May 25, 2003, Vancouver – Peter Cardle of North Vancouver had no problem winning the eighth race of the Timex BC Road Running Series in Kerrisdale this morning, as all went according to plan — including breaking Neil Holm’s course record set in 1999. Cardle’s new record of 25:09 beat the old mark by seven seconds.

“It’s a tough course,” noted Cardle afterwards. “Even the downhill kilometre is hard, with two sharp turns.” He was feeling pretty good from the gun, so he “just went” and no one really went with him. Cardle knew exactly what the course record was, because Holm beat him that day in 1999. “I was hoping that if I had a good enough race I could not only win but also get the course record.” He had a good enough race!

Cardle also explained that his training is going “pretty well but not that great,” so he was quite happy with the Shaughnessy results. They bode well for a good 10,000m at the Harry Jerome track classic June 7th, followed by the 5000m at the national Track & Field Championships in Victoria.

Second overall behind Cardle was current Series leader Jorge Parra of Surrey in 25:33, while third went to Spencer Morrison of Vancouver, setting a new 19 & Under age group record for this event.

The women’s race was won in 28:29 by another North Vancouverite, Janine Moffett, recent runner-up in the adidas Vancouver Half-Marathon and winner of Series event #1, the ‘First Half’ Half-Marathon. Her 8k time was a minute off the overall women’s course record set by Nancy Tinari in 2000 (27:28), but it was a record for the 25-29 women’s age group.

“It was a change for me to run 8k after doing a couple of Half Marathons and a 12km race last weekend,” commented Moffett. “It felt short and fast. I didn’t feel fresh, because I have been doing more mileage lately, but it was a good race to work on some more speed again.” Moffett was happy with the win, even though she didn’t achieve the time she had been aiming for.

Only nine seconds behind Moffett was Stephanie Mills of Victoria, who appeared to be enjoying her race, even smiling for the camera at the half-way point. Third overall woman was New Westminster’s Joan McGrath, also first female master, in 29:44, pulling away in the later stages from 20-24 age group leader Anne Barrington of St. John’s Newfoundland. Leslie Black took second in the masters, with Cindy Rhodes of Kelowna nabbing third.

Race organizers were pleased to announce that the race entries were up considerably over 2002, with 498 entries including 5K walkers. A total of five age group records were broken, plus the men’s age-graded record.

New age group records in 2003:
Spencer Morrison, men 19 & under – 26:04
Janine Moffett, women 25-29 – 29:08
Peter Cardle, men 30-34 – 25:09
Jim Swadling, men 55-59 – 28:16
Steve Odwin, men 65-69 – 34:24

Men’s Age graded record:
Jim Swadling – 28:16 actual time (24:05 age graded time), 88.4% performance standard.

BJ McHugh said she felt “pretty crummy” but was glad to finish. “At 4k I was trying to find a shortcut back!” But of course she kept going and went on to win the female age-graded award, in typical BJ fashion.

In the masters men’s division, Dave Reed started out strong, leading Ed Booth by about 20 metres in the first half of the course. Reed has been doing “lots of track training”, focusing on speed but not endurance, so it wasn’t long before he began to fade and Booth took over the lead. “I couldn’t do anything about it,” bemoaned Reed, “I wish it was a 5k course!”

Meanwhile Booth was feeling very good after running “relaxed” in the first 4k, following Reed but feeling confident that he could catch him in the later stages. “I’ve been going out harder in other races, but struggling in the last few kilometres,” explained Booth, “so I wanted to run easier in the first half and finish strong.” Once he caught Reed they ran together for about 1 km, then Booth pulled away, executing his race plan perfectly. He even managed to hold off a younger runner, Paul Skarsgard, over the last 400m to maintain his position overall, finishing in 26:54. Reed crossed the line at 27:26, while third master was Coquitlam’s Guy Smith in 27:59.

One final note from Kevin O’Connor – if any of you saw him running fast in the wrong direction as you were finishing, he’s got a message: “Remember your shoes!” O’Connor ended up racing solo after going home to pick up his racing flats at the last minute and missing the start. “I’ve been racing 25 years and this is the 1st time I’ve forgot my racing shoes,” he said. His solo effort was self-timed at 26:30, which would have put him in fifth place.

For full race results see Race Headquarters. Age-graded results are posted at BC Athletics. Photos in the Archives.

Next Series race: Sandcastle City Classic, June 8th, White Rock (“Back to the Beach”).