Kelowna’s Ransom will be Olympic bound in biathlon
A number of Kelowna runners have forsaken the cold and snow to compete in a couple of major races in much warmer locations. For the last several years, a large Kelowna contingent has headed to Maui to run in the Maui ocean-front marathon.
Woody Cross was always the sparkplug of this group, but he succumbed to cancer earlier this year and, without his leadership, there were fewer Kelowna runners in the Maui races. However, those that were there made up in quality for the lack of quantity.
Diane Leonard was the lone Kelowna runner in the full marathon and she easily won the F70-74 age class in a quick 4:17:28, a time that was faster than the winner of the F65-69 class and would have placed her second in both the F60-64 and the F55-59 age groups!
Dianne Pearce took 10th spot in F65-69 class in the half-marathon distance in 3:30:49.
Dr. Delilah Topic, making a return to racing after being sidelined for months with a leg injury, had a great race in the 5K distance. Her time of 21:43 was good for first overall woman and fourth overall in the race which had 184 competitors.
My old running buddy, Steve Leahy, kept his Maui winning streak alive by taking the M70-74 class in the 15K race with a time of 1:42:58.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, 11 runners from Kelowna raced in the Rock N Roll Marathon.
Liz Borrett, Kelowna’s world-class 78-yearold racer won her F75-79 age group in both the 5K and Marathon distances, finishing the 5K in 30 minutes flat and the marathon in 5:05:01.
Astrid Varga nearly pulled off the double in her F65-69 class, coming fourth in the 5K in 37:51 and winning her class in the marathon with a 4:47:19 clocking.
Sandra Wike (F60-64) took second place in the 5K in 29:59 and 4th place in the marathon in 4:50:52. Janice Bradshaw, who seems to race every week of the year, was 17th out of 72 runners in the marathon’s F50-54 class with a fast 4:31:50 finishing time.
Other Kelowna competitors included Ed Campbell, Caroline Raine, Susan MacNeil, Anne Campbell, Bill Raine and William McKay.
The first race of the Canadian Tire Road Race series, the Starting Block 10K will be held Feb. 11 in Lavington, followed by the Rivers Spring Run Off 10K on March 18 in Kamloops.
For more information on this low-cost, high-fun series, go online to interiorrunningassociation.com.
OKANAGAN TRIATHLETES WIN MAJOR AWARDS
Two Okanagan triathletes have been honored recently.
Jen Annett, the Penticton triathlete was named runner-up as female triathlete of the year by Triathlete Magazine Canada.
Jen, who suffers from epilepsy (probably caused by a bike accident while training in Hawaii), has had a great year.
She finished eighth at the Penticton ITU World Long Distance Triathlon Championships, then concluded her season with a third-place finish at Ironman Arizona where she obliterated the woman’s bike split record.
As the magazine says in it’s article: “Annett is living proof that strength, determination and a positive attitude allows you to achieve virtually anything. She’s also a walking inspiration to those with epilepsy — proving that it doesn’t have to rule your life.
“Things are pretty good for Jen Annett. And boy does she ever deserve that.”
Vernon Ultra triathlete Shanda Hill was the other local honoree. Shanda is an amazing woman who does things that most of us used to think were impossible, such as competing in two Deca Triathlons (10 times the Ironman distances) in one season. She finished second in the Switzerland Deca and won the Deca in Mexico. These races are a tribute to her strengths, both physical and mental.
I can only imagine the mental strength required to swim 39 kilometres, then hop on your bike and ride 1,800 kilometres followed immediately by a 422-kilometre run!
The International Ultra Triathlon Association presented Hill with two awards for her amazing accomplishments. As a side note, her brother, Kevin Hill, will be a member of Canada’s snowboard-cross team at the upcoming Olympic Games. Quite a family!
On the subject of triathlons, it’s great to see that the Kelowna Apple Triathlon will be back this summer after a one-year hiatus.
Not only is it back, but the Apple has been named as the Canadian Championship triathlon for 2018 and 2019.
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
Just in! Kelowna’s Julia Ransom has been named to Canada’s Olympic team for biathlon.
Julia grew up in Kelowna and learned to ski and shoot at Telemark Nordic under coaches Adam Elliot and Rob Swan.
She has had a terrific year on the World Cup Biathlon circuit with two top-10 finishes against the best in the world.
I know that she will have a lot of Canadian fans cheering her on in Pyeongchang.
Also big news in cross-country skiing is that two local skiers have qualified for the junior and under-23 World Championships to be held in Switzerland later this month.
Hannah Mehain is from Vernon, but is a member of Kelowna’s Telemark Nordic Club race team. She qualified at the Canadian Trials in Quebec by winning the Junior Woman 5K Classic technique event and finishing seventh in the 10K skiathlon event (5K classic and 5K freestyle).
Gareth Williams is a Kelowna skier who was named last year as the youngest member of Canada’s national ski team. Gareth is only 20, and still improving.
In Quebec, he came 10th overall and third among under-23 skiers in the 15K classic, then shocked everyone by coming third overall, only 1.5 seconds behind behind two longtime senior national team skiers!
The competition in Europe will be very tough — Europe is the centre of cross-country skiing — but I expect they will both do well and will learn a lot from the experience.
Gareth sent out an email to his supporters the other day, here is some of it: “After the World Championships, I will be racing European Continental Cup races in Germany for a couple of weeks in February as a part of Cross Country B.C.’s B-Tour. These races will be similar to the ones in which I raced last season, the only difference is that I will be racing against Europe’s best skiers, rather than just other Juniors. After this European circuit of races, I will return to Canada to race National Championships in Thunder Bay in March. I have already been on the road since Jan. 3, and I am writing to you from Mont Sainte-Anne in Quebec. Tomorrow night I will be flying to Geneva and not returning to Canada until Feb. 27. My website is still the same, garethwilliamsxc.com, and I have launched another GoFundMe, which can be found under the ‘My Funding’ link.”
Unfortunately, it is expensive to be a world-class athlete in Canada. Our athletes, especially in sports like x-c skiing, do not get the kind of monetary support that European and American athletes do.
Gareth estimates that his costs for competing this season will be close to $20,000 (he has a breakdown of his expenses on his site), so both he and Hannah can certainly use all the help they can get.
The growth of cross-country skiing in Canada is exemplified by the huge numbers of skiers who raced at the Trials in Quebec. Over 600 skiers were entered for the races, with some five-year age classes having over 65 competitors.
Telemark Nordic Club hosted the Apple Loppet last weekend, and it was a great success. A record 240 skiers participated in the events. There were races for all age groups from 3-4 year old “Bunnies” to seniors.
Greg Kilroy of the Telemark club was the male winner of the feature event, the 30K Skiathlon, and Alysson Hamilton of Salmon Arm was the female winner. Pat Pearce of Vernon put in an incredible effort, winning the F60-69 class and finishing third overall — just 13 seconds behind second-place woman, Sheila Corbett (F40-49) of Salmon Arm. Full results at www.zone4.ca. The next Loppet in the Okanagan is the Reino Keski-Salmi Loppet, to be held at the Larch Hills ski trails outside of Salmon Arm on Saturday. This 34K event is one of the tougher races in the series.