Perhaps one of the greatest club members over the past 15 years our Langley resident, Steve Osaduik, is a three-time winner of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, a three-time winner of the Times Colonist 10K and a six-time champion of the Frontrunners Island Race Series with more than 30 overall Series race victories.  He boasts a 30 minute 10K personal best time and a 2:14 marathon P.B. and has literally won hundreds of races on Vancouver Island.  Steve has represented Team BC at many national championships and has represented Team Canada at many international Championships.  He is clearly the "one to beat" in any race that he enters on Vancouver Island or on the Lower Mainland.  He's one of Canada's finest marathoners and now is shifting his focus to ultramarathons where he registered for the Harriers Elk/Beaver 50 Miler but couldn't make the race due to work commitments.

It has been over two years since Steve has raced when he was named Harriers Runner-of-the Week for his February 5, 2012 victory at the Surf City USA Championship Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, California. He won that race in 1:06:36 beating a staggering 14,127 finishers.  Six days later, he placed second in 1:07:27 to Dylan Wykes in the BC Championship First Half Half Marathon in Vancouver.  Following the race in 2012, Steve transformed from a full-time athlete to a full-time physical construction worker, working a grueling 10 hours a day.  His slim 125-pound athletic body transformed into a muscular 140-pound labourer's body over that two year period with very little time for running.  The soft-spoken Steve visited Bob Reid on June 2, 2014 and said, "I need some new Harriers racing gear as my small club singlet is too tight and I want to race next weekend in Whistler." Bob outfitted him with a new medium singlet, medium shorts and medium socks and he was good to go for his comeback race, the Comfortably Numb 25K rugged trail race in Whistler.  He had up-sized from small to medium.

Bob discovered Steve in 1995 at a cross country race when he was 19 years old and invited him to join the Harriers after graduating from high school in Nanaimo.  The two have been good friends ever since and keep in touch with racing schedules and travel plans.  Steve and his family often stay at Bob's house when visiting or racing in Victoria.  The Harriers have assisted with his travel to Japan, Europe, United States and other countries to compete in high-calibre marathons and half marathons.

Steve was a little nervous going into the race as he had only been back running for three weeks, getting up at 5:00 a.m. to train for an hour or two before going to work at 7:30 a.m.  Once the starter's pistol was fired, the nerves quickly disappeared as Steve, now 35 years old, was first to break the tape at the Comfortably Numb 25K in 2:03:20 good for a 57 second margin of victory over Chuck Cosman, 31, who finished in 2:04:18, followed by Vincent Pagot, 27, in 2:04:52. The top three women were Laura Bestow, 28, 9th overall in 2:15:46, Harriers Cara Williams, 36, 19th in 2:26:31, and Victoria's Jennie Sprigings, 34, 22nd in 2:31:02. There were 91 finishers at the Comfortably Numb 25K including 47 men and 44 women in a unique trail race that only has three age categories, under-40, 40 to 49 and 50 and older. Welcome back to the racing scene, Steve, well done with your comeback victory in Whistler in a new medium Harriers singlet!