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

As an appropriately impartial coach, it was a good thing I was away on the weekend, as it made it easy to decide which of another 3 VFAC- dominated races to attend…..none of them!! Actually, a bit of a shame, as many deserved full support.

To start things off, Simon and Katrina Driver won the mens and womens overall titles in the Iron Knee 25K (Half Knacker) Trail Race, each winning $300 in the process. Simon beat Ryan Bremner by 2 1/2 min in a very good 1:33:46, while Katrina had only 6 men ahead of her at 1:42:57, 9 minutes up on the next woman (Nicola Gildersleeve). Indefatiguable Lilian Wong won the W50-59 in 2:22:14 and was 130th of the 317 finishers.

At the hilly Shaughnessy 8K, Paul Krochak finished 3rd overall out of 320 in 27:21, 1:07 behind winner Jamie Epp. Ernest Hawker was 10th overall in 28:52. Following Nancy Tinari’s winning 29:58, Laura De Munain just missed second by a second in 31:52, while Katherine Moore was next in 32:46. More importantly, each picked up valuable Timex Series points, to continue leading the W35-39 and W30-34 divisions (sorry Katherine, we know you’re not really 30….yet).

Finally, at the PMC-Sierra Science Fair 5K, we would have had 1-2-3, if winner and 2004-6 VFAC member Roy Millen had rejoined (how about it, Roy?). However, right behind his winning 16:32 was Jeff Lopes, back into racing with an excellent 16:36 PB. Next was new member Brian Devereux in a 17:36 PB (watch out for those ex-Waterford lads!). Todd Heintz also ran a good 19:56 on the flat False Creek course, to finish 25th amongst the 742 finishers.

Next time I’ll have to get off the fence!

In the well run Mother’s Day 5K in Port Moody, VFAC runners again showed their mettle for racking up Timex Series points in a heavy medal performance. (See all 7 medal wearers in the Flickr photos)

Oliver Utting won the race in 15:29 on the roller coaster course (mostly on a bike path), while Meaghan McCollum was 1st woman in 17:28. Kapil Anand was 1st VFACer with huge ~40 sec PB 17:27 to finish 10th overall and 3rd 20-29. Next were Guy Smith, winning the 50-54 in 17:43, and Bob Wade 2nd in the 44-49 with a 18:01. Fiona Jenkins was our 1st female, finishing 6th overall with a 18:59 PB (and 4th 20-29). Next was Laura De Munain, placing 2nd in the 35-39 with a 19:35. Adele Wilson won her 1st race in the 50-54 category in style, her 19:47 being the 2nd best age-rated time amongst all females in the race! They were followed by Bonnie Kramer with a 21:41 PB (4th 35-39), Sharon Emslie, whose 21:45 placed her 2nd in the 45-49, Lilian Wong winning the 55-59 with a 22:20 a week after her 3:52 Vancouver Marathon, and Rick Horne with a 24:01 and 5th M55-59.

The race had a record 312 finishers, helped no doubt by the free kids 1k event. Phoenix, the organizers, also put up $500 for the top age-rated club team of 5, but deservedly took it themselves. We finished 3rd, but with a few more out there next year….and also note to all, remember to put VFAC on the entry whenever it asks for team or club name!!

PS Simon Cowell you can’t hide….. congrats on your 4th overall in the Pacific Spirit Trail Race!

A small VFAC group (no, I won’t go into why, will I John!!) took part in the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon & Marathon on another rainy Sunday. But good things come in small packages as 3 women were in the top 10 amongst 3682! female finishers in the 1/2, and (OK, not exactly small) Chris Downie finally cracked the 3 hour barrier in the full marathon.

Rita Ivanauskas continued her money streak finishing second only to Suzanne Evans’ 1:18:28, with an very good 1:25:15 on the tough course, pocketing $500US. She picked up a further $100US in winning the W40-44, while Katherine Moore had a 3 minute PB at 1:26:52 to finish 5th overall and 1st, also for $100US, in the W25-29. Laura De Munain ran a 1:29:13 to finish 10th overall. Chris Drozda was 12th overall and 2nd M35-39 with a good 1:17:40. New member Gord Ahrens ran 1:28:46, while Rhys Howard at 1:35:44 and Kim Jow at 1:36:35 ran seasonal bests.

The full was won in a there-for-the-taking 2:25:23 by Kenyan Thomas Omwenga, while Argentinian Claudia Camargo evened things out with a female record of 2:35:46. Chris D. broke 3 in style knocking off almost 10 minutes with a 2:51:10, good for 25th overall and 4th M35-39 amongst the ~3100 finishers. With a little more prudence in the early pace and an absense of pitstops, we’re going to see more PB’s from this guy! New member Patrick Gill ran 3:04:17, while Lilian Wong ran 3:51:34.

On the eve of the 36th annual BMO Vancouver Marathon I thought it would be fun to take everyone on a journey back in time, highlighting past performances, namely our coach John Hill. He’s pretty modest about the past, but for all those that were unaware, he did win the 1978 Vancouver Marathon in 2:20:49. The old course took the runners around Stanley Park – 5 loops!! Excellent for spectating. Even more interesting, he out ran New Zealander Ross Jackson who had previously won two years before in 1976. For all those that might be wondering, yes, this is Trudi’s Dad – Ross Jackson. He and his wife Sally were living in Vancouver at the time, and Trudi was still a toddler but obviously her keen interest in sports was developed early on! Hope you all enjoy the photos!

It must be good prep to help out at our own races (hint, hint). A day after hosting the Spring Classic 5K, VFAC runners, including indefatigable race director and prez Matt Fedoruk, totally dominated the field of almost 500 in the April Fool’s Run Half Marathon on the Sunshine Coast. In very cool but partly sunny conditions, Matt led the field out of Gibson’s down to the first mile in 5:05, the $50 preem thus won unfortunately fooling him about the real finish line 12+ miles on . After a serious dose of lactic acid, he settled into 6th behind Graeme Wilson, Simon Driver, Stan Jang, Paul Krochak and new member Shaun Stephens-Whale. Graeme steadily pulled away to run his second half marathon PB in as many weeks (no, don’t try this at home either!), winning ($300) in 1:10:45. Simon also ran solo most of the way to a 1:12:25 PB for second and $150, while Paul moved past Jang into third around halfway and pulled away to a 1:14:12 PB and $100.

But it was Katrina Driver who stole the entire show, smartly pacing to move into fifth overall with a huge 2 min PB and VFAC record 1:18:29! It was her 3rd PB and second VFAC record in 3 weeks, and also her well-earned 2nd straight $300 payday.

Behind her, Shaun and Matt held on with respectable 1:19:10 and 1:20:06 6th (1st under 20) and 7th place (2nd 30-34) overall finishes. Joel Werner, on the comeback trail rounded out the top ten (3rd 30-34) in 1:22:37. But, we weren’t done yet as Chris Brandt, also on a PB roll, knocked about a minute off to finish 11th (3rd 35-39) in 1:23:29. Natalie Closs was 6th female overall and 2nd 35-39 in 1:30:39, followed by Kirsty Siemens, who also won $50 as first female master in 1:31:34, and Sue Werner with a big 2 minute PB of 1:32:55 to win the 30-34. Trudi Jackson rounded out the top 10 woman and placed 3rd in the 30-34 with a 1:34:54. Imelda Wong ran a respectable 1:53:24 after a long lay off.

They won’t get fooled again!! (sorry, couldn’t resist)

Weekend PS
When are these multiple race weekends going to abate…. I’m getting writer’s cramp. But, alas, we still had enough racers to go around. In our Spring Classic 5K, Guy Smith won the 50-54 in 17:44, Nicola Everton won the female Masters in 19:58, new member Laura DeMunain was right behind, winning the 35-39 in 19:59, Katherine Moore PB’ed in 20:02, Rhys Howard ran 21:24, Sharon Emslie won the 45-49 in 21:44, Bonnie Kramer opened her season with a 22:21, and Lilian Wong won the 55-59 in 23:03. Finally, in the Mission Spring Ahead on Sunday, Dave Palma won the very hilly 1/2 Marathon in 1:21:35 and Shu Sanantini placed 2nd in the 40-44 in 1:28:09, while Bob Wade started his season with a solid 18:56 in the 5K.

Done! (my apologies if I missed anyone)

In the world of local trail running, the premiere event – The Knee Knacker – will take place this coming Saturday, July 8th, on the North Shore. The 50km race traverses the trails of West and North Vancouver, beginning in Horseshoe Bay and finishing in Deep Cove.

This year two VFAC athletes will take on the challenge – Joel Werner and Ian Klassen. Trail-running enthusiast Scott McMillan will unfortunately be unable to compete due to leg injury.

The race started out as a “fun run” with only 8 participants in 1989, when the sport of ultramarathoning (races longer than a 26.2 mile marathon) was in its infancy in Canada. While there are races over distances much longer than the 30 miles covered by the Knee Knacker, not many are tougher.

Joel is feeling pretty confident for race day, having completed a few of the group North Shore trail training runs in last few weeks. He commented that there was still a lot of snow on Black Mountain which will make navigation somewhat challenging. Getting lost and losing precious minutes was one of his worries.

Hoping to crack the top-10, Joel feels that pacing is key in this pure endurance event, “If you start off too hard, you’ll be toast in the later stages.” The men’s division will see last year’s champion, and world-class triathlete, Mark Bates return to defend his title.

Last year’s champion, Suzanne Evans will be vying for the title again this year on the women’s side. Evans posted a blistering pace in the final quarter of the 2005 race, second only to overall winner, Mark Bates. However, rumour has it that first-timer and elite athlete Lisa Polizzi is a force to be reckoned with in this year’s race.

The race starts at 6:00 a.m. Saturday, July 8th just above Horseshoe Bay, Exit #4, off of Westport Road. Runners must arrive at the Panorama Park beach in Deep Cove by the race cut-off time of 4:00 p.m. Following is a schedule of where and when to catch the top runners in action:

First Man First Woman

7:15 a.m. 7:35 a.m. Cypress Bowl Downhill Ski Area
8:15 8:45 Cleveland Dam parking lot
9:20 10:10 Seymour Demonstration Forest parking lot
10:40 11:40 Panorama Park, Deep Cove

Thought I would share the next cool thing coming to a store near you…the new Nike + iPod Sport Kit. Appears quite cool at first glance – plug in the receiver into your iPod and then sensor goes into the sole of your special Nike+ shoe. Kind of like 007? Sign-up on the website: www.nikeplus.com and you’re good to go. Compete with your friends for the highest mileage…perfect for the A-type personality in all of us.

Now there will be even more of those freaks out on the trails, not aware of anyone around them, and busting out the miles just so they can download their running distances and compare with their buddies when they get home. Great.

After days of glorious weather, the skies opened up on Thursday afternoon and the relentless rain pounded the athletes at the 23rd Annual Harry Jerome International Track Classic held Thursday night at Swangard Stadium in Central Park, Burnaby.

In recent years, numbers of athletes have diminished and the format of the meet has been changed to more of a friendly competition format between Canadian and Chinese athletes. This year, the addition of an Alberta vs. BC category brought a few more homegrown athletes out to the track and field competition. As usual, the crowds were mostly made up of hard core track and field fans, willing to brave the chilly temperatures to watch some rather impressive performances despite the horrid conditions.

We arrived in time to take in the 800m, Canadian Olympian Diane Cummins cruising to a comfortable win in 2:04.23 in front of Lui Qing of China. On the men’s side, Achraf Tadili took out the pace hard behind the rabbit, and led for the entire race, finishing in 1:46.87. In the 1500m, Canada finished one-two with Megan Metcalfe cruising by Malindi Elmore in the final 100m to finish in 4:13.22. In the men’s race, Ryan McKenzie dominated the race from start to finish in 3:43.88, with Matt Kerr from Ontario outkicking Paul Hoffman of Australia crossing the line in 3:45.95 for second place.

Tyler Christopher crushed the competition in the Men’s 400m, finishing in the second fastest time ever run at the Harry Jerome Track Classic in 45.30. On the women’s side, Sheena Johnson from the USA, outleaned Canada’s Adrienne Power to finish in 52.85.

All in all, not a bad night of racing. Canada dominated China in most events, the final points totals:

1. Canada – 96
2. China – 75

However, I can’t help but think if there had been some more distance events – namely a 3000m steeple, 5000m, and 10,000m, things might have been much different. It’s always great to get a glimpse of some previous Olympians and Olympic Champions. I miss the glory days of the 90′s when some big names in track and field made the trek to Vancouver – Bruny Surin, Jeff Schiebler, Carl Lewis, Suzy Hamilton, and always a large Japanese distance contingent to compete at Harry Jerome.
Hey John, sorry for playing hooky from workout!