A record 402 entrants soaked up the glorious Port Moody sunshine which lit up the 2009 Mother’s Day 5K Spring Classic on Sunday, May 10th and helped provide near-perfect conditions for race #11 in the Timex BC Road Running Series and #4 in the new Lower Mainland Road Race Series.

First home — out of 371 eventual finishers — was Kelowna’s Tom Michie, who held off strong challenges from White Rock’s David Palermo and Yue-Ching Cheng from Port Moody to breast the finishing tape in a time of 16:28. Palermo (16:38) who had set the early pace and Cheng (16:44) who led just after half-way, were in hot pursuit.

The women’s race was also a closely-fought battle, Port Moody’s Natasha Wodak claiming the overall title in a time of 17:55, just 10 seconds clear of Vancouver’s Anne-Marie Madden (18:05) — with Madden’s VFAC team-mate and fellow Vancouverite Katherine Moore just five seconds further back (18:10) in third… a PB by over a minute.

Bagging the overall and men’s age-graded title was the ever-youthful 68-year-old Herb Phillips (18:55) with a score of 93%, which also earned him the Dave Reed Memorial Trophy. Dave Stephens, 50, of North Vancouver, took second with 84%, following a smoking run of 17:22 which also earned him 11th place overall. Making up the podium for the age-graded men was 79-year-old Frank Kurucz of West Vancouver (24:49) with 83%.

In the women’s age-graded competition, Joan McGrath, 47, of New Westminster led the way with an impressive 86% after clocking a time of 18:40 — making her sixth lady overall. North Vancouver’s Lenore Montgomery, 78 years young, glided home to second place and 82% in a time of 28:31, while Port Moody’s Natasha Wodak, just 27, was tied with a clutch of other runners on 80%, but took 3rd spot by virtue of her overall win.

The Tiny Tots 100m dash and Kids 800m Fun Run, which followed the main event, both proved a big hit — as well as a great spectacle — rounding off an entertaining Mother’s Day morning in Port Moody. With $2 of every entry fee going to charity, the event’s host, Phoenix Running Club, was also able to raise over $800 for the Alzheimer’s Society of BC.