Sandy McCormick
Special to the Record
Records were broken at the fourth annual Run the Rock marathon, half-marathon and eight-kilometre races on Texada Island Aug. 24.
Brad Crowe, 32, of Comox, won the men's marathon, finishing in 2:56:02, 12 minutes faster than the previous record set by Keith Wakelin, of Merville, in 2012.
Wakelin, 55, finished second with time of 3:19:17. Mary Bridges, 43, of Courtenay also set a record in the women's marathon, finishing in 3:39:02. Her time beat the previous record of 3:50:00, set by Roslyn Smith of Comox in 2012.
In the half-marathon, Lehm Maguire, 19, of Victoria set a record of 1:19:17, beating the previous mark set by Wayne Crowe of 1:23:04, also in 2012. In the eight-kilometre race, a women's record was set by Teresa Nightingale, 48, of Half Moon Bay, who finished at 32:51:00.
In the men's marathon, the third place finisher was Byron Fader, 43, of Powell River in third. A total of 15 marathoners started and all finished, including some young runners who were doing their first marathon.
In the women's marathon, second place was taken by veteran racer Janet Green, 60, of Courtenay, who has now completed 307 marathons. She was followed by Angela Puszka, 26, of Victoria, in third.
In the half-marathon, the female winner was Melissa Schurger, 30, of Vancouver in 1:40:21. Elena Cigola-Fulgosi, 47, of Campbell River was second in 1:45:21 and Margaret Rairie, 47, of Gillies Bay, Texada Island, was third. The top half-marathon walker was Denise Burden, 44, of Victoria.
In the eight-kilometre race, Raymond Sunnas, 35, of Ladysmith was second in the men's category, and Kindle Parsons, 43, of Courtenay finished second in the women's. Participants Spencer and Allison Mylymok and their four children Mac, Lucy, Olivia and Jack, all of Texada Island, set a record for the most members of the same family to take part.
There were 84 runners registered for Run the Rock, and everyone who started finished their race. They came from as far away as Germany to participate. The hilly course is considered by many runners as the toughest road marathon in Canada.
A total of 65 volunteers from Texada Island spent many hours volunteering to ensure that all runners enjoyed the experience. Race co-directors were Rob McWilliam and Ken Barton. Sponsors included First Credit Union, Lafarge Canada, Powell River Regional District, Sunshine Coast Athletics, Texada Arts, Culture and Tourism Society, Avid Fitness, Aaron Services, Quality Foods, Safeway, Sunshine Coast Cycles, Ravenous Raven, Texada Island Inn, Clay and Pat Haase, Stan Beale, Welcome Harvest Farm, Sandy McCormick, Kelly's Hair Styling, Gayle Burandt, Texada Market, Gillies Bay General Store and George and Gerry Childress.
– Run the Rock