For the first time ever, the trails recently opened up by the brand new Sea to Sky Gondola hosted a race and 麻豆社国产residents used their home-trail advantage for strong results at the Skyline Ridge Run on Saturday (June 21).听
Local runners dominated the 10-kilometre race, with Squamish鈥檚 Eric Goodwin completing the course in 44 minutes, four seconds. Goodwin beat out second-place finisher Vincent Pagot from Whistler by 46 seconds to win.
麻豆社国产native Sophie Demers posted the top female time, clocking in at 54:59. Her time was the eighth fastest on the day. She beat out second-place female Stacy McDougall by 48 seconds.听
Goodwin, fresh off a 48th-place finish at the Test of Metal on June 14, admitted he didn鈥檛 know a lot about the course before the race.
鈥淚鈥檝e been up the gondola but had never hiked any of the trails, so I went into it a bit blind,鈥� he said, laughing. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a really good and fun course. It鈥檚 so beautiful out there and Ted [Tempany, trail builder] did a great job.鈥�
He started strong and said he tried to hang with the top runners before making a move at the right opportunity.
鈥淚 just tried to stick with the top runners,鈥� Goodwin said. 鈥淚鈥檓 fairly strong on the hills because of mountain biking so I knew that when I got to the big hills I could try to get ahead of everyone else so that鈥檚 where I went for it.鈥�
Goodwin said the course is challenging, particularly the Switchback Hill portion of the race.
鈥淭here was definitely some walking in parts on Switchback,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut overall it鈥檚 an amazing course and a lot of fun.鈥�
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Demers said she scoped out the course and walked it a few times before the event and said it was challenging but fun.
鈥淢y strategy was don鈥檛 die and keep breathing,鈥� she said, laughing. 鈥淚 was battling at the beginning but then I just focused on my own race and had fun.
听鈥淚 think the hardest part was the flat bit at the end. The hills weren鈥檛 too bad but the flat part makes you think like you鈥檙e almost there, but you鈥檙e not.鈥�
A total of 120 runners competed in the 10 km event. Other locals in the top 20 included: Jacob Melville (third), Kasper Woolley (fifth), Brad Warkentin (sixth), Korbinian Geisser (10th), Nathan Romanin (11th), Karen Willis (12th), Alex Deslauriers (13th), Susan Hollis (14th), Karina Benevides (16th), Jenna Green (17th), Daphne Radford-Park (18th) and Kyle Macrae (19th).
Toby Perkins of North Vancouver posted the top time in the 21 km, finishing the course in 1:51:03. He beat out Squamish鈥檚 Jeff Thompson by two minutes and 24 seconds to secure the win.
Squamish鈥檚 Brendan Urlocker was originally named the winner of the race but according to organizers, he became unranked after he failed to complete the entire course.
Vancouver鈥檚 Ashley Ramsay had the top female time, completing the course in 1:59:24. Ramsay beat out Squamish鈥檚 Tammy Shore by more than seven minutes.
A total of 35 racers took on the 21 km race and other locals who participated included: Mark Haldenby (fourth), John Furneaux (sixth), Caroline Water (10th), Arnault Vernhet (11th), John Redpath (13th), Barbara Brigidear (16th), Vikki Weldon (19th), Krista Pitts (21st), Kathy Purves (25th), Niki Hurst (28th), Andrew Borchert (30th), Rodney Wilson (33rd) and Tanya Stewart (34th).
For complete results from the race, visit www.racedaytiming.ca/results/2014Skyline10K#.U6izgBbH2xo.
