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5 Peaks draws 430 runners to Blackcomb

Fast times on new course

The late snowpack and the organizers' decision to move their race to south-facing trails on Blackcomb didn't have much of an impact on registration for the Whistler 5 Peaks Trail Run on Saturday, with 430 athletes competing in both Enduro and Sport categories.

The course had slightly less vertical gain than the usual grunt up to Little Whistler, but times were actually a little bit slower to show how tough the high-alpine challenge really was. The Enduro racers went to Overlord Trail and up to Blackcomb Lake via the Lakeside Loop, out to Decker Loop, back to Marmot trail via Overlord, up Marmot to the 7th Heaven Road and then back to the Rendezvous Lodge via the Alpine Walk. The total distance was 10.6-kilometres, same as the usual Whistler course. Sport runners went 6.5km, which was slightly longer.

The top three runners in the Enduro were all in the Male 20 to 29 race, with Jakub Sumbera of Fairmont Hot Springs in first in 46:13, followed by Shaun Stephens-Whale of Roberts Creek in 57:09 and Edward McCarthy of Vancouver in 1:01:35.

The top three female runners weren't too far behind. Vancouver's Stephanie Hamilton was fifth overall and first among women in 1:04:31 - as well as first in the women's 30 to 39 category. Care Wakely gave her a run for her money for top female, finishing sixth overall and second among women in 1:05:18. She was also first in women's 20 to 29. The third female was Cindy Kelly of Buffalo, New York, who was 10th overall and first in the 40 to 49 age category in 1:08:28.

Whistler's Ashley McMillan, who will be racing 80 km this weekend in the Sears Great Canadian Run, probably took it a bit easy but still finished as the top local 11th overall in 1:09:28. He was also third in male 30 to 39.

Mark Schmidt was 16th overall and fifth in male 20 to 29 in 1:11:29.

Wes Feagan was 17th overall and fourth in male 40 to 49 in 1:12:12.

Ricky McMillen was 21st overall and sixth in male 20 to 29 in 1:15:16.

Michael Adams of Whistler was eighth in Male 20 to 29 in 1:17:18.

Hannah Garcia was second in female 30 to 39 in 1:18:54.

Walter Wallgram was third in male 50 to 59 in 1:21:34.

Nils Robinson was 14th in male 30 to 39 in 1:22:00.

Barry McClure was sixth in male 50 to 59 in 1:23:39.

Leah Trudeau was eighth in female 20 to 29 in 1:27:13.

Fiona Scott was ninth in female 20 to 29 in 1:27:21.

Wolfgang Sterr was 23rd in male 40 to 49 in 1:29:19.

Gavin Sands was 15th in male 20 to 29 in 1:29:43.

Craig Smith was ninth in male 50 to 59 in 1:30:38.

John Magill was 34th in male 30 to 39 in 1:37:00.

Laura Davies was seventh in female 30 to 39 in 1:38:19.

Christine Suter was ninth in female 40 to 49 in 1:38:33.

Laura Frank was 16th in female 20 to 29 in 1:39:51.

Catharine Aird was 13th in female 30 to 39 in 1:43:12.

Kathryn Svenson was 14th in female 30 to 39 in 1:43:12.

Gillian Woodward was 15th in female 30 to 39 in 1:43:26.

Paul Shimizu was 38th in male 40 to 49 in 1:44:33.

Laura Cofell was 16th in female 30 to 39 in 1:44:33.

Vicki Romanin was eighth in female 50 to 59 in 1:48:44.

Sharon Fugman was ninth in female 50 to 59 in 1:50:18.

Catherine Haufshild was 21st in female 30 to 39 in 1:50:57.

Victoria Saunders was 24th in female 30 to 39 in 1:54:12.

Karina Palacio was 31st in female 30 to 39 in 2:07:33.

From Pemberton, Kelsey Rivard was 11th in Female 20 to 29 in 1:31:14.

Matt Davies was 28th in male 40 to 49 in 1:33:12.

From Squamish, John Redpath was ninth in male 30 to 39 in 1:17:03.

Helen Spencer was fifth in female 20 to 29 in 1:22:02.

Sylvie Jorger was 10th in female 40 to 49 in 1:39:23.

Emily Ormerod was 10th in female 30 to 39 in 1:40:54.

Sarah Burke was 27th in female 20 to 29 in 1:55:05.

The sport race wasn't even close with Morgan Titus - from Whistler but living in Vancouver - completing the loop in 31:34. Mark Nelson of Victoria was almost two-and-a-half minutes back in 34:02, while Robin Poirier was third in 34:16. All three were in the male 20 to 29 age group.

The top female racer was Amy Schneeberg of Vancouver in 15th overall in 40:52. Tory Hislop of Vancouver was second in 44:16 and Brenda Stratton of Pitt Meadows third in 44:34. Schneeberg and Hislop were in the female 20 to 29 group and Strattor was first out of 40 racers in female 30 to 39.

The top local racer (not including Titus) was Whistler's Ben Kwiatkowski in 16th overall and seventh in male 20 to 29 in 41 minutes even.

Mike Heiliger of Squamish was second in male 50 to 59 in 43:12.

Joe Davies of Pemberton was second in male 10 to 14 in 45:03.

Whistler's Aaron Rushant was 11th in male 20 to 29 in 49:20.

Rob Wilkins was 12th in male 30 to 39 in 49:31.

Maja Ronneberger was the top local female, placing fourth in female 20 to 29 in 50:59.

Kayla Arnold was eighth in female 20 to 29 in 54:02.

Candace Drouin was 15th in female 30 to 39 in 57:32.

Jessica Palmer of Squamish was 17th in female 30 to 39 in 58:53.

Dori Faulkner of Whistler was fifth in female 50 to 59 in 59:08.

Due to space, we only included the Sport course athletes that finished under one hour.

For complete results, visit www.raceheadquarters.com.

The Whistler 5 Peaks was the fourth in the five-race provincial series, with the final race taking place at Buntzen Lake on Sept. 24. For more visit www.5peaks.com.