SUBMITTED BY SALT SPRING SNEAKERS
The Vancouver Island Runners Association winter race series ended with the Bazan Bay 5K on April 8. The results for the Salt Spring Sneakers team were reported in last week’s edition.
The VIRA also recognizes the achievements of runners who have run at least five of the series’ eight races, and these awards were given at the Bazan Bay event in Sidney last week.
Series awards were based nota on runners’ places in race events but on their times at the various distances compared to the world record for that distance within each age group. The five best time scores of those runners who completed at least five of the eight races were then averaged, resulting in an overall ranking, gender rankings and age group rankings. The scores are adjusted for age so that all runners can be compared to the same standard.
Based upon these criteria, 221 runners out of the 1,250 who competed in one or more of the eight races qualified, and eight Salt Spring Sneakers qualified.
Lise Fraser was the highest ranked Sneaker at 59th place of the 221 who qualified, earning a first place and gold medal among the 14 runners who qualified in the women’s 60-64 age group with three first-place finishes, two second-place finishes and a personal best time in the 10K.
Janice Dickie was the second-highest ranking team member in the series competition at 66th place overall, earning a fourth-place ribbon among the 12 who qualified out of 48 women who ran in her age group. She had one each of a second, third and fourth place, two seventh-place finishes and a personal best time in the 5K.
Marion Young and Pat Peron were in a dead heat at 89th place in the overall standings, having identical age-graded scores of 609.6.
Young earned a second-place medal from among the 14 women who qualified in her 60-64 age group and from among the 50 women who entered one or more races. She earned one first-place finish, two second-place finishes, two third-place finishes and one fourth-place finish in her age group. She also holds the record among the Sneakers for the most VIRA series races completed at 43.
Pat Peron earned a fifth-place ribbon of the 18 in his age group who qualified and the 54 who entered one or more races. He earned two fourth places, two fifth places, two seventh places and one eighth-place finish.
Eric van Soeren was the fifth-highest ranking Sneaker in the series competition at 126th overall, earning a bronze medal from among the nine runners in his 65-69 age group who qualified and the 30 who entered a series race. He earned two second places, one third place, one fifth place and one seventh-place finish in his age group.
Eric Ellis was the sixth-highest ranking Sneaker in the series competition with a 133rd overall ranking among all qualified runners. He was the only Sneaker who completed all eight races and the only competitor in his age group to finish all eight races. This earned him a second place and silver medal among the eight runners in his 70-74 age group who qualified from among the 30 in his age group who entered one or more races, earning one first place, three second places and four third-place finishes.
Catherine Bennett was the seventh-ranked Sneaker to qualify with a 144th ranking of the 221 competitors who qualified. She earned a fifth-place ribbon among the seven women in her 65-69 age group who qualified and the 23 who ran one or more races, earning a third place, two fourth-place finishes, two fifth-place finishes and two sixth-place finishes.
Julie van Soeren earned a 162nd place ranking from among the 221 competitors who qualified, earning a ninth-place ribbon from among the 14 women in her 60-64 age group who qualified and the 50 women who entered one or more races, achieving two eighth places, one ninth place, one tenth place, one 11th place and one 15th place finish.
As of this writing, Sneakers coach Susan Gordon has achieved a first-place in Athletics Canada’s national ranking for 2018 in the 5K.
Janice Dickie has achieved a first-place Athletics Canada national ranking in the 10K and third place national ranking in the 8K.
Marion Young has achieved first-place national rankings in the 8K and 10K, and Eric Ellis has achieved a second-place national ranking in the 8K and first place in the 10K.
This formally finishes the winter racing season. Sneakers will now be indulging in their sub-specialties over the spring and summer season. These include various forms of triathlon, track and field, trail running and ultra running.
That has already begun with Khai Foo completing the Diez-Vista 100km ultra race (with 12,000 feet of climbing) on Saturday, April 14 at Belcarra Regional Park north of Port Moody in a time of 13 hours, 48 minutes, 48.4 seconds in 11th place of the 54 who finished out of the 92 who started and third among the 14 in his age group.
Lise Fraser competed in the Boston Marathon on April 16, finishing the 40-K race in a time of 4:20:22, which was 19,254rd overall, 8,090th among all women and 93rd in her age division.