MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race

MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race
MEC #2 Birds Hill Park 2017 3rd Overall After A Sprint Finish!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Chilly Chase Vancouver 10K

On Sunday, January 27, I ran the Chilly Chase Vancouver 10K race, starting and finishing near Olympic Village Square on Athletes Way, beside the Creekside Community Recreation Center. It was a few degrees above zero and raining lightly as we started out, the 15K race at 11 AM, us 2 minutes later, and the 5Kers 2 minutes after us.
 
 
We ran past the center and along a concrete path until we got the to the Skytrain Station after a few hundred meters, and then we turned right and ran toward the seawall, already passing the slowest 15K runners. We continued to run around the edge of False Creek along the seawall (see the course map http://www.tryevents.ca/images/maps/vancc10kmap.pdf ). We passed hoards of 15K racers, including Mark Hyder, who yelled "Go Flett!" as I ran by him, until we got past the 5K turnaround http://www.tryevents.ca/images/maps/vanccc5kmap.pdf , and then for close to a kilometer it was mostly just us 10Kers, running in a spread out row at our faster pace. At this point we caught up to and began to pass a loose pack of faster 15Kers, until we hit the 10K turnaround and headed back.
 
After a couple of hundred meters a guy ran up beside me, with a woman right behind him wearing a VFAC singlet. It was Mirabelle Tinio, who was the top woman in the Vancouver Historic Half 5K race on November 25, and ended up winning the 10K today by a large margin. After awhile they passed me, but I managed to keep her in sight for most of the race. With a kilometer to go I'd lost sight of her, but could now hear the announcer at the finish line. He sounded close, and I could even see the finish area where he was, but it was on the other side of the water so I still had a little ways to go. I raced around the concrete path along the water and finally the volunteers were directing me to turn right and head towards the finish line. A couple of hundred meters later I was heading down the finish chute and over the line!
 
 

 
A volunteer put a finisher's medal around my neck and congratulated me and I thanked her profusely, plus the other volunteers who offered congratulations. I went over to one tent where they had bananas, oranges, bagels and fudge brownies plus Vega recovery drink samples, and grabbed a few brownies and a small cup of Vega.
 
They did the 5K awards, and Billy Wong was top male by a long shot, with Elizabeth Wong winning the women's race. There were only awards for top three overall in each gender FOR each race, so the ceremonies were over quickly. I ran into Tilman, who had finished second in our age group to me last year, and we talked for quite awhile about races we'd run since then. We wandered over to the other food tent, where they had Muscle Milk and 3 types of Clif Builder protein bars, and got a bottle of the milk and a couple of the bars, which were very good.
 
They'd posted results in the other tent and we went to take a look, and I'd finished 8th overall out of 150, and 1st in our age group again, with a time of 42:41, and Tilman was once more 2nd in our AG, and 14th overall, in a time of 46:36. We shook hands and congratulated each other, and soon after this they had the awards for the 10K, with Stephen Lamb and Mirabelle grabbing top male and female honours.
 
I saw Larry Doan but never did get a chance to talk to him, but noticed he was 2nd in our age group in the 15K, and Mark came in, finishing 1st in his age group. I had no idea he was 60, as he looks a lot younger than that.
 
I talked to Tilman some more, and then he decided to head out, as it was pretty cool out and we'd been hanging around outside for quite awhile. We said we'd see each other at the Historic Half at Fort Langley on February 17th, where we both running the 10K again, and where they'd have age group medals. Mark came up and we talked for a bit, as we're both running the Fort-2-Fort 30K on February 24th, plus the Aldergrove Mud Run 8K coming up right away on the 3rd. Finally it was time to leave and go warm up, and we said we'd see other on Sunday in Aldergrove.
 
Results are up, and Amelia Varsava finished 23 overall out of 81 in the 5K: http://www.tryevents.ca/images/results/vcc2013.pdf
 
They have 2 sets of photos posted from the event:
 
 
 
My next race is the Aldergrove Mud Run 8K trail race, at Aldergrove Lake Regional Park, February 3rd at 9 AM.

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