Under this year’s format, participants had to contest a minimum of five races in order to qualify for series placings. Points were awarded in each race using a formula based on time, gender and race distance. This resulted in close contests in both the men’s and women’s divisions, with the outcome uncertain until the final event.

The men’s division featured an extremely close contest between two of BC’s top athletes, both from Victoria. Scott Simpson ultimately prevailed over Ryan McKenzie by just 9 points (less than 5 seconds per race). Vancouver’s Jay MacDonald was third, with another Victoria runner, Craig Odermatt fourth.

The women’s division was not as close, but no less competitive. Cheryl Murphy, also of Victoria, was victorious over a trio of Vancouver based runners. Kristina Rody was second, Rachel Ruus third, and Anne-Marie Madden fourth.

The top four finishers in each division receive prize money courtesy of Timex, as well as invitations to represent BC at the Timex National Road Running Series Finale in Toronto in October. Congratulations to Scott and Cheryl.

Top 10 Men & Women

Saucony sponsored athlete David Jackson (also from Victoria) finished in second place with a time if 25:12 with Ryan Day (Vancouver) finishing third in 25:50.

The women’s race was won by Rachel Ruus of Richmond in a time of 29:15 followed by Anne-Marie Madden (Vancouver) in a time of 29:56. Masters runner, Joan McGrath of New Westminster took third place in 30:02.

While the last weekend in May is usually one of the busiest race weekends of the year, the Running Room Shaughnessy 8K still remains the most competitive of all the races on that weekend.

Age Group Course Records
New Age group course records were also established by:
Ryan McKenzie (30) 24:12 M30-34
Herb Phillips (68) 31:41 M65-69
Maurice Tarrant (79) 38:34 M75-79

Age Graded Winners
Age graded race winners this year were Herb Phillips 31:41 (88.99%) and Joan McGrath 30:02 (87.41%)

BC ROAD RACE SERIES
The Running Room Shaughnessy 8K has a long tradition of being one of the featured races in the BC Timex Road Race Series. With the change in format of the 2009 Timex Series, the event is now also part of the Lower Mainland Road Race Series complementing not only the BC Timex Series but several other road race series in BC. In addition to that the Running Room Shaughnessy 8K also gets great support from the Vancouver Sun as part of the annual Vancouver Sun Run Series. That Series was created to encourage Vancouver Sun Run participants to continue running throughout the year. You can have a look at list of online poker websites if you want to play poker online as playing poker helps your control your stress.

CINDY’S 5K POKER WALK
This year BC Epilepsy came on board as the charity sponsor with the 5K Poker Walk. With the enthusiasm and help from Cindy Devlin and the BC Epilepsy Society the number of participants in the 5K POKER WALK more than doubled in 2009 helping to create a greater awareness of BC Epilepsy and with that more charitable donations. Participants in the walk rave about the scenic 5K course where walkers collect poker a poker card at every kilometre of the 5K route.

First home — out of 371 eventual finishers — was Kelowna’s Tom Michie, who held off strong challenges from White Rock’s David Palermo and Yue-Ching Cheng from Port Moody to breast the finishing tape in a time of 16:28. Palermo (16:38) who had set the early pace and Cheng (16:44) who led just after half-way, were in hot pursuit.

The women’s race was also a closely-fought battle, Port Moody’s Natasha Wodak claiming the overall title in a time of 17:55, just 10 seconds clear of Vancouver’s Anne-Marie Madden (18:05) — with Madden’s VFAC team-mate and fellow Vancouverite Katherine Moore just five seconds further back (18:10) in third… a PB by over a minute.

Bagging the overall and men’s age-graded title was the ever-youthful 68-year-old Herb Phillips (18:55) with a score of 93%, which also earned him the Dave Reed Memorial Trophy. Dave Stephens, 50, of North Vancouver, took second with 84%, following a smoking run of 17:22 which also earned him 11th place overall. Making up the podium for the age-graded men was 79-year-old Frank Kurucz of West Vancouver (24:49) with 83%.

In the women’s age-graded competition, Joan McGrath, 47, of New Westminster led the way with an impressive 86% after clocking a time of 18:40 — making her sixth lady overall. North Vancouver’s Lenore Montgomery, 78 years young, glided home to second place and 82% in a time of 28:31, while Port Moody’s Natasha Wodak, just 27, was tied with a clutch of other runners on 80%, but took 3rd spot by virtue of her overall win.

The Tiny Tots 100m dash and Kids 800m Fun Run, which followed the main event, both proved a big hit — as well as a great spectacle — rounding off an entertaining Mother’s Day morning in Port Moody. With $2 of every entry fee going to charity, the event’s host, Phoenix Running Club, was also able to raise over $800 for the Alzheimer’s Society of BC.

A lead pack of eight runners formed in the first mile, and ran together for the first 5 miles before Coquitlam’s Richard Mosley upped the pace and no one responded. He stretched his lead over the remaining 8 miles, to run out a convincing winner in 1:05:43, his second victory in the 2009 Timex BC Road Race Series. Richard’s first appearance at the “First Half” produced the eighth best time ever recorded at the event.

Behind Richard the rest of the pack, consisting of some of Canada’s top marathoners, slowly broke apart. Steve Osaduik, the Royal Victoria Marathon triple champion, out-dueled Saskatoon’s Jason Warick for second place, with times of 1:07:32 and 1:07:49 respectively. Shane Carlos and Jerry Ziak rounded out the top five prize money winners in 1:08:27 and 1:08:35.

Positions in the women’s race were established early, and changed little during the race. Victoria’s Cheryl Murphy, also in her first appearance at the “First Half”, was never pressed, and ran out a winner by over two minutes in 1:16:06. Lisa Harvey, who has never placed worse than second on each of her eight previous visits, lead home a large contingent of Calgary runners, with her fifth runner-up finish in 1:18:28. Kristina Rody, now living in Burnaby, was not far behind in 1:18:59. Suzanne Evans (1:20:14) and Lindsay McLaren (1:21:16) completed the top five.

Close behind the overall winners were the top masters. Recently turned master, Mark Bomba, representing race sponsor Mizuno, was the first male 40+ finisher in an impressive 1:10:40. Two former race winners, Norm Tinkham and Neil Holm, occupied second and third. Norm’s time of 1:11:53 was a new M4549 age group record. The women’s masters division was dominated by athletes in the F4549 age group. Nancy Tinari was sixth overall in 1:21:33. Rita Ivanauskas and Joan McGrath also finished in the top-10 overall to complete the placings.

At the other end of the age groups, BJ McHugh was not only the first ever 80+ finisher of the “First Half”, but her time of 2:07:08 was unofficially a single age world best for an 81 year old. 79 year old Frank Kurucz also set an event record for the M7579 age group with his time of 1:50:10. No less impressive were 74 year old Gwen McFarlan with her time of 1:53:04, and 68 year old Herb Phillips who ran a blazing 1:26:07.

Once again the “First Half” donated proceeds from the event to the Variety Telethon. $40,000 was donated this year, bringing the grand total to over $400,000.

The men’s field includes Richard Mosley, who recently won the BC 8K Championship at the Prairie Inn Pioneer 8K, where he beat Canada’s top marathoner, Jon Brown. This will be Richard’s first appearance at the “First Half”. Not so for Steve Osaduik, who won the “First Half” in 2006, and has been third the last two years. Steve is also a three-time winner of the Royal Victoria Marathon. Two more of Canada’s top marathoners are Jerry Ziak, who has twice been a runner-up at the “First Half”, and Ryan Day, who won the Royal Victoria Half Marathon last fall. Rounding out a quintet of athletes who will be hoping to run the 21.1 kilometres in around 1:06 or quicker is Saskatoon’s Jason Warick. Most of these leading contenders will be trying to qualify for places on Canada’s team to the World Marathon Championships in Berlin later this year. To do so they will need to run the full marathon distance in 2:18 or quicker.

A quartet of Vancouver Island’s finest road runners will also be aiming to be in the prize money with a top-5 finish. Todd Howard represented Canada at last years Austin Marathon. Scott Simpson is a former Canadian 10,000m champion. Jason Terauchi-Loutitt is an international mountain runner. And Matt Clout is a talented young up and comer.

Former UBC track and cross country star, Shane Carlos from Whitehorse, fresh off a convincing win at the Icebreaker 8K, also cannot be discounted in his half marathon debut. Other leading contenders from the Vancouver area include Jay MacDonald, Oliver Utting, Simon Driver and Mark Bomba. Having just turned 40, Bomba is favourite for the masters’ race. But he will have to be at his best to hold off former “First Half” winners Neil Holm and Norm Tinkham. Two former Olympians will also be contesting the older age groups in Paul McCloy and Art Boileau.

The women’s race will be no less exciting. Lucy Smith won the BC 8K Championship in early January, with Cheryl Murphy close behind. Places were reversed however two weeks later at the Cobble Hill 10K. The two Victoria athletes will renew their rivalry at the “First Half”. But don’t discount Calgary’s Lisa Harvey, who has never finished worse than second on each of her nine appearances at the “First Half”. Equally capable of pulling off the win is Suzanne Evans, another three-time winner of the Royal Victoria Marathon. Others likely to run 1:20 or quicker include locals Kristina Rody and Rachel Ruus, Calgary’s Lindsay McLaren, and Saskatoon’s Brandi Pozniak.

Lucy Smith is also expected to be the top masters finisher, with Nancy Tinari, Rita Ivanauskas, Joan McGrath, and Nurten Tasdemir all vying for that position.

The “First Half” Half Marathon is organized by the Pacific Road Runners with support from Mizuno, and is the third race in the 2009 Timex BC Road Running Series. Proceeds from the event benefit Variety – the Children’s Charity, with $40,000 donated in 2008. The race starts at 8:30am on Sunday, February 15, from the Roundhouse Community Centre in downtown Vancouver. The course takes the runners around BC Place Stadium and on a loop of Stanley Park. The event sold out in just over 3 hours when entries opened last November.

For additional information, visit the event website at www.pacificroadrunners.ca/firsthalf