April 5, 2003, North Vancouver — This will be a short race report as everyone was too cold to hang around for interviews after the North Shore 5k!

Spring was nowhere to be seen as the participants were subjected to freezing rain, hail and generally miserable conditions in the Seymour Demonstration Forest at this year’s annual 5k and half marathon hosted by VFAC.

Finishing as quickly as possible was on everyone’s mind, but North Vancouver’s Peter Cardle led the way, completing the 5k distance in 15:16. He was followed by a steady stream of finishers tuning up for the Sun Run, starting with 19 & under star Chris Winter (North Van) in 15:22, defending Series champion Colin Dignum (North Van) in 15:25, then Shane Bilodeau (Vancouver), first master Rob Lonergan (North Van), and Jorge Parra (Surrey) ticking off the seconds from 15:27 to 15:29.

Vancouver’s Ed Booth was the second master to finish (16:07), while Andrew Tuovinen edged out Mike Moon by three seconds for third masters honours.

The women’s race was a 2-person battle between master and defending Series champ Nancy Tinari of Coquitlam and distance standout Tina Connelly of Port Coquitlam, who is getting back to speed very quickly after recently having her first baby. With no one else anywhere close behind these two, Connelly prevailed in 17:11 with Tinari finishing six seconds later.

Third overall was Burnaby’s Aundrea Bertoia in 18:30, with another new mum, Cindy O’Krane of West Vancouver, taking fourth in 18:43. Langley’s Lisa Hamelin rounded out the top five with a strong 18:53.

Cindy Rhodes of Kelowna, winner of race #4 in Kamloops, had to settle for second place female masters this time, clocking 19:03 in the freezing conditions. Adele Wilson of North Vancouver took third masters spot in a very good 19:32.

For complete race results see Race Headquarters: www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2003/run/north5.htm. Rankings and photos are posted on this site.

Next race was the Vancouver Sun Run, April 13th — see www.sunrun.com for all results and stories, or get your hands on a copy of the April 14th Vancouver Sun.