Record Participation; Edgar Siblings Win the 12th Sea Cavalcade Mile

Since 2011 this event has been growing in leaps and bounds. The 12th edition continued the trend with a new record total of 118 registrations — the third year in a row with 100+ finishers. The perfect summer weather no doubt helped to bring out nearly 60 last-minute sign-ups on race morning.

Leading the charge down Gibsons Way past cheering spectators was a trio which included last year's defending champion Jordan Wilson of Sechelt, recent winner of the Sechelt Canada Day Mile. Though he tried valiantly, a mile hat-trick was not in the cards, as new Sechelt resident Greg Edgar, along with his brother-in-law Skeets Morel of Vancouver, were just a few seconds faster getting to the finish line at the Heritage School. Edgar, a medical student, is doing his locum in Sechelt with another local runner Dr. Jack Bryson, who told him about this race (and jokingly apologized to Wilson later for bringing in the 'ringer' competition).

Wilson was pulled through to a 15-second personal best of 4:37, which lessened the pain of missing out on the $100 cash prize. Chatelech and Sunshine Coast Athletics teammate Alex Nightingale was left running alone in no-man's land in 4th place, but was very pleased with his 4:55 clocking — a 16-second personal best. He and Wilson were 1-2 in the M16-19 division, while Chatelech teammates Elliot Wadge and Liam Watson topped the M13-15 age group.

The Edgar family's winning ways continued with Greg's sister Mary Edgar of Vancouver easily taking the women's title in 5:19, good for $100 and 5th place overall. The second woman to finish was 18-year-old Sophie Dodd of Vancouver, who was third female in 2007 back when she was in the 10-12 year age group.

Rounding out the top three, just three seconds behind Dodd, was 55-year-old Nancy Tinari of Port Moody, a veteran distance running champion and former Olympian, who came over to race "just for fun". Because of a permanent knee injury Tinari can't run more than about 5km at a time, so she enjoys shorter distance runs and triathlons these days. She was very happy with her 5:39 result on this fast course.

Many children participated enthusiastically in this family-friendly race. The most popular age group was “9 and Under”, comprising one quarter of the total field. The fastest in this age group was Calgarian Sophie Fingarson who clocked 6:42.6!

After enjoying the parade, participants gathered in Gibsons Landing for the awards ceremony, with draw prizes including a $160 gift voucher for shoes from Coast Podiatry / Dr. Adam Zanbilowicz.

Full results can be found at www.seacavalcade.ca/results/mile14.htm.

Next SCAC-hosted race is the Four Lakes 10k & 3k, August 10th at Katherine Lake Park in Garden Bay. For details, registration and volunteer sign-up see www.sunshinecoastathletics.org/4lakes/.