(c) Copyright - Christopher Kelsall - 2009

June 16th 2009 – Chemainus, BC – 25th annual Twilight Shuffle - BC Road 5k Championships.  The 25th annual Twilight Shuffle 5k took place in Chemainus, British Columbia under ideal race conditions.

Ryan McKenzie of Victoria, BC (Langford) won the race and set a new course record with his finishing time of 14:23. Second place went to Cam Levins of the Comox Valley, BC and third to Richard Mosley of Coquitlam, BC.

In the women’s race 42-year-old Lucy Smith of Victoria won, breaking the Canadian Masters record of 17:02, finishing in 16:49. Following Lucy Smith was Cheryl Murphy (17:22) of Victoria, who has qualified to compete in the World Marathon Championships at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Berlin, Germany and third went to Kristina Rody (17:53) of Burnaby, BC. Lucy finished 12th overall.

Top men’s master finisher went to Shawnigan Lake’s Kevin Searle who finished in 16:49, the same time as Lucy Smith, followed by former Irish Olympian, Paul O’Callaghan (17:07) and one-time Commonwealth Games competitor Gordon Christie (17:17) both from Victoria.

The women’s masters race also included (after Lucy Smith over-all and master’s winner) Nancy Baxendale of Shawnigan Lake (19:11) and Juliette Christie in 19:37 for third place.

Ryan McKenzie, Cam Levins and Richard Mosley ran through the first kilometer together, at this point Mosley fell off the pace and let Levins, who runs varsity for the University of Southern Utah challenge McKenzie, who owns a 5k track personal best of 13:39.

At the 2 km mark Levins dropped off the pace and Ryan ran with a solo lead for the remainder of the race, building his lead to 30 seconds by the time the dust settled from the nearby Sawmill that the 555 race participants had to run through twice before and after making the turnaround at just past the 3k mark.

The challenge for second place was a more heated battle between Levins and Mosley and it wasn’t until the final few meters where Levins managed to secure his second place finish with a kick, likely honed on the Southern Utah track. Asked about his summer training plans while at home in Black Creek, Cam said, “I will be running higher mileage to prepare myself for the fall cross country season, I will be running up around 105 miles per week (165 km)”.

Lucy Smith, 19 time Canadian Champion and twice the World Duathlon Championships silver medalist led for the entire race.  “I find it easy to get-up for any kind of championship event, plus I like the course” said a smiling Smith shortly after crossing the line.

Performances of the day may go to either Smith who ran an age-graded performance of 91.31%, 68 year-old Herb Phillips who finished as second male to McKenzie (in age-grading) with his 19:12 or 79 year old running legend Maurice Tarrant of Victoria, who ran a time of 24:36. “I am going to start track training soon and with this race, I can start training for the 80 plus age-group” Maurice intimated.

The 25th annual Twilight Shuffle race is sponsored and organized by Island Runner Footwear, the Chemainus Legion and co-hosted by Island Runner and the Prairie Inn Harriers running club. The provincial 5k championships race was sanctioned by BC Athletics and certified accurate by official course measurer Gary Duncan.

SENIOR

1. Ryan McKenzie (PATH)        1.  Cheryl Murphy (PIHRT)
2. Cam Levins (CVC)            2.  Kristina Rody (Burnaby)
3. Richard Mosley (PIHRT)        3.  Melissa Ross (ORCA)

MASTER

1. Kevin Searle (PIHRT)        1.  Lucy Smith (PIHRT)
2. Paul O’Callaghan (PIHRT)        2.  Nancy Baxendale (PIHRT)
3. Gord Christie    (PIHRT)        3.  Juliette Christie (PIHRT)

MASTER – AGE CLASS WINNERS

Women

F40 – 1st – Lucy Smith (PIHRT)
F40 – 2nd – Angela Plamondon (PIHRT)
F45 – 1st – Nancy Baxendale (PIHRT)
F45 – 2nd – Juliette Christe (PIHRT)
F45 – 3rd – Joanne Rosen (PIHRT)

Men

M35 – 1st – Craig Odermatt (PATH)
M45 – 1st – Kevin Searle (PIHRT)
M45 – 2nd – Paul O’Callaghan (PIHRT)
M45 – 3rd – Gord Christie (PIHRT)
M50 – 1st – Gary Duncan (PIHRT)
M60 – 1st – David Hoskins (PIHRT)
M65 – 1st – Herb Phillips (PIHRT)
M70 – 1st – Garfield Saunders (PIHRT)
M75 – 1st – Maurice Tarrant (PIHRT)

BC Athletics 5K Road Race Championship medals for winning their age division were presented to McKenzie, Smith, Murphy, Searle, Tarrant, Nancy Baxendale, Gary Duncan, David Hoskins, Herb Phillips and Garfield Saunders.  A total of $1,800 in prize money was distributed to the top three Senior and Master runners, both men and women.

Full results are available at Race Headquarters.

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Contact Chris: chriskelsall@flocasts.org