July 27/02, Vancouver — Held for the second time in the new Stanley Park venue, the 2002 Summerfast 10k boasted a slightly improved route with new start and finish locations. Participants appear to be voting “yes” for the new arrangements, as numbers were up again this year to a total of 315 finishers. (Or it could be the cookies… this has to be among the best post-race food anywhere! The spread included at least 10 different types of chocolate chip cookies and banana breads, plus other yummy treats, all baked by members of host club VFAC.)

First overall finisher was an unfamiliar face on the Series scene, leaving spectators asking each other, “Who was that guy?” as he crossed the line over a minute ahead of his nearest rivals in 32:01. The “mystery runner” was Ken Myers of Burnaby, an fifth year SFU Physics student and varsity track athlete whose specialty is the 5000m. It had been some time since Myers attempted a road 10k, though he did record a 31:47 track 10,000m last year. In this morning’s race he could hear the other competitors behind him for about 3 km, after which he pulled away to run the rest of the route solo and earn the winner’s cash prize.

Meanwhile the chase pack included Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge, Vancouver’s Bertrand Plouvier, and a man on the comeback trail, Kevin O’Connor of Vancouver. O’Connor, who won the Series back in 1996 but had been unable to race at the same calibre in the years following, was feeling confident this time after some good training weeks.

Though not quite ready to set the pace, he felt comfortable running a short distance behind Tinkham and Plouvier through the halfway mark. Eventually Plouvier dropped back slightly but Tinkham remained about 10 meters ahead. Then the unexpected happened: approaching the finish area Tinkham took a wrong turn, allowing O’Connor to close the gap. O’Connor didn’t even realize what had happened until Tinkham suddenly appeared beside him. As the two began to kick down the final stretch, he encouraged Tinkham with a shout of “come on”, but Tinkham’s heart didn’t appear to be in it and O’Connor took the silver with a 2-second margin in 33:20. “I was of two minds,” noted O’Connor later, “whether to run in with him or not, but then I thought, ‘It’s a race’.”

The women’s race and accompanying cash dividend was won by a now familiar face: defending Summerfast champion and rising star Alison Rendell of Vancouver. Her 35:39 split was over a minute faster than her 2001 clocking on this course. Vancouver’s Cari Rampersad-Kuzyk cruised in at 36:32 to take second place honours, while master Jackie Holloway of Vancouver ran a solid 37:05 to stay easily ahead of 45-49 division rival Cindy Rhodes of Kelowna for the bronze (37:43). Third women’s master was Richmond’s Nurten Tasdemir in 39:57.

The men’s masters competition was led by Vancouver’s Mike Moon for the second year in a row, whose 35:37 clocking kept him safely ahead of Port Moody’s Alex Seres (35:59) and Surrey’s Rob Lang (36:26).

First male under 20 was Vancouver’s Spencer Morrison in an excellent 34:09, putting him in 7th place overall. Shadrack Mende of New Westminster was unable to repeat his sub-35:00 Post to Post result, running 36:44 which was still good enough to take the second junior position.

Full race results are posted at Race Headquarters.

July 1/02, Vancouver — It seems that the Post to Post 10k was the place to be on this sunny Canada Day, as over 500 runners and joggers — including a boy’s school team from Edinburgh, Scotland — came out to run the streets of Vancouver, hear some live musical entertainment, eat a piece of the giant commemorative cake, and if lucky win one of the many draw prizes given away. And for the fastest competitors, a little extra motivation was provided by the monetary prizes offered — always a big drawing card for cash-strapped elite runners.

Taking full advantage of this was Enos Ketter, a young athlete from Kenya. After warming up to the strains of “God Save the Queen” and “Oh Canada” played by a regiment band, the 21-year-old was off like a shot right from the start, leaving the rest of the field far behind. Running unchallenged with only the clock to beat, Ketter — who just last week beat 2002 Times Colonist 10k champion Jean-Paul Niyonsaba to win the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon — pushed himself to zoom through the 10k course in record time, just a shade over 30 minutes.

While the next competitors took over a minute and a half longer to complete the distance, the race for second place was no less exciting. Paul McCloy of Calgary stuck like glue to Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge for the entire course, Tinkham trying hard to drop McCloy but unable to move ahead. (These two had already gone head to head twice this year in a similar fashion, the “score” being one each — McCloy outkicked Tinkham at the end of Series race #2 in February, the First Half 1/2 Marathon, while Tinkham didn’t let that happen again in the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon last weekend, digging down over the final stretch to cross the line ahead of his friend and rival.) As the two approached the finish line of the Post to Post, they were neck and neck, the strain showing clearly on their faces. On this Canada Day it was McCloy’s turn to prevail, edging slightly ahead over the final few metres. Both recorded 31:47, Tinkham noting “when we got up the hill on Cambie Bridge and he was still there, I knew I was in trouble!”

The women’s race was led by Calgary’s Lisa Harvey (married to McCloy) who went out strong and maintained a steady tempo, staying ahead of triathlete/10,000m Olympian Carol Montgomery of North Vancouver and New Westminster’s Joan McGrath to run a very respectable 35:40 on this somewhat challenging course. Montgomery, who is just getting back into the competitive scene after an injury, tested her fitness with a 36:11, while masters competitor McGrath held off Vancouver’s Cari Rampersad-Kuzyk to take third (and first female masters honours) in 36:33.

Second masters female was Nurten Tasdemir of Richmond (39:45), who was happy to have finished ahead of Vancouver’s Leslie Black (40:05) and Burnaby’s Lori Spence (41:00), all three vying for 40-44 age group points in this year’s Series.

Top male over 40 was Vancouver’s Art Boileau in 7th overall with a 34:14 clocking, fending off 45-49 division leaders Dave Reed (34:30) and Ken Bell (34:57), both of Vancouver. Reed was feeling particularly good over the second half of the race, this being his best race of 2002 after taking a few days off cycling (he is a bicycle courier). Bell had stayed with Reed over the first 6 km or so, then “Dave kept on going and I suffered up the hill.” Taking third in the 45-49 division, Port Moody’s Alex Seres surprised Guy Smith of Coquitlam on the last uphill: “I was having fun until then… I didn’t know he [Seres] was there — have to work on 10k races instead of 8k!”

In the junior male division 19-year-old Shadrack Mende of New Westminster led his division in eighth place overall and 34:27, a huge improvement from the Sandcastle City Classic where he ran 36:15 for the same distance.

Full results can be viewed at Race Headquarters.