Pauline broke the women’s 50-54 age group course record.
By Andy Smith
David, Andy, Stephanie, Jonathan
On Sunday March 8th, eight STARR runners drove to Port Alberni to participate in the Port Alberni Paper Chase 15k road race. This is the fifth race of eight in the Vancouver Island Race Association series and the second longest distance. Runners who participate in the entire series build from an 8k distance in Sidney in early February to a ½ marathon in Comox on March 21. The final two races in the VIRA series are shorter including the Sooke 10 k on April 5th and Bazan Bay 5k on April 19. There is still time to sign up!
David
The Port Alberni Paper Chase is held on quiet roads on the outskirts of Port Alberni with magnificent views of snow topped mountains in the background. The course climbs steadily but gradually over the first 6k before a turnaround, then detours briefly through a dirt trail circuit of an old mill before descending for 6 k back to the start/finish area. It’s a popular and fast course that tests your legs and lungs.
Race day this year race corresponded to daylight savings time. Runners got an hour less sleep as we set clocks forward before hitting the sack on Saturday night. A few runners stayed overnight in the local area to avoid the sleep deprived morning drive but all were rewarded for our early wake-up with perfect cool and sunny conditions on race day. 262 runners completed the course with good representation across age categories and ability levels. The men’s race was won by Richard Reid from Victoria (M35-39) in a time of 50:08. The women’s race was won by Catrin Jones of Victoria (F40-44) in a time of 58:34.
Top finisher from STARR was Jonathan Dvorak (M45-49) in a time of 1:02:10; good for 20th overall and 4th in age group. However it was a STARR woman who made headlines this week (fitting for International Women’s Day!). Pauline Nielsen broke the women’s 50-54 age group course record to win her category in a time of 1:12:04! Go Pauline!
All our runners performed well with three medalists (Pauline, Andy, Bruce) and six top 10 age group finishers. Friend of STARR, Frank Towler, set an age group record for 75-79 with a time of 1:13:21. It was a fun event and very well organized. Congratulations to all!
