The Bow Valley Harriers showed their prowess on the trails this past weekend at the 1st Central Alberta 5 Peaks Series Race at Canada Olympic Park. The course proved challenging but the group showed their mastery of off-road racing with two wins and a runner-up finish. Jeremy Deere claimed victory on the challenging Enduro course (approx. 10km) in a time of 39:34 while Travis Cummings placed 2nd behind Deere in a time of 40:24. Too many surges at the start of the race cost Cummings over the back half of the course as Jeremy's controlled, even paced strategy proved superior. Over the shorter Sport course (6ish k), Blaine Penny claimed a convincing victory winning by nearly 2 minutes over his closest competitor. Also to note fringe Harrier Phil Villeneuve placed 5th in the Enduro race a few minutes back of Jeremy and Travis. It is a busy next couple of months for Bow Valley as we see many of our members contest multiple distances at the Calgary Marathon this upcoming weekend. Jody Draude, Blaine Penny, Ken Myers, and Darcy Bell are all slated to participate in the marathon distance as elite runners. Jeremy Deere is assigned elite status in the half marathon and Travis Cummings is also given the same status in the 10k.
The 5 Peaks results bode well for the Harriers who competed at COP on the weekend as all 3 runners have big plans for the trails this summer. Jeremy is attempting Powderface 42.2 for the 1st time, Blaine is having another go around at Powderface and will also be doing the Iron Legs ultra. Travis is making his first serious attempt at qualifying for the World Mountain Running Championships so these fine young gentlemen all have their work cut out for them as they try and accomplish these significant tasks. Also of note to mention on the trail side of things, Duncan will be making an assault on the Trans-Alps stage races this summer so he will have to keep everyone posted about his training and his results as the summer progresses.
Anyone have any other off-road attempts or summer races to report about?
And last but not least, K100 roster was posted this weekend, with everyone running as well as they are this is going to be a scary team for the competition. I'm not sure if the Leg Champs will be able to claim that title for a name as they will not be taking our title provided they don't load up with Ontario based Kenyans last minute. Preview for this epic race will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
Great job Harriers!
By Travis Cummings
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