A strong contingent of Comox Valley Road Runners joined over 14,000 athletes racing in the Vancouver Marathon, Half Marathon and 8K on May 5. Racers were greeted with sunny, hot conditions on race day adding to the challenge of the events.
CVRR had a number of competitors in the marathon which was won by Thomas Omwenga in a time of 2:24:08. The women's winner was Lucy Njeri in 2:40:33. Leading the Comox Valley charge was veteran marathoner Danny Keyes who had a stellar time of 3:18:09 on a difficult day, finishing 9th out of 329 in the M5054 division. A top 10 finish in this strong field was very impressive.
James Warren also had a strong race with a time of 3:27:03 in M3539 group. Jerry Van gained a lot of experience as he pushed hard to finish in 3:33:59, 34th in the M5054 division.
Janet Green had a stellar performance with her best time in a year of 3:51:54, F5559, good enough for 5th out of 103 runners. She was followed closely by Lisa Perry, who reached her goal of breaking the magical four-hour barrier, finishing in 3:58:43, 63rd out of 323 F4044.
As always, Korky Richardson enjoyed her race, finishing in 4:01:25 in the F4549 group. Sharon Fisher had a great day in her second marathon finishing in 4:07:32, in the F4044 group.
CVRR also had impressive finishes in the 8K race won by Jared Ludlow-Carroll in 28:31. Jen Moroz won the women's race in 30:17. Scott Gaglardi led the CVRR team with a time of 40:51 which earned him a third place podium finish in the M4044 division. Karen Tobacca also reached the podium with a time of 47:43 placing her second in the F5559 division.
Half marathon winners were Paul Kimugal in 1:04:18 and Natasha Fraser in 1:15:17. CVRR was well represented in the half marathon by Wayne Crowe (Extreme Runners/Asics). He had an excellent race, finishing 50th overall out of 8,600 runners. He added yet another half marathon win to his record with a time of 1:22:56 giving him first place in the M5559 division.
The next race on the local running scene with be the July 1st Fifth Street Mile. This is a fun event open to the whole family. Get on your running shoes and start training and we will see you there.
– Comox Valley Road Runners