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Whistler team sets STORMY relay record

Whether it was the cooler weather or the level of competition, three records were smashed at the annual Squamish STORMY (Squamish Test of Running Metal-Yeah!) ultramarathon and team relay last weekend.

Whether it was the cooler weather or the level of competition, three records were smashed at the annual Squamish STORMY (Squamish Test of Running Metal-Yeah!) ultramarathon and team relay last weekend.

Chris Downie of Kimberley won the 100-mile Men's category - that's 161 km if you're wondering - in his first attempt at the course in a time of 17 hours, 48 minutes and 54 seconds. He averaged over nine kilometres an hour and was close to the record of 17:39:03 set by Gary Robbins in 2008.

Andy Bachman of Pitt Meadows was a distant second in 19:55:50. John Foy was third in 20:36:59.

Sharon Kova placed first in 100-mile Women in 22:51:02 and fourth overall. Kirsten Ramage of Vancouver was second in 22:55:00, and Veronica McIlvenna third in 23:07:59.

In the 50-mile Men, Hassan Lofti-Pour of North Vancouver set a new course record of 7:11:59. He was followed by Seattle Lint of Vancouver in 7:13:10. Ellie Greenwood, setting a new 50-mile Women course record, was third overall in 7:16:07. Rounding out the top three men was Mike Palichuk in fifth place overall in 7:43:00. For the women, Tracy Garneau was second (and fourth overall) in 7:40:27, and Brooke Spence third in 8:25:37 (as well as seventh overall). For the record, all of the athletes in the top-six averaged more than 10 km/h, and Lofti-Pour ran over 11 km/h.

In the team relay, Whistler's Mountain Masochists team also set a course record in the Mixed Open Group by almost 20 minutes, completing the 50-mile course in 6:49:01. The team included Chris Devling, John and Grace Blok, Erin and Caroline Donnelly, Barry McClure and Ben Biswell. Biswell also likely set a record on the longest 22 km stage, which included Nine Mile Hill and the Powerhouse Plunge, completing that stage in 1:46:04 while averaging almost 12.5 km/h.

Mountain Madness on a Mission was second in 6:58:52, followed by Volker and Umlauts from Squamish in 6:04:09.

The other Whistler team, Let's Go Streaking, placed 10 th out of 24 teams with a time of 8:30:51. That team included Lena Martin, Tami Bleet, Andrew and Tami Mitchell, Christina Nedelak, Craig Johnson and Gillian Woodward.

The course follows the 67 km Test of Metal course with a few changes and added sections, and includes almost 2,000 metres of climbing over 50 miles. The 100-milers make two laps of the course and start on Friday morning. The other racers got underway at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.

For complete results visit www.stormytrailrace.ca.