BC Road Running Rankings: Highlights 2003

2003 Year End Highlights

There were many outstanding performances throughout the year, but the following represent the most significant Road Running achievements by BC athletes in 2003:

  • On the international stage Bruce Deacon's silver medal in the marathon at the Pan American Games was the highlight of the year. Although his time was significantly slower than his best, it must be remembered that conditions in the Dominican Republic were far from ideal for marathoning.
  • Ken Myers, representing Simon Fraser University, also won a marathon silver at the NAIA Championships in Kansas.
  • BJ McHugh improved her own F75-79 world age best for the marathon in Victoria with a time of 4:08:54.
  • There were a number of BC age best performances, all set by women:
    • Maureen de St Croix had the unique distinction of setting age bests in two different age groups. Her 10K Sun Run time of 35:37 was an F45-49 best. Later in the year she set a 5K best for the F50-54 age group of 18:08.
    • BJ McHugh set F75-79 age bests of 26:00 (5K), 41:45 (8K), and 50:33 (10K) in addition to her marathon best. All of these are also likely national age best performances.
    • Joan McGrath recorded the fastest legal F40-44 half marathon in 1:19:02.
    • Gwyn Woodson set a F50-54 age best for 8K of 32:00.
    • Jan Selman ran 1:36:59 to set a F55-59 age best for the half marathon.
  • A total of 12 athletes recorded age-graded performances in excess of 90%, which represents world class. The three most highly rated were Maureen de St Croix (94.68%), Jeff Schiebler (93.28%) and Leah Pells (92.65%).
  • The following athletes topped the rankings in their age group at three or more distances:
    • Maurice Tarrant, M70+ at 5K, 8K, 10K and half marathon.
    • Lenore Montgomery, F70+ at 5K, 8K and 10K.
    • Mae Palm, F60-69 at 10K, half and full marathon.
    • Richard Lee, M40-49 at 5K, 8K and half marathon.
    • Nancy Tinari, F40-49 at 5K, 8K and 10K.
    • Jeff Schiebler, MOpen at 10K, half and full marathon.
    • Tina Connelly, FOpen at 10K, half and full marathon.
  • Three men achieved the notable feat of bettering the open standard at all distances from 5K to marathon. They were Jim Finlayson, Todd Howard and masters runner Richard Lee.

November & December 2003:

Not a lot of changes in the rankings during the final two months of the year. The most notable results were not valid for ranking purposes as they were run on point-to-point or downhill courses.

  • Jeff Schiebler ran a world class 28:15 over 10K for the Canadian team on the opening leg of the Chiba Ekiden Relay in Japan. However this was a point-to-point run that potentially might benefit from a tail wind.
  • Tina Connelly finished second in the California International Marathon in Sacramento, in a time of 2:34:51. This too is a point-to-point course, with an overall elevation drop of over 100 metres.
  • Herb Phillips finished 22nd overall, and easily won the over 60 age group in a time of 2:51:11 at the Tucson Marathon in Arizona. But again this is a point-to-point course, this time with an overall elevation drop of about 700 metres.
  • Also in Tucson, 81 year-old Willis Greenaway ran 4:58:09.

October 2003:

Many outstanding performances this month, resulting in some big changes in the rankings, particularly the marathon.

  • BJ McHugh improved her own F75 world age best for the marathon by running 4:08:54 in Victoria.
  • Gwyn Woodson also ran a BC best for the F50 age group in Victoria, this time at the 8K distance, with a time of 32 minutes exactly.
  • Representing Canada in the 5K Team Challenge in San Diego, Leah Pells (16:03), Bruno Mazzotta (14:07), and Matt Johnston (14:48), all ran times that place them in our Best of the Best age graded rankings. Leah’s time is the third best age graded performance by a BC athlete this year. And Bruno’s time is by far the best 5K clocking.
  • In the Chicago Marathon, Jeff Schiebler (2:17:21) and Tina Connelly (2:35:40) both ran the fastest marathons by BC athletes this year. Tina’s time was less than a minute away from bettering her own BC record.
  • Back in Victoria, Joan McGrath ran the second best marathon (2:52:46) by a BC woman this year, and improved her time at the top of the F40-49 rankings.
  • Also in Victoria, new master Norm Tinkham ran a 2:37:36 marathon to go top of the M40-49 rankings.
  • And at the half marathon distance in Victoria, Richard Lee improved his time at the top of the M40-49 rankings with a 1:12:27 clocking.
  • Finally at the Shawnigan Lake Half Marathon, Gwyn Woodson (1:30:28) improved her time at the top of the F50-59 rankings, not far outside another BC age best. And Herb Phillips continued his return to competition with a 1:26:37 clocking, good enough to put him tops in the M60-69 rankings.

September 2003:

  • Jeff Schiebler ran the fastest half marathon of the year, 1:04:10, in Philadelphia, PA. Age graded his performance was only marginally inferior to his Sun Run 10K.
  • Not surprisingly Maureen de St Croix moved to the top of the F50-59 5K rankings with her first race at that distance since moving up an age group. A world class 18:08 clocking in White Rock.
  • In Portland Oregon, Harald Wulf of Burns Lake ran an excellent 3:07:57 marathon to top the M60-69 rankings.
  • David Huxley almost made it to the top of the M50-59 10K rankings with a 35:48 clocking in Abbotsford.
  • There were several other outstanding performances which unfortunately cannot be included in the official rankings this month due to short or questionable courses.

August 2003:

  • Jim Finlayson and Todd Howard ran the two fastest (unassisted) half marathon times of the year at the Delta Half Marathon, 1:07:40 and 1:07:51 respectively. Todd's performance was also good enough to earn him a place in the Best of the Best age-graded rankings.
  • In winning a silver medal in the marathon at the PanAm Games in the Dominican Republic, Bruce Deacon produced a world class time (2:20:25) that moves him into the top ten in the Best of the Best age-graded rankings.
  • Richard Lee ran another M40-49 age group topping time, this time at the Labour Day 8K in Steveston, although his time of 25:54 was comparatively not quite as good as his 5K time from last month when age graded.
  • Jim Fisher improved his best marathon time of the year in Saskatoon to 4:29:56, good enough to take over first place in the M70+ rankings.
  • Although invalid for ranking purposes because the race runs from point-to-point, Shelley Bergeron's winning time at the Windermere half marathon is noteworthy because the 15 year old was the overall winner in a time of 1:22:45.

July 2003:

  • Tina Connelly and Lucy Smith finished one-two and ran the two fastest 10K times of the year by BC athletes in the Run Toronto 10K, 32:49 and 32:56 respectively. Lucy receives a small time advantage when age-grading is applied, and hence moves up to third overall in the Best of the Best age-graded rankings, with Tina moving to joint fourth. Both world class performances.
  • Also in Toronto at the Rock 'n' Roll 5K, Richard Lee ran an M40-49 best of 15:13, good enough to move him up a place in the Best of the Best age-graded rankings.
  • Ed Booth, having recently turned 41, ran a quick 31:41 in the Squamish Days 10K, a performance that gets him into the Best of the Best age-graded rankings.
  • Adena Cronk running her first 5K of the year at the Canada Day celebrations in Sidney moved immediately to the top of the F50-59 rankings with a 21:14 clocking.
  • Lou Pals won his division of the Calgary Stampede Marathon in a fine 3:23:47, taking him to the top of the M60-69 rankings.

June 2003:

  • Nancy Tinari moved up to third in the Best of the Best age-graded rankings, by virtue of her Canada Day Post-to-Post 10K run. Although her time was a few seconds slower than her Sun Run time, she celebrated a birthday recently, making it a superior age-graded performance.
  • Jim Swadling running his first 10K of the year also at the Post-to-Post moved immediately to the top of 50-59 age rankings. His performance also nudged him up a place in the Best of the Best age-graded rankings.
  • Also at the Post-to-Post, Spencer Morrison's result placed him top of the under 20 10K rankings.
  • Jack Benedict and Jim Fisher both travelled to Winnipeg, and finished 1-2 and within 20 seconds of each other to top the men's 70+ marathon rankings.
  • Performances on courses with a net elevation drop of greater than 1 meter per kilometer, or with a separation between the start and finish of greater than 30% of the race distance, have been excluded from the rankings (as defined for record purposes), but significant performances have been noted as "assisted". In particular in June this applied to the Sandcastle 10K and the Vancouver Half Marathon. For example, Nancy Tinari's wind and downhill assisted Sandcastle time was 2:15 quicker than the best of her other four 10K's this year, and would have been rated a phenomenal 96.87% age grading.

May 2003:

  • BJ McHugh (Capilano Eagles) ran a F75-79 age best at the Shaughnessy 8K, although on age-grading her Sun Run time was superior.
  • Jim Swadling (Lions Gate Road Runners) jumped to the top of the M50-59 8K rankings by virtue of his Shaughnessy run, despite this being a hilly course.
  • Carla Dunn (Bastion) ran the fastest BC women's marathon so far this year in Olympia, Washington.