West Vancouver, British Columbia – The twelfth annual Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run was run on Saturday, July 8 in near prefect conditions. Early high clouds in the morning gave way to sunny skies and warm temperatures throughout the remainder of the day.

An international field of 173 ultrarunners from across North America, and from as far afield as France and Germany, attempted the "Race Across the North Shore." Starting at 6:00 a.m. just above Horseshoe Bay, the goal for most was to reach the finish, 30 miles later in Deep Cove, within the 10 hour race limit. 158 runners achieved their goal on this day, more finishers than in any previous year.

Two-time defending champion Derek Reed of Sudbury, Ontario, led from start to finish to win in a time of 5 hours, 13 minutes and 55 seconds. West Vancouver’s Arlene Schieven, running in her first Knee Knacker race, managed to accomplish the same feat on the women’s side with a winning time of 6:27:21. That’s where the similarity ends.

The men’s race was hotly contested for the first half between Reed and first-timer Bruno Bagneres from Grenoble, France. Less than a minute separated the two runners at that point, but Reed pulled away throughout the second half of the race. His final winning margin was 11 minutes over Bagneres.

Quite the opposite took place in the women’s race. Schieven ran uncontested for the early part of the race, holding a comfortable 10 minute lead at the halfway mark. She was hunted down from there, managing to hold on to a 41 second margin of victory over Vancouver’s Jackie Trudeau. Just another 31 seconds back was third-place finisher Alexandra Watson of North Vancouver.