July 31, 2005, Squamish – An earlier start this year plus cloudy skies kept the temperature fairly comfortable for the participants of the Squamish Days 10k, race #14 of the 2005 Timex BC Road Running Series – though a fair amount of humidity ensured they all broke a good sweat.

First place points for both men and women were “stolen” today by a couple of racers who haven’t been doing the series this year.

A leading pack of men formed right away which included Vancouver’s Spencer Morrison, Courtenay’s Neil Holm, Nanaimo’s David Matte, Port Coquitlam’s Richard Lee, and Vancouver’s Steve Mattina and Noah Wallace. Holm and Morrison led the way, and gradually the pack dwindled until only Matte remained with them. With just half a kilometre to go, Morrison put the hammer down and found himself breaking away a little. He crossed the line in 32:41, three seconds ahead of Matte, with Holm taking third in 32:57.

Lee, left in “no man’s land” behind the top three (33:44), was the first master to finish, with Carlos Gaspar of Richmond and Guy Smith of Vancouver battling it out for 2nd and 3rd masters spots a few minutes behind.

Morrison, who has been away in Ontario all summer, wasn’t feeling too confident throughout the race. “I was expecting to be dropped by the pack myself at any time,” he admitted later. So it was a nice surprise to find himself still there at 9.5k – then pulling ahead for the win.

The women’s race was completely the opposite, with winner Tina Connelly of Port Coquitlam well clear of the rest of the field. In only her second race since having her second child 4 months ago, Connelly placed 8th overall in 35:18, ten seconds faster than last week’s Summerfast win. Spectators had to wait nearly four minutes to see the second woman arrive, Meghan McCollum of Vancouver who currently sits in third place overall in the Timex Series.

McCollum had to stay ahead of Brenda Baker of Whistler who was only six seconds behind in 39:18, a superb performance for a 52-year-old. Baker passed Karen Warrendorf late in the race to take 3rd open and 1st masters honours, with Rita Ivanauskas and Leslie Black of Vancouver claiming 2nd and 3rd masters positions.

With just one race remaining in the 2005 Timex Series, the overall standings look like this: Oliver Utting has first place locked up for the men. Warren Barker and Brent Corbitt are in a tight race for second while fourth place is hotly contested between David Polisi and Richard Lee.

In the women’s series the final outcome is easier to predict: Leah Pells is untouchable in first spot, Nancy Tinari sits solidly in second place, Meghan McCollum needs one more race to own third place, and Sheila Mullins has fourth pretty much nailed down.

Top four overall men and women in the Series win cash prizes from Timex (purse totalling $4000), while the top three in each age/gender division take home merchandise prizes from FILA and Rackets & Runners. Only those who have completed a minimum of 7 Series races (5 for the 19&U division) qualify for prizing. Awards will be presented following the final race on September 4th in Steveston, the Labour Day Weekend 8k.

Full results from Squamish are posted online here; photos are available on this site.

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First across the line was Warren Barker 31:41 followed closely by Rob Berry 31:53 and series leader Oliver Utting 32:06. Nancy Tinari (36:12) conceded first place overall to Tina Connelley (35:28) but still shaved 30 seconds off her winning time from last year to take the masters award. Sheila Mullins matched her third place series standing in a time of 37:28. Richard Lee took the masters prize for the men finishing 5th overall in 34:14. A brief sober moment was shared when the club commemorated the life of long time VFAC member Phil Hornby who passed away recently and would have been celebrating his 48th birthday at the race.

– Report submitted by Simon Cowell, event director

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Photos: Shawn Laari, T. Nightingale

Sunday May 29th, 2005, Vancouver – After a few days of a late spring heat wave, runners were treated to a comfortably cool morning for the Running Room Shaughnessy 8k on Sunday. Nearly 500 participants signed up to challenge themselves on the tree-shaded hills of one of Vancouver’s more upscale neighbourhoods.

Leading the crowd up the hill to the 3km double-circuit were Abraham Kosgei of Kenya and Oliver Utting of Burnaby—right behind the Yaletown Mini lead car. The women were led by Coquitlam’s Nancy Tinari, about 50m back, with Vancouver’s Margaret Butler just behind.

During that first loop, Kosgei managed to put a gap between himself and Utting. He stretched that lead only slightly over the rest of the race, finishing in 25:05 to Utting’s 25:18.

A second pack including Warren Barker, Kevin O’Connor and Bertrand Plouvier had formed during the first loop, with Barker setting the pace going into the second loop, Plouvier (first master) next, then O’Connor. This was also the order at the finish line.

Second master, Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge finished strongly in 7th overall (26:38)—nearly catching New Westminster’s David Polisi in the process. Vancouver’s Art Boileau took the 3rd masters spot in 28 minutes flat.

While Utting may have been second in the race, he scored first-place Timex Series points (only BC runners are scored), increasing his already large lead in the overall rankings. Barker and Polisi are in a close points race for second, with Tinkham and O’Connor not far behind. All have completed 5 races so far.

Tinari pulled away from Butler over the entire route, finishing unchallenged as overall female and first masters female in 28:15, a 38-second advantage. (See Nancy’s race report below for a more in-depth view.) Despite adding 30 more points to her overall Timex total with her Shaughnessy victory, Tinari is still 35 points behind first-ranked Leah Pells. Both have done 6 races in this year’s series.

A strong effort by Sheila Mullins of Vancouver kept her solidly in 3rd place, nearly 2 minutes ahead of the next female contender, Jacquie Perrault of North Vancouver. Not far behind Perrault was second master Cheryl Stevenson of Aldergrove in 32:31. Jane de Lemos of Richmond rounded out the top three masters.

Top junior finisher was Shaun Stephens-Whale of Roberts Creek in 28:59, nearly 5 minutes ahead of the next under 20 racer. Richmond’s Melisendra Daviel claimed the junior women’s title in a much closer race, only 30 seconds ahead of second place.

Full results are posted on the Race Headquarters site, and photos are available in the Series photo gallery.

Next Timex Series race is the Sandcastle City Classic 10k, Sunday June 5th in White Rock, starting at Crescent Park Elementary.

All-out effort: Nancy Tinari’s Shaughnessy race report

“I’ve done this race many times, and I’ve always had good results in it, so I went into it not particularly fearing the hills. I ran conservatively up the big hill near the start, and was surprised at how many guys were ahead of me. However, I knew there was lots of time. Margaret Butler was not in sight—she was somewhere behind, so I was happy about that. She had told me before the race that she wasn’t good on hilly courses, so I thought I had a chance to beat her even though she beat me in the Sun Run.

“I was well-positioned for the entire race to get lots of help from other runners. I was running with Art Boileau for about half of the race, and that was good for me since I knew that he has regained pretty good form lately. We were just a few metres behind a small pack of guys including Warren McCullough and Dave Reed. Warren has just joined our club in Coquitlam. Even though I beat him by about 45 seconds in the Mother’s Day 8K, he has been killing me in track workouts so I wasn’t surprised to see him ahead of me in this race.

“On the second loop, Art pulled away from me and passed the whole small group in front of us. I tried to stay close to him. I pulled up beside Warren at one point, and passed a couple of guys who were fading a bit. However, Warren pulled away from me again (he told me after the race that he had followed my advice to run the downhills really hard).

“I tried to give everything in the last 1K, but Art and Warren increased their lead on me. My legs were so rubbery on the final stretch it felt like they would buckle if I hit a crack on the road!

“My time of 28:15 was slow compared to the last time I ran this course when I was in really great shape; four years ago I ran 27:43. But that’s why age-grading exists—to give us “aging” runners consolation. My age-graded percentage was better today, but still not close to B.J. McHugh’s score as she won the women’s age-graded competition in an amazing time of 43:00.”

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A mild overcast morning made for pleasant running conditions at the Mother’s Day 8k Spring Classic on Saturday May 7th, amid the lush greenness of Port Moody’s water-side trails and roads.

Warren Barker took the pace out fairly fast, hitting the 1 mile mark in about 4:50 with David Polisi and Kevin O’Connor in tow. Barker used the rolling hills to good effect, running with what appeared to be little effort. Not having planned on leading the race, “I just wanted to see what I could do,” he explained. No one else attempted to stay with this small lead pack of three. Then at 3k, Barker made a move to open a small gap on Polisi and O’Connor. “I was thinking that Warren was away and 1st place had gone,” said O’Connor later.

But by the turnaround point Barker had not increased the gap significantly, and with 3 km to go Polisi “smelt blood” and realized first place was still there for the taking. Working hard over the next km, Polisi moved ahead of O’Connor and caught Barker near the 6k mark. O’Connor realized he too could move ahead of Barker, and did just that, keeping Polisi on his toes right to the end “to remind [him] that this was as close to him as I’ve been since my injury comeback.”

Barker held onto third place ahead of first master Anthony Skuce. Less than a minute behind, Leah Pells continued her winning ways to nab fifth overall (first woman and first female master) in 27:04. However an even more outstanding run of the day was Nancy Tinari’s 27:47, a new Canadian record for F45-49 over 8k, by about 20 seconds. “I was thrilled to be able to see Leah not far ahead of me for the entire race,” exclaimed Tinari, “so I knew I was having a great day.” Sheila Mullins’ strong 29:52 performance rounded out the women’s top 3.

Other notable performances included Dave Reed’s 27:22 (50-54 division), good for 3rd in the age-graded rankings, less than half a percent ahead of Lenore Montgomery’s 41:27 in the 70+ division. Stephen Odwin (65-69) took fifth in the age-graded ranking with his 32:46 result.

Full race results are posted on the BC Athletics website, and photos are on this site.

Next Series race is May 29th, the Running Room Shaughnessy 8k, starting at the Kerrisdale Arena in Vancouver. See www.lgrr.com for race info.

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The 16th annual Times Colonist 10K race was run in glorious summery weather in Victoria on Sunday, April 24th 2005. Vancouver Island’s top international athletes were amongst 11,218 people participating in what is now the second largest run in Canada, behind the Vancouver Sun Run. The ribbon of humanity—a record turnout—snaked through the streets of Victoria, from the start line between Government and Douglas streets out onto picturesque Dallas Road and back to the new finish line in front of the grand Empress Hotel.

Nanaimo runner Steve Osaduik breasted the tape at 30 minutes even to win the race for the second year in a row. In thrilling style, Osaduik beat off a down-to-the-wire challenge, from Victoria’s Jim Finlayson and Mike Power of Melbourne Australia, by fractions of a second. Leah Pells of Coquitlam BC was the fastest woman, at 33 minutes 38 seconds. Wheelchair athlete Al Burgman of Cobble Hill BC was the first person across the finish line for the fifth year in a row. He propelled his sleek three-wheeler along the course in 22 minutes 42 seconds.

The 2005 Times Colonist 10K results are included in a special 10-page section (D1) in the Times Colonist newspaper on Monday, April 25 2005, and will be available online on Tuesday, April 26 2005.

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The 21st annual Sun Run has wrapped up with a total of 48,037 people taking part, just about the same as last year’s total of 48,640. It is the largest 10K run in the country.

At about 9 a.m. wave after wave of runners started the run through downtown Vancouver.

There were competitive runners, walkers, a competitive wheelchair division and thousands of runners and dozens of teams.

The first runner to finish 29 minutes and 29 seconds after the start was Michael Power of Australia. He was followed by the top Canadian, Jeremy Deere of Calgary with a time of 29 minutes and 41 seconds. Kim Gillard from Australia was third with a time of 29 minutes and 42 seconds.

It was the second year in a row that a Canadian woman has won the female division. Toronto’s Nicole Stevenson won with a time of 32 minutes and 32 seconds. The 2003 winner, Aster DeMisie of Ethiopia was second and Masters Runner, Leah Pells of Coquitlam came in 3rd.

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Kelowna’s Ryan Day was looking “pretty trim” on the line, and with the absence of most of the usual Series regulars plus a brisk headwind on the return 5k, it was apparent to Port Coquitlam’s Lee that this would be a “training day”. Day shot off immediately and according to rumour went through 5k in 15:11, coming back at a more reasonable pace for a 31:19 finish.

This left Lee and fellow master runner Ed Booth (Vancouver) to duke it out for silver. After 7.5 km Lee put in a surge, gaining a 40-second advantage over the last quarter of the course to finish in 33:33 after leaving Booth to fight the headwind on his own. He was followed by Sergio Pio of Penticton, 3rd in the masters (40+) group.

The women’s race for the top three spots was much closer. At the front, Lara Scott of Vancouver battled it out with Kamloops’ Yvonne Timewell, both in the 35-39 division. After passing 5k at 19:11, the weather took its toll on the way back, particularly in the last kilometre. Scott proved to be stronger on the day, ending up 5 seconds ahead at the line, 39:16 to 39:21.

Half a minute later, the competition for third place on the podium was between Kelowna’s Aundrea Bertoia and Vancouver’s Rita Ivanauskas. This time the interior runner prevailed over the coastal visitor, with Bertoia ahead by 5 seconds. Though Ivanauskas was out of the top 3 overall, she could claim the title of first female master, well ahead of past open winner Cindy Rhodes and sister Laurelee Welder, both of Kelowna.

Of note was the performance of 15-year-old Shaun Stephens-Whale of Roberts Creek (Sunshine Coast), slipping through the wind in 38:13 to place 11th overall. Stephens-Whale suffers from asthma and recently placed 2nd in the Climb the Wall (stair climb) in Vancouver for the BC Lung Association, which he won in 2004—both the race and the top fundraising prize of a trip to Paris for his whole family.

Complete race results are posted at www.interiorrunning.ca/. Next Timex Series race is coming up April 2nd in Stanley Park – the North Shore Credit Union Spring Forward 5k. For details and registration see www.vfac.ca.

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Leading the way for the men were Calgary’s Jeremy Deere, Vancouver’s Jerry Ziak, and Winnipeg’s Michael Booth, who quickly left the rest of the field behind, clocking 4:50 for the first mile before settling into a longer-distance pace. All are gearing up for the National Half Marathon Champs in Edmonton, May 15.

Ziak is just recovering from a quadriceps injury, having done most of his training on an elliptical machine since Christmas, plus battling a head cold and mid-term exams at UBC. He had nearly given up on racing the First Half but decided last minute that he was good to go. His plan for his second ever half marathon was to stick with Deere as long as possible.

Between 4 and 5 miles Booth dropped off the pace and had to be content on his own after that, behind the other two. Coming from Winnipeg, he was just happy to be racing outdoors at this time of year—with no snow—to assess his current fitness level. Booth’s reaction to his first experience at the ‘First Half': “The level of competition was excellent! Running a half marathon in the middle of February is unbelievable.”

Meanwhile, Deere and Ziak passed 6 miles in 30:15, halfway in 33:02, running side by side. “I felt strong and comfortable at that pace,” said Ziak. Then they slowed down coming into the wind along the seawall, and “it was at this point that my legs suddenly began to feel the pounding,” recalled Ziak.

Deere began to pull ahead just before the 10 mile mark, when Ziak began to suffer from calf and quadriceps spasms—something he’d never experienced before while running. He was forced to adjust his stride to a quick shuffle, hoping to get to the finish line without doing any damage, at the same time avoiding too much reduction in speed for fear of being caught by Booth. Admits Ziak: “I also held out some hope that Jeremy [Deere] might be suffering as well and could come back to me if I didn’t totally give up—alas this did not occur!”

Deere cruised in for a 1:07:08 win, good for 16th place in the First Half all-time top 20 rankings, with Ziak not far behind in 1:07:29. Booth easily held onto third in 1:08:04, with Vancouver’s David Wambui edging out Calgary’s Ken Myers for 4th and 5th respectively, 1:09:21 to 1:09:22. Vancouver’s Oliver Utting, winner of Timex race #1 in Steveston, had a great day to finish 6th in 1:09:49 after running with Myers and Wambui for most of the race.

Simon Driver (Vancouver), David Polisi (Burnaby), Richard Lee (Port Coquitlam), and Ben Haber (Seattle) made up the bulk of the chase pack working together up to the 10k mark. Polisi and Haber started moving up just after the 10k point and quickly caught masters leader Norm Tinkham of Maple Ridge at the 13k mark, consequently making their way around the back side of the seawall—working together against the wind and waves.

Haber and Polisi eventually moved away from Tinkham at the 17k point. Later, Polisi pulled away from Haber at Lost Lagoon and continued on his own until the end of the race. Tinkham stayed ahead of Lee for 1st and 2nd masters honours, respectively (1:12:43 and 1:13:11), while Jorge Parra of Surrey and Anthony Skuce of Vancouver worked together to pass Driver, Skuce taking 3rd masters spot in 1:14:00.

In the women’s race Coquitlam’s Leah Pells was, like Ziak, running her second ever half marathon, following her 1:16 debut at the Vancouver International half last May. Her goal was twofold: to run 1:15 and to build confidence for the half marathon distance.

From the start, Pells stayed calm and controlled, running beside even-paced Paul Slaymaker for the first five miles while 3-time past winner Lisa Harvey of Calgary led the way. At this point Pells caught up to Harvey and the two ran together to the halfway point. Then, says Pells, “I felt good—just really tried to increase my tempo,” and pulled away on her own fairly quickly to run the rest of the course solo. Her final time was 1:15:25, good for 7th in the all-time First Half list. Of her pre-race goals Pells says, “I feel happy that both were accomplished. I really enjoyed it and now I am focused on making the half team for October … I kinda like the distance.” Pells is now in the F4044 division so won the masters competition as well as the overall race title. In fact, she set a F4044 Canadian age best.

Behind her, Harvey held onto second place in 1:16:51, not far ahead of a fast-moving Victoria’s Lauren Groves who was running her best half marathon yet (1:17:03). Next to appear was Coquitlam’s Nancy Tinari in 1:18:55 (2nd master). Not only was this her fastest time yet in this race since the organizers have been keeping track, but also a F4549 Canadian age best. Her state of mind before the start probably helped, as New Westminster’s Joan McGrath later commented, “It was the first time I have ever seen Nancy so relaxed before a race!”

The next few positions were shuffled around quite a bit during the 13.1 mile distance. McGrath ran with Tinari for the first few miles before Tinari’s characteristic “take off after an easy start” surge. Heading across Stanley Park via Lost Lagoon, McGrath was passed by Penticton triathlete Jill Savege and West Vancouver’s Cindy O’Krane. Also in the mix was Gwen Greiner of Seattle, also running just ahead of McGrath.

Coming around the seawall into the strong headwinds and spraying waves, McGrath began to gain back ground, finally passing O’Krane at English Bay, then Greiner at the Aquatic Centre. “The last hill under the bridge was difficult—my legs were giving out and cramping up. I ran as hard as I could to the finish line,” recalled McGrath. Though unable to catch Savege, her 1:19:52 placed her 3rd among the masters and 2nd in the F4044 grouping.

For a more detailed account of the masters men’s race, see Richard Lee’s report below.

For full race results visit www.pacificroadrunners.ca/firsthalf/. Photo galleries are posted in the photo gallery at www.bcathletics.org/RRSeries/.

Next Timex Series event is the Spring Run-Off 10k in Kamloops, March 20th. See www.bcathletics.org/RRSeries/ for details and entry form.

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First Half Race Report from the Grey Zone

by Richard Lee

Contrary to how it may appear, if asked “Where is your favourite place to run?”, my answer wouldn’t be “right behind David Polisi & Simon Driver during a half marathon”! However, 2 miles into the race that is precisely where I found (put?) myself for the 4th time in the last 2 1/2 years. We were slowly realizing that what appeared to be ideal conditions on the start line, within the sheltered confines of the booming Vancouver skyline, were less than perfect on the wide open, windy views of English Bay.

With a nice, welcome peppering of out-of-town speedsters mixed with the usual Lower Mainland suspects this year’s race, at least on paper, seemed to promise to be a fast one. The trio of Jeremy Deere (long standing national team member from Calgary), Jerry Ziak (former UBC stand-out) & Michael Booth (former national X-C team member) quickly gapped the field leaving a less anxious trio of David Wambui, Ken Myers (Calgary) & Oliver Utting to bide their time with hopes of becoming vultures in the closing miles.

The relief of turning out of the wind toward the east seawall was short lived as the pace picked up in an attempt to catch a stranded Norman Tinkham up ahead. The shelter and warm sunshine of Coal Harbour made for comfortable running and I was convinced that since we (well, O.K. mostly David & Simon) ran the first 4 miles into the wind, once we turned under the Lions Gate Bridge the wind would be at our backs. Not quite!! The back side of the Stanley Park seawall was spent leaning into the wind with one eye on the crashing surf (trying to time minor surges to avoid a salt water shower), one eye on the seaweed & debris under foot (I’m not as nimble as I used to be!) and one eye (oh wait, that’s 3!) on Norm, fading ever so slightly up ahead. Polisi had made his push to exit the grey zone and up ahead (“3 min. or so,” I thought to myself) I could see a white speck glued to a yellow one….Oliver (the white speck) was having a good day!

After battling the winds off the high sea then being further pummeled by a twisty loop around Lost Lake, all that was left was a long drawn out 3 miles of suffering back to Yaletown with legs too shot to take advantage of the now tailwind. All in all an excellent battle, adventure and experience. One I’m sure we’ll all remember…”Remember the year the waves were so big that we were catching salmon in mid-air!”

So, where IS my favorite place to run?….other than the Stanley Park Seawall on a sunny brisk day with a crashing surf and white-capped mountains in the background?……well, IN FRONT of David Polisi & Simon Driver (and as many other fast runners as possible) at the finish line of a half marathon, of course! Oh well, one out of two isn’t bad!

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Leading contenders, for the women:

• Sandy Jacobson (Edmonton), Canada’s leading marathoner and representative in the last two World Championships.
• Leah Pells (Coquitlam), three time former Olympian and winner of the 2004 Vancouver International Half Marathon.
• Lisa Harvey (Calgary), former Olympian and three time former winner of the “First Half”.
• Jill Savege (Penticton), 2004 Olympic triathlete.
• Lauren Groves (Victoria), international triathlete and winner of the 2004 Seattle Half Marathon.
• Also Carolyn Murray (Victoria), international triathlete; Cindy O’Krane (West Vancouver), 1st master in the 2004 Vancouver Sun Run; and Nancy Tinari (Port Coquitlam), former Olympian.

Leading contenders, for the men:

• Jeremy Deere (Calgary), former World Championship representative.
• Jerry Ziak (Vancouver), winner of the 2004 Royal Victoria Half Marathon.
• Brent Corbitt (Coquitlam), winner of the 2004 Fall Classic Half Marathon.
• Michael Booth (Winnipeg), 1st Canadian at the 2004 Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
• Ken Myers (Calgary), 4th place in the 2004 Canadian Marathon Championships.
• Also Oliver Utting (Vancouver), former World Championship representative; Colin Dignum (West Vancouver), twice former winner of the “First Half”; Norm Tinkham (Maple Ridge), twice former winner of the “First Half” and 1st master in the 2004 Vancouver Sun Run; and Ryan Day (Kelowna) 8th place in the 2004 Canadian Marathon Championships.

In addition keen competition is expected through all the age groups. Notable age group athletes include Art Boileau (Vancouver) M45-49, two time former Olympian, second place finisher at the Boston Marathon and three time former winner of the “First Half”; Herb Phillips (Burnaby) M60-64, world age best marathoner; Betty-Jean (BJ) McHugh (North Vancouver) F75-79, world age best marathoner; and Diane Palmason (Bellingham) F65-69, multiple world age record holder.

The race starts and finishes at the Roundhouse Community Centre, on the north side of False Creek, and loops around the Stanley Park Seawall. Race starts at 8:30am.

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