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The best word to describe the inaugural Whistler Spirit Run and Festival is “awesome,” according to meet director Ashley Weber. With about 230 participants during the two days of running at Whistler Olympic Park, the cross-country and trail races were a hit with runners ranging in age from eight to 71.
“It almost went better than we expected,” Weber said of the first-time event hosted by the Callaghan Valley Sport and Cultural Society. Weber said all the races ran smoothly and on time, and each participant seemed to leave with a smile on his or her face, so his goals for the inaugural event were accomplished.
Saturday (Sept. 27) featured cross-country races of a variety of distances divided by age categories, while Sunday (Sept. 28) gave racers a crack at a 10-kilometre trail run either individually or as part of four-person relay teams.
Saturday’s events drew about 88 runners, with prominent participation from high school-age and university- and Masters-level racers, while Sunday’s trail runs were a hit with the approximately 150 racers who made it to the 11 a.m. start. The races had “very strong local community participation” from Whistler and Pemberton, Weber said, matched by runners from the rest of the corridor, cities such as Vancouver and Victoria and all over the Lower Mainland.
Saturday’s event winners included Katie Weaver and Braedon Montgomery in the Grade 4 and 5 Girls and Boys races, respectively, Annina Lorenzo and James Miles in the Grade 7 and 8 Girls and Boys races, Karly Peterson and Michael Murdoch in the Grade 2 and 3 Girls and Boys races, Lindsey Butterworth and Simon Bill for Grade 9 to 12 Girls and Boys, Laura Maludzinski and John Buchan for the university-age and open women and men, and Cindy O’Krane for the 40-plus women.
The age-category winners in Sunday’s popular trail run were: Jessica Sedlock for the 19 and Under Female division; Emma Smith for 20 to 39 Female — also the fastest woman in the race in a time of 42 minutes, 20 seconds; Maureen Harriman for 40 and Over Female; Matthew Newmann for 19 and Under Male — the fastest man with his 36:45.5 time; Tim Peterson for 20 to 39 Male, and Greig Gjerdalen for 40 and Over Male.
A team comprised of runners from the Hollyburn Jackrabbits Ski Club and North Vancouver’s Carson Graham Secondary School won Sunday’s relay challenge.
Three clubs — Vancouver’s York House School, Cypress Mountain’s Hollyburn ski club and the NorWesters Track and Field Club — also won the cash-prize Spirit Awards for having the largest number of participants in Saturday’s cross-country races. Many of them stuck around to run Sunday as well.
Based on the vision of long-time track and field and cross-country coach Frank Reynolds, the event sought to attract runners of all levels of ability to promote participation in the sports. Weber said he thought all the racers felt welcome at and included in the same event, even though they varied widely in ages and experience, ranging from members of the University of Victoria’s cross-country team to local schoolchildren and first-time trail runners.
Weber said the feedback he heard from participants was largely positive, such as a female runner who had a great time in her first 10-kilometre race and a male runner who decided he prefers trail running to road racing based on this experience. “There were lots of stories like that,” Weber said.
The Olympic facility was a major draw among the participants, Weber said, as many were excited to compete on the trails they’ll see under the skis of the Olympic racers in 2010.
“The facility was amazing — I think that was part of the draw for people to come,” Weber said, thanking the facility’s organizers and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games for welcoming the event. He overheard conversations following races where the runners said they felt they had been part of something extra special.
Reynolds had dreamed of a major U.S.-style race featuring hundreds of participants, and Weber said he feels the structure has been established to take this event there in future years.
“I think the groundwork is there… we will get there,” he said, adding, “The concept (this year) was to put on a good first-year event.”
The event’s organizers and volunteers were superb, Weber added, and ideas for next year are already being bandied about, with runner feedback welcomed to improve subsequent events to a world-class level.
Weber added that he and the other organizers and volunteers were happy to have members of Reynolds’ family involved in this event, both behind the scenes and as runners. “That part was very special,” he said.
