Soaked Scotiabank Half

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….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*