This year's Perseverance Trail Run on Oct. 27 was a huge success with 350 racers, 70 volunteers, sponsors and supporters coming together to raise funds for the Cumberland Community Forest Society.
In its ninth year, the run raised a record donation of $9,000 for the CCFS. The CCFS is a local society working toward purchasing and protecting additional forest lands in the Cumberland area for recreation now and into the future.
The conditions could not have been better for a fall trail race with above seasonal temperatures, blue sky and tacky trails underfoot. Racers came from all over Vancouver Island and as far as Victoria and Port Alberni to tackle the 10K and 3K courses in Cumberland with ages ranging from three to 82.
The competition on the 10K course was fierce with over 250 racers toeing the start line.
Top overall results in the 10K mountain run:
Males 52:06 Andrew Pape-Salmon, 52:14 Miguel Laroche, 53:30 Andrew Howard.
Females 1:02:07 Kelsey Knoll, 1:04:53 Kathy Rung, 1:05:24 De Orrell.
Nearly 90 racers, young and old, tackled the 3K cross-country run through the Cumberland Community Forest trails.
Top overall results were as follows:
Males 13:46 Gabriel Gledhill and Stephen Lamon tied for first, 14:05 Aiden Noble, 14:07 Hugo Henckel.
Females 15:49 Jayden Grant, 15:50 Rachel Beech, 15:52 Eva Salmon.
The Perseverance Trail Run is run almost entirely by volunteers and headed up by co-organizers Lene Curts (Extreme Runners) and Sarah Seads (Equilibrium Lifestyle Management/ELM) along with Arran Kerrigan, John Wall and Terry Lewis.
It takes a village to put on this event and a huge thank you goes out to nearly 70 enthusiastic volunteers who donated their time and energy before, during and after this year's race. Awesome volunteers tackled everything from registration, racer food, finish line, set up, course flagging, course marshaling, course sweeping, take down and more to make the day a success for the racers and the CCFS. A special thank you goes to the Comox Valley Search and Rescue and St. John Ambulance teams who spent the day watching over each and every racer on the course.
This year's race, once again held on Halloween weekend, brought out great costumes and prizes were donated by Cumberland Village Bakery for the top outfits of the day. With close to 40 draw prizes donated from generous local businesses, many racers left with big smiles at the end of the day.
A big thank you to this year's prize sponsors: Brooks, Island Mountain Rides, Riding Fool Hostel, Sillycakes Bakery, Seeds Market, Darkside Chocolates, Mosaic Vision, Comox Valley Acupuncture, Ascent Physiotherapy, Inner Pursuit Fitness, My Tech Guys, Jim Smiley of ReMax, Dodge City Cycles, Heart & Stroke, Functional Massage Therapy, Riders Pizza, Wandering Moose Cafe, Bayview Chiropractic, Extreme Runners and ELM.
The following community sponsors generously supported the race and helped to make it a great success once again: Thrifty Foods, Tim Hortons, ABC Printing, Hi Tech, nrichmedia, Odlum Brown, Mosaic Vision, Comox Valley Record, Long & Mquade and Whitecaps Coffee. Landowners including the Village of Cumberland and Recreation, CCFS, Timberwest and Comox Timber.
A complete list of results as well as hundreds of race day photos have been posted at www.perseverancetrailrun.com. Mark your calendars for a big 10 year anniversary race next year on Oct. 26!
– Perseverance Trail Run