Tuesday, March 2, 2010

5k Time Trial Results...Finally

Having been held over the course of the week of February 8th - 12th, some might ask why this blog post has been so late in coming. Now that I, Spazzadore, have been vying to take over the title of head excuse-maker from Vincent, I will present a few reasons for my tardiness. 1- I had to wait all week to get all the data. 2- The Olympics were on and hence I have been very preoccupied watching the action and enjoying downtown (Go Canada!) 3- A certain Nathaniel Flipper Janzen has yet to post the results of the first event, and I didn't want to post out of order.

It seems now, however, that my slacking, and Nathaniel's, has gone on far too long, so here it is.

THE 5KM TIME TRIAL -RESULTS

As one the marquee events in the UBC TC Spring Fling Race Series, the 5km time trial was an opportunity to gage improvements in fitness in the new year and would foreshadow the contenders for the podium in the men's and women's events. With the track booked at 6:30 on Wednesday Feb 10th, many were also hoping that the accurate, flat, fast course would facilitate many personal bests, and with those, the mystery prizes promised for those who could achieve them.

Because of midterms, short notice, and Olympic Volunteering, there was also a new rule added for both the 5km and 500m swim set, competitors would still receive full participation points if they completed the event and submitted their results by Friday, February 12th. The first athletes to hit the track running for a dress rehearsal event on February 9th, and were greeted by clear blue skies and light breezes. The men's field consisted of Liam HARRAP, Winstorm Guo and Nathaniel Flipper Janzen.

Flipper, Winstorm and HARRAP blinded by the harsh conditions they endured.

Starting out at a blistering pace of 1:25 400s, set by HARRAP, the men settled down, before Nathaniel, who had been running back at a more conservative pace, ran through the field for the win. Post-race, Nathaniel said that he was hoping that the initial pacing set by HARRAP wouldn’t hold, because he didn’t feel like he had a sprint in him on this day. He took a risk by starting his sprint earlier, which worked in his favour.

On the women's side, Mel Thompson braved the 12 1/2 laps on her own, managing a personal best.

Mel Thompson and Nathaniel Janzen

With the tone set by this opening group, the bulk of the club undertook the race on Wednesday night. As what has become very usual in Wednesday group runs, they were greeted by rain, but fortunately, the temperatures were fair and there was little wind.

During the warm up, ultra-marathoner to be Kory Seder could be heard boasting that his running could not have been coming along any better, and that the night's 5km race would be a breeze, practically icing on the cake.

Kory and Kim Seder baking the cake that Kory planned to ice after the race’s end…

The field was missing some of the top 5km runners from the fall classic on the men’s side. Barry Claman, Jared Penner and the ever excuse-maker and generally good-looking guy Vincent Lavallee were not racing, citing classes and school work, knee injuries and brain damage, respectively. Weak.

Matt Reeve quickly moved to the front of the field and ran away with the win, posting a time of 18:28, but still off of his pb. He now sits 2nd in the men’s race and 3rd overall, 6 points back of race leader Flipper Janzen. “I haven’t been running nearly as much this semester, and it showed tonight. I’ll definitely need to step up my game if I want to defend my Fall Classic Title”.

Amongst the women, Claire Haddock started off strong and never looked back, making a clear statement of her intentions of standing at the top of the podium come spring with a time of 20:38, 48 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Even with Claire’s convincing win, she still trails Rachel Schoeler, who is known for her consistent performances across the board, and is tied for second with the strong newcomer Karin Olafson. Fall women’s champion Spazzadore sits well back, tied for 8th, despite posting a pb. She’ll need to step up her game significantly if she wants to be a contender.

Derrick Lee and new podium threat Karin Olafson charging to the line.

Despite the promise of prizes for those who could improve on their times from the fall series, only 9 of the 21 athletes were able to do so. Congratulations to Kory Seder, Derrick Lee, Jesse Chao, Kim Seder, Victoria Gilbert, Rachel Schoeler, Mel Thompson, Spazzadore and Celeste Pakstas who all brought their A game.

Kim Seder and Lauren Spazzadore on their way to improved times over the fall. When interviewed post race, Spazz said “I owe all of my improvements to AB Ripper X – its really helped my stride. Now I can BRING IT!”

With two major events now completed and the series set to start back up after the Olympic break, it remains to be seen who amongst the members of the UBC TC will step up and Own the Podium. Will the Olympic magic inspire? Time will tell…

Final Results:

Name Fall Spring
Matt Reeve 18:17 18:28
Nathaniel Janzen 18:43 18:51
Winstorm Guo 18:35 18:57
Liam Harrap 18:44 19:01
Kory Seder 20:02 19:29
Andrew Wight 19:04 19:43
Scott Chris 19:36 20:03
Derrick Lee 22:18 21:42
Jesse Chao 22:26 22:17
Barry Claman 17:10
Vincent Lavallee 18:08
Evan Cheng 20:32
Matt Robinson 20:32
Ceilidh Curtis 21:46
Fabian Jankovic 22:41
Claire Haddock 20:28 20:38
Victoria Gilbert 21:58 21:26
Rachel Schoeler 22:16 21:48
Greta Raymant 21:54
Karin Olafson 22:12
Lara Russel 22:30
Melanie van Soeren 22:30
Melanie Thompson 22:45 22:37
Kimberly Seder 23:05 22:55
Lauren Sagadore 23:28 23:25
Celeste Pakstas 24;35 24:08
Erica Weiss 30:07
Alana Schick 22:32
Annie Mauer 24;17
Kelsey Foote 24;34
Debbie Poon 32;30

5 comments:

Vincent said...

Icing on the cake mixed with that photo. GOLD!

Derek WL said...

GREAT post.
I didn't know that someone that "Spazzy" could have the creative genius that's displayed here :)

Mad props to all 5kersssssss!

Nathaniel said...

man I can't top that!

Andrew Wight said...

ha, brain damage.

Unknown said...

mmmmmm... cake!