A pair of South Surrey teenagers led the way at Crescent Park Wednesday, as more than 260 runners rang in 2020 with the annual Resolution Run.
The event – hosted by South Surrey-based Peninsula Runners – included both eight and four-km races. Earl Marriott Secondary’s Jeremiah Mackie was the first to cross the finish line in the eight-km trek, while fellow 17-year-old Maya Kobylanski, a Southridge School student, was the fastest female runner on the course.
Mackie clocked a time of 28 minutes, 33.8 seconds, while Kobylanski, who placed 11th overall, crossed the finish line in 32:59.1. Back in October on the same Crescent Park trails, Kobylanski won a South Fraser region cross-country high-school championship.
For Mackie, who lapped a handful of fellow runners en route to his first-place time, the win was a two-spot improvement over his performance at last year’s New Year’s Day run; he was third in that race, less than a minute back of his older brother Jaxon, who finished first.
This year, Jaxon did not participate in the Resolution Run, as he had to head back south to Spokane’s Gonzaga University, where he is a member of the cross-country team.
Rounding out the eight-km podium was Chilliwack’s Thomas Schellenberg,19, who placed second overall, two minutes and 11 seconds behind Mackie; and Langley’s Bruce Danek, 35, who was third, 14 seconds behind Schellenberg.
Some runners ran while dressed up in costume, and some no doubt used the occasion to shake off some cobwebs associated with New Year’s Eve revelry – perhaps it’s no coincidence that the top male and female runners were both under the legal drinking age.
One more young runner – 13-year-old Connor Nichol of Surrey – also finished in the top 10, crossing the line in seventh overall in a time of 31:37.9.
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