Thirty teams took to Highway 16 to take part in the Skeena River Relay in early June, and it was Smithers’ finest crossing the line in Terrace, taking first place.
Smithers Fire Rescue, a team listed under the ‘corporate’ category for the relay, completed the 142-kilometre, 10-stage race in 10 hours and 44 minutes, beating the next-closest competitors, “There are Margaritas at the End!” by 18 minutes.
The Fire Rescue team beat their 2013 time by 30 minutes and ‘Margaritas’ also topped their totals from last year, finishing the relay 27 minutes earlier than last year.
Rounding out the top five finishers were ‘Margaritas’ in second-place with a time of 11:02:46 (in the corporate category), The Coast Busters (in the mixed category) took third with a time of 11:19:07.
RTA – Adrenaline Runners (corporate) grabbed fourth place with 11:23:10 and Weapons of Ass Destruction (mixed) captured fifth three minutes later with a time of 11:26:03. It was the second straight year RTA made the top five, taking third-place last year, and the third year in a row Margaritas made the top five.
In the masters division, Rupert Relics took the lone spot at the top of the podium with a time of 13:39:34. “We Can’t Stop Here, it’s Bat Country!” captured third-place in mixed with 11:36:39.
“Giv’er on the River” won the open category with a time of 11:40:06, “Be More Pacific” followed that up with a second-place time of 12:24:57 and “Wine Not” crossed the finish line exactly 30 minutes later at 12:54:17.
For the women’s division, “Beaver Fever” were victorious with a time of 11:35:37, “Sole Sistas” were next at 12:06:29 and “Off Like a Prom Dress” rounded out the top three at 12:43:20.
The fastest males in each of the 10 stages were Blaine Smit, Cam Bentley, Chris Pendray, Ben Mark, Hayden Lussier, Tom Lee, Justin Fontaine, Peter Smit, Francois Cote and Oscar Farkvam.
Their female counterparts included Erin Hall, Tulani Pierce, Fernanda Polanco, Aliye Tuzlak, Mary Bartlett, Brandy Hughes, Krista Johnstone, Kelsey Hamra, Carla Lennert and Aryn Madley.
