Vancouver Falcons Athletics Club (VFAC)

2012 Club Rankings – to April 29th

John — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:31:20 +0000

5 Km

Overall Male/ Overall Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 15:34/ 1 Anne-Marie Madden 17:30=PB
2 David Palermo 15:52 / 2 Katherine Moore 18:14 PB
3 Drew Nicholson 16:36 / 3 Kristin Smart 18:23 PB
4 Mark Bennett 16:37 / 4 Rebecca Reid 18:58 PB
5 Ramsey Ezzat 16:43 / 5 Susie Lang-Gould 19:20 PB

Masters Male/ Masters Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 15:34 / 1 Rebecca Reid 18:58 PB
2 Mark Bennett 16:37 / 2 Susie Lang-Gould 19:20 PB
3 Tim Nixon 18:37 / 3 Helen Ritchie 19:30

8 Km/ 5 Mile

Overall Male/ Overall Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 25:39/ 1 Catherine Watkins 28:45 PB
2 Drew Nicholson 26:42/ 2 Heather Durkin 29:22*PB
3 Roy Millen 28:21/ 3 Katherine Moore 29:22 PB
4 John Atkinson 28:23*PB/ 4 Kristin Smart 29:49 PB
5 Jono Lloyd 28:40/ 5 Helen Ritchie 31:18 PB

Masters Male/ Masters Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 25:39/ 1 Catherine Watkins 28:45 PB
2 Dave Stephens 29:49/ 2 Helen Ritchie 31:18 PB
3 Jo Astoria 30:04/ 3 Rebecca Reid 31:27 PB

* denotes 5 Mile time which is ~10 sec longer than 8 Km

10 Km

Overall Male/ Overall Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 31:32/ 1 Anne-Marie Madden 35:11 PB
2 David Palermo 32:48/ 2 Katherine Moore 36:56
3 Drew Nicholson 33:27/ 3 Kristin Smart 37:25 PB
4 Mark Bennett 33:27 PB/ 4 Rebecca Reid 37:26 PB
5 Darren Lee 34:32 PB/ 5 Mary Walsh 38:57 PB
6 Jono Lloyd 35:28/ 6 Brooke Spence 39:01 PB
7 Mike Palichuk 35:57/ 7 Helen Ritchie 39:19
8 John Atkinson 36:14/ 8 Alex Lea 39:23 PB
9 Roy Millen 36:25/ 9 Katie Wadden 39:27 PB
10 Russ Ladd 36:25 PB/ 10 Karyn Mitchell 39:34

Masters Male/ Masters Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 31:32/ 1 Rebecca Reid 37:26 PB
2 Mark Bennett 33:27 PB/ 2 Mary Walsh 38:57 PB
3 Mike Plalichuk 35:57/ 3 Helen Ritchie 39:19
4 Russ Ladd 36:25 PB/ 4 Karyn Mitchell 39:34
5 Dave Stephens 36:44/ 5 Susie Lang-Gould 39:52 PB

Half Marathon

Overall Male/ Overall Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 1:08:46/ 1 Anne-Marie Madden 1:18:39 PB
2 David Palermo 1:10:57 PB/ 2 Heather Durkin 1:21:53 PB
3 Mark Bennett 1:13:46 PB/ 3 Kristin Smart 1:22:18 PB
4 Drew Nicholson 1:14:21 / 4 Rebecca Reid 1:23:57 PB
5 Dave Gibbon 1:14:46 PB/ 5 Mary Walsh 1:25:49 PB
6 Jono Lloyd 1:16:34 PB/ 6 Helen Ritchie 1:26:17
7 Darren Lee 1:17:27 PB/ 7 Brooke Spence 1:26:33 PB
8 Barry Young 1:18:08 PB/ 8 Alex Lea 1:26:40 PB
9 Ramsey Ezzat 1:18:15 PB/ 9 Shannon Berardo 1:27:36 PB
10 John Atkinson 1:19:09 PB/ 10 Amanda Groves 1:27:43 PB

Masters Male/ Masters Female

1 Kevin O’Connor 1:08:46/ 1 Rebecca Reid 1:23:57 PB
2 Mark Bennett 1:13:46 PB/ 2 Mary Walsh 1:25:49 PB
3 Dave Gibbon 1:14:46 PB/ 3 Helen Ritchie 1:26:17

Jerry Ziak at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Trinidad

will — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:45:45 +0000

Fellow community runner Jerry Ziak represented Canada at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Trinidad. Jerry wrote a race report about his experience in Trindad.

Hello Everyone,

I’m now back in Vancouver after my whirlwind trip to Trinidad for the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Cross Country Championships on Saturday, and I just wanted to send out a big thank you to all the all the individuals who pitched in financially and to help me get there and supported me in general throughout my journey to this event. I would also like to thank DDs Pizza for hosting my fundraising dinner two weeks ago, Forerunners and the Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club for their generous donations, and my sponsor Mizuno for keeping me running comfortably in the latest shoe and apparel technology.

Although I was only there for 3 full days (since both Wednesday and Sunday were both 20 hour travel days) it was a fantastic trip and an incredible racing experience. There were 3 full teams representing Canada at these Championships (Junior men and women (19 and under) and Senior men (over 19) and all three teams had strong races, placing 2nd behind the Americans in all three categories (full results at http://www.ttnaaa.org/~results/2012/nacac_xc/).

The conditions were unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in cross country. The Canadian cross country experience is usually one of pouring rain, mud, and 5 degree temperatures. At this race the course was dry and hard, the sun was beating down on our heads while we were running at the hottest time of the day (4:30 start for the Senior men), and the temperature with the humidex hovered at 37 degrees. It was the only cross country race I’ve ever competed in that had a water station set up at the start of each 2 km loop! Fortunately, these conditions were anticipated and my 10 days of heat preparation before I left (wearing up to 6 layers of clothing) seemed to prepare me quite well for the discomfort to come.

My plan was to go out conservatively at the back of the pack and move up as the race went on. There are always runners in any race who go out too fast regardless of the temperature but on a day like this I knew the consequences of this common mistake would be greatly amplified. So, according to plan, I started out nice and relaxed on the first 2 km loop and sat back in about 20th place in the 32 person field. I was hoping to increase my pace as the race went on, with the goal of finishing in the top 5 but, unfortunately, even with my conservative start, I found that the best I could do was simply maintain my pace. This was still good enough to carry me past 8 of my competitors to an 11th place finish, but it was a frustrating (and very painful) experience to be putting so much effort into simply not going backwards.

I’ve been going back and forth in my mind about whether I’m happy or disappointed with this race, and the truth is, I’m both. I wish I could have been faster on the day and placed higher than I did, knowing that there were people ahead of me who I’ve beaten before and wanting to contribute to the highest possible finish for Team Canada, but I also know that I gave it everything I had on the day. There were some injury problems that I suffered in the month leading up to this race that prevented me from doing some of the faster workouts I would usually do in preparation for a race of this caliber but, although I can explore training solutions that may prevent this from happening again in the future, this wasn’t something I could do anything about once I toed the line and waited for the sound of the gun. All I could do was run my best possible race at that moment and I’m really happy that I did exactly this. As I was running I thought about how proud I was to be representing Canada and all of you in my local running community and this really did help carry me forward as I fought for every possible place.
Thank you all again for your support and encouragement!

Cheers,

Jerry

If you are interested, you can check out photos from the race here
For those of you who haven’t seen Jerry in awhile, he’s number 23 and wearing the white cap.

VFAC Hoodie by Ironhead

will — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:49:00 +0000

Steve Malyon has sorted a slick club garment…
a Limited Edition VFAC Hoodie by Ironhead – available for purchase here.
Hoodies are blue in colour and are $64.63 (taxes in)
If you want to pop by the Ironhead shop to check out their merchandise, you can visit them at 1952 West 4th Avenue – here’s a map

2012 “First Half” Half Marathon – Results, Photos and Video

will — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:28:19 +0000

Great VFAC representation at the “First Half” Half Marathon, put on annually by Pacific Road Runners running club.

The official results can be found here.

Illustrious club member Rick Horne wrote a little blurb, took some pictures, took some video, and put together a tidy list of significant club member achievements in the race. Nicely done Rick.

Rick writes:
On February 12th, the Pacific Road Runners hosted the 23rd “First Half” Half Marathon in Vancouver, BC. As a member of VFAC (Vancouver Falcons Athletic Club) I could not help but be inspired by the great performanaces of the “Blue Team”. In many cases personal bests were set, age group categories won, age group records set. In other cases members persevered through the proverbial “hard day” or muscle cramps. Whatever their personal result, all of the runners were winners and were supported on the course by our Coach John Hill and by many other VFAC members who weren’t running that day. 39 raced and 19 set new personal bests!

Kevin O’Connor – 1:08:46 1st Master, 1st M40-44 Age Group, New M40-44 Age Group Record, 1st Age Graded 1:03:58
David Palermo – 1:12:10
Mark Bennett – 1:13:44 PB, 1st M50-54 Age Group, New M50-54 Age Group Record, 3rd Age Graded 1:04:43
David Gibbons – 1:14:46 PB, 2nd M45-49 Age Group
Drew Nicholson – 1:15:06
Jonathan Lloyd – 1:16:34 PB
Barry Young – 1:18:08 PB
John Atkinson – 1:19:09 PB
Roy Millen – 1:19:15
Anne-Marie Madden – 1:19:58, 4th Female, 2nd F30-34 Age Group
Jo Astoria – 1:20:45
Darren Lee – 1:20:58
Dave Stephens – 1:21:22, 2nd M50-54 Age Group
Heather Durkin – 1:21:53 PB
Russ Ladd – 1:22:07, 3rd M50-54 Age Group
Kristin Smart – 1:22:19 PB, 2nd F25-29 Age Group
Gord Carscadden – 1:25:24
Rebecca Reid – 1:25:30 PB, 1st F45-49 Age Group
Brooke Spence – 1:26:40 PB
Helen Ritchie – 1:27:36, 2nd F45-49 Age Group
Tracy Wakaluk – 1:27:46 PB, 3rd F40-44 Age Group
Alicia Woodside – 1:28:05 PB, 3rd F20-24 Age Group
Shannon Berardo – 1:28:19 PB
Ryan Allderman – 1:28:51
Allison Ezzat – 1:28:51 PB
Vicky Harris – 1:28:55 PB
Jackie Spencer – 1:29:02 PB
Amanda Groves – 1:29:03 PB
David Han – 1:30:17 PB
Alex Lea – 1:30:35 PB
Scott Rotherham – 1:31:39
Angela D’Elia – 1:32:49
Sue Kwan – 1:33:06
Chris Chan – 1:38:54 PB
Kim Jow – 1:41:02
Sophie Dansereau – 1:42:50
Jennifer Beever – 1:42:51 PB
Yvonne Carinha – 1:44:40 PB

Rick’s PHOTOS can be found here.

Rick’s VIDEO can be found here.

will — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:26:29 +0000

Club 5 Mile Handicap Race

John — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:14:31 +0000

The annual race was held Saturday, Jan 21 in good conditions, despite the pounding rain hours earlier threatening the usual winter ‘handicaps’. So, eager to get back post ‘active rest’ racing legs, a blue train 37 strong (likely the largest turnout ever) toed the line at their coach determined–sans bribes–starting times. The rest must have worked (or was it just getting a break from the coach?), as over half finished with personal bests (for 8Km/5 mile). Congratulations to new member Ben Hanemaayer for winning the “First Runner Home” Trophy, even though he thought he was just showing up for a regular workout! Times are as follows in order of descending actual times. (5 miles is ~10 seconds longer than 8K)

Kevin O’Connor 25:49 (fastest male trophy)
John Atkinson 28:23 PB
Roy Millen 29:05
Heather Durkin 29:22 PB (fastest female trophy)
Kristin Smart 29:52 PB
Jo Astoria 30:07
Brian Devereux 31:00
Steve Malyon 31:04 PB
Omid Kiamanesh 31:18 PB
Ryan Fetterly 31:30 PB
Rebecca Reid 31:40
Amiel Logan 31:45
Allison Tai 31:51 PB
Chris Brandt 31:58 (welcome back to racing!)
Vicki Harris 32:13 PB
Jackie Spencer 32:25 PB
Shannon Berardo 32:25 PB
Alex Lea 32:26 PB
Brooke Spence 32:26 PB
Allison Ezzat 32:28 PB
Amanda Groves 32:30 PB
Karyn Mitchell 32:31 PB
Susie Lang-Gould 32:52 PB
Sue Kwan 32:56 PB
Bob Wade 33:05
David Han 33:06
Alicia Woodside 33:38 PB
Scott Rotherham 33:39 PB
Angela D’Elia 33:40
Ben Hanemaayer 34:04 PB
Jim Davies 34:23
Adele Wilson 34:35 (Welcome back. Adele!)
Mary Walsh 34:43
Bill Codville 36:07
Chris Chan 36:24 PB
Dave Seabrook 36:32
Rick Horne 43:06

Awards and Christmas Party 2011

John — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:19:30 +0000

The annual Awards Night and Christmas Party was held on Friday, Dec 17 at the Brockton Pavilion. A large turnout of almost 60 people attended, enjoyed too much great food (well speaking for myself, anyhow) and kept the hapless bar attendant “hop”ping til 1AM (she obviously made a quick study of VFAC proclivities the previous year!)

Congratulations to the following award winners:

Outstanding Female Athlete
- Anne-Marie Madden

Outstanding Male Athlete
- Kevin O’Connor

Outstanding Master Female Athlete
- Catherine Watkins

Outstanding Master Male Athlete
- Kevin O’Connor

Outstanding Age-Rated Athlete
- Mark Bennett

Most Improved Athlete (Coaches Award)
- Kristin Smart

Hall of Fame Outstanding Service Award
- Janette Purdham
- Kevin O’Connor

Hall of Fame Athlete’s Athlete Award
- Janette Purdham

Big thanks to Janette for again organizing the party so capably, and to the MC’s KO and Karyn Mitchell.

Last Race of the Season

will — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:52:38 +0000

The running season closed out Sunday with the most prestigious race of the VFAC calendar.
Long hours of training were put to the test in this year’s running of the VFAC Beer Mile. A surprisingly close finish as last year’s champ Ryan Conroy was edged out by Jono Lloyd for the coveted title.
Full results can be found here.

2011 Club Rankings

John — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:07:50 +0000

Overall Male / Overall Female

1 Jay MacDonald 15:20 / 1 Catherine Watkins 17:31
2 Kevin O’Connor 15:20 / 2 Heather Durkin 17:54
3 David Palermo 15:39 / 3 Katherine Moore 18:03
4 Ynuk Bosse 16:03 / 4 Kris Smart 18:58
5 Drew Nicholson 16:25 / 5 Helen Ritchie 19:10
6 Roy Millen 16:35 / 6 Karyn Mitchell 19:11
7 Mark Bennett 16:36 / 7 Rebecca Reid 19:23