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.