey Toupin, placing 7th overall in 48:25.

April 29, 2018
Ian Searle, Jim Finlayson, Jonah Brost and Patricia Roney

Ian and Jim were the top male Harriers today with Ian placing 12th overall and Jim placing 13th and Jim won the master's crown.  Their times were 33:19 and 33:23 at the 29th annual Times Colonist 10K.  At the other end of the age spectrum, Jonah won the junior M19 title by running a huge 2-minute personal best of 34:33 to finish 19th of 7,820 participants including 4,642 women and 3,177 men.  Of the 7,820 registrations, there were 6,748 finishers resulting in 1,072 DNS's.  Patricia was the top female Harrier and was the 10th female finisher in 37:08 which was also a 10K P.B. for her.  The race champions were Heron Kiptoo Sirma, a 21-year-old Kenyan, breaking the finishers tape in 29:49 and Vancouver's Dayna Pidhoresky, placing 11th overall in 33:20, just one second ahead of Ian and with a comfortable one minute and 17 seconds clear the second female, Kenyan Jane Murage, who is a 4-time TC10K winner as she finished 20th in 34:37. A total of 15 Harriers reached the podium in their respective age categories including 5 first place finishes, 6 second place finishes and 4 third place finishes.  Gold medalists by winning their divisions were Jonah Brost (M19), Shane Ruljancich (M40), Jim Finlayson (M45), Brent Scott (M60) and Edith Price (F65).  Silver medalists were Maddie Perry (F19), Craig Odermatt (M45), Gary Duncan (M60), Brian Connon (M70), John Cliff (M75) and John Woodall (M85).  Bronze went to Kevin Song (M19), Camie Bentham (F45), Binder Kelsall (F50) and Maurice Tarrant (M85).  The Prairie Inn Harriers were the top team in the Running Clubs Division, in fact the Harriers with an average time of 41 minutes for their top 10 finishers, beat all 189 teams registered in 15 different categories.

April 22, 2018
Geoff Martinson and Natasha Wodak

For the second consecutive year Geoff placed second overall of 40,112 finishers at the massive Vancouver Sun Run 10K today while Natasha was the fourth female to hit the finish line in the most competitive road race in Canada and possibly in North America.  Geoff was 11 seconds faster this year than last year with times of 29:35 today and 29:46 in 2017 and Natasha was also one minute and 4 seconds faster than last year with times of 33:04 today and 34:08 in 2017.  The top 7 women all bettered the 2017 winning time of 33:30.  To give you an indication of how strong the Sun Run field was, the top Kenyan male and former TC10K champion, Paul Kimugul, placed 10th overall in 30:32, Island Series Champion, Shelby Drope, was 45th in 33:21, Bazan Bay 5K Race Champion, Alison Hooper, was 92nd overall and 19th female in 35:06, 4-time TC10K champion, Kenyan Jane Murage, was 13th female and 81st overall in 34:55, and our very own Harriers workhorse, Gary Duncan, who is generally in the top-20 overall at any Vancouver Island race, placed 335th in 39:28 to win a bronze medal in the extremely talented M60 division dominated by Vancouver's Guy Smith with a staggering 36:57.  The men's Sun Run male winner and female runner-up were both Americans as Brendan Gregg, from Davis, won the race in 29:14 and Emma Bates, of Boise, placed second in the women's field behind Kenyan, Monicah Ngige; their times were 32:23 and 32:36 and they were 32nd and 35th OA.  Harriers Craig Odermatt and Jim Finlayson had strong runs and finished 1-2 in the M45 division in 33:43 and 34:04.  The Sun Run boasted 58,476 registrations and 40,112 finishers for an unbelievable number of 18,364 no-shows!

April 21, 2018
Andrew Pape-Salmon and Charlene Waldner

Several Harriers traveled south to participate in the Yakima Skyline Rim 50K or 25K trail races in Ellensberg, WA, today and Andrew was the top Harrier in the 50K by placing 38th overall of 182 finishers in 6:33:21; he was 9th M40.  Charlene was the top female Harrier in the 25K race by finishing 72nd overall of 190 finishers in 3:27:38, she was 3rd in her F40 age category.  Other Harriers running well included Lisa Fehr, 138th in the 50K in 8:21:01, Valerie Bell, 82nd in the 25K in 3:33:11, first F50, Larry Nylen, 101st in 3:42:29, Lisa Cantwell, 117th in 3:48:52 and Fiona Peters, 118th in 3:48:54.  The 50K winners were Mike Wolfe, 5:04:30, and Kaytlyn, 13th OA in 5:48:40 and the 25K winners were Duncan Hoge, 2:14:02, and Maria Dalzot, 4th OA in 2:28:50.

April 16, 2018
Michael Angrove

Running in horrendous winter conditions with driving headwinds and pouring rain the entire way, Michael braved the historic 122nd annual Boston Marathon today and finished in a respectable 2:55:25 after recording a fairly even 1:27:01 half way split.  He was 909th of 10,532 finishers in the M18-39 age division and 1,082nd overall of 25,746 finishers.  Harriers team mate, Joseph Camilleri, finished in 4:29:58 to place 220th of 562 M65 finishers; he was 20,449th overall.  The race winners were Yuki Kawauchi, from Japan, in 2:15:58 and Desiree Linden, of the United States, in 2:39:54.  It marked the first time in 31 years that Boston has been won by a Japanese male and the first time in 33 years that Boston has been won by an American female.  The top Canadians were 41-year-old Krista Duchene who had a brilliant race finishing as the third female overall in 2:44:20 and Reid Coolsaet; he was 9th overall in 2:25:02.  There were 29,978 registrations, 26,948 starters and 25,746 finishers.  The 95% finishing rate was commendable under less than ideal weather conditions for the race today.

April 15, 2018
Natasha Wodak

Natasha was a less than 2 seconds off the podium today by placing fifth in 31:50 in the 10,000 metre race as part of Team Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.  It was a season best and her second fastest 10,000 metre race ever behind her Canadian Record of 31:41 set in 2013 in California.  The event was dominated by Africans with Ugandans Stella Chesang and Mercyline Chelangat finishing first and third in 31:45 and 31:48 while Kenyans Stacy Ndiwaken and Beatrice Mutauken were second and fourth in 31:46 and 31:48.  Natasha's Vancouver BCEP team mate, Rachel Cliff, finished ninth in 32:11.

April 14, 2018
Patricia Roney, Aoibhe Glynn and Gary Duncan

Patricia had a tremendous run finishing second overall of 130 finishers in 47:09, Aoibhe was the second female finisher and was sixth overall in 51:24 while Gary was the top male Harrier in 51:43 to place seventh; he was the first M60 master on the long course at the Royal Roads Gutbuster today, Race #1 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  The long course was won by Andrew Russell in 41:12 and Patricia Roney in 47:09 and the short course was won by Gerrit Van Sittert and Danielle Riendeau in 26:56 and 31:04.  Harriers Kelly Campo, Charlene Waldner, Lara Wear and Louise Wilkin also ran well on the long course and Magdelina Carter, Melinda Williamson and Lisa Cantwell ran well on the short course.  There were a total of 243 finishers today, 130 on the long course and 113 on the short course which was a decrease of 23 from last year's total of 266.

April 8, 2018
Ian Searle and Craig Odermatt

Ian was the top Harrier in 16:05 to win the M25 division and place 11th overall and Craig won the M45 division in 16:10 to place 13th of 519 finishers at Bazan Bay 5K today, the eighth and final race of the Vancouver Island Road Race Series presented by Quality Foods.  The race winners were Ben Weir, of the UVic Vikes, in 15:08, and Alison Hooper, also of the Vikes; she placed 21st overall in 16:47.  The 519 finishers at Bazan Bay today was 5 fewer than last year's total of 524. Paul Siluch (M60) also won his age division, while Jonah Brost (M16), Binder Kelsall (F50), William Boothman (M50), Lise Fraser (F60), and Gary Duncan (M60) all won silver and Jude Farmer (M40) a bronze.

The 8 race Vancouver Island Road Series champions, based on best 5 performance scores, were Bastion's Shelby Drope and former RVM champion, Catrin Jones, and both were first-time Series participants.  Nancy Baxendale was 3rd female overall.  Jonah Brost (M16), Maddie Perry (F16), Nancy (F55), and Gary Duncan (M60) all won their age categories and gold medals when the Series final standings were announced.  Trevor Neil (MU16) missed by 0.5 points and settled for silver.  Jude Farmer (M40) and Charlene Waldner (F45) won bronze.  In the club points race, the Harriers slipped to third behind Ceevacs and Bastion.  Our best points earner in 2nd was Gary with 153 out of a posssible 160, followed by John Atkinson in 28th with 115 and Catherine Davies in 39th with 106.  Not far behind were John Catterall (101), Jonah Brost (93) and Jeff Beddoes (92).  We miss our legendary bit point getters like Maree Kennell, Marcia Stromsmoe, Brian Connon, and John Woodhall who earned 549 points between them in 2017 which would have easily vaulted us to the top.

April 7, 2018
Gary Duncan, Amy Higginbotham and Dee Ogden

Two long-time members, Gary and Dee, and first-time new member, Amy, all ran very well in their age categories at the Esquimalt 5K today and were presented with a nice gift pack for their efforts.  Gary placed 7th overall of 399 finishers to win the M60 division in 19:47, Amy was 33rd in 23:45 and placed 4th of 71 in the F30 division while Dee was 56th to top the F50 division in 25:31.  The race winners were Greg Garner in 18:31 and Lindsay Trace, who placed 11th overall in 20:41.

April 2, 2018
Sheamus Pape Salmon and Dylan Coutts

Four-year-olds Sheamus and Dylan stole the show as Sheamus was first to finish and Dylan was the champion by collecting all of the small plastic bags at the Harriers Easter Egg Hunt at Thetis Lake Park today, event #2 of six 40th Anniversary Celebration Events.  Both boys received Harriers medals, a large Easter egg and a bunny for their efforts.  A total of 23 participants including 14 adults/parents, 5 kids and 4 dogs hiked 3 kilometres with a map searching for 12 mystery locations where the small chocolate eggs were hidden.  Being Easter Monday, the park was extremely busy with other visitors and, unfortunately, dogs had chewed and carried away three of the hidden stashes.  Quick thinking by Gary fixed the problem by walking ahead of the group and hiding substitute bags before the children arrived so all was good at each location.  The hike was a session about searching, sharing and caring focusing on family, friends and fun.  Event #3 of the 40th Anniversary Celebrations is the Pilgrimage Run from Thetis Lake to the Prairie Inn Pub, a 13 mile run with honourable entrances at 6 miles and 3 miles for runners and walkers.  Mark Sunday, June 3 on your social calendar for the Pilgrimage Run.  A photo album of today's Easter Egg Hunt compliments of Andrew Pape Salmon is here: http://photos.pih.bc.ca/2018/2018-Thetis-Lake-Easter-Egg/.

March 30, 2018
Shane Ruljancich and Patricia Roney

Shane was the top male Harrier and first master; he was 4th overall of 182 finishers in 1:31:03 at the 18th annual Fletcher's Challenge today on the trails near Westwood Lake and Mount Benson north and west of Nanaimo.  Patricia was the top female Harrier and placed 13th OA to win the women's division in 1:41:26; she was 8 minutes clear of the second female, Cheryl Davies of Nanaimo, who finished 23rd in 1:49:27.  The overall winner was Bastion's Shelby Drope in 1:23:24 who had a comfortable 4-minute lead over his second and third place Nanaimo team mates, Jeremy Clegg, who hit the line in 1:27:20 and Travis Piorzzini, 2017 Stewart Mountain 10 Mile Champion, who finished 10 seconds back in 1:27:30.  There were 11 Harriers in the race and Andrew Pape-Salmon, 9th OA, Walter Cantwell, 24th, and Dan Jacklin, 29th, all placed well in the M40-99 division.  Colleen Auringer, Sara Pape-Salmon and Lisa Cantwell also placed well in the F40-99 division.  Gavin Fletcher was an active MOMAR competitor and a popular Sports writer for the Times Colonist newspaper before he was tragically killed in a car accident on the Malahat while traveling home following work late one evening in December, 2006.  He and Gunner Shaw were loyal TC employees that will be missed but their memory lives on through two character cross country events held annually in their honour.

March 25, 2018
Jonah Brost, Erin Burrett, Nancy Baxendale and the "Six J's"

Jonah and Erin were the top Harriers, Nancy was the first female master while, for the first time ever, the top six Harrier men were all J's including Jonah, Jude, John, Jeff, John, and Jeff (B, F, A, H, C, B) at the Sooke River 10K, Race #7 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Race Series, successfully hosted for the first time in 18 years by TriStars.  Jonah finished 5th overall of 271 finishers in 36:36 to win the M19 Junior Division, Erin was the first female and won her third consecutive Series race finishing 7th OA in 37:06.  Nancy set a new F55 course record of 41:07 and was 5th of 132 female finishers.  Harriers on the podium, Maddie Perry won the F19 age category and John Catterall placed third in the M55 division.  John Vanderveen, a triathlete from Campbell River, was the race champion in 34:54.  The 271 finishers today was 9 more than the total of 262 last year.

March 25, 2018
Chris Callendar and Gary Duncan

Chris handily won the 5K race featuring 250 finishers by 1:40 in 21:54 and Gary was the top Harrier placing 22nd of 248 finishers in the 10K race today in 51:00 at MEC#2 at Thetis Lake Park, a rugged trail event held in sunny, but cool, conditions.  Gary won his M60 category by almost 15 minutes over Steven Blair who finished in 1:05:51, and was top master as interestingly the men's masters division winners finished from oldest to youngest: M60, M55, M50, M45, M40.  He then raced his vehicle to Sooke to capture a bronze M60 medal one hour later.  The 5K champions were Chris Callendar and Olivia Cooper, 11th OA in 25:26, and the 10K winners were Glenn Jasechko, a downhill mountain bike racer, in 43:04, and Nico Bernardi, 12th OA in 49:08.  Other Harriers running well in the 10K were Wendy Davies and Alana O'Connell, long-time Harrier and Prairie Inn Hellion; they were 2nd and 4th in the F55 division.  Ivar McLean was 2nd M40 while Kevin Jones and Rob Grant placed 3rd and 6th in the M60-99 age category.

March 24, 2018
Geoff Martinson

Geoff narrowly missed his personal best half marathon time today by finishing 79th of 152 finishers at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia Spain attracting 317 athletes from 87 countries.  Team mate, Cam Levins from Black Creek, was the top Canadian finishing in 30th place in 1:02:15 and recording a personal best performance.  Rounding out the Canadian Team were Sami Gibril, 111th in 1:07:11, and Evan Esselink, 115th in 1:07:20.  The men's race champion was Geoff Kipsang Kamworor, from Kenya, in 1:00:02, and the women's champion was Netsanet Gudela Kebede, of Ethiopia, setting a new World Record of 1:06:11.  Sasha Gollish was the top Canadian female placing 30th of 117 finishers with a season best time of 1:11:52.  Former Harrier now living in Ontario, Victoria Coates, was the second Canadian female, 47th OA in a P.B. of 1:13:35, and Kinsey Middleton, 1:13:52, and Emily Setlack, 1:17:30, comprised the Canadian women's team.  Bruce Deacon was the head coach and guided his Canadian Teams to 20th place of 23 men's teams and 10th place of 19 women's teams.  Ethiopia won both the men's and women's team titles.

March 18, 2018
Ian Searle and Erin Burrett

Ian and Erin emerged as race champions finishing in 1:14:14 and 1:21:11 at the Comox Valley Half Marathon today, Race #6 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Series.  There were 370 finishers including 14 Harriers, 7 of which listed PIH as their club and 7 others registered as unattached including race winner, Ian Searle, son of Harriers Shawnigan Lake Half Marathon winner and excellent master runner, Kevin Searle.  Patricia Roney, 1:24:15, had a great performance finishing as third female behind Erin, 1:21:11, and Catrin Jones, 1:22:05.  Patricia was named Rookie of the Year in claiming the Bob Reid Bright Shining Light trophy last weekend and the Harriers Annual Awards Dinner. Michael Angrove, winner of the Harriers Enrichment in the Running Community Award last Friday, placed 4th overall today to top the M30 age category in 1:17:29.  Will Boothman, 1:25:07, also had a strong race finishing 25th overall and 3rd of 18 in the M50 division.

March 17, 2018
Natasha Wodak and Tyler Dozzi

Leading the way at the St. Patrick's Day 5K today were the women, as the anticipated match-up between Canada’s top two 10,000m representatives at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Australia next week resulted in the fastest 5K time ever run in Canada. Natasha ran a blistering quick 15:39, bettering the old Canadian Record of 15:42 set by Carol Montgomery in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland in 2006. Her Canadian Commonwealth Games team mate, Rachel Cliff, helped get things off to a fast start by scorching through the first downhill mile in 4:38, with Natasha 4 seconds back but she was able to sustain the pace better through the second half, particularly over the uphill final kilometre, and ran to the finish line as a convincing winner. Rachel hung on gamely to also finish well under her previous course record, in 15:51.  It was a bit of revenge as Rachel topped Natasha at the Harriers Pioneer 8K, Race #1 of the BC Super Series.  St. Pat's was Race #4 of 12 BC Super Series events with the Sun Run and TC10K next on the schedule on April 22 and 29.  Natasha collected $500 for the win and the BC 5K Championship title, plus a $250 bonus from Saucony for the new course record.  2018 Harriers Pioneer 8K Champion, Lucas Bruchet, won the race, also setting a new course record, with a brilliant 14:12 clocking and collecting the $250 Saucony bonus along with his $500 for winning the race.  Tyler, 14:57, was the top male Harrier and second U20 junior placing 14th overall of a staggering 1,404 finishers in Stanley Park including 608 men and 796 women.  To put things in perspective on how competitive the race was today, Shelby Drope and Melissa Ross, who have a lock on the Island Series overall championship crowns, placed 38th and 107th today in 15:56 and 17:30.  There were 13 Harriers at St. Pats and all of them ran extremely with Craig Odermatt topping the M45 division in 16:20, he was 52nd OA, and Gary Duncan finishing first of 26 in the M60 division in 19:20 edging master running legend, Art Boileau, by 21 seconds.  The Harriers Youth Team had 7 members participating as, besides Tyler Dozzi, Liam Dwyer, Liam Stanley, Cooper Langard, Jonah Brost, Trevor Neil and Jordan Cheung all placed very well in the junior division. 

March 11, 2018
Patricia Roney, Chris Callendar and Randy Jones

Patricia was the first female finisher in the 10K race placing 3rd overall of 64 finishers, Chris won the accompanying 5K race which attracted 46 finishers and Randy was the successful Race Director of the inaugural Another Brick in Nepal challenging trail race in East Sooke Park today, the first running event approved by CRD Parks in this park.  The race champions in the 10K were Andrew Russell, 40:07, and Patricia Roney, 46:55, and the 5K winners were Chris Callendar, 17:45, and Emma Rutledge, 3rd overall in 25:43.  The combined total of 110 finishers included 16 Harriers participating with 16 more Harriers volunteering.  Mark Ritchie, 51:13, and Lara Wear, 1:00:27, were the top masters in the 10K race while Dee Ogden, 25:57, was the second female master in the 5K race, both of which were very demanding race courses initiated and measured by Gary Duncan who was the second 10K master, 6 seconds back of Mark Ritchie who surged to the line for the master's victory.  All in all it was a very special fundraiser with $2,500 being raised to purchase desks for a school in Nepal.

March 4, 2018
Jonah Brost, Erin Burrett and Michael Lax

Jonah was the top Harrier placing 9th overall of 231 finishers with a time of 57:04 at the Port Alberni Paper Chase 15K today, Race #5 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Series.  Jonah was the first junior winning the M16-19 age category by 45 seconds over Jacob Sanders.  It was the first year that the Port Alberni Chamber of Commerce has hosted a 15K event after the Paper Chase had been a 10K race for many previous years.  The new course was well received by all runners, albeit a hilly challenge compared to the nearly flat Pioneer and Bazan Bay race courses.  Erin Burrett was the top female finishing 13th overall in 57:51.  Erin, 2016 GFVM Champion in her marathon debut, competes for Bastion in the Island Series as she lives in Nanaimo but she is registered with the Harriers on the BC Athletics roster when she competes provincially, nationally and internationally.  Michael placed 20th today in 1:01:01 to claim his second consecutive M60 gold medal by topping his age category.  He also won the M60 division at Hatley Castle two weeks ago.  The 231 finishers today (118 men and 113 women) included 8 Harriers and was 12 fewer than last year's mark of 243 when it was a 10K race.

March 4, 2018
Natasha Wodak

The massive West Van 10K/5K/1K was held today on the North Shore of Vancouver and attracted 1,756 finishers including 768 in the 10K, 661 in the 5K and 327 in the accompanying 1K Kid's Run.  The race champions of the 5K were Justin Kent, 2017 GoodLife Fitness 8K winner, in 14:24, and Natasha Wodak, 8th overall in 16:10.  The second place male was Rob Watson, 10 seconds back in 14:34, and Theo Hunt took third in 14:58.  The second 5K female was Kirsten Lee, daughter of BCEP Coach and former PIH Coach, Richard Lee.  She was 12th OA in 17:01 followed by Katelyn Steen, 15th OA in 17:31.  The 10K race winners were Kenyan Benard Ngeno, 32:58, and ultramarathoner Lissa Zimmer, 19th overall in 37:17.

February 18, 2018
Liam Stanley, Lyndon Clazie, Michael Lax and Nancy Baxendale

Liam, 2016 Para-Olympian silver medalist in Rio De Jeneiro and 2017 BC Athletics Para-Athlete of the Year, and Lyndon, our Vancouver-based Harrier and son of Dawn Wilson, finished first and second in the M20 division and were 6th and 14th overall of 321 finishers today at the Hatley Castle 8K at Royal Roads and was hosted by Frontrunners Athletic Club.  Their times were 29:04 and 30:59.  Hatley Castle was Race #4 of 8 in the Island Race Series and the event was won by a Nanaimo couple Shelby Drope, in 27:08, and Melissa Ross, 16th overall in 31:08.  It was Shelby's third consecutive win after previous victories in Cobble Hill and Cedar and almost assured him to win the Island Series after a third place finish in a strong field of high performance runners at our Pioneer 8K on January 7.  Several Harriers ran very well at Hatley by topping their age categories with Michael winning the M60 division with an exciting battle and a one second margin of victory over Harriers running machine, Gary Duncan.  They finished 30th and 31st OA in 32:47 and 32:48.  Nancy won the F55 age category and was the third female behind Melissa Ross and Catrin Jones.  Other division winners from the club were Maddie Perry, F16, and Wendy Davies, F60.  The 321 finishers today was 48 fewer than last year's total of 369.

February 11, 2018
Craig Odermatt

Craig was the lone Harrier to travel across the water to take in the First Half Half Marathon in Vancouver today and topped his M45 age category by finishing 10th overall in 1:14:30.  He was the fourth master across the line lead by former Victorian, Jerry Ziak, who placed 4th OA in 1:11:26.  The First Half race champions were both current and former Harriers Pioneer 8K winners with Rob Watson breaking the tape in 1:06:57 and Rachel Cliff finishing 6th OA in 1:12:21.  Her outstanding performance was within a few seconds of a P.B. and, more importantly, broke the female course record of 1:12:47 set 15 years ago by Harrier and Olympian, Tina Connelly.  Watson's Pioneer victory was in 2016 while Cliff won our race in 2017 and 2018.  The First Half Half was hosted by Pacific Road Runners and was Race #3 of 12 in the BC Super Series.  It attracted 1,535 finishers today including 758 men and 777 women.  A full report is here:  http://www.bcathletics.org/BCSuperSeries/news.php?_id=52

February 10, 2018
Cathy Noel

Cathy directed a very entertaining and successful Diamond Dash 5K event today at Bear Mountain using the paved pathways and trails of the two world-class golf courses designed by Jack Nicolas.  The race also included distances of 3K and 1K for beginners and attracted 97 finishers in all three categories.  The pre-race and post-race activities took place in the exquisite Westin Hotel Ballroom with music, exhibitors, aerobics instructors, prizes and terrific food.  The race champions were Naomi Davidson, 19:14 in the 1K, Coral Grant, 25:05 in the 3K, and 10-year-old Mason Biggs, 31:17 in the 5K.  All three courses were run on an out-and-back format with a BIG downhill to start the race and a BIG uphill to finish it with many heavily-puffing but happy participants at the line.

February 7, 2018
Geoff Martinson and Bruce Deacon

Athletics Canada named eight athletes today, four men and four women, to represent Canada at the 2018 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. The bi-yearly event will take place on March 24 in Valencia, Spain, known around the world as the City of Running.  Geoff was named to the men's team after his brilliant P.B. of 1:03 in Houston two weeks ago and Bruce was named as Head Coach for his first World Championship coaching assignment.  Other members of the men's team are Cam Levins, Black Creek, BC, Evan Esselink, Guelph, ON, and Sami Jibril, Toronto, ON.  The women's team are all from Ontario including Victoria Coates, Hamilton, (former Victorian and former Harrier), Kinsey Middleton, Guelph, Sasha Golish, Toronto, and and Emily Setlack, Kingston.  A full report is here: http://athletics.ca/athletics-canada-selects-eight-athletes-represent-canada-2018-iaaf-world-half-marathon-championships/#sthash.xiu5MrPA.dpbs

February 4, 2018
Steve Osaduik, Patricia Roney and Jonah Brost

Steve was the top Harrier finishing 9th overall in 42:45 at the Cedar 12K today, Race #3 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Series.  Patricia was the top female Harrier and third female, finishing 21st OA in 46:12 to win the F30 age category and Jonah was the top junior in the race placing 12th OA in 43:21.  The race champion was Nanaimo's Shelby Drope, claiming his second consecutive Series victory after winning the Cobble Hill 10K 2 weeks ago.  His time today was 40:05 in taking the Cedar title.  The top female was Victoria's Catrin Jones, former Victoria Marathon winner and first victory after having a baby in 2017.  She was 17th overall in a thrilling women's finish where she nipped Melissa Ross by one second; their times were 44:42 and 44:43 and they finished 17th and 18th OA.  There were 280 finishers at Cedar which was an increase of 18 over last year's mark of 262.  Race Director, Jim Rutherford, and his volunteer team were forced to make a last-minute course adjustment do to a motor vehicle accident closing the road on their current course on race morning.

February 3, 2018
Liam Stanley, Geoff Martinson, Natasha Wodak, Maurice Tarrant and Herb Phillips

Five Prairie Inn Harriers received major awards tonight at the BC Athletics 2017 Annual Awards Ceremony held at the Executive Airport Plaza Hotel in Richmond.  Liam was named the Senior Male Para-Athlete of the Year, Geoff was recognized as the Senior Male Road Runner of the Year and Natasha was recognized as the Senior Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year.  Maurice and Herb were enshrined into the BC Athletics Hall of Fame to go along with their recent inductions into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (Maurice) and Canadian Masters Athletic Association Hall of Fame (Herb).  Justine Stecko was runner-up for the Junior Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year and Natasha was runner-up for both the Senior Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year and the Senior Female Road Runner of the Year, besides winning her Cross Country Athlete of the Year Award.  Congratulations to all six club members for an outstanding 2017 year of racing and athletic achievements!

February 3, 2018
Kevin Jones (a.k.a The Spin Doctor)

In most cases ROTW reports focus on running accomplishments by club members with the occasional ROTW reporting on a Rider of the Week for their cycling accomplishments.  Today's ROTW recognizes a club member as a Rower of the Week for his complete dominance by destroying the opposition at an indoor stationary Monster-Erg rowing event.  Dr. Spin placed first overall in the M70 division at the Canadian Championships of the Indoor Rowing Monster-Erg event at UVic today.  Competing for the Harriers Indoor Old-Age Rowing Club, he completely dominated his age category by finishing in 7 minutes and 32 seconds flat beating rivals Bryan Wallich, Maple Bay Rowing Club, who was 9/10 of a second behind in 7:32.9 and Al Wilhelm, Victoria City Rowing Club, who finished 1.5 seconds back in 7:33.5.  Dr. Spin was 7 seconds under the World Championships time standard and was immediately nominated to be a part of Team Canada to compete in the M70 category of the CRASH - B Sprint Indoor Rowing World Championships on February 17 held in Alexandra, Virginia.  All division winners at the Worlds receive a hammer for first prize.  As much of this report sounds like hogwash, it is straight goods!  Row on, Dr. Spin, row on.  You are our Canadian Champion!

January 21, 2018
Ian Searle and Craig Odermatt

Ian was second overall in 33:14, only 14 seconds back of race champion, Nanaimo's Shelby Drope, who won the Cobble Hill 10K today in 33:00.  The first female was UVic's Alison Hooper; she placed 16th OA in 35:38.  Craig was the top master placing 5th OA in 33:54.  Cobble Hill was Race #2 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Series and attracted 382 finishers today compared to last year's total of 424.

January 14, 2018
Craig Odermatt

Craig enjoyed a warm weather break from the rain and wind in Victoria by traveling to Hawaii and jumping into a 15K race today, part of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon weekend offering marathon, half marathon, 15K, 10K and 5K races.  He completely destroyed the field of 102 finishers in the 15K race by placing first overall in 52:09 and winning by nearly 12 minutes.  Second place went to Bradley Kukral, IL, in 1:04:07 and Mike Kayatin, OH, placed third in 1:06:12.  The top female was Kathleen Kennedy finishing 5th overall in 1:11:12.

January 14, 2018
Gary Duncan, Maia Watson and Dawn Wilson

Gary was the top Harrier and dominated the M60 age category by finishing 10th overall of 251 10K finishers recording a time of 39:54 at MEC Race #1 at Lochside School today.  He was almost 12 minutes ahead of Martin Gavin, 51:13, who was second of eight M60 men.  Maia was the second female finisher of 195 women in the accompanying 5K race to place 17th overall of 294 finishers.  She was the top Harrier and top junior in winning the F16 division.  Dawn also won her F55 age category to place 38th overall in 23:45; she was 8th of 195 females and first of 16 in her division.  The race champions in the 10K were Jonathan MacDonald in 37:18 and Care Nelson; she finished a remarkable second overall in 37:51.  The 5K race winners were Matthew Winkler, 17:13, and Shannon Colman, 11th OA in 20:19.  Both races boasted a total of 545 finishers to kickoff the 2018 five-race MEC Series.  This was 40 more than last year's total of 505 finishers.

January 14, 2018
Natasha Wodak and Geoff Martinson

Natasha was within 10 seconds of her personal best half marathon time by running 1:11:31 today and Geoff recorded a new personal best of 1:03:38 at the Chevron Houston Marathon and Half Marathon, a huge Texas event offering prize money going 8-deep with the marathon winners each pocketing $45,000 and the half marathon winners claiming $20,000 each.  Because of the big purse, hundreds of Kenyans and Ethiopians flooded both events however a strong contingent of Canadian athletes (23) were part of the field.  There were 11,019 finishers in the Houston Half won by New Zealander Joe Robertson in 1:00:01 and Ethiopia's Ruti Aga in 1:06:39.  Other Canadians performing well were Rachel Cliff, 1:11:52, and Cam Levins, 1:05:00, in his half marathon debut.  Bazu Worku, 2:08:30, and Birukayit Degeta, 2:24:51, won the Houston Marathon which attracted 6,984 finishers.

January 7, 2018
Jeremy Grosvenor, Natasha Wodak, Craig Odermatt and Lucy Smith

Jeremy, 26:08, and Natasha, 26:39, were the top male and female Harriers placing 4th and 11th overall of 481 finishers including 258 men and 223 women at the 39th annual Harriers Pioneer 8K today in very wet and windy conditions.  Craig and Lucy were the top masters finishing in 26:58 and 29:05 which was a new F50 Canadian Record for Lucy, yet another milestone in her storied and outstanding running career. The race introduced a popular new course in North Saanich after the event had been staged in Central Saanich for the previous 38 years.  Special thanks to Gary Duncan for initiating, measuring and certifying the new race course.  The first three men were Lucas Bruchet, last year's champion from Vancouver, in 24:06; Victoria's Matt Noseworthy placed second in 25:29 while Shelby Drope, from Nanaimo, took third in 26:08.  The first three women were all from Vancouver with defending champion, Rachel Cliff, finishing 9th OA and claiming her second consecutive Pioneer title in 26:23.  Five-time Pioneer champion, Natasha Wodak, was second female to cross the line in 26:39 and won the F35 age category while Erica Digby placed third; she was 15th OA and first F25 in 27:15.  One day after the race, Rachel and Natasha were both named to Team Canada to participate in the 10,000 metre race at the Commonwealth Games in Queensland, Australia being held between April 4 and April 15 this year.  There were 63 Harriers finishers today at Pioneer and 55 club members were volunteering to host Race #1 of the Vancouver Island Race Series (8 events) and BC Super Series (12 events).  Ten Harriers won their age categories.  To celebrate 40 years of success, all previous male and female Pioneer 8K winners were invited to be part of our "Team of Champions" and many of them traveled from Up-Island or from the Lower Mainland to attend including both event record holders, Carey Nelson (22:58 in 1985) and Natasha (25:28 in 2013).  From the Team of Champions, a Pioneer All-Star team was introduced comprising of the 4 most dominant men and the 4 most dominant women over 4 decades of the event.  From the 1980's and 1990's, All-Stars in attendance included Peter Butler (first Series Pioneer winner in 1982 in 23:09) and Carey Nelson (Pioneer winner in 1985 with the current event record of 22:58 which still stands after 36 years), Debbie Scott (5-time winner with a course record of 26:08 which stood for 25 years) and Ulla Marquette (a remarkable 8-time race champion between 1984 and 1998).  From the 2000's and 2010's, All-Stars in attendance included Olympians Lucas Bruchet and Natasha Wodak and fellow Harriers Steve Osaduik and Lucy Smith.  Lucas won the race last year in 23:24 and again today in 24:06 while Natasha has won the Pioneer 8K five times and her event record of 25:28 is also a Canadian Road Race Record to accompany her 10,000 metre T&F Canadian Record of 31:41 set in 2013 in California.  Steve has won Pioneer 4 times and Lucy has won Pioneer 4 times being the only female master (40+) to accomplish this feat in 2009 and 2012.  Besides Steve's 4 Pioneer victories, he has won the TC10K 3 times, the Royal Victoria Marathon 3 times and the Island Series Overall Championship title 6 times.  Lucy is an 18-time Canadian Champion in road running, track and field, cross country, triathlon and duathlon and two months ago she was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.  Five All-Stars were Harriers while 4 of the team traveled from Vancouver, 1 from Ladysmith, 1 from Shawnigan Lake and 2 others are Victorians.

January 1, 2018 (Happy New Year!)
Jeremy Lawrence and Sandy Auburn

Jeremy finished with 2 minutes, 30 seconds on the clock to win the 22nd annual Harriers Memorial 10K Predicted Time Run at Beaver Lake Park today among 80 other club members on a cool, crisp and sunny morning.  For his efforts Jeremy was awarded a box of Belgian biscuits which he shared with his PIH team mates before retiring to more cookies and hot chocolate at the Beaver Lake Picnic Shelter.  Event Director, Bob Reid, announced with today's donations and proceeds from the Gunner Shaw Race in November, a new Sandy Auburn Scholarship has now reached its goal by raising $10,000.00 during the past year.  An Environmental Sciences Scholarship will be established at Camosun College to honour our 30-year Harrier, Sandy, who had participated and volunteered at the Gunner Shaw Classic race for 30 consecutive years, at the Thetis Lake Relay for 20 years and at the Stewart Mountain Challenge for 10 years.  Sandy passed away in August, 2016, from pancreatic cancer but will never be forgotten.  She was an active member of the Prairie Inn Hellions team which was formed in 1986 to participate in the inaugural Vancouver Island Road Relay from Courtenay to Victoria.  During the past 32 years the Hellions Team has led to more than 30 life-time friendships among members.  We sincerely thank all of the Harriers for their generosity and support of PIH's eighth scholarship or bursary at the University of Victoria and Camosun College where the club has contributed $248,000.00 to the two educational institutes since 1984.  Several students benefit annually from these club initiatives.  Thank you, Harriers!

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Previous Years - Runners of the Week (Since 1997)

 

December 26, 2017
Shane Ruljancich and Dawn Wilson

Shane ran the fastest time of 1:02:28 in the 2-lap Harriers Boxing Day 10 Miler while Dawn ran the fastest time of 41:59 in the 1-lap accompanying 5 Miler today which attracted 22 finishers with 20 completing the 10 mile course and 2 completing the 5 mile course.  Directed by Gary Duncan the 19th annual event attracted runners from Hamilton, ON, Richland, WA, Canmore, AB, Calgary, AB and Courtenay, BC.  There were 10 Harriers participating with Chris Callendar, 1:05:21, placing second overall and Chris Albertson, 1:05:51, takng third.  The top 10-mile female was Denisse Justiniano; she 9th OA in 1:15:43.

December 9, 2017
Lucy Smith and Maia Watson

 It was a like mother, like daughter, like brother family affair today at the 14th annual Stewart Mountain Cross Country Challenge as Lucy was the top female overall in the 10 Miler and daughter, Maia, was the top female in the 5 Miler and Lucy's brother, Dan Smith, was the top M50 of 21 men in his age category.  Lucy placed 16th of 138 Ten Mile finishers with a time of 1:17:26 shattering Gwyn Woodson's F50 course record by over 9 minutes.  Gwyn ran 1:26:33 to set the previous F50 record in 2005 at the second annual Stewart Mountain race.  Maia, at 17 years old, was the first female, first junior and first Harrier in the Five Mile race in 42:46.  She finished third overall of 46 finishers and was almost 5 minutes ahead of the second female, Naomi Cooper, 47:24.  Wendy Davies and Dawn Wilson finished 1-2 of 13 women in the F50 division in 47:49 and 48:07.  The race champions were Nanaimo's Travis Pirozzini, 1:04:54 in the 10 Miler, and Victoria's Mike Armet, 40:08 in the 5 Miler.  The new Thetis Lake Adventure Quad Series of 4 races attracted over 700 finishers with only five runners earning the coveted Thetis Lake Quad Team special shirt for completing all four events.  They included Harriers' Christine Thate, John Atkinson, Kevin Jones and Gary Duncan and Brenda Niziol from CeeVacs.  The first 150 runners of the 184 finishers also received an attractive Stewart Mountain race shirt compliments of our Thetis Lake sponsor, Phil Nicholls of 2:18 Run Store in the Fairfield Plaza.  There were 123 volunteers assisting at one, two, three or all four races and each of them received a warm, fleece-lined sweatshirt from 2:18 Run.  Five Harriers worked at all four events and Race Directors, Bob Reid, Elaine Galbraith and Gary Duncan were extremely pleased with their loyal and continued assistance in key roles at the Thetis Lake Cross Country Trail Series held every fall.  This Series is the largest fund-raiser to support scholarships, bursaries, charities, community projects, trail improvements, youth development and travel assistance for Harriers Foundation initiatives.  Over $350,000 has been donated to date to support 98 projects since the Foundation was initiated in 1986 following the death of PIH founding member, Gunner Shaw, who was killed tragically in 1984 in a traffic accident.  Gunner's Bursary in Athletics at the University of Victoria was the first Harriers Foundation project.

December 9, 2017
Angus Brown

Angus, a member of the Harriers Youth Team, finished second overall in 18:06 and he was the top Harrier and the top junior runner with a new P.B. this morning at the 18th Park Run at Clover Point.  Matthew Winkler the 2017 Harriers Magical Mile Champion, won the Park Run 5K in 17:52 while Bronwyn Ambrock, the first female, placed 7th overall of 18 finishers with a time of 2o:3.  She was about one minutes ahead of the second female, Jennifer Cameron, who finished in 21:34.

December 2, 2017
Lyndon Clazie and Patricia Roney

Lyndon and Patricia were the top Harriers placing 16th and 19th overall of 128 finishers in the 10K race at the 34th annual Gunner Shaw Memorial Cross Country event held in Vancouver today at Jericho Beach.  Lyndon was the top junior U20 runner in 38:49 and Patricia placed first in the F30 age category in 41:43.  There were six club members that made the trip across the water accompanied by club photographer Joseph Camilleri with four Harriers winning their age divisions.  Besides Lyndon and Patricia, Gary Duncan won the M60 category by 7 minutes in 42:12 and Dawn Wilson, Lyndon's mom, won the F55 category by one and a half minutes in 53:46.  The 10K race winners were Benoit Gignac in 37:08 and Robyn Mildren; she placed 6th overall in 38:49.  Benjamin Paetzel and Bridgett Baziw won the accompanying 5K Silver Fox race in 18:05 and 19:52.  There were 57 finishers in the 5K race and 128 in the 10K race for a total of 185 finishers today.  Results are here: Vancouver Gunner Shaw Results; photos are here: Joseph Camilleri Photos

November 25, 2017
Lucy Smith

Two weeks after being inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in Halifax, Lucy returned to her west coast home to shatter the F50 course record by 6 minutes and finish 9th overall of 248 finishers at the 33rd annual Gunner Shaw Cross Country Classic, Race #3 of 4 trail events which comprise the Harriers Thetis Lake Adventure Quad Series.  Lucy was the first female Harrier, first female overall and first master, winning the F50 category by a staggering 13 and a half minutes.  There were 34 runners in the F50 division and Lucy's time for the 10K was 39:35 on a hilly, rooty, rocky, slippery, soggy, challenging, character and classic race course to celebrate the life of the Prairie Inn Harriers founding club member, Gunner Shaw.  The male winner was Shelby Drope, from Nanaimo, breaking the tape in 34:58.  There were 30 Harriers participating and 40 more volunteering at the popular fall event.  Several club members ran well with nine reaching the podium including six winning their age category, two placing second and one placing third.  Gold medalists were Lucy Smith, F50, 39:35, Shane Ruljancich, M40, 36:55, Jonah Brost, M19, 37:49, Patricia Roney, F30, 41:48, Gary Duncan, M60, 43:39, and Charlene Waldner, F40, 52:29.  Silver medalist Harriers included Louise Proulx, F50, 52:00, and Chris Hamilton, M60, 53:02, while 12-year-old Trevor Neil collected a bronze in the M19 category in 44:23.  The Harriers Foundation project this year was a new Sandy Auburn Environmental Studies Scholarship at Camosun College.  Over $6,000 was raised from last year's Gunner Shaw race proceeds and donations.  Today's event including donations is assured of contributing the remaining $4,000 to attain the goal of a $10,000 grant to Camosun College to initiate the new Environmental Studies scholarship.

November 19, 2017
Gary Duncan

Gary finished 11th overall today of 412 finishers at the Bear Mountain 10K.  His time was 43:13 to win the M60 division establishing a new age category course record.  The race was won by little known Julien Bahain in 38:24; he is an Olympic bronze medalist in rowing that doesn't race often but today he topped the field by beating second place finisher, Peterson Perrin, by 19 seconds.  Felipe Edora finished third in 39:53 while Harriers Magical Mile winner, Matthew Winkler, placed fourth in 40:47.  The first female was Elsabet Lapointe, she was 14th overall in 44:17.  There were very few Harriers registered for Bear Mountain, for besides Gary, only Peggy Sherwood, 377th, Eric Sherwood, 393rd, and Christine Thate, 401st, finished the race.  On the Bear Mountain website the event is billed as "Canada's Hardest 10K" however 248 finishers at the Gunner Shaw 10K Classic one week later would question that claim!

November 18, 2017
John Atkinson

John won his second Clover Point 5K Park Run today with a sprint to the finish line for a one second margin of victory and a new personal best time of 19:18.  Matthew Winkler placed second in 19:19 while the first female, Helen Bailey, finished fourth overall in 20:56.  There were 13 finishers today at the 15th Clover Point Park race.  John also won the October 21 - 11th Clover Point Park 5K in 20:59 which had 14 finishers.

November 12, 2017
Natasha Wodak

Natasha was the second female finishing 22nd overall of 5,552 finishers at the Monterey Bay Half Marathon in California today.  Her time was 1:13:19 which was 24 seconds behind the top female, Kenyan Monicah Ngige, who finished 21st overall in 1:12:55.  The male race champion was also from Kenya with Daniel Tapia leading the field in 1:03:36.  Other Vancouverites ran very well with Sarah Inglis finishing 25th, fifth female, in 1:13:34, and Rachel Cliff finishing 29th, sixth female, in 1:14:25.  A recap of the Race is here from the Athletics Illustrated website: Chris Kelsall article

November 11, 2017
Valerie Bell

Val had the distinction today of being the only four-time winner at the 21st Annual Harriers Thetis Lake 20K Relay with all of her achievements coming in the same race.  Her first victory was the top female master in the Solo Division by running all four 5K laps in 1:34:20 to place 6th overall in the Solo Division and 49th overall of the 93 teams.  Her second victory came by running the lead leg of the first place Veteran Mixed team, PIH Chasing Down the Runner Who is Running Down the Dream.  Her third victory was claiming the top prize for the Race Director's choice for the worst team name in the Thetis Lake Relay.  Her fourth and final victory was the $100.00 draw prize of a gift card at the Westin Bear Mountain Bella Restaurant by having her name pulled from the bowl of 60 Thetis Lake Adventure Series volunteers at the Harriers A.G.M the following week.  The first place team at the Relay was from Nanaimo and their name was Havefuntryhardmakenewfriends, yet another "bad" team name announced by the Race Director at the awards ceremony.  The Havefun team was captained by Shelby Drope who started the final 5K leg in third position but passed the second place Frontrunners team and the third place UVic Alumni team, KOMing in Hot, to claim the victory.  The top three team times were 1:03:04, 1:03:27 and 1:05:13.  There were 22 Harriers teams entered, all receiving a complimentary entry for being part of the host club, and an additional 25 volunteers were helping at the event.

November 4, 2017
Binder Kelsall

Binder won the major prize of a 30"x40" Roger Bannister and John Landy framed print in the first-ever sub 4-minute mile achieved at the 1954 Miracle Mile held in Vancouver as part of the British Empire Games, now the Commonwealth Games.  Binder was the top female overall at the of the second edition of the Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile on the Galloping Goose Regional Trail today with a winning time of 6:10.7.  The male race winner was Matthew Winkler in 4:37.5 who also received a Bannister/Landy framed print as the male race champion.  There were 22 finishers at the Magical Mile today including 16 club members.  Harriers age category winners were Shane Ruljancich, M40 in 4:51.7, Lief Baradoy, M30 in 5:12.2, Brent Scott, M60 in 5:35.6, Binder Kelsall, F40 in 6:10.7, Jeff Beddoes, M50 in 6:16.6, Ulla Hansen, F50 in 6:30.0, Magdalena Bazalova-Carter, F30 in 7:17.4, and Marcia Stromsmoe, F60 in 7:34.4.  The first edition 2013 Harriers Bob Reid Magical Mile race champions were Geoff Martinson in 4:14.4 and Brittany Therrien in 5:07.3.  The 2018 Magical Mile will be moved to a rugged trail race in Thetis Lake Park to align with the other Harriers Adventure Quad Trail Series races including the Thetis Lake Relay, Gunner Shaw Classic and Stewart Mountain Challenge.

November 4, 2017
Justine Stecko and Liam Dwyer

Justine was the top female Harrier and placed first overall in the senior girls race attracting 242 finishers and Liam was the top male Harrier by finishing 7th overall of 233 finishers in the senior boys race at the British Columbia High School Cross Country Championships held at Jericho Park in Vancouver today.  Justine, running in her school colours of Oak Bay Secondary, finished in 17:01 for 5K and Liam, from Mount Douglas Secondary, finished in 23:47 for 6K; he was 30 seconds behind race champion, Zach Wyatt, from R.E. Mountain, who won the race in 23:17.  Other Harriers running well were Kalum Delaney (Reynolds), 7th in 23:57, Cooper Langard (Parklands), 10th in 23:58, and Findlay Day (Oak Bay), 11th in 24:01.  There were a total of 998 finishers today in 4 races including senior girls, senior boys, junior girls, junior boys and para categories.

October 29, 2017
Chris Callendar, Patricia Roney and Will Boothman

The fifth and final race of the Mountain Equipment Coop Series wrapped up today at Beaver Lake Park with the MEC Grand Banana featuring over 900 registrations and 623 finishers including 197 in the 5K, 283 in the 10K and 143 in the half marathon.  Chris was the top Harrier, 9th overall in 18:55 in the 5K, Patricia, 10th overall and second female in 40:03 in the 10K, and Will, 7th overall in 1:29:18 to win the M50 division in the half marathon, were the top three Harriers at the event.  The race champions were Ty Fuoco, 16:21, and Annie Leblanc, 18:20, in the 5K, Cole Peterson, 32:46, and Mariah Kelly, second place overall in 37:47, in the 10K and Brent McMahon, 1:11:55, and Care Nelson, 1:25:27, in the half marathon.

October 28, 2017
Natasha Wodak and Justine Stecko

Natasha finished first overall and Justine was the top junior at the British Columbia Cross Country Championships in Abbottsford today.  The top three senior women were Natasha, 18:39, Sarah Inglis, 18:47, and Rachel Cliff, 18:53.  Lucas Bruchet won the senior men's race in 22:10 and Tyler Dozzi was the top Harrier in the junior men's race finishing 4th in 23:59.  Junior, senior and master men all ran together in the same race which was the largest field of finishers with 101.  The junior/senior/master women's race had 75 finishers and there were 8 other races in two-year intervals for boys and girls starting at age 9 to age 17.  Besides Natasha and Justine, three Harriers master men won their age categories with Kris Swanson topping the pseudo-master M35 division in 24:21, Craig Odermatt winning the M45 division in 23:15 and Gary Duncan finishing first in the M60 division in 30:39.

October 25, 2017
Justine Stecko and Findlay Day

Justine and Findlay, both of Oak Bay Secondary, won the senior girls and senior boys races at Beaver Lake today and were crowned as champions at the Vancouver Island High School Cross Country Championships at Beaver Lake Park.  The Harriers Youth Team placed 6 runners in the top 10 in the boy's race with Findlay Day, 1st in 21:47, Cooper Langard (Parklands), 2nd in 21:49, Kalum Delaney (Reynolds), 5th in 22:16, Michael Barber (Oak Bay), 6th in 22:25, Liam Dwyer (Mount Douglas), 8th in 22:37, and Jack Boden (Oak Bay), 9th in 22:51.  Harriers Youth Team girls had 4 of the top 10 finishers with Justtine Steco, 1st in 16:41, Bridget Mateyko (St. Andrews), 2nd in 17:19, Alisa Lyesina (Oak Bay), 9th in 17:53 and Bridget Cameron (Victor Brodeur), 10th in 17:53.  There were 81 finishers in the senior boys race, 125 in the junior boys, 98 in the senior girls and 91 in the junior girls for a total of 395 at the Vancouver Island XC Championships.

October 22, 2017
Gary Duncan

In his durable workmanlike fashion, Gary successfully completed four different events in two days, the first race was the BC Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Abbottsford where he won an M60 gold medal and the next three races were in Duncan (a Duncan in Duncan experience) on Sunday where he collected three more gold medals at the 3rd annual Cowichan Autumn Classic 10K, 5K and Combo Races hosted by CeeVacs Running Club.  In a unique format where the 5K runners started at 9:30 am and the 10K runners started at 10:30 am, competitors had the option of running one race or both races where their times added together to get a "Combo" ranking.  Gary placed 6th overall in the 5K in 20:45, 7th overall in the 10K in 43:18 and 4th overall in the Combo event in 1:04:03.  There were a total of 572 finishers including 204 in the 5K, 264 in the 10K and 104 in the Combo.  The race champions were Richard Light, 18:44, and Lydia Pedri, 22:09, in the 5K, Dusty Spiller, 36:07, and Kristen Lefler, 44:57, in the 10K and Richard Light, 58:25, and Stephanie Renwick, 1:12:45, in the Combo.  The event was sponsored by Zanatta Winery where competitors were offered free wine tastings after the race and winners were presented with Zanatta wine glasses.

October 21, 2017
Gary Duncan, Valerie Bell, Dan Stefanson and Tammy Miles

Gary and Val were the top Harriers running the long course and Dan and Tammy were the top Harriers running the short course at the Burgoyne Bay Gutbuster on Salt Spring Island today.  Gary placed 10th overall of 78 finishers in 2:00:12 to win the M60 age category while Val placed 43rd overall to win the F50 division in 2:24:50.  Dan placed 20th of 80 finishers in 1:23:33 to place second in the M50 age category and Tammy placed 65th in 2:10:02 and placed 12th of 20 in the F40 division.  The race winners were Nanaimo's Shelby Drope in 1:30:41 and Nanaimo's Melissa Ross in 1:50:54 for the long course and Trevor Coey, from Saanichton, 1:05:47, and Victoria's Alison Bishop, 1:14:47, for the short course.  Burgoyne Bay was the final event of the six-race series of the 2017 Vancouver Island Trail Runs.

October 15, 2017
Shannon Coutts, Ee-Fah Glynn and Garth Campbell

Shannon was the second female overall and top master F40 in 2:32:07, Aoibhe "Piggy" Glynn was first F30 and fourth female overall in 2:44:13, while Garth was the top male Harrier by finishing 16th overall, third M50, in 2:11:57 at the second annual CrossFondo 40K trail cycling challenge today.  They are COWS today (Cyclists Of the Week).  The Tripleshot long course 40K winners were Dave Vunic in 1:56:47 and Emily Johnson, 8th overall in 2:02:44 to top the F16 junior division.  The Doubleshot short course 20K winners were Alan Cassels, in 1:59:58, (yes, Dave Vunic covered twice the distance in a faster time!) and Brynn Johnston; she finished second overall in 2:09:13.  There were a total of 206 registrations and 188 finishers including 153 on the long 40K course and 35 on the 20K short course using the trails of Thetis Lake Park, Francis King Park, Hartland Park, Vancouver Island Technology Centre and private landowners including Goodwin Farm at the base of Stewart Mountain.  Other Harriers performing well on their cross bikes and mountain bikes on the 40K long course were Bertrand Bozek, 20th overall and 7th M40 in 2:16:10, Adam Lawrence, 28th overall and 10th M40 in 2:24:34, and Patricia Roney, 8th female overall and 3rd F30 in 2:51:17.  I hiked with Shannon and the dogs the night before the race and she told me, "I'm not racing tomorrow, I am only participating in the event."  I'd hate to think if she was racing as she might have been the race champion at the age of 49!  She was 7 minutes ahead of the third female, Emily Boyle, who finished in 2:39:05 and was the second F40 master.  I also chatted with Ee-Fah over a coffee yesterday following the Thetis Lake trail run, club photo around the Thetis Lake Park sign and the Harriers dog race.  She commented that she wasn't ready for the CrossFondo as she is involved in several other sports including running, soccer, cycling and others.  I replied, "You should add MORE sports to your daily routine, not less, as you are doing well in ALL of them!"  Results are here: Tripleshot Results

October 14, 2017
Maisie Proulx, Katie Hamilton and Bebe Reid

One-year-old sisters from Sooke, Maisey and Katie, were FL-COWS (Four-Legged Canines of the Week) today as they finished first and second in a strong field of 7 fast dogs at the coveted 10th annual Harriers Hounds 40 Metre Sand Sprint on the main beach of Thetis Lake Park.  Maisey won the race in 3.73 seconds and narrowly missed the course record of 3.44 seconds set by her Shawnigan Lake cousin, Abby Nylen, who blitzed the 40 metre sand course in 2015 to record the fastest time ever in the 10-year history of the race.  Katie was 1/10th of one second behind Maisie hitting the finish line in 4.82 seconds while Kali Simpson finished third in 5.27 seconds.  Bebe Reid was presented with the Ten-Year Gold Medal for Most Harriers Hounds Races (all 10) as she was 10 months old for the first race in 2008 and today she is 10 years and 10 months old for her tenth consecutive race in 2017.  She finished 6th today in 6.89 seconds.  Guiness Coutts won the Most Easily Distracted Award for the final finisher in 12.43 seconds.  The race was completely dominated by females capturing the top six positions overall before the lone male, Guniess, sauntered across the finish line.  Joseph Camilleri took some great pictures of the dog race and there's a good group shot of 29 2-legged Harriers gathered around the Thetis Lake Park sign before their trail run after the 4-legged Harriers canines had their run on the sand.  We are the only running club in Canada with a canine membership and our very own annual dog race!  Here's a link to Joseph's photos: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155811944435859&set=a.10155811959130859&type=3&theater.  A complete set of Official Race Results can be found here: Official 2017 Harriers Hounds Race Results

October 8, 2017
Geoff Martinson, Brittany Therrien and Lucy Smith

Our former Victorian Harriers couple now residing in Vancouver, Geoff and Brittany, both recorded personal best times while Lucy notched another Canadian F50 Record at today's GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon and 8K Road Race. Geoff led the field of 2,635 Half Marathon finishers to celebrate his victory with a new P.B. of 1:04:28 and Brittany was third female overall and placed 24th of 2,122 finishers with a P.B. of 28:28 and a silver medal in the F25 division in the 8K Road Race.  Fresh off her Canadian Record 28K Trail Race and new course record at the Finlayson Arm Ultras four weeks ago and her second place overall finish at the Seaside 10K in Sidney two weeks ago, Lucy set a new F50 Canadian Half Marathon Record of 1:19:53 today to win her age category by a staggering 16 minutes over Susan Bogle, of Whitehorse, who finished second in the F50 age category in 1:35:55.  The race champions of the 38th annual GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon were Kenyan Daniel Kipkoech, of Lethbridge, in 2:21:03 and Vancouver's Lissa Zimmer placing 14th overall of 1,072 finishers in 2:48:14.  Besides Geoff winning the Half Marathon in 1:04:28, Sarah Inglis, from Langley, topped the women's field placing 11th overall in 1:14:20 for a new personal best time.  The 8K winners were Burnaby's Justin Kent in 24:04 (P.B.) and Lindsay Carson, formerly of Whitehorse but now living in Burnaby, in 27:26 (P.B.) to claim her fourth consecutive GoodLife Fitness Victoria 8K victory.  If you have 22 minutes to spare for a great re-cap of the race, here's an excellent edition of "Game On" by Jeff King and Kevin Charach, of CHEK TV, interviewing the winners and other inspirational runners right at the finish line today:  https://www.cheknews.ca/game-october-8th-2017-374814/

October 8, 2017
Justine Stecko, Liam Dwyer, Craig Odermatt and Ian Searle

In the most popular race of the day where 37 Harriers were among the 2,122 finishers in the 8K Road Race, the PIH Youth Team recorded some remarkable performances where all seven young Harriers reached the podium.  Justine was the second female overall and first in the F16 division and ran step for step with the race champion, Lindsay Carson, for 7.5 kilometres before the 4-time winner inched away over the final 500 metres.  Their times were 27:26 (P.B.) and 27:38 (P.B.).  Liam was 10th overall and the top junior to win the M16 division in 26:54 (P.B.) and Craig finished 6th overall to claim the top master's position by placing first in the M45 division in 26:23.  Besides Justine, Liam and Craig winning their age categories, Shane Ruljancich, M40, 27:17, Findlay Day, M13, 27:34, Erin Burrett, F35, 29:22, Trevor Neil, M12, 29:48, Patricia Roney, F30, 30:52, Gary Duncan, M55, 31:51, Brian Connon, M70, 34:08, Sandra Mullen, F55, 36:41, and John Cliff, M75, 41:07, all won their age divisions.  Ian finished 10th overall of 1,072 Marathon finishers to claim the first Victorian honours in his marathon debut by recording a great time of 2:40:42.  There were 60 Harriers participants of the a total of 6,924 finishers today including 1,072 in the Marathon, 75 in the Marathon Relay, 2,635 in the Half Marathon, 2,122 in the 8K and 1,020 for the 1.2K Kids' Run.  Literally hundreds of club members volunteered at the event and 12 Harriers played key roles on the Organizing Committee with Cathy Noel, General Manager, Rob Reid, Race Director, Garth Reid, Start Line, Bob Reid, Lead Cyclists, Susan Norrington, Finish Line, Ulla Hansen, High Performance Athletes, Gary Duncan, Course certification and Marking, Rod McCrimmon, Awards Announcing, Mike Emerson, Course Set-up and Equipment, Paddy McCluskey, Medical Team, and Chris Kelsall, Photography, all helping to make the 38th edition outstanding on a very successful and sunny day!  The entire group of 15 Cycling Officials were also club members with the exclusion of TC10K reporter extraordinaire and honourary Harrier, Jack Knox, who kept us amused throughout the day with his somewhat-warped but brilliant sense of humour.  Jack's wife, Lucille Knox, ran a P.B. of 2:03:06 in the Half Marathon then she raced home to cook Jack a Thanksgiving turkey dinner! 

October 1, 2017
Louise Proulx and Chris Hamilton

Louise and Chris registered as the Prairie Inn Harriers Cycling Team at the Okanagan Intrepid, a three day riding event starting and finishing in Osoyoos, BC.  Participants rode between 120 and 170 kilometres each day.  The website describes the race as a timed event with 3 stages attracting 50 expert riders covering over 400 kilometres with an elevation gain of 7,000 metres.  There were solo riders and men's, women's and mixed teams of 2 riders per team and team members were required to ride together.  The race attracted 44 finishers including 33 on the full course and 11 more did a shorter, half course, ride each day.  On the first day, Louise and Chris finished 11th and 12th overall in 4:22:56, the second day they were 10th and 11th in 5:52:08 and the third day they achieved their best performances finishing 5th and 6th overall in 4:38:04.  Their total of 14 hours, 53 minutes and 8 seconds earned them the top mixed team with Louise finishing as the top female and top master on the final day and Chris finishing as the top master male.  The first solo rider was Michael Balt, from Squamish who recorded times of 4:13:57, 5:46:34 and 4:36:51 for a total time riding of 14:37:22.  As part of the entry fee, food and accommodations were provided at the Waterfront Beach Resort on Osoyoos Lake.

September 29 and 30, 2017
Lisa Cantwell, Walter Cantwell, Valerie Bell and Larry Nylen

Lisa, Walter, Valerie and Larry all had high achievements at the Ultras in Golden, BC today today, a trail distance event in the Kootenays described as "Three Days of Pure Mountain Bliss".  The first day featured a 3K hill climb with 600 metres of ascent and a 5K hill climb with 1,000 metres of ascent.  Day 2 included a 30K run with 660 metres of ascent and a 60K run with 2,500 metres of ascent and Day 3 was a 10.5K run with 220 metres of ascent and a 22K run with 900 metres of ascent.  Day 1 had 178 finishers in the 5K with Lisa finishing in 1:38:20 and 65 finishers in the 3K with Val finishing as first F50 in 47:47, Larry finishing as first M50 in 49:12 and Walter was third M40 in 49:30.  Day 2 attracted 189 finishers in the rugged 60K race with Lisa finishing in 11:17:16 while Walter was first M40 in the 30K in 2:50:54, Larry was first M50 in 3:19:28 and Val was first F50 in 3:30:08.  There were 102 finishers in the 30K won by Andrew Cassidy, of Edmonton, in 2:20:07.  Richard Reid, also from Edmonton, won the 60K in 5:46:10.

September 24, 2017
Lucy Smith, Meghan Stothers and Craig Odermatt

Lucy, F50, narrowly missed finishing first overall by 10 seconds while Meghan placed 12th overall; she was the third female and won the F40 division at the first annual Seaside 10K in Sidney today at two races dominated by excellent women's performances.  Craig, M40, won the accompanying 5K race in 16:29 with a comfortable margin of victory over Peterson Perrin, M20, who placed second and was over a minute and a half back in 17:53.  Heather Macdonald, F40, was third finisher, top female and top master in the 5K in 18:17.  SpeedFarm's Chris Beuley won the 10K race in 36:11, Lucy was second in 36:21, Chris Jones, M20, was third in 36:43 and Meghan, F40, finished in 40:22.  There were a total of 409 finishers at Sidney including 243 in the 10K and 162 in the 5K.  Here is a link to the complete story on Victoria Sports News: http://victoriasportsnews.com/women-dominate-inaugural-seaside-10k-5k/ 

September 24, 2017
Justine Stecko, Findlay Day and Jack Boden

Several members of our Harriers Youth Team traveled to Vancouver today to compete in the Vancouver Spirit Run featuring 13 different races in a variety of age categories and attracting a total of 389 finishers.  Justine, 2016 winner of the Stewart Fall Harriers Junior of the Year, finished first overall in the F16-17 race by topping the 4K field in 15:17.  Megan Roxby was second in 16:27 and Harriers' Alisa Lysina was sixth in 17:16.  Findlay, son of former Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner, Meghan Day, placed 6th in the M16-17 5K race, Jack was 7th and their times were 17:59 and 18:07.  Harriers' Joe Robertson, 18:40, and Michael Barber, 18:41 finished 12th and 13th while Zachary Wyatt, of Langley, won the 5K race in 17:12.  The Vancouver Spirit Run had separate races for Elementary, High School and University students as well as Junior, Senior and Master men's and women's races.  Full results are on the RaceDay Timing website.

September 24, 2017
Natasha Wodak

Natasha placed second overall in Ottawa today at Emilie's 5K Run of 109 finishers in a women's-only race in memory of Emilie Mondor; her time was 16:47.  The race winner was Julie-Anne Staehli, of Kingston, in 16:25.  Nadine Frost, from Ottawa, won the accompanying 5K Ottawa Run in 18:43.  Started in 2005 by running coach and RunnersWeb.com founder Ken Parker, the event aims to provide an opportunity for competitive women to lead a race, set the pace, and be the overall race winners, as well as encourage new runners to come out and experience the race day environment for the first time.  Since its inception, the race has been draw for Canada and the world’s elite female runners, like New Zealand’s Mary Davies and Kenya’s Lucy Njeri Macharia. Canadian Rachel Hannah is the reigning two-time champion, and also set the course record of 15:57 in 2014.  The run was named in memory of Émilie Mondor, the first Canadian woman to run sub-15:00 in the 5K and a member of Team Canada at the 2004 Olympics.  Originally from Mascouche, Quebec, Émilie was living in Ottawa to train for the marathon when she died in a car accident in the fall of 2006.

September 17, 2017
Lyndon Clazie, Dawn Wilson, Bill Boothman and Shane Ruljancich

Lyndon (Dawn's son), Dawn, Bill and Shane all had excellent performances at MEC Race #4 - 5K, 10K and 15K courses at Sooke Potholes today.  Lyndon, 16, won the M16-19 junior division and finished second overall while mom, Dawn, won the F55 master's division and finished 19th overall of 99 finishers in the 5K race.  Their times were 18:06 and 24:49.  Bill was the top Harrier of the day in winning the longest 15K race nixing second place finisher, Craig Nix, by 22 seconds with times of 1:01:15 and 1:01:37.  Shane staged a fierce battle with perennial MEC champion, outstanding triathlete and MEC employee/event organizer, Andrew McCartney, as Andrew hit the tape in 35:04 in the 10K race while Shane was second overall, 36 seconds back to claim top master's honours in 35:40.  The race champions of the 5K were Matthew Winkler, 16:54, and Shannon Colman, 21:04, 10K winners were Andrew McCartney, 35:04, and Allison Fryer, 42:14, and 15K champions were Bill Boothman, 1:01:15, and Steph Romany-Phipps, 1:09:43.  There were 99 finishers in the 5K , 101 in the 10K and 68 in the 15K for a total of 268 finishers at Sooke Potholes today.  The 5-race MEC Series wraps up at Beaver Lake on October 29.

September 17, 2017
Geoff Martinson and Natasha Wodak

Sarah Inglis upset Rio Olympians and London 2017 World Championships competitors to win the Under Armour Eastside 10K this morning.  The sold-out event, held in Vancouver, had a stacked women’s field including Olympians Natasha Wodak and Lanni Marchant as well as 2017 IAAF World Championships competitor Rachel Cliff. The Canada Running Series event featured 2,796 participants and was also the BC Championship Road Race as part of BC Athletics Super Series.  The final BCSS race is the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon on October 8.  Inglis, a Scottish runner who attended Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, beat defending champion Leslie Sexton, who is preparing for the 2017 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, by 15 seconds clocking 33:45, a personal best. Natasha, the Canadian 10,000m record holder, was third in 34:32 followed by Lanni Marchant and Rachel Cliff. Inglis was the Canadian university cross-country champion in 2015. "I am really happy to win the race with a personal best today," Inglis says. "It was a great field of women this year with Natasha, Rachel and Leslie and I felt strong on the hills and great during the race. I’ve been training really well and I am looking forward to the Victoria Half Marathon in a couple of weeks. Harriers Most Valuable Runner for 2016, Geoff Martinson, won the men’s race in a rather-tactical 30:00 bettering Justin Kent and Kevin Coffey in a BC Endurance Project sweep. All three, as does Cliff, train with the high-performance training group based in the Metro Vancouver area and are coached by former-Harrier Richard Lee. Kent and Coffey ran 30:17 and 30:38, respectively as Martinson regains his Eastside 10K title from 2015.  Geoff and Natasha not only won the BC 10K Road Race Championship at Eastside, they also took over the top spot in the 12-race BC Super Series.  Full story from Canadian Running including photos is here: https://runningmagazine.ca/2017-under-armour-eastside-10k-recap/

September 16, 2017
Kris Swanson

Kris, our Harriers representative and Team Canada team member at multiple World Championship mountain races, placed fourth place overall recording a time of 29:38 at the Grouse Grind today, a 2.9K (1.8 Mile) Climb featuring 2,800 feet in elevation gain, 2,830 boulder and wooden steps, a 56 degree slope and a 3,700 foot summit of Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver.  The race champions were Geoff Kabush, mountain biker extraordinaire from Squamish in 28:06, and Robyn Mildren, of Vancouver; she placed 21st overall of 343 finishers in 34:35.  The Grouse Grind course records are 25:01 for men and 31:04 for women.

September 10, 2017
Jericho O'Connell, Chrissa Tromp, Gary Duncan and Dee Ogden

Jericho, M20, and Chrissa, F16, were the top Harriers and both were age group gold medalists at the Metchosin Days 5K today attracting 101 finishers.  Jericho won the race in 16:34 and Chrissa placed 9th overall and was the first female in 20:05.  Gary placed 7th to win the M60 division in 19:41 and Dee placed 38th to win the F50 age division in 25:15.  The 24rd Annual Metchosin Days 5K is a locally organized run/walk supporting the Metchosin Community House.  It is a run for fun and a community-oriented, fitness event. The course uses country roads as well as the Galloping Goose Regional Trail and includes the big Lombard Road Hill. Keeping with the theme of being a local rural fun run, age category winners were awarded fresh Metchosin produce for their efforts. The event has seen a record number of local participants over the past three years.

September 10, 2017
Lucy Smith, Andrew Pape-Salmon and Andrew Barclay

Lucy and Andrew P-S. had outstanding performances at the 28K Finlayson Arm Trail Race today while Andrew B. completed the 100K Finlayson Arm Trail Race on Friday and topped it off by finishing the 28K event on Sunday!  Lucy, at 50 years old, finished 4th overall of 140 finishers in the 28K rugged course over Mount Finlayson and Jocelyn Peak with a time of 3:05:25 to smash 26-year-old Kaylee Beales's course record of 3:27:40, set in 2016, by  over 22 minutes.  Lucy was the first female, top master and won the F50 age category.  Andrew P-S was the top master and finished 6th overall in 3:14:25.  Andrew B. finished the 100K in 13th place in 21 hours, 16 minutes and 17 seconds and finished the 28K in 66th place in 4 hours, 35 minutes and 30 seconds.  The race champions were Jesse Booi, of North Vancouver, finishing in 16:06:53 in the 100K, Michael McMillan, also of North Vancouver, winning in 5:53:02 in the 50K and Nanaimo's Yann Bernaquez, running 2:45:12 to take the victory in the 28K.  There were a total of 282 finishers at the Finlayson Arm Ultras with 27 in the 100K , 115 in the 50K and 140 in the 28K.

September 6, 2017
Ken Bonner

Ken, a lifetime member of the Prairie Inn Harriers with 36 years as a club member, extraordinary marathoner, triathlete and randonneur cyclist was the subject of a feature article about his running and cycling accomplishments in the Black Press today including a photo of his 10th completion of 36 consecutive Royal Victoria Marathons.  Ken has run over 170 races starting in 1960 at the once-and-only All-Sooke Days Marathon featuring seven participants running from Victoria City Hall right down the middle of Douglas Street in rush hour, out the Trans Canada Highway before forking off on the Old Island Highway to Sooke Road and finishing the race in the tiny community of Sooke in time to watch the Logger's Wood-Splitting and Pole-Climbing Sports at All-Sooke Days.  Thank god there was NO Colwood Crawl in the '60s as the roads were both traffic-free and runner-friendly.  The race boasted one aid station with sliced oranges located at Colwood Corners.  Ken's cycling accomplishments are even more astonishing where he has completed numerous 1,200 kilometre ans 600 kilometre rides covering several days sitting on a bike seat.  He once told me that he had mastered the art of sleeping with his feet on the ground and his head on the handlebars for 5 minute intervals during these grueling, multi-day, randonneur rides.  Ken's entertaining profile can be read here http://www.vicnews.com/sports/goodlife-fitness-victoria-marathon-oak-bay-based-runner-and-cyclist-has-been-a-stalwart-at-race/

September 2, 2017
Chris Callendar, Michael Angrove, Joseph Camilleri, Amy Perry, Maddie Perry and Wendy Davies

Chris, Michael, Amy, Maddie and Wendy have all emerged as race champions after the first four 5K ParkRuns have been completed starting and finishing at Clover Point and organized by Harriers' club member Michael Angrove.  They are free 5K events held around the world on Saturday mornings.  You only register once and you are issued a barcode for timing which you bring to each race.  The first time trial 5K run was held on August 12 and attracted 47 finishers including 5 Harriers.  The race winners were Chris Callendar, 18:12, and Amy Perry, 23:26.  ParkRun 2 was on August 19 with 26 finishers including 2 Harriers and the race winners were Matthew Winkler, 17:07, and Lauren Wilson, 19:12.  ParkRun 3 was August 26 with 28 finishers, 6 Harriers and the winners were Michael Angrove, 17:48, and Wendy Davies, 24:00.  The fourth ParkRun was today, September 2, and attracted 35 finishers and 2 Harriers.  The race winners were Ander Gat, 19:06, and Maddie Perry, 21:16.  Joseph Camilleri continued his dominance in the M65 age category by collecting his third consecutive gold medal to go with his M65 victories at the Vancouver Marathon in May and the Navy 10K Run, 43:19, held in June.  Vancouver was his marathon debut and he nailed it with a time of 3:34:52 to qualify for Boston next April.  Today he placed second overall of the 35 finishers with another P.B. of 20:28.

August 23, 2017
Melanie McQuaid

An up-and-coming youngster and a seasoned veteran, both Victorians, came away with two world championship titles in Penticton today with Matt Sharpe, 26, winning the Aquathon and Melanie McQuaid, 44, winning the Cross Triathlon at the Multisport International Triathlon Union World Championships.  An Aquathon is swimming and running, a Duathlon is cycling and running while a Cross Triathlon is swimming, trail running and mountain biking.  Matt finished first in a one kilometre swim and five kilometre run while fellow Canadian Aidan Longcroft-Harris placed second.  Melanie topped the field in the 1.5K swim, 30K mountain bike ride and 10K trail run.  Jacquel1ne Slack, of Great Britain, was second and Switzerland's Ladina Buss placed third.  Francisco Serrano of Mexico won the men's world championship Cross Triathlon.  Melanie has now won five off-road triathlon World Championship titles including three full distance X-Terra Triathlon championships in Hawaii in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and two ITU Cross Triathlon championships including today's victory in Penticton and her victory in Kelowna in 2011.

August 20, 2017
Claire Morgan, Doug Doyle, Lori Chestnut and Barry Lycett

Claire was the second female and top master in the 140K Epic Division of the 7th annual Tour de Victoria today by placing 41st overall with a time of 4:06:36 while Doug was third of 48 in the M55 age category and 49th overall of 499 finishers in the longest race of the day.  His time was 4:10:02.  Lori Chestnut, better known as 3-time Hawaii Ironman Champion Lori Bowden, was third of 16 in the F50 age category while riding with her husband, James Chestnut, in the 45K Challenge Division from Sidney to downtown Victoria.  They placed 81st and 82nd overall of 225 finishers and were both timed at 1:56:31.  Barry was second in the M75 age category with a remarkable time of 3:51:00; he was 95th of 300 finishers in the 90K Legend Division while former PIH President, Mike Boisonneault, was 8th in the M60 age category in 3:16:53.  The 3-Division race featured a total of 1,024 finishers with 499 in the 140K Epic, 300 in the 90K Legend and 225 in the Challenge.  The 140K race champions were Nathan Brown, 3:50:47, and Megan Rathwell, 3:59:11, the 90K champions were Daniel Cure-Boulay, 2:49:30, and Kristin Campbell, 3:02:39, and the 45K champions were Harley Preston, 1:24:30, and former Harrier Hillerie Denning, 1:29:11.

August 12, 2017
Finn Battersby and Patricia Roney

Finn, 5th overall of 71 finishers in 1:25:20 and winning the M16 age category, and Patricia, 10th overall in 1:33:13, was the first female and won the F30 age category.  They were both the top Harriers at the Mount Washington 14K Ascent Gutbuster today, Race #5 of the 6-Race Vancouver Island Trail Running Series concluding in October on Salt Spring Island.  The male winner of the long course was Shelby Drope, in 1:13:20, while the male and female winners of the short course featuring 80 finishers were Trevor Coey, in 47:50, and Brittany Brooks, 4th overall in 56:59.  The combined total of 151 finishers today was very close to the course record of 154 finishers set last year.  The highest-ever number of finishers for any VITRS race is 271 which was established this year in Duncan at the Mount Tzouhalem Gutbuster.  Events run every month starting with Cobble Hill in April, Mount Tzouhalen in May, Royal Roads in June, Ladysmith in July, Mount Washington in August and Burgoyne Bay, Salt Spring Island in October.

August 12, 2017
Kris Swanson

Perennial Canadian Team mountain-runner, Kris, once again won the Emperor’s Challenge Mountain Run today, a 20K event that leads over the summit of Mt Babcock south of Tumbler Ridge. His time was 1:29:24 and this was the 19^th Emperor’s Challenge. Kris has won 18 of these races, the only exception being in 2007 when he was just nipped by three-time Royal Victoria Marathon winner and Harriers team mate, Steve Osaduik.  Both Harriers were on the course again 2009 where Kris won in an epic battle.  There is no comparable feat in Canadian running or athletics history of an athlete winning a single event so many times.  In the global annals of mountain-running, Kris’s awe-inspiring achievement is very unique.  Maurice Wilson, BC Athletics Technical Manager for Road and Cross Country Running, commented, “The Emperor’s Challenge has repeatedly demonstrated itself to be the most popular off-road event of its type in BC, a testament to the quality of the organization.  Kris’s accomplishment is unheralded in Canadian running, demonstrating his endurance, strength and persistence.”  The 2017 event was held in warm, somewhat smoky conditions, with little wind and there were a total of 1,082 entries with 713 finishers.  Julianne Kucheran, of Fort St. John, won women’s event in a time of 2:01:28.  The Emperor’s Challenge is one of the largest events of its kind in Canada. The field for the adult race is capped at 1000; registration opens 4 months before the race day, and in 2017 it filled up in just 15 hours.  You can read the complete story from the BC Athletics website here:  http://www.bcathletics.org/News/swanson-makes-it-18-19-in-the-emperors-challenge/2649/

August 12, 2017
Natasha Wodak

After finishing the 10,000 metre race with a season best of 31:55 while representing Team Canada at the IAAF World Championships in London, England, one week later Natasha jumped into the Rock 'n Roll 5K race while holidaying in Dublin, Ireland, and narrowly missed a gold medal by two tenths of a second in a photo finish.  The top two females placed 7th and 8th overall out of an incredible 2,296 finishers and both were timed at 17:43.  Lindsay Tessier was named the race champion and her time was listed as 17:43.5 while Natasha claimed second place after the photo review in 17:43.7.  The male race champion was Michael Harty in 15:17.  The Affidea R'nR 5K was held today and the Affidea Rock n' Roll Half Marathon will be run tomorrow.  Both events are two of the most popular summer races in Ireland.

August 7, 2017
Erin Burrett, Craig Odermatt and Dee Ogden

Only three Harriers made the trip north to Comox today to compete in the Nautical Days 4 Miler and all three of them came away with medals.  Erin was the top female, 8th overall in 23:39 to win the F30 division.  Craig captured gold in the M40 division by finishing 11 seconds ahead of his Campbell River rival, Mark Cryderman, who was third overall in 21:16.  Dee took bronze in the F50 division won by Campbell River's Shelagh Germyn; Shelagh was 44th overall in 30:37.  Craig placed 2nd OA in 21:05 while Dee was 59th OA of 103 finishers in 33:01.  The race champions were Derek Vinge, of Courtenay, in 20:59, and Erin Burrett, from Nanaimo, in 23:39.  The loop course started at the Comox Town Hall on Beaufort Avenue and finished in front of the Lorne Hotel on Comox Avenue.  The Comox Nautical Days 4 Mile Foot Race celebrated its 48th anniversary today making it the longest continuous race of any distance in British Columbia.  Ya gotta love those "old school" imperial distance events.  I ran three of my very best performances at the Chemainus Twilight Shuffle 4 Miler, the Vancouver Lions Gate Grand Marnier 10 Miler and the Royal Victoria Marathon 26.2 Miler.  There's just something more rewarding and satisfying about training and racing in miles rather than the "modern day runner" charting and logging everything in kilometres and millimetres.

August 5, 2017
Natasha Wodak

Natasha finished the 10,000 metre race in 31:55 today recording a seasonal best at the IAAF World Championships in London, England.  She placed 16th of 31 finishers and was the top Canadian.  Her team mate from Vancouver, Rachel Cliff, ran a personal best time of 32:00 to place 20th.  The gold and silver medalists were both Ethiopians with Almaz Ayana running a world best of 30:16 and Tirunesh Dibaba running a seasonal best of 31:02.  The bronze medal went to Kenyan Agnes Jebet Tirup in 31:03.  There were 33 starters and 31 finishers representing 19 different countries in the 10,000 metre final event.

August 1, 2017
Michael Lax, Sara Lax, Louise Wilkin, Kirsten Ramsay and Chris Wille

Five Harriers led by Michael, with his daughter Sara and niece Louise and accompanied by friends Kirsten and Chris, completed a rugged 170 kilometre extreme wilderness mountain run in July through France, Italy and Switzerland as they conquered the magnificent Mont Blanc.  At 4,810 metres, or nearly 16,000 feet, Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in western Europe. Mont Blanc is more than a single peak: it’s a 25-km long wall of rock, ice and snow known as the ‘Mont Blanc massif’, encompassing some 400 summits and over 40 glaciers.  The “Tour du Mont Blanc” (TMB) is the most popular long distance trekking trail in Europe, with about 10,000 hikers every summer. The trail circumnavigates the Mont Blanc massif, as well as several adjacent mountains, in a large loop through France, Italy and Switzerland. Trekkers usually allow 10-14 days to complete the ‘classic’ TMB route of 170 km. Multiple ‘alternate’ routes are possible, often traversing remote high mountain passes and ridges.  The Harriers fivesome completed the run in six days. Here is Michael's story of the adventure including 14 beautiful photos  Michael's Mont Blanc Story along with a fact sheet  Mont Blanc Fact Sheet and a check list  Mont Blanc Check List .  After the first day his comment was, "Exhausted but content, with eyes full of wonder, this was life as it should be lived..." and after the final day he summed up the experience as, "I'd be back in a heartbeat!"  My favourite picture is the switchback trail one simply titled - "Oh Shit"

July 23, 2017
Will Boothman, Pat Bryant, Jordan Cheung and Magdalena Carter

Will finished second in the M50 age category in 1:15:25, Pat was third M50 in 1:15:45 and Jordan was fifth M20 in 1:17:51.  The Harriers trio placed 11th, 12th and 15th overall of 128 finishers at the MEC Victoria Triathlon today at the Panorama Leisure Centre and using the roads of North and Central Saanich for the bike and run portions of the event.  Magdalena was eighth F30 in 1:33:58 and finished 71st overall.  The race champions were Alex Walker breaking the tape in 1:02:04 and Alia Zawacki; she was first F30 and 13th overall in 1:16:03.

July 22, 2017
Justine Stecko and Andrew Pape-Salmon

In her first and longest race of this nature, Justine, a member of the Harriers Youth Team, completely annihilated the women's field at the Ladysmith Gutbuster long course today, Race #4 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  Justine was the top female of 55 women finishers, she was the top junior, the top Harrier overall leading all the male Harriers in the race and finished a staggering 10 minutes ahead of the second female, Julia Tschanz, and almost 20 minutes clear of the third place female, Emily Solsberg.  Julia was the race champion at this year's Gutbuster held at Royal Roads and Emily has also finished first in a previous Gutbuster race.  At 17 years old, Justine became the youngest person, male or female, ever to win a Gutbuster event.  The top three women's times were 1:19:22, 1:29:44 and 1:38:00 while the top three men, Shelby Drope, Travis Pirozzini, both from Nanaimo, and Duncan's James Richardson finished in 1:08:31, 1:11:19 and 1:12:57.  Andrew, 1:20:59, was one position behind Justine and he was the top master and top male Harrier; they were 6th and 7th overall of 118 long course finishers including 55 women and 63 men.  Besides Justine, F16, and Andrew, M40, Finn Battersby, M16, Gary Duncan, M60, and Valerie Bell, F50, also collected gold medals in their age divisions.  The Ladysmith short course featured 81 finishers and the race champions were Peterson Perrin, 41:08, and Alison Bishop, 4th OA in 46:43.  Wendy Davies was the top Harrier in the short course; she was 2nd of 13 in the F50 category in 59:34.

July 17, 2017
Lucy Smith

Canadian Masters Athletic Association announced today that Lucy was one of two athletes that have been selected from a large number of excellent performances to nationally share the Athlete of the Month honours.  Lucy broke the Canadian W50 5000m record in Victoria on June 14 at the Christie Phoenix Victoria Track Series with a time of 17:39.66. One week later, she broke it again with a time of 17:32.97 while pacing another team mate in the 5000m. This was a fantastic race achieving a 95% age-graded performance.  The link to the CMAA article is http://canadianmasters.ca/cmaa-news/canadian-masters-athlete-of-the-month-june-6/.

July 14, 2017
Natasha Wodak and Craig Odermatt

Natasha was the first female and finished 10th overall today in 32:52 at the 29th annual Summerfast 10K on the Seawall in Stanley Park, a race hosted by the Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club under the leadership of coach John Hill.  She was more than 2 minutes clear of the second female, Robyn Mildren, who finished 18th OA in 34:52 while Christy Lovig, from Kelowna, was the top master and third female in 35:04.  The male race champion was Benard Ngeno breaking the tape in 31:16 finishing first ahead of a record high of 419 finishers.  Second place went to Brendan Wong in 31:39 and Bilal Shamsi took third in 31:57.  Craig topped the M45 age category by finishing 12th overall in 33:28.  The Summerfast 10K is Race #10 of 12 BC Super Series events commencing with the Harriers Pioneer 8K on January 8 and concluding with the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon on October 8.  The BCSS is a collaboration between BC Athletics and 12 of BC's best road races, which bring the best athletes in BC together in competition, and encourage participation from all abilities. Runners must complete four or more races to qualify for prizes.  The 12 races have been selected based on the quality of the events and the competitiveness of their fields. They include BC Championship races at 5K, 8K, 10K, Half and Full Marathon distances.

July 9, 2017
Bertrand Bozek and Jordan Cheung

Bertrand, 49, was the top master and finished second overall of 25 finishers in 1:32:36 at the 2017 XTerra Triathlon Short Course held at Durrance Lake and used the mountain bike trails of Hartland and Partridge Hills.  The Short Course race winner was Graham Frost in 1:27:46 and the first female was Katherine Barry; she placed 7th OA in 1:55:10.  The Long Course race champions were Madsen Karsten, 2:08:36, and Suzie Snyder in 2:29:35.  There were 108 XTerra Long Course finishers.  On the same day Jordan, a member of the Harriers Youth Team, won his age category and finished 9th overall at the Langford Sprint Triathlon.  The Langford Triathlon attracted 152 finishers in Sprint, Olympic and Duathlon races.  Other Harriers placed well including Fiona Peters, 1st F45, Brent Chan, 2nd M45, and Sandra Mullen, 2nd F55.

July 8, 2017
Liam Stanley, Michael Barber and Tyler Dozzi

Three members of the Harriers Youth team, coached by Bruce Deacon, won medals in Ottawa today at the National Youth Championships for Paralympic athletes and potential Olympic athletes.  Liam boasted a gold medal in para-ambulatory 800m race and claimed a silver in the 1,500m event.  Michael won a silver medal in the para-ambulatory 800m race and Tyler also took a silver in the junior men's 5,000 metres.  There is a good article by Cleve Dheensaw in the Sunday, July 9th edition of the Times Colonist focusing on the new track being built at UVic and acknowledging performances by the Harriers Youth Team at the Ottawa national championships.

July 7, 2017
Shannon Coutts

Shannon placed 8th out of 22 Solo Master Women in the 7-day BC Mountain Bike Race which started today in Cumberland and concluded on July 13 in Whistler.  She finished 374th overall of the 532 male and 90 female athletes.  The 622 riders from 27 countries completed the strenuous event where competitors averaged 50 kilometres per day with races in Cumberland, Powell River, Sechelt, Langdale, North Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler.  The race was won by Courtenay's Geoff Kabush who finished first overall in 5 of the 7 consecutive days and placed second overall in the other 2 days.  The female race champion was Katrina Nash, from the Czech Republic; she placed 19th overall and also finished first in 5 of the 7 days and finished second the remaining 2 days.

June 25, 2017
Wendy Davies, Dawn Wilson, Leigh Sunderland and Gary Duncan

The MEC Tape Breaker was held at Royal Roads today and established a record number of 446 finishers including 149 in the 5K, 199 in the 10K and 98 in the Half Marathon, all run on hilly, challenging road and trail race courses.  Wendy, Dawn and Leigh staged a fierce competition in the F55 division by finishing 1-2-3 and 16th, 17th and 20th overall in the 5K Tape Breaker with Wendy capturing gold in 25:35, Dawn taking silver in 24:41 and Leigh settling for a bronze in 25:58.  Grace Boothman also won her F16 age category by finishing 27th of 149 finishers in the 5K in 27:05.  Gary was the top Harrier and won the M55 division in the 10K Tape Breaker by finishing 5th overall of 199 finishers in the most popular 10K distance with a time of 41:30.  Will Boothman, M50, and Rob Grant, M60, also won their age categories in the 10K.  Stefan Lehmann was the top Harrier in the Half Marathon finishing 33rd in 1:52:34.  The six race champions included Matthew Winkler, 17:50, and Elodie Chantel, 21:21, in the 5K, Matt Walsh, 39:11, and Brianna Brandon, 41:46, in the 10K and Andrew McCartney, 1:20:38, and Elise Moore, 1:38:08, in the Half Marathon.

June 25, 2017
Nolan Bentham, Camie Bentham, Dan Stefanson and Bridget Cameron

Harriers Juniors and Harriers Masters put on a clinic on how to win tonight at the 33rd annual Twilight Shuffle held at the University of Victoria on a flat and fast course around Ring Road.  A tall, 14-year-old successful hockey player who has done very little running and is the son of Camie Bentham accompanied his mom to the event and, at the last minute, he decided to toe the line with her.  Nolan Bentham shocked the entire field by sprinting away from last year's race champion and Harriers team mate, Dan Stefanson, to steal the overall victory by 10 seconds.  Their times were 19:36 and 19:46.  Dan, 49, claimed the master men's title while Camie, 46, was the top female master in 21:42 and placed 9th overall of 44 finishers.  Bridget finished 6th overall to capture the junior women's crown in 20:53.  For the first 23 years from 1985 to 2007 the Twilight Shuffle was a 4 Mile Race staged in Chemainus before shifting to the 5 Kilometre distance in 2008.  It has remained at 5K for the past 10 years and in 2015 the venue shifted from Chemainus to Victoria and has been held here for the past 3 years.  In a unique situation tonight, several "firsts" were established even though the field of finishers was the smallest in the 33 year history of the event.  Including the 44 finishers and 2 race volunteers, there were five present and past race champions in attendance.  Race Director, Phil Nicholls, won the first-ever Shuffle in 1985, Bob Reid, Finish Line Manager, was the first master to win the overall title in 1987, Nolan Bentham became the first junior race champion and was the youngest winner ever, Dan Stefanson, last year's champion, was the oldest master ever to break the tape in 2016 and was the first person to finish first and second in two consecutive years and Camie Bentham was the first master to win the race when it shifted to Victoria in 2015.  It was also the first time that a mother and son topped their age categories in the same race and the first time that the ladies outnumbered the men in the race with 32 female finishers compared to 12 male finishers.  The top three men and women tonight all received an attractive gift pack provided by 2:18 Run located in the Fairfield Plaza.

June 24, 2017
Patricia Roney

Patricia was the top Harrier and second female at the grueling 13th annual Kusam Klimb today by finishing 15th overall of the 513 finishers that struggled through a mountainous race course mainly covered with snow.  The event is a 13.8 mile extreme mountain run near Sayward, a race that climbs 5,000 feet and is billed, "Are You Tough Enough?". The race winner was Nanaimo's Travis Pirozzini in 2:28:45 followed by Brady Dunne, from Vancouver, in 2:29:26, and Nanaimo's Yann Bernaquez took third in 2:30:54.  The female race champion was 25 year old Darbykai Standrick, from Vancouver, she was 7th OA in 2:43:55, Patricia was second in 3:02:18 and Sandra Jensen, of Campbell River, was the third female and top master finishing 16th in 3:02:48.  The 513 finishers today was 16 short of the record turnout of 529 set in 2015.

June 18, 2017
Gary Duncan, Paul Siluch, Pat Bryant and Jeff Beddoes

Gary, 41:11, Paul, 42:34, Pat, 44:10, and Jeff, 45:02, coincidentally all running in the M50 age category, were the only Harriers in the race and finished 1-2-3-4 overall of 48 finishers at the Father's Day 10K held on the trails behind PISE and the Interurban campus of Camosun College.  The next four positions were all females finishing 5-6-7-8 overall including Karlie Leclaire, F20, 46:39, Alia Zawacki, F30, 46:46, Lana Spiers, F50, 47:07, and Megan Douglas, F20, 49:11.  The accompanying 5K race was more popular with 135 finishers and the race champions were Emily Goldstone, F20, first overall in 24:09, and Noah Weaver, M20, second overall in 26:23.  The event is sponsored by Paul Siluch's investment firm, Raymond James, and proceeds go towards Prostate Cancer research.

June 18, 2017
Mike Angrove, Walter Catwell, Dee Ogden and Joseph Camilleri

Also on Father's Day, the Navy Run in Esquimalt attracted 234 finishers in the 5K race and another 225 finishers in the 10K race.  Mike was the race champion of the 5K in 17:46 and Walter was the top master by finishing third overall in 19:03.  Dee won the F50 division in 24:30.  The 10K race was a Nick-Nick show with Nick Walker winning in 33:52 and Nick Lightbody finishing second in 34:32.  The female 10K champion, Mary McGregor, finished third overall in 37:03; she was more than 4 minutes ahead of the second female, Camille Hamm, from Thunder Bay, who finished 20th in 41:19.  Joseph continued his dominance in the M65 age category by taking another gold medal, he was 33rd overall in 43:19 and placed 28th of 126 men in the 10K race.  The top Harriers in the 10K were Mark Ritchie, 8th in 38:51, and Kirsten Arensen, 25th in 42:11.

June 18, 2017
Sara Pape-Salmon

In today's Times Colonist, Sara was pictured with her mother and she was recognized for her long-standing commitment to treating people with mental illness.  Sara received UVic's Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award.  It's not often that this ROTW forum recognizes a club member for an outstanding performance while on the job, but Sara has certainly earned "Worker of the Week" honours for her efforts.  She is a member of the Assertive Community Treatment Teams and works with patients afflicted with some of the most severe mental illnesses and addiction issues.  Sara also works with students, especially those in nursing or other branches of medicine, offering assistance during practical experience sessions.  The University of Victoria presented the award recognizing her as a teacher and as a roll model at the annual UVic Nursing Awards Ceremony on June 7.

June 17, 2017
Natasha Wodak

Canadian Olympian Natasha Wodak, 33:52, and Kenyan-born Torontonian Daniel Wendimu, 30:26, won today’s Toronto Waterfront 10K, presented by lululemon athletica, in exciting races up front. Councillor Norm Kelly sent off a sold-out crowd of 7,100 from the 7:30 a.m. start on University Avenue next to City Hall under bright, sunny skies. The start temperature was a reasonable 21 degrees for June, with only a light breeze of 10k/hr from the east and humidity at 73%. The participants were drawn from 11 Canadian provinces and territories, 17 American states and 9 countries.  The men went through the first, downhill kilometre in 2:48 as Toronto Olympic Club’s Abrehem Wagaye moved to the front to push the pace ahead of a pack that included Wendimu, Canadian Olympians Eric Gillis and Reid Coolsaet, and Toronto’s Sami Jibril who ran so well as the top Canadian at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in March. Wagaye steadily stretched his lead, to almost 100m at one point, passing 5k in 14:53. But gradually, as the sun and temperature rose, he began to fade and the chasers closed in to set up an exciting finish.  Harriers' Natasha led the women’s race from start to finish to build a commanding lead in the current Canada Running Series standings after her victory at the Race Roster Spring Run Off 8K in April in High Park. London, Ontario’s Leslie Sexton and Olympian Krista DuChene of Brantford tucked in behind for the first two kilometres before Canada’s 10,000m record holder dropped the hammer in a quick third kilometre. She then cruised along Toronto’s scenic waterfront, perhaps losing a little concentration mid-race. “At 8km I wrote off the course record  of 33:50,” said Natasha. “Then with about 50 metres to go I saw the clock and sprinted as hard as I could.” She crossed the line in 33:52, to take home $2,800 first-prize, but missed the $500 record bonus by a scant 2 seconds!  Leslie Sexton, 34:49, who was also thrilled to be back racing after a lengthy injury-layoff, hung on for second place with Dehininet Jara a close third in 34:51.  Natasha has been selected to Team Canada to run the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in London, England between August 4 and August 13.  Here is her profile from the Athletics Canada website listing PIH as her club  http://athletics.ca/national-team/our-team/418178/#sthash.HD6Hw11k.dpbs

June 11, 2017
Geoff Martinson and Natasha Wodak

Geoff ran a huge personal best 10,000 metre race tonight in Event No. 45 of the Portland Track Festival featuring the very best elite runners in North America.  He lowered is 10,000m P.B. time from 30:12 to an amazing 28:48 by finishing 8th in the race won by Galen Rupp, of the Nike Oregon Project, in 28:19.  Natasha had to "prove fitness" to qualify for the Canadian 5,000m Championships in Ottawa in 2 weeks and to make Team Canada for the World 10,000m Championships in London, England in August.  She has an outstanding 5,000m race finishing in 5th place out of 17 elite females in Event No. 37 with a National Standard, a World Championships Qualifying time and a personal best of 15:42.  The 5,000m race was won by Shannon Rowbury, also of the Nike Oregon Project, in 15:12.

June 10, 2017
Steve Osaduik and Shane Ruljancich

Steve and Shane finished third and fourth overall of 100 finishers on long course of the Royal Roads Gutbuster today, Race #3 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  Their times were 43:15 and 43:27.  Andrew Pape-Salmon, Kyle Weagant and Finn Battersby all had strong performances placing in the top 10 by finishing 6th, 7th and 9th in 47:17, 48:05 and 49:43.  The first two long course finishers were both from Nanaimo as Travis Pirozzini and Shelby Drope placed 1-2 in 42:55 and 43:03.  The top female was Julia Tschanz; she was 11th overall in 50:31.  The short course champions were Tyler Leach, 27:24, and Alison Bishop, 4th OA in 28:38.  There were 11 Harriers at Royal Roads, all of which ran the long course, and five of them won their age categories.  Gold medalists included, Shane, M40, Finn, M16, Gary Duncan, M60, Valerie Bell, F50, and Kathleen Kane, F60.  There were a total of 166 finishers including 100 on the long course and 66 on the short course.

June 6, 2017
Tyler Dozzi

BC Athletics and The Vancouver Foundation are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2017 Harry Jerome Scholarship. This year’s award winners are Tyler Dozzi of Terrace, currently living in Victoria training under Bruce Deacon's coaching the Harriers Youth Team, Madelyn Huston of Maple Ridge, and Thomas Nobbs of Vancouver.  This award is administered by BC Athletics through The Vancouver Foundation. Eligible applicants must be residents of BC and be matriculating students progressing to post-secondary study. This scholarship is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional ability and show considerable promise in Athletics including Track & Field, Road Racing, or Cross Country Running; demonstrate financial need; have attained an acceptable academic record, and have demonstrated qualities of character and leadership.  Tyler demonstrates strength, courage, and tenacity in all areas of his life. Tyler’s athletic abilities are undisputed as he has competed for BC multiple times and has recently captured the Youth Boys Canadian Cross Country National title in 2016. His passion for mathematics has led him to pursue engineering at the University of British Columbia this fall as he aspires to become an aerospace engineer. Outside of athletics and academics, Tyler involves himself in school culture by being a member of the Oak Bay Student Council. He is also a leader for the Cops for Cancer canvassing team and he raised funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.  Tyler receives the Harry Jerome Scholarship Award as he consistently demonstrates admirable qualities during his pursuits within athletics, academics, and the community.

June 5, 2017
Liam Stanley

Athletics Canada announced today the team that will compete at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, England, from July 14 to 23.  It includes Harriers Youth Team member, Liam Stanley, who captured a silver medal in the Paralympic Games in Rio last summer.  Liam also won the Harriers Stewart Fall Junior of the Year Award for 2016.  Leading the way in London for Team Canada is Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que. Lakatos, who lives and trains in England, recently set four World Records over the course of the world renowned Swiss Wheelchair Racing Series. His career resume is impressive to say the least; seven Paralympic Games medals and 12 World Para Athletics Championships medals. At the last World Para Athletics Championships, Lakatos won gold in the T53 wheelchair 100-metres, 200-metres and 800-metres, as well as silver in the 400-metres  The team also includes Rio medalists Alexandre Dupont (wheelchair 4x400-metres), Alister McQueen (F44 javelin throw), Tristan Smyth (wheelchair 4x400-metres), Liam Stanley (T37 1500-metres) and Curtis Thom (wheelchair 4x400-metres).

June 4, 2017
Lucy Smith, Cathy Noel and Tami Tate

Lucy, at the age of 50, won the 5K race, Cathy managed a very successful 6th annual Victoria Goddess Run and Tami directed her first Goddess event and came away with flying colours with her attention to detail in organizing all aspects of a successful, large, women's-only race.  Lucy's course-record winning time was 17:56 which completely dominated the field as Yana Hempler, 25, finished more than 3 minutes back in 20:57 and 14-year-old, Sophie Mallory, claimed third place in 21:10.  Jen Millar also smashed the course record in the 10K race by winning in 37:28 and finishing more than 6 minutes ahead of runner-up, Ashley Armstrong, who hit the tape in 43:46.  Liz Betteridge, from Nanaimo, placed third in 45:08 and was the top master.  There were a total of 960 finishers at the Victoria Goddess Run including 440 in the 10K race and 520 in the 5K race.  An accompanying Coquitlam Goddess Run will host their first race next weekend and the event may further expand to Calgary next year.

June 3, 2017
Lucy Smith and Herb Phillips

Lucy and Herb are both recent Hall of Fame inductees with Herb being inducted into the Canadian Masters Association Hall of Fame and Lucy being inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame.  They join Maurice Tarrant who was inducted earlier this year into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.  Lucy, Herb and Maurice undisputedly are the best master runners ever to sport a Harriers singlet of more than 1,200 club members within the last 40 years since PIH was founded in 1978 at the Prairie Inn Neighbourhood Pub by Gunner Shaw, Alex Marshall and Robin Pearson.  I have known Herb for over 40 years and Lucy for over 25 years; they are great friends and they've been brilliant athletes throughout their entire running careers. We have competed together in many track meets, cross country races and road running events from a mile race to an ultramarathon.  Herb has been a master's runner for 35 years, winning road races from one mile to 100 kilometres, track events from 800 metres to 10,000 metres, and many championship cross country events.  Some of his highlights include:  11 age group gold medals in Canadian Cross Country Championships from 1992 to 2007; 12 Canadian age group records on the Track and the Roads, including two M55 records set in 1995, the 10K Road Race and the Marathon, which remain as records today 22 years later; in 2000 he was the gold medal winner in three 100K events including Canadian and World Championships, and he has run an estimated total in his career of more than 1,040 races, totaling over 102,000 miles or over 163,200 kilometres.  Herb's tribute with a picture of him running proudly with his Harriers uniform in the Times Colonist 10K can be viewed on this link http://canadianmasters.ca/cmaa-news/canadian-masters-2016-athletes-of-the-year-hall-of-fame-induction/.  Lucy has been running for well over 25 years with 15 years as a senior runner and the past 10 years as a master's athlete.  She has won 19 National Championship titles in road racing, cross country, track and field, duathlons and triathlons in events all over the world.  Provincially, Lucy has won several BC Athletics awards including Senior Female Cross Country Runner of the Year, Senior Female Road Runner of the Year and Master Female Athlete of the Year. In a few of the larger races in B.C. she has finished first in the Vancouver Sun Run 10K, the Victoria Times Colonist 10K, the Royal Victoria Marathon, the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon and the Harriers Pioneer 8K Road Race. At many of these events she has multiple victories such as the TC10K where she has 6 outright wins and 15 age category gold medals.  Last year, I wrote a letter of reference to Al Yarr, her coach of Nova Scotia Athletics, prior to her induction this year. In the following attachment you can read of her accomplishments including being selected for Prairie Inn Harriers awards such as Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner twice and Alex Marshall Master of the year four times:  Lucy Smith Letter of Reference - 2016.

June 3, 2017
Tyler Dozzi

BURNABY — The only way Charlie Dannatt could have predicted the final weekend of his high school track career would have been to answer the question ‘What’s greatest dream finish you could possibly predict for yourself?’  To which he would have fantasized that in the 50th anniversary of the meet that he’d like to win his two favourite races — the 1,500m and 3,000m — set a new B.C. meet record in at least one of them and in the end be named the Top Male Athlete of the Meet. “I am so ecstatic right now I can’t even put it into words,” the senior from North Vancouver’s Handsworth Secondary said after everything on the aforementioned list became reality for him by mid-afternoon Saturday at McLeod Athletic Park. “I am on top of the world.” In what amounted to a weekend duel under the sun with Oak Bay Bays’ senior Tyler Dozzi, Dannatt edged his future UBC Thunderbirds teammate in Friday’s 1,500m final (3:57.52-to-3:59.02), then did the same in a most remarkable Saturday running of the 3,000 in which both runners obliterated the 42-year-old record of 8:21.27 set in 1975 by Burnaby South’s John Martens. Dannatt ran in Dozzi’s immediate shadow for virtually the entire race, breaking free over the stretch drive to win in 8:15.93. Dozzi picked up his second silver medal of the weekend by finishing at 8:16.22. Both runners were a full 27 seconds ahead of the next fastest runner, bronze medallist Jack Stanley of Oak Bay, who clocked a time (8:43.83) which would have won nine of the 18 B.C. meet finals contested at the distance since the turn of the century. “To be completely honest, I hadn’t had my eyes on the record until just a couple of weeks before the race,” said Dannatt who is the first Handsworth male runner to win any senior running event from 100 metres to 3,000 metres at the provincial high school meet since Olympian Chris Winter capped off back-to-back-to-back steeplechase victories in 2004. “It just came into the back of my mind that I could and that’s where I kept it,” he continued. “I thought it was a possibility but I was just focusing on the race.” Dannatt gives full kudos to Dozzi who set the pace which enabled both to break the old record.“I knew Tyler had his sights set on the record coming in, but I told myself that I was just as fit as anyone, and that if he goes for the record, I’ll just stick right with him. Props to Tyler. He just went out there and gave it his all and it’s so much fun to race against him.” The wins in the 1,500 and 3,000 were enough for officials to name Dannatt the meet’s Top Male Athlete.

May 27, 2017
Natasha Wodak

Returning to competitive racing after her recent victory three weeks ago at the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon, Natasha had to settle for a silver medal today at the Tamarack Ottawa 10K Canadian Championship Road Race as team mate, Rachel Cliff, also of Vancouver, stole the show by winning the race in 33:35.  Natasha finished 20 seconds back in 33:55 while former Victorian, past Harrier member and top-level triathlete, Victoria Coates, placed third in 34:46.

May 22, 2017
John Catterall and Wendy Davies

John and Wendy were the top laddie and lassie Harriers at the Kilted Mile today, held among the many sports events comprising Scottish Highland Games at Topaz Park.  John finished second overall to race champion, Taylor Farwood, and Taylor collected $75.00 in prize money while John received $50.00 and third place, Jamie Polk, collected $25.00.  Their times were 5:49, 5:53 and 5:58.  Wendy was the second female to finish; she was the top master and won $25.00 in prize money for her 7:48 performance to place 8th overall.  Other Harriers in the race were Gary Duncan, 4th in 6:03, and Marcia Stromsmoe, 12th in 8:18.  The Glasgow Green oval race course was 1/8 of a mile on the upper baseball field and it was squeezed between the entertainment tent, beer garden, dance stage and clan tents which made for a lot of spirited cheering as the competitors completed their 8 laps.

May 21, 2017
Jordan Cheung and Gord Christie

Jordan and Gord finished 17th and 21st overall at the Oasis Shaughnessy 8K starting from the Kerrisdale Arena in Vancouver, a race that was dominated by Kenyans that took the top three positions with Paul Kimugul winning in 24:18.  The first female was Kenyan Gladys Jepkechi-Tarus; she was 13th OA in 27:36.  Jordan, a member of the PIH Youth Team, was fourth M20 in 32:11 and Gord, a former Cross Country champion, was first M55 in 33:13.  The first Canadian was Christian Gravel who finished fourth in 25:35 and the top master was Kevin O'Connor finishing eighth overall and was first M50 in 26:38.  The Oasis Shaughnessy 8K was Race No. 4 of the Lower Mainland Road Race Series and was hosted by Lions Gate Road Runners.  There were 154 finishers including 82 men and 72 women and it was a hot sunny day.

May 18, 2017
Tyler Dozzi

An outstanding member of the Harriers Youth Team coached by Bruce Deacon, Tyler crushed the 3,000 meet record last night by running 8:28.00 at UVic's Centennial Stadium at the 50th annual Vancouver Island High School Championships.  His time lowered the record of 8:34.78 by over 6 seconds which was set by Reynolds Secondary School student Brendan Hoff in 2016.  The feature 3,000 metre race is the longest distance offered in the championships.  Tonight, he won the 1,500 metre race and was named Male Athlete of the Meet.  Hassy Fashiba-Bombata, of the Wellington Wildcats in Nanaimo, was named the Female Athlete of the Meet as she won the 100 metre and 200 metre races.  Tyler is a grade 12 student at Oak Bay High School and his performances solidified the Track and Field crown for Oak Bay which also won the Cross Country title a few months ago.  Oak Bay has won the T&F Vancouver Island team championship for the past 25 consecutive years.  Tyler hopes to continue his education at U.B.C. where, besides his excellent running prowess, he will be studying aerospace and mechanical engineering.

May 13, 2017
Darcy Kernel and Martha McNeely

Too often the Runner of the Week features a club member's performance at a race but this week's acknowledgement recognizes two outstanding volunteers at the 30th Annual Harriers Elk/Beaver Ultras staged at Elk Lake today.  Darcy completed his third year as Race Director and successfully managed all aspects of the event from his arrival at 5:00 am today to the final runner completing the course at 5:00 pm.  His duties included race package pick up at the Howard Johnson Hotel on Friday night and Saturday race day activities of course marking, finish line set up and tear down, food, refreshments, volunteer coordination, results, awards and participant cheering throughout the day.  Martha spent 12 solid hours and single-handedly managed the timing of each of the 10 laps for the 100K runners, 8 laps for the 50 milers, 5 laps for the 50Kers and 4 laps for the Glen Jaques 40K walkers.  The inclement weather offered very cold and rainy conditions for the first three hours before the sun peeked out at noon for the balance of the day.  Overall Martha manually recorded over 200 individual split times as each of the 35 runners completed their 10K circuit around the lakes.  The cold, wet weather forced 9 runners to withdraw from the event as 26 finishers completed the Ultras which was the stage for the 100K National Championship won by Victoria's Evgeny Sotnikov in 8:23:04.  The 50 Mile winner was Vanessa Le in 8:07:44, the 50K winner was Darren Tannas in 3:28:19 and the 40K Walk winner was Elizabeth Wilson in 6:54:25.  Lions Gate Road Runners' athlete, 70-year-old Jim Swadling from North Vancouver, completely destroyed the M70 Canadian Record by breaking the 50K tape in second place overall of the 16 finishers with a time of 4:17:15.  The previous record of 4:48:38 was set in 1995 by Willis Greenaway in Penticton.  Jim now holds four National Age Category Records all set at our Elk/Beaver race course including M50 - 3:28:10, M55 - 3:32:39, M65 - 3:51:44, and today's brilliant M70 time of 4:17:15.

May 13, 2017
Andrew Pape-Salmon, Michael Lax and Valerie Bell

The Cumby 23K and 50K Trail Races took place in in Cumberland today and 22 Harriers traveled north to participate with 6 running the long course and 16 completing the short course.  Andrew, M40, Michael, M60, and Val, F50, all came away with gold medals on the short course by finishing 6th, 10th and 76th overall of 212 finishers.  Their times were 1:58:55, 2:08:08 and 2:38:49.  Other Harriers in the short course were Walter Cantwell, 12th OA and 4th M40, Clay Jackson, 31st, Leona Wade, 47th, Louise Wilkin, 69th, Chris Wille, 81st, Larry Nylen, 89th, Katie Clegg, 113th, Sara Pape-Salmon, 115th, Fiona Peters, 129th, Lisa Cantwell, 130th, Colleen Auringer, 148th, Lisa Hoffner 157th, and Kathy Guthrie, 178th.  The 50K race winners were Jeremy Clegg, 5:29:50, and Darbykai Standrick; she was second overall in 5:35:04, 6:08:40, while the 23K race winners were Derek Vinge, 1:46:52, and Kristin Clarke, 2:10:59.  Harriers Kyle Weagant, 22nd, Charlene Waldner, 28th, Lisa Fehr, 24th, Chris Brower, 29th, Randy Duncan, 43rd, and David Marlor ,55th, all tackled the long course.  There were a total of 269 finishers including 57 in the long course and 212 in the short course.

May 7, 2017
Natasha Wodak, Joseph Camilleri and Chris Callendar

Natasha was the first female, placing 12th overall of 6,556 finishers with a sparkling time of 1:12:58 at the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon today; the race was won by Kip Kangogo in 1:06:08 where the first 4 runners were all Kenyans.  Joseph won a gold medal in his first-ever marathon in 3:34:52, gun time, and 3:30:45, chip time.  He placed 442nd of 3,578 finishers in the BMO Marathon won by Kenyans Daniel Kipkoech, of Lethbridge, AB, and Gladys Jepkech-Tauris, of Eldoret.  Joseph has an interesting story about his running career.  He was born in Malta and was one of their top runners for the Alpine Athletics Club for 7 years between 1963 and 1969 before immigrating to Canada and becoming a Canadian citizen.  He quit running all together on moving to Canada and took up the sport 41 years later in 2010 at the age of 60 shortly before he joined the Harriers.  At the age of 67, today he was the first M65 finisher of 47 runners in that age category, he qualified for the Boston Marathon next April, and his future looks bright as a master's runner.  Joseph "Crazy Legs" Camilleri is an avid photographer and has taken many excellent group shots of club activities and he is a regular Facebooker by posting photographs and stories.  Chris placed second overall of 2,123 finishers in 29:13 in the BMO 8K Road Race.  The 8K champions were Robert Brunelle in 29:04 and Courtney McEwan; she was 13th overall in 33:03.  The most astonishing aspect of the BMO 8K is the slow pedestrian times in looking at the numbers compared to our own Pioneer 8K.  The BMO winner was Robert Brunelle, followed by Chris Callendar and Russ Esau in 29:04, 29:13 and 29:34 of 2,123 finishers while the Harriers Pioneer winner was Lucas Bruchet followed by Justin Kent and Geoff Martinson in 23:24, 24:06 and 24:38 of 492 finishers.  The female winner at BMO was Courtney McEwan in 33:03 while the Pioneer winner was Rachel Cliff in 26:51.  The Pioneer men's champion was nearly 6 minutes faster than the BMO champion and the Pioneer women's champion was 5 minutes and 12 seconds faster than the BMO champion proving that Pioneer, with 1,631 fewer finishers, was "all quality" and BMO was "all quantity".  To put things into perspective, Chris ran 29:13 today at BMO to place 2nd overall and he ran 32 seconds faster at Pioneer in 28:42 to place 25th overall.  Another thing that always amazes me about the big Vancouver races is the number of no-shows.  Two weeks ago I reported on 6,909 DNSs at the Sun Run while today there were a staggering 2,011 no-shows at the 3 BMO races.  The Half Marathon alone had 203 pages of race results recorded by RaceStats with 164 pages of finishers and 39 complete pages of names of people who did not start or finish the race.

May 6, 2017
Shane Ruljancich, Patricia Roney, Finn Battersby and Louise Proulx

Shane finished third overall of 138 finishers in 1:12:25, Patricia was the top female and first Harrier, she placed 14th overall in 1:28:35, Finn won the junior M16 title in 1:26:07 and Louise demolished the F50 field of 14 contestants to win her age category by over 11 minutes with a time of 1:40:42 at the Mount Tzouhalem Gutbuster today, Race No. 2 of the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  Finn placed 13th OA while Louise was the top master, third female OA and placed 28th.  The race winner of the long course was Nanaimo's Shelby Drope in 1:09:34 and the winner of the short course was also from Nanaimo, Richard Birks in 36:56.  The female champions were Patricia Roney, 1:28:35 on the long course and Alison Bishop, 39:23, on the short course.  Several Harriers reached the podium with Gary Duncan, M60, Shane Runjancich, M40, Finn, M16, Patricia, F30, and Louise, F50, Bertrand Bozek, M40, short course, all taking gold, Sonja Yli-Kahila, F30, Andrew Pape-Salmon, M40, Lisa Cantwell, F50, short course, placing second in their respective age divisions and Chris Hamilton, M60, claimed a bronze.  Honourable mention goes to Walter Cantwell, M40, and Larry Nylen, M50, who both placed 4th in their age categories.  There were 16 Harriers at the event. 10 of which won medals.  The combined total of 271 finishers included 138 on the long course and 133 on the short course.

April 30, 2017
Craig Odermatt, Lucy Smith, Edith Price and Brett Scott

Today, while the sun was shining, our master athletes were also shining with four different Harriers winning their age categories at the 28th annual Times Colonist 10K.  Odie had an outstanding race as he was the top Harrier, the top master and topped the M45 division by finishing in 33:37 which was 2 seconds faster than his Sun Run time recorded last Sunday.  A model of consistency, he was seeded No. 11, he wore Bib No. 11 and he finished 11th overall.  Considering other big name masters like Jim Finlayson, Kevin O'Connor, Mark Cryderman and Shane Ruljancich were in the field, Odie indeed topped them all.  Lucy, a six-time winner of the TC10K, won the F50 division today in 37:32.  Edith was first F65 in 51:14 and Brett was first M60 in 39:52.  The race champions were Daniel Kipkoech, from Lethbridge, in 29:57, and Vancouver's Dayna Pidhoresky, in 33:42; she was 13th overall.  There were 9,000 registrations for the 2017 TC10K with 7,921 finishers including 7,121 in the run/walk, 5 visually impaired athletes, 54 nordic pole walkers, 9 wheelchairs and 782 in the 1.5K Kid's Family Run.  The 7,189 10K finishers today compares to 7,124 finishers in 2016 and 7,724 finishers in 2015.  Special recognition goes to Maurice Tarrant, last week's Runner of the Week, for finishing his 28th consecutive TC10K as he has never missed a race since the event started in 1990.  Maurice finished second in the M85 division today but he holds five age category course records for the M60, M65, M70, M75 and M80 age divisions.

April 28, 2017
Maurice Tarrant

It was announced this morning in the Times Colonist that lifetime member of the Harriers, Maurice Tarrant, will be enshrined into the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame during the induction ceremonies this fall.  He is acknowledged as "the most prolific master runner of all time."  I produced a summary of Maurice's achievements two months ago which can be viewed here: Maurice's Achievements.  He began running with our club in 1983 and is still active today.  Over the past 34 years Maurice has set 70 Canadian Age Class Records and 8 Age Class World Records at various distances from a mile to a half marathon.  He is absolutely the finest master ever to sport a Harriers racing uniform.  Also being inducted into the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 are Wanda Parsons, archery, Diane Cummins, track and field, Alex Nelson and Michael O'Connor, rugby, Rafael Melendez-Duke, track official, Denny Boyd, media, Karen March, paralympian and Victoria O'Keefe's, soccer, in the team category.

April 23, 2017
Geoff Martinson, Craig Odermatt and Michael Lax

Geoff finished second overall of 32,859 finishers with a time of 29:46 at the 33rd annual Vancouver Sun Run today and was only 7 seconds behind the race winner.  The Sun Run champion was Joseph Gray of Seattle in 29:39.  Ironically, Geoff and Joseph also had a classic battle at the Harriers Pioneer 8K in 2013 where Geoff emerged with the victory by almost a minute as their times were 23:43 and 24:20.  Craig won the M45 age category by finishing 45th overall in 33:39 and Michael was second of 503 runners in the M60 division in 40:30.  The M60 age category was won by Surrey's Dave Fish in 38:32. The top female in the race was Karolina Jarzynska-Nadolska, from Poland, in 33:30; she was 40th overall.  Harriers' Natasha Wodak placed 55th in 34:08 after a 8 month layoff die to injuries.  She was the 5th female finisher and is a 2-time Sun Run champion.  What amazes me the most about this event, which happens every year, is the amount of no-shows.  The race results show 39,768 participants yet only 32,859 runners finished.  That means 6,909 registrants either did not start, did not finish or fell off the Burrard Street Bridge and were swept out to sea!  Even greater was the loss of their entry fees totaling $393,813 in profit for the race organizers.  The entry fees were $57 per person and $70 on race day.  There were 975 pages of results and 180 pages were DNSs, DNFs or runners floating somewhere in the ocean.

April 14, 2017
Steve Osaduik and Sonja Yli-Kahila

Steve and Sonja were the top club members placing 5th and 48th overall of 235 finishers including 14 Harriers at the 10th annual Fletcher's Challenge trail race in Nanaimo today.  Steve's time was 1:17:46 while the race winners were Travis Pirozzini in 1:07:18 and Cheryl Davies, both of Nanaimo.  Cheryl was 15th overall in 1:24:33.  Steve is perhaps the greatest high performance athlete ever to wear a club uniform.  His achievements include winning the Royal Victoria Marathon 3 times, the TC10K 3 times, the Island Race Series 6 times with over 30 overall victories and the Pioneer 8K 6 times.  I produced a profile of him 9 years ago which is attached here; Steve Osaduik Resume.  Sonja finished 4th in the F30-39 age category in 1:39:25.  Gary Duncan had a good race finishing in 1:27:08 to place 19th OA, 5th in the M40-99 division, at the age of 59.  Other Harriers included Andrew Pape-Salmon, second master about a minute behind Nanaimo's Justin Mark, Sara Pape-Salmon, Paul Birney, Kathleen Birney, Charlene Waldner, Dan Stefanson, Shell Harvey, Sean Finucane, Colleen Auringer, Lois Woolley and Dawn Wilson.  Dawn had an unfortunate accident during the event where she fell through a wooden bridge and was rushed to the Nanaimo Regional Hospital for 8 stitches to her shin.  In true Harrier fashion, Dawn was at Thetis Lake at 8:00 am the next morning for a one hour walk of the trails!

April 9, 2017
Shane Ruljancich, Maree Kennell and John Woodall

Shane finished second to Campbell River's Mark Cryderman in the M40 division at the Cedar 12K today, the 8th and final race of the Vancouver Island Race Series.  Shane placed 5th OA in 42:29 and Mark was third in 41:18.  The top male in the race was Nick Walker, 40:24, to secure the Series title and the top female was Melissa Ross, 21st OA in 48:09, also capturing the Series title on the women's side.  Meanwhile, Harriers' Maree and John had brilliant performances all year long by setting course records in the F75 and M85 age categories in virtually every single event they ran.  This was evident at Cedar today where Maree sliced 8 minutes off Briggete Killat's course record by finishing in 1:16:35 and John chopped 7 minutes off Maurice Tarrant's course record by finishing in 1:15:47.  The race was hosted by Bastion Running Club and featured 262 finishers which was 111 fewer than last year's total of 373.  Prairie Inn Harriers once again won the top club title of 66 registered teams for the 32nd time in the 35 years since the Series began in 1982.

April 8, 2017
Andrew Pape-Salmon, Finn Battersby, Kelly Campo and Bertrand Bozek

Andrew, winner of the Dave Reed Trail Runner of the Year in 2016, was the top master and placed 6th overall of 85 finishers while Finn, winner of the Bob Reid Bright Shining Light Award in 2016, placed 10th overall to capture the M19 age category on the 21.1K long course of the Cobble Hill Gutbuster today, Race No. 1 of 6 in the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.  Their times were 2:04:02 and 2:17:17.  Both Kelly and Bertrand took silver medals in the F40 and M40 divisions on the Cobble Hill short course with Bertrand finishing 4th overall of 147 finishers in 1:14:14 and Kelly finishing 14th OA and she was the 3rd female to the line in 1:21:47.  There were 11 Harriers in both races with Brent Scott winning the M50 age category and Valerie Bell winning the F50 age category on the long course.  The race champions were Nanaimo's Travis Pirozzini, 1:44:47, and Jolien Verdegem, 8th OA in 2:14:15 on the long course and Richard Birks, 1:08:56, and Alison Bishop, 6th OA in 1:15:34 on the short course.  The total of 232 finishers today was a complete event sell-out and boasted 21 more finishers than last year's mark of 211 which was the highest total of finishers in the 16 year history of the Gutbuster Series.

April 8, 2017
Jordan Cheung and Gary Duncan

Jordan, a member of the Harriers Youth Team, led 360 finishers from the start until being caught at the line by race winner Greg Garner as both runners hit the finish in 18 minutes, 43 seconds at the LifeMark Health Esquimalt 5K today.  Gary worked up to 3rd overall mid-race before sliding back to 6th OA finishing in 19:10 and topping the M50-59 age category, 20 seconds ahead of 2nd M50 Bruce Schlatter who was 7th OA in 19:30.  Harriers' Roy Styffe took third in the M50 division in 21:27.  The top female in the race was Mel Russell, 13th OA in 21:15.

April 8, 2017
Natasha Wodak

Harriers' Olympian Natasha, also the Canadian 10,000m record holder and 8K road race Canadian record holder of 25:28 set at the Harriers Pioneer 8K three years ago, was back in action after battling injury for the better part of the past seven months. The Race Roster Spring Run-Off, which is more notable for its 8K event even though there is also a 5K event, was her first race since September, 2016. The Vancouver resident who traveled to Toronto for the race won the 8K in 27:53, almost a minute ahead of masters' star Lioudmila Kortchaguina, 28:43, and Madeline Yungblut placed third in 29:25. Natasha was 23rd overall of 1,859 finishers including 963 women and 896 men.  Tristan Woodfine, of the Speed River Team in Guelph, took the race out hard but was forced to stop to retie his shoelace. The pit stop meant Woodfine was a considerable distance back at the one mile mark though he was leading by the halfway point of the race and cruised to a 24:14 clocking to claim the overall victory. The Spring Run-Off is Toronto’s oldest continuously-held road race and celebrated its 40th edition today.

April 2, 2017
Shane Ruljancich and Charlene Waldner

The Port Alberni Paper Chase 10K returned to the Vancouver Island Race Series today after a 15 year absence and was held under sunny skies.  The Paper Chase was staged for 20 consecutive years from 1983 to 2002 and always produced stunning results even though the race course was quite hilly and challenging.  Paul McCloy and Ulla Hansen (Marquette) set the respectable course records of 29:44 and 33:40 established in 1987 and 1988.  Yours truly also ran two of his best 10K road times of 33:07 and 33:15 at Port Alberni in those two years.  Today's race champions were Dusty Spiller, of Duncan, in 33:17, and Yanna Debelic, of Nanaimo, in 41:43.  Shane and Charlene were the first male and female Harriers, both masters, as Shane finished 5th overall in 35:11 while Charlene was 39th overall of 243 finishers in 44:36.  There were 12 Harriers in the race with Gary Duncan, M60, Brian Connon, M70, and Maree Kennell, F75, all winning their age categories while Shane, M40, Charlene, F45, and Marcia Stromsmoe, F65, finished second in their respective age division.  The top masters in the race were Mark Cryderman, from Campbell River, he was third overall in 34:08, and Nanaimo's Yanna Debelic, F45, she was 20th overall.

March 19, 2017
Gary Duncan, Dawn Wilson and Leigh Sunderland

MEC Race No. 2, The Pace Setter, was held in Thetis Lake Park today and featured a total of 523 finishers including 249 in the 10K race and 274 in the 5K race.  There were 13 Prairie Inn Harriers competing with Gary emerging as the top club member by finishing 15th overall in the 10K in 50:45 and winning the M55 division while Dawn and Leigh were 1-2 in the F55 division on the 5K course.  Other Harriers gold medalists included Chris Callendar, M30, and Marcia Stromsmoe, F65, in the 5K, and Wendy Davies, F55, in the 10K.  The long course race champions were Andrew McCartney, 42:38, and Adele Lay, 50:41.  There were 8 Edmonton Harriers youth team members visiting Victoria and all of them ran extremely well with Brandon Vail, 18 years old, winning the 5K event in 20:19 and team mate, Sadie Sigfstead, 13, topping the women's field by finishing 8th overall in 21:53.  Edmonton Harrier Derek Usbko, 16, was 3rd overall in the 5K in 21:31.

March 19, 2017
Michael Angrove and Nancy Baxendale

For the second consecutive Island Series race, Michael was the top male Harrier by placing 12th overall of 347 finishers including 12 Harriers at the Comox Valley Half Marathon today held under bright, sunny skies.  Michael was second M30 finishing in 1:22:14.  Nancy was the top female Harrier and set a new F55 course record of 1:32:59 to place 40th overall.  The race champions were Dusty Spiller, Duncan, in 1:15:23, and Melissa Ross, Nanaimo, 19th overall in 1:24:52.  Of the 12 Harriers, quality prevailed in all age categories, as 10 club members reached the podium.  First place went to Gary Duncan (M60), Brian Connon (M70), Meghan Stothers (F50), Nancy Baxendale (F55) and Maree Kennell (F75).  Second place was awarded to Michael Angrove (M30), Marcia Stromsmoe (F65), Charlene Waldner (F45) and Diane Dennis (F55) while Mark Shier took third inthe M60 division.  It should be noted that both Gary and race winner, Melissa Ross, were running back-to-back races after performing very well at the St. Patrick's Day 5K yesterday in Vancouver.

March 18, 2017
Geoff Martinson, Craig Odermatt and Gary Duncan

Geoff was third overall in a photo finish where the top three men finished less than one second apart with times of 14:00, 14:00 and 14:01, Craig was 32nd overall to place second to Kevin O'Connor in the M45 age category in 16:32 and Gary was also second in his M55 division to Mark Bennett in 19:03 at the St. Patrick's Day 5K held on a cool, chilly morning today in Stanley Park, Vancouver.  Ross Proudfoot, Guelph, ON, and Vancouver's Dayna Pidhoresky were the race winners in 14:00 and 16:28.  There were 1,206 finishers including 510 men and 696 women.  Pioneer's 8K race champion, Lucas Bruchet, from Burnaby, took second by a fraction of a second place as the photo finish, when enlarged several times, revealed that he had lost to Proudfoot by a mere 10 centimetres while Geoff was 2 strides back.  The second female overall was Trinity Western's Regan Yee in 16:34 and Rebecca Bassett, from SMU, was third in 16:49.  Victoria's Hilary Stellingwerff was fourth female overall in 17:01.

March 12, 2017
Michael Angrove and Leona Wade

When an Island Series race has to be postponed for any reason, it usually leads to a reduced participation at the event.  Such was the case when the Sooke River 10K was cancelled due to snow on February 5 and rescheduled five weeks later to March 12, the Sunday between Bazan Bay 5K and the Comox Valley Half Marathon.  Although Sooke River Road was flooded, the Victoria Marathon Society staged a successful 17th annual 10K event today with Nick Walker, 33:51, and Julia Tschanz, 20th overall in 39:37, emerging as race champions.  It was Nick's second consecutive victory at Sooke River.  Participation fell 94 runners from 356 finishers last year to today's total of 262 due to the postponement.  Eleven Harriers finished with medals including Michael Angrove, 8th overall in 37:55, and Leona Wade, 37th overall in 45:00, who were our top club members.  Gold medals went to Maree Kennell (F75), Gary Duncan (M60), Brian Connon (M70) and John Woodall (M85) with both Maree and John setting new course records.  Silver medals were achieved by Leona Wade (F35), Marcia Stromsmoe (F65), Kyle Weagant (M35), John Catterall (M55) and Rob Grant (M70) while bronze medals went to Michael Angrove (M30) and Will Boothman (M50).  The excellent performances by 23 Harriers at the race propelled the club's lead in the team competition to 2,342 points over second place Comox Valley Road Runners with 1,292 points and third place CeeVacs Road Runners with 1,274 points.  To date there are 63 teams registered for the Vancouver Island Race Series.  Look for the VMS to establish a new venue and race course for 2018 in a different municipality.

March 5, 2017
Shane Ruljancich, Lucy Smith and Danielle Liepholdt

Shane was the top Harrier and the top master today finishing 10th overall of 524 finishers with a time of 16:17 at the Bazan Bay 5K, race no. 4 of 8 in the Island Series.  Lucy won the F50 age category and set a new course record of 18:24.  Danielle won the F15 age category in 20:43 and was the top female Harrier on the Youth Team.  The boys Youth Team had a close and exciting finish in the M16 division with Michael Barber, Cooper Langard and Jack Boden finishing 28th, 29th and 30th overall 17:19, 17:19 and 17:29.  There were 40 PIH members in the race and 8 won gold medals in their age categories, 2 took silver and 4 collected a bronze.  First place Harriers were Shane Ruljancich (M40), Craig Odermatt (M45), Gary Duncan (M60), Brian Connon (M70), John Woodall (M85), Danielle Liepholdt (F15), Lucy Smith (F50 and Maree Kennell (F75).  Second in their division were Rob Grant (M70) and Marcia Stromsmoe (F65) while third place performances were achieved by Chris Callendar (M35), Kate Brooks (F15), Sonja Yli-Kahila (F35) and Binder Kelsall (F45).  The race winners were Joshua Kozelj, of the Vikes, in 15:17, and Alison Hooper, she was 20th overall in 17:01.  The 524 finishers was 28 fewer than last year's total of 552.

February 24, 2017
37 Award Winners for 2016

The Prairie Inn Harriers held their annual Awards Ceremony tonight at the Cedar Hill Golf Club banquet room and the following list shows the 37 award winners for 2016:

PERPETUAL AWARDS

Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runner –  Jim Finlayson and Natasha Wodak

Robin Pearson Most Improved Runner – Paul Birney

Alex Marshall Master of the Year (40+) –  Shane Ruljancich, Craig Odermatt and Nancy Baxendale

Maurice Tarrant and Rosamund Dashwood Veterans of the Year (60+) –  John Woodall, Mark Shier, Maree Kennell and Marcia Stromsmoe

Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance Award – Gary Duncan, Shane Ruljancich and Heather Afford

John Thipthorpe Durability Award – Gary Duncan and Katie Clegg

Susan Reid Most Consistent Harrier – Jeff Beddoes and Peggy Sherwood

Stewart Fall Under-20 Junior of the Year – Liam Stanley and Justine Stecko

Bruce Deacon Under-16 Junior of the Year – Liam Dwyer and Alisa Lyesina

Bob Reid Bright Shining Light Award (Rookie of the Year) – Finn Battersby and Edith Price

Dave Reed Trail Runner of the Year – Andrew Pape-Salmon and Lisa Cantwell

Sandy Auburn High Achievement Award – Susan Norrington

Harriers Cyclist of the Year – Garth Campbell and Claire Morgan

 Island Race Series Runner of the Year - Kyle Weagant and Nancy Baxendale

Glenn Jaques Race Walker of the Year - Kathleen Kane

Molly Reid Top Dog of the Year – Abby Nylen

NON-PERPETUAL AWARDS

Harriers Fittest Couple – Brett Carter and Magdalena Bazalova-Carter

Excellence in Club Leadership – Elaine Galbraith

Excellence in Volunteering – Mike Emerson and Leigh Sunderland

Detailed descriptions of each winner's achievements and highlights for 2016 are available by clicking on "About", then click on "Harriers Annual Awards", then scroll down to find the individual's name for their description.

February 22, 2017
Tyler Dozzi

Tyler was selected as the top Youth cross country runner in the province as BC Athletics announced their winners today for all age categories.  The runners will receive their awards at the BC Athletics Track & Field Jamboree in Coquitlam on the weekend of July 14 - 16, 2017.  The following is a list of athletes' names, clubs and coaches.

Youth Girls - Hannah Bennison, Okanagan Athletics, Malindi Elmore, Youth Boys - Tyler Dozzi, Prairie Inn Harriers, Bruce Deacon, Junior Girls - Veronika Fagan, UBC Okanagan, Colin Wallace, Junior Boys - Nickolas Colyn, Langley Mustangs, Mark Bomba, Rachel Cliff, Vancouver Thunderbirds, Richard Lee, Lucas Bruchet, Vancouver Thunderbirds, Richard Lee (both Rachel and Lucas are the 2017 Pioneer 8K champions), Master Women - Nicki Haugan and Masters Men - Jerry Ziak.

February 19, 2017
Chris Callendar and Brittany Therrien

Chris and Brittany were the top male and female Harriers at the Hatley Castle 8K held at Royal Roads today, Race No. 3 of 8 in the Vancouver Island Race Series.  They finished 17th and 23rd overall of 369 finishers with times of 30:17 and 31:13.  Chris was 3rd of 18 in the M35 age category and Brittany was 1st of 9 in the F25 age category and was third female overall of 187 women in the event.  The race champions were Nick Walker, breaking the tape in 27:45, and Gina Slaby, 14th overall in 29:48.  Nick is the Hatley Castle Race Director and Gina, from Seabeck, WA, is the current world record holder for 100 Miles on the track with a time of 13:45:49.  There were 30 Harriers in the race and eleven of them reached the podium including first place finishes for Amy Perry (F15), Brittany Therrien (F25), Maree Kennell (F75), Gary Duncan (M60), John Woodall (M85), second place finishes for Catherine Davies (F50) and Rob Grant (M70) and third place finishes for Binder Kelsall (F45), Marcia Stromsmoe (F65), Chris Callendar (M35) and Shell Harvey (M65).  PIH extended their points lead in the club standings with a total of 1,585 points compared to CVRR's total of 877 points in second place while CeeVacs is third with 787 points..  The 369 finishers today was 24 fewer than last year's mark of 393.

February 10, 2017
Ulla Hansen (Marquette)

Ulla was inducted into the University of Victoria Sports Hall of Fame yesterday, a well deserved honour for a tremendous athlete.  She is an 8-time champion of the Harriers Pioneer 8K and has won both the Times Colonist 10K and the Royal Victoria 8K Road Race 4 times each.  She still holds the RV8K overall course record of 26:24 set 26 years ago in 1991.  Ulla won the Canadian 10K Road Race championship 3 times.  Currently, she is the High Performance Athlete Director for the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, Victoria International Track Classic and TC10K and she does an excellent job of managing elite athletes in all three major Victoria events.  Since joining the Harriers as a master, Ulla has won several races in the Vancouver Island Race Series where she still holds many age class records in various divisions on a number of race courses.  A full list of her amazing accomplishments while at UVic can be viewed at this  link:  http://victoriasportsnews.com/ulla-hansen-included-in-uvic/

February 4, 2017
Cordel Tromp, Alisa Lyesina and Matthew Thibodeau

Led by Coach Bruce Deacon with several parents accompanying their children, 18 members of the PIH Youth Team traveled to Seattle today to compete at the University of Washington High School Invitational Track and Field Meet at Dempsey Indoor Stadium.  Cordel, Alisa and Matt came away with gold medals while three other Harriers won silver medals and two more claimed bronze.  There were literally hundreds of top calibre athletes competing from a wide range of schools and clubs from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California.  The results alone generated 35 pages of data with events ranging from 60 metres to 3,000 metres on the track, relays and a host of field events.  Several sections here held in many of the popular distances such as 400m, 800m, 3,000m and One Mile and the athletes were seeded in each section based on their current personal best times.  Cordel won her 400m race in 1:04, Alisa won her 800m race in 2:22 and Matthew won his 800m race in 1:59.  Chrissa Tromp was second in the One Mile race in 5:51, Tyler Dozzi took silvers in both the 800m race in 1:59 and the One Mile race in 4:18 and Robbie Deacon was second in the One Mile race in 4:39.  Completing the podium performances were Kalum Delaney, third in the 3,000m in 9:04 and Evan Wills, third in his section of the 3,000m in 9:39.  Other PIH Youth Team members also ran well with Justine Stecko, 6th in the 3,000m, while Jack Cooper, Robbie Deacon and Malcolm Harrison finishing 6th, 7th and 9th in the 800m race.  Cooper Langard, Vlad Lyesin and Jack Cooper finished 5th, 9th and 11th in the One Mile event.  Besides Kalum Delaney and Evan Wills third place finishes, there were five other team mates in the 3,000m sections including Liam Dwyer, 7th, Jack Amos, 8th, Findlay Day, 10th, Joe Robertson, 12th and Jack Boden, 13th.

January 22, 2017
Craig Odermatt, Shane Ruljancich, Maree Kennell and John Woodall

Craig and Shane finished 3rd and 4th overall, both winning their age categories while Maree and John completely destroyed the course record for their respective age divisions at the Cobble Hill 10K today, Race No. 2 of the Island Series.  The race champions were Jevin Monds, from Edmonton, in 33:31, and Nanaimo's Erin Burrett, 7th overall in 34:59.  Craig ran 34:08 to top the M45 division and Shane ran 34:27 to top the M40 division.  Maree finished in 1:01:43 to break the F75 age category record by 13 minutes and John ran 1:02:34 to lower the M85 record by 10 minutes.  Besides Craig, Shane, Maree and John claiming gold medals in their age classes, 7 other Harriers topped their divisions including Maddie Perry (F15), Erin Burrett (F35), Binder Kelsall (F45), Jacob Unger (M15), Liam Stanley (M20), Gary Duncan (M60) and Brian Connon (M70).  There were 424 finishers including 27 Harriers at Cobble Hill today compared to 488 finishers last year.

January 15, 2017
Craig Odermatt

After his fine performance at the Harriers Pioneer 8K last Sunday, Craig decided to take some time off with a holiday in Maui.  While relaxing in Lahaina today he noticed a race called the Maui Oceanfront Marathon was about to be held.  Although the distance was only 15K, Americans consider any race over 10 kilometres to be a "marathon".  Quickly he registered and blew away the field by finishing first overall in 53:24.  Second place went to Ludlow North, of Lapointe, Wisconsin, thirteen minutes back in 1:06:20, while Winnipeg's Keith Mozdzen finished third in 1:11:25, nearly 18 minutes behind Craig.  The top female was Kathleen Kenney, of Kehei, Hawaii; she placed 7th overall in 1:15:12.  There were 102 finishers including 34 Canadians at the Maui Oceanfront "Mini" Marathon 15K.

January 15, 2017
Chris Callendar, Patricia Roney, Sean Conway and Gary Duncan

Chris and Patricia were the top male and female Harriers in the 5K race while Sean and Gary were the top Harriers in the 10K race at the MEC #1 Rust Buster starting and finishing at Lochside School today.  Chris placed second overall of 285 finishers in 18:10 and Patricia was the first female and placed 5th overall in 19:12.  The 5K race champion was Matthew Winkler in 17:09 and the 10K race champions were Andrew McCartney, 35:07, and Julia Tschanz, 7th overall of 220 finishers in 38:45.  Sean placed 5th overall and won the M30 age category in 38:26 and Gary finished first in the M55 age category and 11th overall in 39:30.  A couple of old-time Harriers returned to racing after many years off and finished 1-2 in the M60-99 division.  Brian Connon, 70-years-old and a Harriers member for 32 years returned to racing after a 3.5 year absence to win the M60 age category in 44:51 while Rob Grant, 71-years-old and a Harriers member for 26 years was second M60 in 47:22 after an absence from racing for 7 and 1/2 years.  Today's total of 505 finishers was 22 more than last year's record of 483.

January 8, 2017
Geoff Martinson, Bruce Deacon and Gary Duncan

Two-time winner, Geoff was the top Harrier finisher while Bruce and Gary entered new age categories and topped their divisions today at the 38th annual Harriers Pioneer 8K run under cool, but favourable racing conditions.  Immediately after the last runner finished at 12:30 pm, it started to snow but the roads were clear and dry for the popular event which kicks off the 2017 Island Race Series and the British Columbia Super Series.  The BC Endurance Project Team, coached by former Pioneer winner Richard Lee, showcased their superior running talents by claiming the top 5 positions overall on the men's side and boasted the top female on the women's side.  The Pioneer race champions were Lucas Bruchet, Vancouver, in 23:34, and Rachel Cliff, Vancouver, 11th overall in 26:51.  Second place went to Justin Kent, of Burnaby, in 24:04, and Geoff Martinson, from Vancouver, placed third in 24:38.  The second and third females were both from Victoria with Hilary Stellingwerff finishing second in 27:51 and Jen Millar taking third in 29:21.  Bruce was the top master in 27:09 and Gary was first in the M60 age category in 31:33.  Bruce turned 50 on December 5, 2016 and Gary will turn 60 on October 23, 2017.  As the Series eligibility date for all age categories is December 31, 2017, Gary will have the benefit of running the entire Series as a 59-year-old while in the M60 division.  There were a total of 492 finishers today evenly split with 246 men and 246 women.  Of the 492 finishers, 62 were Harriers including 18 Youth Team members and all of them ran very well.  Twelve Harriers won their age divisions including Aimee Perry (F15), Trevor Neil (M15), Geoff Martinson (M30), Chris Callendar (M35), Shane Ruljancich (M40),Craig Odermatt (M45), Bruce Deacon (M50), Gary Duncan (M60), Joseph Camilleri (M65), Rob Grant (M70), Maree Kennell (F75) and John Woodall (M85).  Ten Harriers placed second in their respective age categories while 5 others were third.  The second race in the Island Series is the Cobble Hill 10K on January 22.  Congratulations to Race Director, Kathleen Birney, and her team of more than 40 race volunteers, for staging a very successful event.

January 1, 2017
John McManus and Sandy Auburn

John finished with only 10 seconds on the clock to win the 21st annual Harriers Memorial 10K Predicted Time Run at Beaver Lake Park today among 75 other club members.  For his efforts John was awarded a box of Belgian Biscuits which he shared with his PIH team mates before retiring to eat more cookies and drink hot chocolate at the Beaver Lake Picnic Shelter.  Event Director, Bob Reid, announced that a new Sandy Auburn Bursary will be established at Camosun College to honour a 30-year Harrier, Sandy, who had participated and volunteered at the Gunner Shaw Classic race for 30 consecutive years, at the Thetis Lake Relay for 20 years and at the Stewart Mountain Challenge for 10 years.  She passed away in August from pancreatic cancer but will never be forgotten.  Sandy was an active member of the Prairie Inn Hellions team which was formed in 1986 to participate in the inaugural Vancouver Island Road Relay from Courtenay to Victoria.  Her name, along with ultramarathoner Al Howie who we also lost in 2016, were both added to the Memorial Bench plaque of 23 Harriers and the participants today donated $3,750.00 to start the new Sandy Auburn Bursary with a goal of raising $10,000.00 to be given to Camosun College on January 1, 2018.  Donations from next year's New Year's Day Run will be topped up by proceeds from the Gunner Shaw, Thetis Relay and Stewart Mountain events to assure that the club will meet its target.  We sincerely thank all Harriers for their generosity and support of PIH's eighth scholarship and bursary at UVic or Camosun where we have contributed $150,000.00 to these two educational institutes since 1984.  Several students will benefit from the club initiatives.  Thank you, Harriers!

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