A new course for the third annual Sea Cavalcade Mile proved to be a fast one, with Richmond's Ryan Hayden setting a new event record, clocking a blazing 4:01.
That result earned him a cool $100 while his girlfriend, Kirsty Smith of North Vancouver, took home the other half of the prize purse, finishing third overall in 4:53. Both have visited the Sunshine Coast numerous times before.
Hayden, who just grad-uated from Villanova Uni-versity in Philadelphia where he studied and ran on a scholarship for five years, was using this race as part of his preparation for the World University Games in Turkey in a few weeks. This was his first road mile ever, though he has run 3:58 on the track and 3:39.7 for 1,500 m.
"I've raced 16 times since February and this was the most fun," admitted Hayden. "I really enjoyed running in front of the crowd. I was impressed to see all of the people who came out to support the race and the parade."
Sechelt's Anthony Estey, home for the summer from his studies at the University of Victoria, stuck with Hayden for the first half of the race, but had to settle for second as the early speed took its toll. "Anthony ran brilliantly," said Hayden afterwards. "He showed no fear as he stayed with me until the half mile mark. I threw in a big surge from 800 to 1,200 m and that was enough to pull away from him. He ran with guts and definitely earned my respect."
Smith, who also graduated from Villanova this year, had low expectations going into the race, having just come off a knee injury recently.
"I have not done any workouts; I have only been jogging," said Smith. "I thought this race would be a good opportunity for me to get some speed back into my legs. I enjoyed it a lot and hope to do more road miles in the future."
Like Hayden, this was Smith's first road mile -a short race for a 3,000 and 5,000 m specialist.
Not far behind Smith was Craig Crawford of Sechelt in 5:02 (first Master), and rounding out the top five was the winner of the 13 to 15 year old division, Brett Jensen of Gibsons, in 5:26.
Competition was fierce in some of the youth categories, as Dryden Ostrosky finished a few inches ahead of Haden Bush, both recording 6:29 in the boys nine and under division; and Katie Russell had only three seconds on Caitlin Kyle in the girls 10 to 12 division. A total of 26 runners took part, including several parent/kid entries.
