Feb.10/02, Vancouver — Lisa Harvey of Calgary made it three in a row with a clear victory at this morning’s “First Half” 1/2 Marathon, hosted by Pacific Road Runners, also event #2 in the Timex-Asics Series. The stiff competition predicted to come from marathoner Sandy Jacobson of Edmonton was not to be seen as Jacobson, a Canadian representative at the World Championships, ended up placing third. Harvey’s 1:16:35 put her nearly four minutes ahead of her fellow Albertan, and three minutes ahead of second place Christina Ashby.

The overall/men’s race saw another clear victory, this time in the form of Vancouver’s Colin Dignum breaking the tape in 1:08:52, over a minute ahead of his pursuers. Spectators were then treated to an exciting race for second between Norm Tinkham of Vancouver and Paul McCloy of Calgary (hubby to Lisa Harvey), with McCloy just managing to outsprint Tinkham over the final 100m after running more or less together for most of the course.

Harvey ran in front of the women’s field from the start. Ashby paced beside her for a few seconds early on, then dropped back for good. Soon after, Harvey found herself running with master Art Boileau, past 2-time winner of the L.A. Marathon, for most of the 13.1 mile distance. Boileau was impressed with her strength: “That Lisa, she’s a tough nut. Stayed with me the whole time.” He also noted that while most runners need to be following right on someone’s shoulder to stay with them, Harvey was able to do this from several metres back, without losing ground.

They went through the halfway mark right on 1:15 pace (her best result in this event), but “slowed down a little after that”. Harvey also commented that it was a bit windy on the seawall in the area of Lost Lagoon, but enjoyed the course and was very pleased with her result. She’s currently preparing for a trip to Japan on a Canadian Ekiden Relay team, followed by the World Cross-Country Championships in March in Ireland.

The leading pack of men went through the first five miles at approximately 5:07 per mile pace, dropping all but Dignum, Tinkham and McCloy. At this point Dignum figured it was a good omen that he was still in the lead pack. “Normally, if Norm was going to beat me, he’d have dropped me by then.” After they went by the lighthouse, Dignum took the lead. Noticing that the other two were a few metres back, he “tightened the screws ever so slightly”, picking up the pace to see if he could get away. He did manage to get away, but by then he had a 10 metre lead and nowhere to go, making the race hard work from that point on. “The last couple of miles were painful but luckily Norm and Paul were far enough behind that it didn’t matter.”

McCloy’s sprint with Tinkham for second place came after both men decided to start an early kick with one kilometre to go. By the time they neared the finish line they were going close to full speed, Tinkham slightly ahead. McCloy turned it up a notch and gradually pulled alongside to see if Tinkham was fading a bit. “Norm kind of gave me a second chance right at the finish,” admitted McCloy, who put in one last surge to get there first. Their unofficial times were 1:10:09 and 1:10:10. These two did not only finish the race in close proximity, McCloy (with Harvey and their 3-year-old daughter) has been staying at the Tinkham residence while visiting from Calgary.

First master to finish was Rick Hickson, whose 1:14:43 was a personal best by over 2 minutes — good for 10th place overall. Though the starting pace was a little too quick for his liking, he soon settled into a “cruising mode” and found himself alongside open competitor Bill Sheel (30-34 division). Never having met before, Hickson introduced himself, then “Bill and I ran the race together, basically” until the last mile where Sheel said goodbye and finished a little faster. Hickson enthused, “I’ve been trying to run a half marathon PR for years, couldn’t do it as an open runner — had to do it as a master!” When asked what he did differently this time, his response was “a big year of foundation building, right through the winter.” Now he’s planning to add speed work to that foundation — watch out, masters competitors!

First female master was Jackie Holloway in a solid 1:25:58, putting her sixth among all women competitors and well ahead of the rest of the masters field. Holloway placed third in last weekend’s Ice-Breaker 8k, Race #1 of the Series.

Over 1800 participants (out of 2000 registered) completed the seawall-dominated half-marathon course, and raised a total of $27,000 for the Variety Club. For full results see the Pacific Road Runners event website.

Feb.3/02, Steveston — It was a bit of a scramble with no timing company on race morning, but director Peter Phillips pulled it all together for a successful first event of the 2002 Series. With lots of great draw prizes, food and drinks, and a warm room to relax in, participants in the Kajaks Steveston Ice-Breaker 8k didn’t appear to be ruffled by the temporary absence of computerized results.

Craig Odermatt of Island Pacific Athletics (Victoria) in particular was unconcerned as he knew his finishing place — crossing the line first overall in 25:28. This was after a mid-race battle with 2001 Series winner Colin Dignum, who wasn’t far behind for a second place result (25:42). Third man was Richard Lee in 26:15 — who, by the way, was also first master, having joined the 40+ ranks for this year’s Series.

Odermatt didn’t know what to expect going into the race, having been racing and training well over the past few months but then feeling run-down in the last week of January: “It could have been training or just being tired from work.” However on race morning he woke up feeling better and had a good warm-up. The wind was a bit of a concern “after last year’s psycho headwind” but he knew it would be the same for everyone.

After about 2 kilometres, Odermatt found himself in the lead of a small pack. “I didn’t really plan that with the wind. However I was feeling strong so I thought why not. Colin [Dignum] was in close pursuit.” After the turnaround point at 4k the wind was at their backs and Odermatt was able to push the pace a little. He heard less and less of Dignum’s breathing behind him until he was out on his own, and managed to maintain that lead right to the finish. “A very satisfying run, especially when you beat someone good like Colin who has beaten me quite often in the past.”

Darcie Montgomery of the Hershey Harriers got her year off to a solid start with a victory in this morning’s windy conditions, completing the out-and-back route in 29:31. (Montgomery’s mother Lenore also competed, winning the 70-74 division and beating over half the women’s field in an amazing 41:42 — wouldn’t we all like to have those genetics on our side!) Sheila Mullins took silver with a 30:08 clocking, while first masters woman and third overall in 30:36 was another Hershey, Jackie Holloway. Female masters rounding out the top three were Lesley Tomlinson (31:30) and Michele Carr (32:02), both in the 40-44 grouping.

Second and third place masters in the men’s competition were Rick Hickson with a strong 27:02 for 9th overall, and Dave Reed (27:57) in the 45-49 division. Herb Phillips demolished the 60-64 competition in 30:34, nearly nine minutes ahead of the next finisher in that division.

Richmond resident Ken Williams was first among the junior men in 29 minutes flat; though he will be competing in the 20-24 division of the 2002 Series as he is turning 20 this spring. Only three seconds behind Williams was the next junior male, Edward Hoey. First junior woman was Cristina Struik in an excellent 32:25, far ahead of her nearest age-group competitors.

See full race results here (close window after viewing to return to this page).