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 2^nd in the men’s race and 3^rd 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 8^th, 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