It came down to the final few seconds after 7 months of competition to determine the winners of the 2014 Timex BC Road Running Series. After Kimberley Doerksen crossed the finish line in 35:17 at the Summerfast 10K she had to wait to see if it was quick enough to surpass Catherine Watkins in the rankings. As the clock ticked past 35:24 Watkins would be unable to improve her existing point score, and so Doerksen moved to the top of the podium, and with it collected $1,000.

…On the men’s side, Prairie Inn Harrier Geoff Martinson was untouchable, winning 4 of his 5 races outright, and scoring a record 4527 points – the first time anyone has exceeded 4500 points. The battle for second was much closer, and was only decided at the final race.

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July 19, 2014 – Weeks of uninterrupted warmth and sunshine came to a screeching halt just in time for the 2014 edition of the Summerfast 10K. This may have come as a disappointment to the organizers, but Vancouverites are accustomed to racing in the rain, and were perhaps grateful for the cooler temperatures as they set off on a loop around the iconic Stanley Park seawall.

Kelly Wiebe made his return to racing following his “brush with death” this spring and claimed victory in the men’s open division for a second straight year with a time of 30:17.  Not too shabby for a rust buster, Kelly. Meanwhile, Rachel Cliff continued her great season by chopping more than a minute off the course record in taking the women’s title in 33:58.  It was the only course record to fall this year.

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2014 award recipients: top ten qualifiers (minimum 5 races, BC Athletics competitive members). For full results see Rankings.

Men:

1. 4527 pts / 5 races  Geoff Martinson
2. 4324 pts / 7 races  Adam Byles
3. 4315 pts / 5 races  Theo Hunt
4. 4174 pts / 5 races  Kevin O’Connor
5. 4110 pts / 6 races  Nicolas Browne
6. 4095 pts / 6 races  Craig Odermatt
7. 4031 pts / 6 races  Mark Bennett
8. 3963 pts / 5 races  Chris Barth
9. 3950 pts / 5 races  Aaron Weidman
10. 3853 pts / 5 races  Chris Napier

Women:

1. 4398 pts / 7 races  Kimberley Doerksen
2. 4394 pts / 7 races  Catherine Watkins
3. 4355 pts / 5 races  Sabrina Wilkie
4. 4195 pts / 7 races  Jen Moroz
5. 4185 pts / 5 races  Melissa Ross
6. 4165 pts / 6 races  Claire Morgan
7. 4136 pts / 5 races  Katherine Moore
8. 4063 pts / 5 races  Shauna Gersbach
9. 4056 pts / 10 races  Kristin Smart
10. 3989 pts / 5 races  Brittany Therrien

The Vancouver Falcons’ Summerfast 10K in Stanley Park on Saturday morning has attracted stellar fields, with the BC 10K Championship and the Timex BC Road Running Series titles on the line…. The women’s race will be a re-match for the top-4 finishers from the Vancouver Sun Run. In April, Rachel Cliff was the clear winner (33:14), followed by the Yukon’s Lindsay Carson, BMO Vancouver Marathon champion Kimberley Doerksen, and recent BC 5K Champion and top master Catherine Watkins…. On the men’s side, course record holder (29:57) Kelly Wiebe may defend his title, but will be hard pressed to do so by training partner Dylan Wykes who ran the fastest 10K by a Canadian this year when finishing runner-up at the Vancouver Sun Run (29:11).

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By Shawn Baenziger

Vancouver runners clearly ruled at this year’s Midsummer 8K race. Adam Byles in the division M30-34 was the winner overall in 25:13 “I was trying to get out hard and to hang in there,” he says. “It was an interesting race. I run lots on the track and liked the forth-and-back and it’s flat.”

The women’s winner overall was Natasha Wodak from Vancouver in 28:07. “It wasn’t my fastest time, I ran 8k quite a bit faster,” she says, adding: “They just said go, there was no countdown. That was really funny.”

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