Congratulations this week to all Bastion Running Club members who competed in this year’s Frontrunners Island Race Series.
The eight road races in the series are of varying distances and are held at different locations on the Island. Some weeks ago we covered results from the first four races, so let’s now check Bastion results from the second half…
The fifth race of the Island Series was the Bazan Bay 5K in Sidney, where about a dozen local runners were part of the field of 618 participants. Fastest of the Bastion crew was Erin Burrett, whose time of 16 minutes and 47 seconds rated her second in the F30-34 division. Then came Neil Gaudet in 63rd place overall with a finish in 18:16.
Yanna Debelic reached in the finish line in 19:57, Jane Campbell in 20:07, Kevin Stedmon in 21:53 and Zlatko Zvekic in 23:05. Other local finishers were Bill Hollingshead in 23:40, John Durkin in 23:28, Denise Bonin in 24:37, Arjan Gelling in 24:49 and Daniel Ross in 25:21.
The longest event in the Island Series is always the Comox Valley Half Marathon. Of the 459 finishers this year, more than 20 were Bastion Club representatives. Jeremy Clegg was the fastest local. His fine time of 1:12:27 gave him second overall and first in the M35-39 grouping. Edwin Johnston was 28th in 1:25:01, Gaudet 43rd in 1:27:25, Stefan Jakobsen 49th in 1:28:38 and Norm Thibault 70th in 1:32:14. Also in the top 100 was the first Nanaimo woman to the finish line. Debelic placed first in the F45-49 division thanks to a time of 1:34:29.
Next competition in the series was the Merville 15K, held near Campbell River. Some 275 runners took part in total, with David Depasquale the fastest of the 13 Bastion representatives. Depasquale posted a time of 57:45, good for eighth overall. Gaudet’s time of 1:01:24 earned him 26th place and Quentin Proud was 35th overall in 1:03:06. Again Debelic was the first Bastion female runner to finish, winning the F45-49 division with her time of 1:05:36.
Other locals in the top 100 for the 15K distance were Norm Olsen in 1:06:42, Katy Wallington in 1:10:43, Zvekic in 1:13:22, Durkin in 1:14:43 and Hollingshead in 1:14:45.
The final race in this year’s Island Series was the Sooke River 10K, with a field of 303 runners. A small contingent of Bastion athletes took part, led to the finish line by Gaudet who was 29th overall with a time of 40:55. Debelic finished in 41:49 to place first in the F45-49 group.
Stedmon posted a time of 48:09 and Zvekic finished in 48:47. Other Bastion results saw Durkin cross the finish line in 49:31. Hollingshead finished in 50:10 to place first in the M70-74 division and Bonin finished with a time of 53:05.
Based on points accumulated from all races in the series, Debelic was the top female Bastion runner and Gaudet the top male. In team points, the Bastion Club did well to finish fourth.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.
