A large contigent of Comox Valley Road Runners travelled to Texada Island to tackle the inaugural Run The Rock Marathon and Half Marathon. The Aug. 28 event was run up and down the hills of Texada Island, challenging even the fittest of runners.
Local runner Keith Wakelin, after 36 years of running, reached his goal of finishing first overall in a marathon. Roger and Angela Plamondon had a great 17th anniversary celebration with Roger finishing second in the marathon and Angela finishing as the first woman. Janet Green, running in her 248th marathon, was the second woman in the marathon.
In the half marathon Andrea Prager showed that she is on track for a solid finish in the upcoming Victoria Marathon with an impressive second-place finish. Chris Winkelaar continues to impress with an outstanding third place in the male half marathon.
Special mention goes to Diane Palmason who came out of retirement from competition to complete the half marathon course. For full results go to the website at http://avidfitness.ca/forum/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Run-The-Rock-2011-results.pdf.
Organizers say the even "wildly surpassed expectations," with 71 runners participating. Race marshall Maureen Northrup of Texada Island said the hilly terrain of the race courses resulted in slower times than some runners expected.
"But with sunshine and no major glitches, Run the Rock was hugely successful. We hope runners will spread the word about how beautiful Texada is and that they'll come back with friends next year."
– Comox Valley Road Runners