Runners take off from the start line of the Boston Marathon Monday morning. (@BostonMarathon Twitter photo)

Runners take off from the start line of the Boston Marathon Monday morning. (@BostonMarathon Twitter photo)

Surrey, White Rock runners battle rain, wind at Boston Marathon

More than 20 local runners cross finish line of prestigious race Monday

Running a marathon – 42.2 km – is a challenging enough task on the best of days.

Now, try doing it in arguably the world’s most prestigious distance race, the Boston Marathon, in icy temperatures, with sideways-falling rain and headwinds reaching 40 km/h.

Those weather conditions – among the worst in the 122-year history of the event – were exactly what thousands of runners, including a handful from Surrey and White Rock, faced Monday.

In total, 22 runners from the two cities crossed the finish line, led by South Surrey’s Jaime Reston, 26, who clocked an official time of two hours, 56 minutes and 29 seconds – a pace of 6:44 per mile.

Surrey’s Paul Taylor, 42, was the next fleetest afoot, clocking a time of three hours, 12 minutes and 21 seconds, followed by Sherrie Budai, 47, who was the fastest local woman on the course, crossing the line in 3:30:35 and finished 86th overall in her age division. Just behind Budai was Tanya Zarin, 49, who was 116th in the same category, with a time of 3:33:06.

Keith Parks, also of South Surrey, also had a good day on the course, battling through the poor weather to finish in 3:38:47.

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Other results from Semiahmoo Peninsula runners included: Erin Jones (3:45:31); Jim Prokop (3:45:47); Nirmal Toor (3:47:18); Nadia Leach (3:50:09); Sarb Kaler ( 3:51:35); Jo Ross (3:53:21); Patricia Pranzi (4:05:54); Christian Georgeadis (4:14:24); Nicole Gauthier (4:15:26); Janet Weber (4:20:32); Geoffrey Thuring (4:24:29); Satinder Sidhu (4:28:38); Mike Leier (4:29:48); Philip Du Quesnay (4:30:30); Kristin Catroppa (4:37:45); Gayle Robinson (4:46:24) and B. Lynne Spence (5:00:18).

Robinson, 70, finished eighth overall in her age division, while Spence, 71, was just behind her, in 12th.

Another runner, Barbara Kisiloski – who lives in Coquitlam but works and trains in South Surrey – finished in 5:48:34.

In total, nearly 30,000 runners started the race, but more competitors didn’t finish the race compared to other years, due in large part to the treacherous conditions; there were numerous reports of runners suffering from hypothermia.

The men’s overall winner was Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi, who clocked a time of 2:15:58, while the women’s winner was Desiree Linden, who finished in 2:39:54 and became the first American to win the women’s race since 1985. Canadian Krista DuChene finished third.

Peace Arch News