Thanks to the efforts of Neil Macdonald and Scott Buchanan, the BB10K returned to the schedule after a one year hiatus. This early fall race offers a flat, two loop course which should afford a good shot at a PB, and I heard of several, but unfortunately, the new Wine Country Half in Kelowna the previous day seemed to affect the attendance, with only 105 finishers. Hans Aabye, winner of seven IRA races this year, missed his first one after placing third in the Half, with the excellent time of 1:14, and several other notables were missing as well.
Young Cael Warner (M16-19) of Kaleden, who had only heard about the race on Friday at school, led the first lap before being overtaken by two experienced runners, with Trevor Haaheim (M40-44) of Kelowna taking the victory in 34:47, with John Machuga (M30-34), who said he was just out for a ‘tempo run’ as he trains for 5000m on the track, second in 35:17.
Warner held on to third in 35:57. Lisa Heidt (F35-39) of Vernon, was the only woman to break 40 minutes, winning in 39:50, with Delilah Topic (F30-34) of Kelowna second in 42:23, and Marie-Josee Bedard of Merritt third in 42:37.
On age-graded times, Bruce Wark (M60-64) of Merritt took his fourth victory in a row, finishing twelfth overall in 39:27, which graded at 31:27. Haaheim garnered second in 32:38, with Kelowna’s Gary Wade (M45-49) taking third in 33:05. Warner and Machuga were relegated to sixth and seventh. Wark needs only to finish the Peak to Beak to win the Greenaway Cup, while Liz Borrett ((F70-74) won the Muckle-Gader Cup without even racing, when Cindy Rhodes and Diane Leonard didn’t show up either.
In this race, Heidt scored the rare double of finishing first on the road and on age grading, with 39:16, while Susan Templin (F60-64) took second in 39:32, and Arnie Gash (F65-69) of Okanagan Falls was third in 39:43. Bedard and Topic took fourth and fifth positions.
Our final IRRS race of the season is the Peak to Beak in Kelowna on Sep. 22. This race is a real toughie, but you owe it to yourself to challenge the course at least once in your career, and why not this year, with wine for the first 100 entrants of legal age. Trevor Haaheim took on the RD duties to save the race, which has been going for over 30 years, so please support his efforts by coming out to run. If the whole enchilada seems a bit too much to choke down, why not find a friend and do the relay? The entry link is in this right column of this page.
For the dusty-foot crowd, our trail series starts Sep. 29 with the Campbell Mountain 6.5k in Penticton.
Happy Running everyone; Rick Jenkner reporting.