1st Half Marathon 2007 Recap – The good, bad, and ugly (thanks for the post John!)

Not sure what Matt was thinking of with the title, but I’ll substitute in my own interpretations: 1. the good: for good early season performances all around; 2. the bad: for the lovely mile long uphill to Prospect Point to detour the sunken seawall section; 3. the ugly: the competition! So ugly was the competiton that 1st time 1/2 marathoner Ryan Hayden (a former 3:44 1500m high school Vancouver runner) led a small group through the 1st mile (guess who was stationed there??) at 4:45, leaving the likes of Steve Osaduik and Mark Bomba already trailing. By the time I watched most of our runners around the 3 mile mark, and drove at totally inappropriate speeds straight to the halfway mark, a couple had already gone through (something under 1:02 pace!). But it was reassuring to know that they are mere mortals (or fools?) too, as they, along with most of our contingent and indeed the field, lost about 2 minutes in the “bad” second half. For the record, Ryan Hayden set a one second course record to win in 1:04:43. Graeme Wilson led the large VFAC group with a 9th place 1:12:47 (2nd in 35-39). Flu-fighting Simon Driver fought gamely to hold 10th in 1:13:49, while 14th place Paul Krochak finished close to his PB in 1:14:36, Matt Fedoruk finished 26th in 1:19:38, and Ernest Hawker 27th in 1:20:22. Lisa Harvey of Calgary led the also strong woman’s field in 1:16:41, while Katrina Driver held 4th for most of the race before being bumped one spot by Suzanne Evans, but still ran 2nd in the 25-29 and within a minute of her PR at 1:20:49 on an off day (well must be some reason for that slightly cocked head at 10 miles, Katrina ;). Natalie Closs came 14th and 2nd 35-39 in a big 1 1/2 minute PR of 1:29:22, while Adele Wilson was 2nd 45-49 in 1:35:29, and Sue Wasserman, making a big comeback, won the 55-59 in 1:43:26. Joel Werner in 1:23:04, Shu Sanantini in 1:27:12, Brian Kuchinka in 1:29:08, Cheryl Stevenson in 1:34:17, Sue Werner in 1:35:08, Todd Heintz in 1:36:41, Kim Jow in 1:37:01, Walter Kwan in 1:37:10, Trudi Jackson in 1:41:48, Sharon Emslie in 1:42:36, Lilian Wong in 1:47:49, Rick Horne in 1:55:40, and Imelda Wong in 1:57:57 also had good starts to the season! Meanwhile lets hope the whole Seawall sits high and dry next year…. New photos posted (click “photos” tab above). Overall Race results here. Women’s results. Men’s Results. Age group results.