NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  –  11 JULY 1999

RECORD NUMBERS AT NORTH SHORE TRAIL RUN

West Vancouver, British Columbia – The eleventh annual Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run was run on Saturday, July 10 in a rather odd mix of mid-summer coastal conditions. The temperature at the 6:00 a.m. start above Horseshoe Bay was 16º Celsius with a few high clouds. By the end of the 30-mile race in Deep Cove, the thermometer soared to the mid-twenties. The warm air, and the snow covering twenty percent of the trail, proved to be a deadly combination for runners on this day. Average times were approximately thirty minutes slower than those in any of the previous ten editions of the race.

A record number of 165 participants from all over North America started the "Race Across the North Shore." Five Canadian provinces and three American states were represented. Most had been training months for the event and came well prepared. A record-tying 154 of them reached the finish under the ten and one-half hour maximum time allowed (an extra thirty minutes was allowed this year to compensate for the six "snow" miles).

The men’s division was never a contest, as defending champion Derek Reed from Sudbury, Ontario led from shortly after the start all the way to the finish. Reed was seemingly impervious to the snowy conditions in the early going. His finishing time of 5:04:15 was only eight minutes shy of his previous best time on the course. He finished 44 minutes ahead of West Vancouver’s Terry Lewis, setting a record for largest-ever margin of victory. Forty-two year old Lewis finished in a time of 5:48:32 to capture his second consecutive victory in the men’s masters division.

Meanwhile, the women’s division produced quite a battle between defending champion Tracy Lavin, and Alana Prociuk. These two Vancouver runners were the only women entered this year who had previously finished the race in under six hours. Lavin led for the first three-quarters of the race, but never by more than four minutes. Prociuk took the lead for the first time early in the final quarter of the race and stretched it out to eight minutes by the finish. Her time over the last quarter of the race was second only to men’s champion Derek Reed.

Following are top finishers from all divisions:

Men						Women      

Open (<40)      

1. Derek Reed	Sudbury ON	5:04:15		1. Alana Prociuk	Vancouver	6:09:09
2. Chris Mager	Vancouver	5:49:22		2. Tracy Lavin		Vancouver	6:17:16
3. Shawn Marshall  Vancouver	5:55:23		3. Kelly Wilcox		Vancouver	6:40:23

Masters (40-49)

1. Terry Lewis	West Vancouver	5:48:32		1. Marguerite Masson-Wood
2. Brian Patterson							Courtenay	6:34:33
		Lindell Beach	6:04:47		2. Sally Marcellus	Delta		7:24:40
3. Rob Ashburner  Vancouver	6:07:14		3. Janice Page		Kelowna		7:49:53

Veterans (>50)

1. Neil Wakelin	North Vancouver	6:26:33		1. Marcia Boulanger 	Chilliwack	6:54:58
2. August Albrecher  Surrey	6:30:52		2. Patty Montgomery	West Vancouver	9:28:20
3. David Malm	Vancouver	7:04:19

 

Complete results are available on the Internet at http://www.kneeknacker.com .

Proceeds from the race benefit North Shore Rescue Team. This year's event raised a total of $2,500.

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For further information contact:

Paul Quinn
1999 Race Director
Tel (604) 222-3199
FAX (604) 681-9584
E-mail pc.quinn@mbltd.com