New challenge winners of the BMO Vancouver Marathon announced
Marathon Relay, Camosun Hill, School, Media and Team Challenge winners determined
Vancouver, BC – May 11, 2015 – Numerous innovative, fun challenges were introduced for runners at this year’s BMO Vancouver Marathon by the Vancouver International Marathon Society – the non-profit that organizes the event – and the results are in with local and international winners taking home prizes from new races within the race.
The new Marathon Relay welcomed over 130 teams to the sunny Start Line and Exchange Zones along the famous Marathon course. Among them was team PRSjax from Florida, USA, the fastest Marathon Relay team overall with a time of 2:47:29 run by Ryan Oberneir and Paul McRae. In second place was local team, Vancouver Frontrunners, and third place went to Rackets and Runners from Vancouver.
“The event was amazing,” says Ryan Oberneir, who traveled and ran with his former collegiate coach. “I enjoyed the course. The crowd support at the exchange zones was unbelievable!“
The Cordova Chasers of Vancouver won in the female Marathon Relay division with a fast time of 3:15:22. In their forties, their three team members were Pamela Campbell, Maureen Curtin and Nancy Hancharyk. In second place was OrcaQuadPod from Parksville, BC, and in third place was Team We Woke Up Like This from California, USA.
“We thought it would be fun to be a part of the event this year as a team given that we have so much fun together socially,” adds Maureen Curtin. “The view is gorgeous and the crowd was full of excitement.”
The fastest mixed Marathon Relay team on race day was local group, Rackets and Runners with members Dave Menis, Kelly Kovach, Clara Westwell-Roper and Dan O’leary completing one leg each for a total time of 3:14:13. In second place was the Vancouver Park Board and in third, VanConventions – both local teams.
“It was unexpected, and we were all thrilled,” Dave Menis says of winning the Marathon Relay in the mixed division with his run club, sponsored by Rackets & Runners and Saucony.”Our run coach decided the legs for us based on our strengths. I got the first leg because I thrive on punishment and so got that horrible (Camosun) Hill,” jokes Menis, the eldest member of the team at 46 years of age. Youngest team member Clara with an injury took the shortest third leg.
The new Marathon Relay which split the Marathon course into approximate sections of 12KM, 12KM, 5KM and 13KM, wasn’t the only opportunity to train and run together as a team on May 3. New this year, runners could also run under team names. Fastest team times were determined by the average time of the five fastest runners of each group including a minimum of two females.
Running Room Cambie was the quickest mixed male and female team to complete the Marathon course as the local group’s five fastest members completed the 42.2KM distance with an average time of 3:37:40. Second place team was H.I.S. Canada Inc. and third place went to Team Devi, who also had the second largest team with over 100 members.
Team In Training had the largest team with 165 runners supporting Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. Team in Training is a National Charity in the event’s Run4Hope program, which helps to raise awareness and funds for social impact and community good. The second and third largest teams, respectively, were Team Devi and Team Steve Nash.
The new Camosun Hill Challenge – an innovative initiative that timed Marathon runners on a 1,230m intensive portion of the course – has claimed a King and Queen of the Hill. Takanori Haraguchi from Japan won the King of the Hill with a time of 4:33, two seconds quicker than Vancouver’s Mike McMillan. Third to seventh place ran 4:52 or under and from Toronto, editor-in-chief of Canadian Running Magazine, Michael Doyle placed eighth running the Hill in 4:55.
“This was my first BMO Vancouver Marathon and it was an awesome event,” says local Mike McMillan. “The spectators were loud and plentiful and the weather was phenomenal. I think it was a neat initiative to throw in the Camosun Hill Challenge. I definitely enjoyed it and I’ll just have to go a bit faster next year!”
The Queen of the Hill title went to Joanne Normand from Quebec with a time of 5:32. The next five women were all within three seconds of each other, between 5:39 and 5:42, led by locals Vicky Harris, Amy Schneeberg and Rika Hatachi, Calgary’s Allison Blackmore and USA’s Sophia Liu. An international field completed the women’s Queen of the Hill top finishers with runners from Tokyo, Japan, plus the States of Massachusetts and Illinois, USA.
The School Challenge was an event specific to the 8KM race and youth ages 12-18. Templeton Titans of East Vancouver, BC, was the largest school team in the 8KM event, and they will receive a cash prize of $500 that will go towards Templeton Secondary’s running program from the Vancouver International Marathon Society.
In the inaugural Media Challenge in the new Marathon Relay event, the Vancouver Sun claimed bragging rights with a team time of 3:53:35, placing 37th overall. Team members included Tiffany Crawford, Katya Holloway, Kelly Sinoski and Amy O’brian.
A huge congratulations to all runners that participated in the 2015 BMO Vancouver Marathon and the challenge winners of the 2015 initiatives. Winners of the new Neighbourhood Challenge presented by Chevron will be announced in the coming days.