Archive for June, 2007

This year’s Scotiabank 1/2 Marathon produced a rare deluge of personal bests and near bests. Perhaps it had something to do with the thunderstorm from midway on at least being a better alternative than the usual summer heat. Also the new finish with a long gradual downhill down Pacific Ave instead of a too quick and steep drop to the Seawall was a big help, but would have been even better had anyone known that it also made the finish about 500m earlier than before.

The race was won as usual by a Kenyan, this time by Patrick Nthiwa in a very fast 1:03:10. Graeme Wilson again was top VFACer, finishing 9th overall and 1st 35-39 in 1:10:57 (exactly 1 second faster than last year and only 12 seconds off his PB!). Chris Drozda was next in 1:17:23 and just missing the top 3 35-39. Joel Werner returned to form, running 1:19:55, good for 3rd 30-34, Bob Wade had a big 3 1/2 minute 1:20:54 PB, and Shu Sanantini had a 2 minute PB at 1:24:07.

Another Kenyan, Magdalene Mukunzi, led the women this year in 1:14:02. Rita Ivanauskas led all the Masters (and VFAC) women and added $200 to her likely club record yearly winnings with her 2nd best ever time of 1:24:55. Katherine Moore ran 1:26:12 for her 3rd PB this year, to place 3rd 25-29, and Laura De Munain was close behind in 1:26:44, a 3 minute PB!

Other good performances were turned in by Ryan Allderman with a 1:26:43 PB, new member Marty Glendenning at 1:27:41, Tracy Hall in 1:28:25, Natalie Closs in 1:30:52, new member Mary Walsh in 1:32:55, and Sue Werner in 1:34:17. Off very little training, Simon Cowell ran 1:27:46 and Leslie Black 1:34:04….a mere foreshadowing of greater things to come(back)??

All 3350 soaked finishers definitely earned a gold star (did the other 700 hundred entrants know something was coming?)

VFAC half year rankings to follow soon….

It was indeed a long day, leaving for California early in the morning and, since I was missing the real action at UBC, having to make do with the next best thing and partake of the San Francisco Friday night scene. Actually the day went all too quickly, like the Longest Day 5K race and several VFACers in it. We had 13 medallists (and again lots of Timex Series points!), and 22 of the 352 finishers!

Graeme Wilson again led the charge, finishing 2nd to Series leader Oliver Utting by 10 seconds in 15:34. New member Ynuk Bosse was 8th in 16:11. Craig Chilton was 2nd 35-39 in 16:46, Ernest Hawker 4th 40-44 in 17:06, Joel Werner was 2nd 30-34 in 17:14, Kapil Anand had another PB of 17:25, Guy Smith (again) won the 50-54 in 17:37, Bob Wade was 2nd 45-49 in 17:42, Chris Brandt had a 17:53 PB, Rod Urquhart was 3rd 45-49 in 18:21, Brian Devereux was 18:30, new member Ryan Allderman had a 18:38 PB, and Rick Horne had his best time in 11 years with a 23:28.

Among the women, (won by Kristine Rody in 17:30), Fiona Jenkins was 7th overall and won the 25-29 in a good 18:55 PB, Natalie Closs got her groove back, finishing 8th overall and 1st 35-39 with a 19:14 (PB?), Kirsty Siemens was 1 place and 1 second behind and 1st 40-44 in 19:15, Laura De Munain was another place back (I think I’m going to have to separate you 3 in workout!) and 2nd 35-39 in 19:18, Adele Wilson won the 50-54 in 19:44, about to be new member Mary Walsh was 3rd 35-39 in 19:58, and Lilian Wong again won the 55-59 in 22:48.

Haven’t been debriefed on the post-race debriefing, but maybe that’s a good thing– I won’t know what I missed!

See several pics in Flickr, some courtesy of Katherine (thanks!)

Whew, another slew of top two results.

Last weekend, Simon and Katrina Driver started things off with Katrina winning (55:00) and Simon (49:03) 2nd to Morgan Titus by only 18 seconds in the Buntzen Lake 5 Peaks Trail Race. More importantly it earned them valuable points towards re-qualifying for the World Mountain Running Championships in Switzerland. Shaun Stephens-Whale placed 7th overall in 54:03 in winning the juniors, to also make a big step to towards re-qualifying for the World’s Junior Division. Chris Downie was 8th in an identical time, Chris Drozda next in 54:51, and Katrina 10th overall out of 192 finishers.

The next day at the Timex Series Sandcastle 10K in White Rock, Graeme Wilson and new member Emma Hann reversed the order, with Graeme running solo most of the way to win in 32:27, while Emma was 2nd in 37:06, only 42 seconds behind winner Tina Connelly. Ernest Hawker was 8th overall in 35:53, and Bob Wade was 10th overall and 2nd M45-49, missing his PB by only 6 seconds in 36:35. Guy Smith won the M50-54 in 36:56, Kapil Anand continued his PB ways with a 37:35 to win the M20-24, Fiona Jenkins won the F25-29 in 40:19, Laura De Munain was 3rd F35-39 in 40:27, Adele Wilson was 2nd F50-54 in 42:27, and Sharon Emslie 2nd F45-49 in 45:44. Funny, all I saw was downhills, but I am assured that all non driveable sections of the course are straight uphill. Seriously, these were good times on a deceivingly tough course!

But that’s only half the story for last weekend (I think it took me a week to get all these results down). Also on the Saturday was the Ambleside Masters Mile, where again we had a 2nd. Nicola Everton timed her sprint just a tad early, her 5:05 only 2 seconds short of always late charging Nancy Tinari’s 5:03. Dave Reed was 6th overall in 4:35 (to Rob Lonergan’s winning and near record 4:19). Kim Jow ran a very solid 5:27, Kirsty Siemens finished 4th overall woman in 5:33, while Rhys Howard ran 5:49 to place 39th out of the 114 finishers. To be ever the brutally honest coach, the course is probably ~10-12 seconds fast with the net downhill, but, again, all very good times regardless. Finally on Sunday, in blistering 38 degree heat at the Oliver Half Ironman, Paul Krochak was 2nd heading into the run against a weaker runner, but went 2 miles off course before jogging in to a 15th 4:43:35 finish. Joel Werner finished in a very creditable 5:03:07 to place 50th overall out of the 679 finishers. Dave Palma finished in 5:13:38, while Sue Werner kept both on their toes (in their clip-ons??) finishing right behind in 5:16:24 to place 14th overall female.

This past weekend was relatively quiet by comparison, as the Harry Jerome Track Meet and the ITU World Cup Triathlon heated up the local scene (see winner Simon Whitfield on the podium in Flickr, if you haven’t seen it ubiquitously already). None-the-less, we recorded yet another 2nd overall finisher. In the Seek the Peak Race, Grouse Grind rookie Graeme Wilson prudently held back to watch how old pro Colin Dignum does it, and finished only 1:16 behind him and ahead of the other 245 mountain runners in 1:26:31…..and he just did this to get out of a tempo run!!

Full results for all of these races are available at Race Headquarters