More than 160 racers took part in the fourth annual Loop the Lakes trail run in Squamish last Sunday, with about half the field opting for the longer and more technical 15 km course. The race is the second-to-last in the Sea to Sky Trail Running Series, and took place on trails in Alice Lake Provincial Park.
The overall winner in the 15 km race this year was Mark Bennett in 1:03:58, averaging more than 14 km/h on a course. That’s the equivalent of running a 42 minute 10K.
Hozumi Nakai was second in 1:04:23, followed by Chris Downie in 1:07:16.
Bennett won the 40 to 49 category, while Nakai and Downie were in the Under 40 group.
The top Whistler runner was Duncan Munro, who placed fifth overall and third in the Under 40 category in 1:08:43.
Munro recently returned from the TransRockies Run in Colorado, racing the equivalent of a marathon a day in the high alpine where he placed second in the unranked category.
“It was a bit of a drag race to the top, there were two guys from the city that are very fast road runners and they just laid the boots to me,” Muro said. “I was hanging on for dear life on the climb, but my legs felt great.
“It was an awesome day. There were so many people, so many families, they had great food, great prizes, there were hundreds of people at the lake for the finish. All the local runners killed it, which was nice to see.”
Emma Smith, who competed in her first trail run two weeks before, won the Female Under 40 category in 1:13:35 — almost two minutes faster than the next racer.
Both Munro and Smith participated in the West Side Wheel Up on Saturday.
Arlene Schieven placed first in Female 40 to 49 in 1:18:52, followed closely by Nancy Macconachie in 1:21:13.
Brenda Baker probably set a new course record in Female 50-plus with a time of 1:19:33, 40 minutes faster than sometimes Whistler local Tess Geddes.
Walter Wallgram won the Male 50-plus race in 1:14:30, five minutes faster than the next runner.
Other locals in the 15 km race include:
Alison Abell, 12 th in Female Under 40 in 1:26:50.
Erin Donnelly, 13 th in Female Under 40 in 1:27:30.
Christine Suter, 17 th in Female Under 40 in 1:30:03 (less than two weeks after placing 10 th in her age category at Ironman Canada).
Liz Brownlie, 19 th in Female Under 40 in 1:32:22.
Liz Cullen, 26 th in Female Under 40 in 1:48:43.
Scott Comeau, seventh in Male Under 40 in 1:12:59.
Mick Peatfield, fifth in Male 40 to 49 in 1:03:58.
Alan Macconachie, 12 th in Male 40 to 49 in 1:31:14.
Greg Eymundson, 13 th in Male 40 to 49 in 1:32:15.
Robert Tan, fourth in Male 50-Plus in 1:22:43.
Only a handful of locals competed in the 8 km race. Notably, Logan Pehota of Pemberton was easily the faster junior, placing sixth in Male Under 40 in 34:49 against runners more than 26 years older. Younger brother Dalton Pehota was 11 th overall in 39:13.
Francesca Cole was second in Female 40 to 49 in 45:01.
Complete results are at www.loopthelakes.com.
