August 28, 2004, Bowen Island — Under a misty rain and relatively cool temperatures, a determined group of runners marched up and away from the Snug Cove ferry terminal at the 10th Annual Run for the Ferry road race. Knowing the challenging hilly course that lay ahead, the pack was happy to sit back for a time and make their way up Government Road down towards Manion Bay and into Killarney and Meadow Trial during the first 2k. Once back on the road, the leaders found 5th gear—Vancouver’s Simon Driver, led by New Westminster’s David Polisi, increased the tempo leaving behind Vancouver’s Luis Estrada, Matthew Fedoruk and Tony Skuce.

Driver and Polisi pushed through the hilly course with Driver taking over the lead at the 4k mark. Polisi took the cautious approach and saved his energy for the 5k return hoping to bring Driver back. Once past the 5k turn-around Polisi stepped up the pace and started to work on the gap that Driver had built, but Driver didn’t give any ground. Increasing the pace he took the victory home.

With 1st and 2nd tied up Estrada strode in for the 3rd place finish with Skuce taking 4th overall (just ahead of Fedoruk) and winning the Masters Division. Skuce was the 8th place Masters finisher at the Boston Marathon earlier this year and Run for the Ferry was his first race back after the Boston effort.

Second and third Masters men were Larry Nightingale of Gibsons and Mike Moon of Vancouver, with Nightingale placing 7th overall just behind Paul Skarsgard of Richmond.

Defending women’s Open and Masters winner Nancy Tinari of Coquitlam had no challengers this year, cruising to a 9th place overall finish in 37:08, nearly seven minutes ahead of runner-up Heather Sherwin of Vernon. Tinari’s time was a bit slower than her 2003 clocking, which she attributes to the fact that she knew this time that Margaret Butler was doing the 5k not the 10k, so didn’t try to keep up with Butler in the first half.

Rounding out the Open women’s top 3 was Carrie Holt of Vancouver in 44:24, not far ahead of second women’s Master Susan Williams of Victoria. The next woman to arrive at the line was third female Master Joan Cochrane of Saskatoon.

Full results can be viewed on the Race Headquarters website. Photos are in the Series Photo Gallery.

Today’s race moved Driver and Polisi into third and fourth place in the overall Series rankings, just two points apart—but fifth place Estrada could move ahead of both of them by placing at least seventh in the final event in Steveston next weekend. Polisi also has the advantage that his lowest counting score is zero, so whatever points he earns in race #14 will add directly to his total. First and second will be contested between West Vancouver’s Colin Dignum and North Vancouver’s Peter Cardle, who have only a five point separation, well ahead of the rest of the men.

Tinari’s win on Bowen moved her into first place in the overall Series standings, seven points ahead of West Vancouver’s Cindy O’Krane. Both need to race in Steveston on September 5th to make the minimum seven race requirement for awards eligibility. Behind them sit Darcie Montgomery of North Vancouver and Karen Warrendorf of Vancouver in third and fourth with enough races to qualify.

Next and final Series 2004 race is the Labour Day Weekend 8k, Sunday September 5th at the Steveston Community Centre. Series prizes will be presented in a separate ceremony following the race awards. Top four overall men and women receive cash prizes from Timex in the amounts of $1000, $500, $300 and $200, while top three age group winners will be awarded Mizuno gear from Rackets & Runners: shoes for first and second and a sports bag for third.

 
Thomas Kiplatan and Emilie Mondor win the 20th Annual Sun Run, April 18.
See full results at www.sunrun.com or in the April 19 Vancouver Sun.

• Top Sun Run results: in BC Athletics Bulletin Apr 23

Two years ago, I ran a near-personal best at the Sun Run, finishing in 36:21.

Last year, I walked the Sun Run with my (elementary) school-age daughters, taking almost 2 hours.

This year, I did both!

I almost didn’t make it to the start line, though. With a nasty cold, I said if it was raining, I was staying home. I was almost “disappointed” to be greeted Sunday morning by a bright, dry day!

Feeling “flat” from the cold was perhaps a blessing – it forced me to go out slow. This lead to an uncharacteristic (for me) even-split race. For once, I felt comfortable the whole way and passed runners steadily. When I finished in 36:33, I almost felt too good!

After a few quick hellos and couple glasses of water, I ran back to the Start Area. I met up my family at the back of the “Red zone”. We still had to wait another 15 minutes or so before reaching the start line.

The “second lap” was like a whole different race. The balloons were taken down and given to any kid that wanted them. I saw several costumed walkers and I made sure to check out all the cute babies in the strollers! Most of all, I was amazed and humbled by the determination of the quad-amputee wheelchair participant we saw.

At 3k, we pulled in for a bagel and coffee at the “Strider Pit Stop”. Now that was a new race experience!

An hour and 48 minutes after starting, we arrived at BC Place. I was happy to find the band was still playing and there was still plenty of food!

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August 1st, 2004, Squamish—Over 100 day of event sign-ups brought the number of participants in this year’s Squamish Days 10k to about 200, including a dozen or so wheelchair racers. Race #12 of the Timex BC Road Running Series was also the BC Athletics 10k Road Race Championships, with BCA Competitive and Masters members competing for provincial titles.

Vancouver’s Spencer Morrison repeated his Post to Post strategy by taking an early lead, only this time he had two pursuers instead of one—David Polisi of New Westminster and Peter Cardle of North Vancouver.  Eventually Polisi left Cardle behind and chased down Morrison, finally catching him and going on to victory in 32:16, with Morrison continuing to work hard for a 32:38 clocking. Cardle held onto third nearly a minute behind in 33:30. Polisi, Morrison and Cardle were also the BC Championships Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in the Open Men’s division. Scott Holland of Burnaby and Gord Addison of Squamish rounded out the top five race positions in 34:09 and 34:16, respectively.

The Masters race was led by Gibsons’ Larry Nightingale, finishing sixth overall just behind Addison, and half a minute ahead of 2nd master Ed Booth of Vancouver. Randy Nelson of Kamloops stole 3rd place masters spot from Mike Moon of Vancouver, 35:34 to 35:37.

The women’s race was never close as Whistler’s Kristina Rody dominated the field with a speedy 35:47, good for 17th place overall. Nearly four minutes ticked by before the next woman crossed the line—Jacquie Perrault of North Vancouver in 39:32—and another minute would pass before third place Rita Ivanauskas of Vancouver completed her 10km in 40:29. A tiring Karen Warrendorf of Vancouver held onto fourth place ahead of Heather Sherwin of Vernon.

Ivanauskas was also the first female master, with Aenea Cameron of Squamish (45-49 division) taking second in 41:35. Third spot was hotly contested between Burnaby’s Glenda Fransen and Garibaldi Highlands’ Elisabeth Shepherd, both also in the 45-49 division. Fransen came out ahead by three seconds, 43:34 to 43:37.

At the post-race awards, BC Championships medals were awarded to Open and Masters winners, plus ribbons for top 3 in Masters 5-year age divisions from 40-44 to 70+. Lots of great prizes were also given away in a random draw, including 9 Timex watches, Running Room gift certificates, golfing rounds for 2, river rafting tickets, a night at a B&B, and more. Top local male and female finishers were also recognized with special awards, those going to Gord Addison and Aenea Cameron, both from Squamish.

Full results can be viewed on the Race Headquarters website. Photos are in the Series Photo Archives.

Next Timex Series race (#13) is the Run for the Ferry 10k on Bowen Island, Saturday August 28th.

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A great battle ensued in the second half of the route between two young runners, a fast-improving Spencer Morrison of Vancouver against David Wambui of Kenya. After breaking away from an earlier pack which included North Vancouver’s Peter Cardle, West Vancouver’s Colin Dignum, and Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge, Morrison took the lead for a time but was unable to fend off a late charge by Wambui. The Kenyan’s final time was 31:50 with Morrison just 14 seconds back at the line.

The other three men ran most of the way strung out with Tinkham ahead, followed by Cardle then Dignum, with the gaps getting slightly longer as the race went on. Tinkham recorded a 32:32 finish and took top Masters honours, with Cardle a half-minute behind and Dignum trailing Cardle by just slightly more than that. Randy Nelson of Kamloops and Mark Francis of Port Coquitlam nabbed 2nd and 3rd Masters positions in 35:55 and 36:03.

The women’s race was dominated by Coquitlam’s Leah Pells, 1500m track star turned road racer, whose family was in attendance to participate in the 5k in celebration of son Luke’s second birthday. Even after going off course for about 30 seconds due to some mysterious extra cones at an intersection, Pells still managed to build up a 90 second lead over second place Cindy O’Krane of West Vancouver, also a 1500m specialist. Pells time was 35:32, “the slowest I’ve run in about 10 years,” she said later. O’Krane suffered from some stomach troubles in the latter part of the 10k and was nearly overtaken by a fast-closing Nancy Tinari of Coquitlam, just 4 seconds separating the two at the finish. Tinari simply ran out of road in her quest for first masters spot.

Vancouver’s Katrina Blanch held off North Vancouver’s Darcie Montgomery for 5th as the two finished in 37:46 and 38:00 respectively. Canada Post employee Leslie Black of Vancouver was the third female master in 39:36.

All enjoyed great live entertainment by bands along the course, at the start/finish, and at the awards area, where the “Neurotics” kept everyone smiling with their Beatles songs and playful banter. The huge Canada Day cake (chocolate!) was sliced up and served to the crowds along with plenty of water, much in demand in the hot sun.

Full race results are available on the Race Headquarters site. Photos are available in the Series photo gallery.

Next Series event (#11) is the Summerfast 10k in Stanley Park on Saturday, July 24th.

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Steve Osaduik of Nanaimo and Peter Cardle of Vancouver led the way for the first 5km or so, then Osaduik gradually began to pull ahead, continuing to do so through the second part of the course to build up nearly a one minute gap for a 30:30 victory. Cardle didn’t want to look back as he knew the chase pack was catching up, but he managed to maintain second place as the chasers ran out of distance and time. Cardle’s time was 31:24, followed closely by Joseph Maina of Kenya in 31:35, Nicholas Walker of Victoria in 31:36, Graham Cocksedge of Mission in 31:40, and David Njuguna of Kenya in 31:44.

The women’s race was dominated by Victoria’s Lucy Smith, looking very lean these days, cruising to a 33:51 clocking. Obviously some impromptu belly-dancing lessons at the Expo the day before didn’t impact her running efficiency.

Meghan Day of Victoria was feeling strong in second place for the first 7km, after a week’s recovery from a too-fast start and subsequent bonking at the Sun Run, but Stephanie Mills and Judith Leroy were matching paces a short way behind her. After 7km, Day’s good feeling evaporated and the pace became impossible to maintain. At 8k Mills sped by on the way to a second place finish in 35:01. Leroy outsprinted Day in the last 100m to nab third position (35:24).

The top three Masters men spots were all claimed by out-of-towners, starting with Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge in 32:08 and eighth position overall. Calgary’s Paul McCloy was next in 32:49 (14th overall), with third place Larry Nightingale of Gibsons feeling somewhat flat for 34:44.

Cindy O’Krane of West Vancouver took the women’s Masters title and 6th female overall in 35:58, followed by Leslie Black of Vancouver (38:46) and Louise Leung of Victoria in 39:28.

Other notable performances included a close top three finish between young Victoria runners in the male 19 & Under division, with Brent Peluso taking first in 35:53, just ahead of Matt Park in 35:59 and Will Stewart in 36:12. In the women’s 19 & Under, Chelsea Bilsbarrow of Victoria recorded an excellent 38:46, over 5 minutes ahead of the next 19 & Under woman.

John Jackson of Vancouver dominated the 50-54 division in 37:17, while Peter Ladner of Vancouver did the same for the 55-59 group in 38:26, both men being about a minute ahead of their competition. In the men’s 70+ division, Victoria’s Maurice Tarrant clocked a terrific 43:16.

For photos see www.vancouverisland.com/TC10K/2004/photos.html, for full results see http://pih.bc.ca/results/tc/tc.php?nYear=2004.

Next Series event (#7) is the Mother’s Day 8k Spring Classic at the Port Moody Recreation Centre, hosted by Phoenix Athletics. This is a new date, new location and new distance for the former Spring Classic 5k held every March. Race day is SATURDAY, May 8th, 9:00am start. Details and entry information on this website.

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On the mostly-seawall course almost identical to the Scotiabank Vancouver 5K last June, the battle for first place was played out between North Vancouver’s Peter Cardle and Coquitlam’s Brent Corbitt. Cardle was leading at the halfway mark, but Corbitt saved his energy for the latter portion of the race and moved into first place for a 15:12 finish. Cardle maintained second place in 15:22.

A large chase pack right on their heels included first master Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge, Neil Holm of Courtenay, Jorge Parra of Surrey, Luis Estrada of Vancouver, Jamie Epp of Richmond, Matthew Fedoruk of Vancouver and Bertrand Plouvier of Vancouver. Tinkham took the initiative for awhile and led the chase, but at Lumberman’s Arch it was Holm who managed to kick past and take third by one second in 15:30. Estrada, Epp and Plouvier followed Tinkham closely in 15:33, 15:34 and 15:36, respectively.

The second and third place spots in the masters men’s race were hotly contested, with West Vancouver’s Ed Booth and Anthony Skuce duelling around the seawall. Booth gained three seconds on Skuce but still ended up one second behind second place Louis Murphy’s 16:05.

West Vancouver’s Cindy O’Krane easily won the women’s race, also being first female master, in 17:17. Second place was not so certain. Vancouver’s Gill Walker was in the runner-up position for the first half, but a fast-closing Darcie Montgomery of North Vancouver moved ahead to a six-second lead at the wire in 18:13.

Second to O’Krane among the masters women was host club VFAC member Annette O’Brien of Vancouver in 19:42, with Burnaby’s Glenda Fransen in the 45-49 division picking up third in 22:11.

Full results can be viewed on the BC Athletics website. Photos are now in the archives.

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So O’Connor started off at a fairly fast pace, leading the first kilometre by about five seconds. By the 3k mark, a pack of about 10 rivals caught up to him, at which point he was “really suffering” and feeling lethargic. The group was led by Matthew Fedoruk and Simon Driver of Vancouver, and included Vernon’s Trevor Jordan plus Ed Booth and Luis Estrada of Vancouver.

O’Connor let the pack pull him along for awhile, then put in a surge at 5km to move ahead again by 15 metres. However he still didn’t feel comfortable and eventually drifted back into the pack. He recalled after the race, “I knew by now I was not going to finish with a fast time, so I thought about getting the win and 30 points.” At 7km, Booth split the pack with a surge of his own, and Estrada and O’Connor were the only ones to respond.

With 1 km to go, O’Connor, feeling confident about his ability to out-kick the other two, made his move and steadily increased his lead for a 32:29 finish. Right behind him, it was a close battle right to the line with Booth holding off Estrada 32:45 to 32:46.

Masters title went to Booth, with Gibsons’ Larry Nightingale taking 2nd in the 40+ in 34:05, and Guy Smith of Coquitlam rounding out the top 3 masters in 34:59.

Gillian Moody of Kelowna led the women’s race right from the start, but the second through fourth positions were jockeyed between Winfield’s Sam Saunders, Vernon’s Sarah Clark, Vancouver’s Leslie Black and Kelowna’s Cindy Rhodes. For the first part of the race, Saunders held onto second place, but was overtaken by Clark by 6km.

Black, running a smart race, was right on Saunders’ heels in fourth position, then at about 7km moved ahead of Saunders and started closing in on Clark. During the last kilometer Black passed Clark and nabbed second place in 38:45. Clark held third place in 38:53. Moody’s first place time was 36:52, a great time for a race that she was just using as “tune-up” for a triathlon in Mexico.

In the Masters women’s division, Black was first, with Rhodes second in 39:25 (5th overall) and Vancouver’s Annette O’Brien taking third in 40:43.

Conditions were very good this year, with sunshine and mild temperatures, ensuring a strong turnout of nearly 200 runners.

Full results can be viewed on Interior Road Runners Assoc. website. Next Series event is the Stanley Park Spring Forward 5k, Saturday April 3 at 9:00am (Lumberman’s Arch). See VFAC website for details.

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Connelly’s goal was 1:12:00 from the start. After running through the first half of the seawall course with a few men drafting off her, her split time was 36:30. So she increased the pace. She then picked off the men she could see ahead of her one by one except for Richard Lee, who was busy lowering the masters course record by 2 minutes, hitting Connelly’s goal time of 1:12:00.

In the open men’s race, a few no-shows left Victoria’s Bruce Deacon running a lead solo for almost the whole distance. Completing the course in a modest 1:06:56—over two minutes slower than his own course record set way back in 1992—he noted that it wasn’t a great race for him “but it was okay.” He was disappointed that expected competitors Jon Brown and Scott McClennan were absent. Deacon is preparing for a spring marathon, most likely Rome in late March.

From the first mile the lead group of men had strung themselves out thinly, without the advantage of a pack to pull them through the miles. Almost two minutes after Deacon crossed the line, fellow Victorian Nik Southwell appeared in 1:08:46, followed half a minute later by North Vancouver’s Colin Dignum in 1:09:13 then Burnaby’s Ryan Day in 1:09:38. Dignum was predicting his final time would be faster after a good first mile split, so he was somewhat dismayed to see the pace lagging towards the end.

The race for 5th, the final prize money placing, was hotly contested between Courtenay’s Neil Holm and Vancouver’s Kevin O’Connor. Never more than five metres apart from start to the final kick, “we helped each other out,” noted O’Connor, “and kept kicking to try to lose one another.” Both were aiming for 70 minutes. O’Connor only got away with 200m to go, recording 1:10:20 to Holm’s 1:10:29.

Calgary’s Lisa Harvey, a regular competitor in this event, followed Connelly from a distance in a second pack of men, running her own race. Though somewhat overshadowed by Connelly’s result, Harvey’s second place time of 1:15:11 was her best ever for this event (previous best was 1:15:42 in 2000).

Leading the rest of the women in third place was Lindsay McLaren (from Vancouver but currently living in Calgary), staying clear of a small pack that included Darcie Montgomery, Nancy Tinari and Joan McGrath. McLaren’s 1:19:22 was a personal best by 2 minutes.

The other three women ran together until about the eight mile mark where Montgomery, who had surprisingly never done a half-marathon before today, began to step up the pace and move ahead, leaving masters Tinari and McGrath to work in tandem. By the time they returned to the Roundhouse Community Centre, Montgomery was exactly 1 minute ahead, recording an excellent first-time 1:20:16. Tinari edged out McGrath by eight seconds to take the masters title.

Many personal bests were set, probably due to the ideal conditions this year: windless, dry and not too cold. A rare occurrence for Vancouver in early February!

Full race results can be viewed at www.pacificroadrunners.ca/firsthalf/. Next Timex Series race is the Spring Run-Off 10k in Kamloops on March 14th, starting 10:00am at McArthur Island Park. Details and entry form at www.bcathletics.org/RRSeries/.

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Leading the pack home was North Vancouver’s Peter Cardle in 25:02, after taking the lead at about 2 km and holding on, at times uncertainly, for the next 6 km. He was being chased by West Vancouver’s Colin Dignum (2nd, 25:13) and Vancouver’s Kevin O’Connor (3rd, 25:25). First master was Larry Nightingale (Gibsons) who placed 6th overall in 26:43.

From the start, 5000m track specialist Michael Simpson of North Vancouver took off fast, accompanied by O’Connor and Dignum, with Cardle holding steady a little way back. When the leaders started to slow down, Cardle immediately made his move, passing and then quickly gaining a 20m lead. Then it was just a matter of holding that lead for another 6 km. On the way back with about 2 km to go, “I could hear them gaining on me—they had momentum and I was starting to die,” recalled Cardle. “I could hear Colin’s breathing and got quite worried he’d catch me.” But with just 1 km left he dug a little deeper and held off the challenge.

Dignum had moved ahead of the other two after he and O’Connor had followed Simpson for the first 6 km or so. When Simpson slowed his pace a bit, O’Connor made a move along with Dignum. O’Connor was particularly pleased with a third place finish after a year-long recovery from IT band problems. He, Dignum and Cardle have been training together on the track on Tuesday nights, so he knew before the race started that those two were slightly fitter than him at the moment.

In the women’s race, West Vancouver’s Cindy O’Krane cruised through the course, looking very comfortable at the finish line clocking 28:03. O’Krane was also first female master, having turned 40 recently. Second overall and second master was Coquitlam’s Nancy Tinari who ran hard but could not catch O’Krane. Darcie Montgomery (North Vancouver) rounded out the top three in 29:22.

O’Krane enjoyed the flat course and mild weather. She has been trying to fit in one to two workouts a week, between working full time and being a mum.

Tinari was not really happy to be beaten by so much, but considering O’Krane’s abilities she was satisfied that she did the best she could. Following an even slower start than normal (Tinari typically negative splits her races), after the turnaround she tried to concentrate on narrowing the gap but it only got bigger. “She was running her pace, I was running mine—and she was running faster,” stated Tinari.

See the Kajaks website for full race results and age-graded results, plus mother/daughter category winners.

Next Timex Series race is the Pacific Road Runners “First Half” Half Marathon, Sunday February 8th, 8:30am at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver. See preview article below.

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The Pacific Road Runners “First Half” Half Marathon on February 8th promises to be one of the most competitive in the 16-year history of the event. Included in the entries are at least three athletes who are hoping to compete in this years Olympics in Athens. There will also be eight former winners of the race lining up at the start, plus many more of BC’s best distance runners.

The top entries include Englishman Jon Brown who finished 4th in the 2000 Olympic marathon, Canada’s top marathoner Bruce Deacon, Somalian Mohamed Abukar, and locals Scott McClennan, Mark Bomba, Neil Holm, Colin Dignum, Jorge Parra, Shane Bilodeau and Bertrand Plouvier.

Close behind will be top masters runners Norm Tinkham, Richard Lee and Anthony Skuce, who might all be under the current masters course record.

On women’s side expect a three-way battle between BC’s Tina Connelly and Lucy Smith and Alberta’s Lisa Harvey, all former winners of the race. They will be hotly pursued by top master Nancy Tinari.

There will be equally competitive races through all the age groups, but most of the 2000 runners will be aiming for their own personal glory.

The event sold out in December, but spectators are very welcome. Event proceeds benefit Variety—the Children’s Charity. The race starts at 8:30am with the winner expected shortly after 9:30am. Start and finish are at the Roundhouse Community Centre, downtown Vancouver, with the race route following the seawall around Stanley Park.

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