After four events completed in the Vancouver Island Race Series, Run to Beer Comox Valley climbed into second place out of 53 teams over the past weekend. The club trails the powerhouse CEEVACS out of Cowichan Valley and is narrowly ahead of the Prairie Inn Harriers of North Saanich. In fourth place is the other local favourite, the Comox Valley Road Runners.
The CVRR recently hosted the Comox Valley Half Marathon, with more than 400 runners, including Canadian Olympian Trevor Hofbauer. Run to Beer was represented by the speedy Laura Weston, who ran a cool 4:11/km pace to finish first in the women’s 25-29 division. Her time was 1:28:09, tying local legend Andrea Wilson of the CVRR.
Top gun Jordan Brietzke of Run to Beer clocked a blistering 4:02/km pace but claims he would have easily run under four had he not stopped at the 7km porta-potty.
“It’s probably the fastest negative split I’ve ever run,” he joked. A negative split is when the second half of the race is faster than the first. His time was 1:24:51.
There were 32 others from Run to Beer with finish times all over the board.
“We’re crushing it because of participation,” says team organizer Derek Kaufman. “Yes, we have some fast runners, but most of our team are casual, recreational runners that jog a few times a week. Some of them claim they aren’t even runners. But here they are, racing half marathons!”
Andrew Brown raced his first ever half marathon and finished with an impressive 1:38:22 for a 10th-place finish in his division. His partner, Natlie Pulsford, a long-time RTB runner, took second in her division in 1:33:25, her second fastest half marathon.
The VIRS consists of six races on Vancouver Island, five of which are south of Duncan, making it a challenge for local teams to compete. Run to Beer rents a coach bus that welcomes anyone who wants to travel to races down island to join them.
FMI: runtobeer.com
The group runs every Tuesday evening in Comox.