The Olympic Oval 10k on Aug. 17 was the final event of the 11-race Lower Mainland Road Race series.
Though technically not a ‘road race’ (much of the course is on the gravel dyke), it is dead flat with a great start/finish venue at the Oval.
Morning cloud cover gave hope of a cool race, but by the 9 a.m. start the clouds had burned off and the mercury was rising fast, with no wind to blow away the increasing humidity. The heat combined with the gravel surface made most competitors’ times relatively slow, despite the flatness of the route.
The same five Sunshine Coast Athletics members competed as in Squamish three weeks ago, and brought home three medals this time: one of each colour for the Nightingale family of Halfmoon Bay.
Larry Nightingale led the team with a second place in the M50-54 despite some recent nagging muscle tightness. Teresa won the F45-49 division, and Alex took third in the M19&Under group.
Steve and Suzette Narbonne of Sechelt found the warm conditions tough. but persevered to finish fourth and fifth in their respective age categories.
Teresa and Alex raced side by side for about 5km before Alex had to drop off the pace due to stomach issues. Meanwhile, Teresa was feeling confident after a strong training week, and found herself chasing down a couple of masters women who had finished two to three minutes ahead of her in the last two series races.
After catching and eventually moving ahead of Vancouver’s Helen Ritchie whose exercise-induced asthma was acting up a bit more than usual, she could see Margreet Dietz of Squamish not far ahead and getting closer by the kilometre. But over the final 600m or so Dietz kicked for home and Nightingale was unable to close the gap any further.
Following the race awards were the Lower Mainland series awards. Participants needed to run at least five events to qualify for prizing, and this worked in Alex’s favour as two other junior men who had four races going into the final did not race, moving Alex into top spot. He received a Timex watch for the win.
Gibsons’ Kim Doerksen was first in the F20-24 division, also winning a Timex watch. Teresa finished second in the F45-49 series age group behind Ritchie. Larry was just out of the prizing, finishing sixth in the M50-54 by a mere three points (top five win prizes). However, a race draw prize of a $100 Running Room gift card more than made up for this. Steve placed fourth in the M45-49 division, while Suzette took third in the F50-54 category.
