By Serena Hudson
After training hard for the first few weeks of the school year, on the overcast afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 19, 58 athletes from Grades 8-12 representing eight different schools gathered at Bright Angel Park for a showcase of athletic ability at the Cowichan Valley Running Series season opener.
Although racing is usually an activity with a focus on competition, this was not the sole spirit of the gathering. Instead the focus was “building camaraderie and good sportsmanship before the valley heads off to islands later in the year,” explained series president Mark Swanell.
The racers left their all on the course, one many recalled to be a great challenge.
“The hills just seemed to get bigger and bigger,” said Shawnigan Lake School junior Dora Andrew.
In a pool of 17 students running a 1.8 km loop, the Aspengrove School Ravens took first place in both the Grade 8 male and female categories with Cassia Riendl-Ling (8:36) and Aaron Patel (7:31) crossing the finish line first.
Although their track was double the length of those who ran before them, junior racers came in strong with Queen Margaret’s School’s Layla Walkla (16:38) and Cowichan Secondary School’s Malcolm Blackburn (15:28) winning the first place ribbon in their respective categories.
With 23 runners tackling the longest course of the day, senior athletes Alexa Dow (23:54) of Kelsey, who has won ever year she has participated, and Christian Lamotte (23:22) of Shawnigan Lake School, who participated in the race as cross-training for his upcoming rowing season, set the bar high for the series when they crossed the finish line strong for first place.
With three more races to go before these schools head to Islands to represent the Cowichan Valley, Rebecca Day Reynolds, Brentwood coach and series co-founder, spoke for all when she enthused, “Our series is growing: the future for our running community looks bright indeed!”
Finishers from second to eighth place in the G8 Girls division: Sam Henneberry (SJA), Tilly Nielson (Kelsey), Ellie Nelson (Kelsey), Madison Campbell (Quamichan), Mia Sorenson (Kelsey), Abby Simmons (Kelsey), Kiera Miller (BCS).
Finishers from second to eighth place in the G8 Boys division: Samuel Nickolichuk (Quamichan), Marcus Corley (SJA), Quentin Porter (BCS), Frank Tom (Quamichan), Wesley Jim (Quamichan).
Finishers from second to eighth place in the JR Girls division: Charlotte Gough (Kelsey), Layla Reynolds (BCS), Nita Qiu (BCS), Olivia Colaco (SJA), Dora Andrew (SLS), Lava Hoenningen (SJA), Frankie Swannell (Kelsey)
Finishers from second to eighth place in the JR Boys division: Daniel Saunders (Aspengrove), Matthew Ruitar (QMS), Finn Tremblay (Aspengrove), Cody Henry (Kelsey), Arnie Marsek (BCS), Antoni Ian (Kelsey), Ryan Mallet (Kelsey)
Finishers from second to eighth place in the SR Girls division: Norah Eisinger (QMS), Tessa Coyle (Aspengrove), Nicole Saunders (Aspengrove), Maggie Mycroft (QMS), Veronika Lam (BCS), Selam Cooper (SLS), Edith Wong(BCS)
Finishers from second to eighth place in the SR Boys division: Owen Watson (Cowichan), Hamish Gullison (BCS), Elto Hamazaki (Kelsey), Mirai Sazuki (Kelsey), Mike Chen (QMS), Sean Wu (QMS), Jasper Mottershead(BCS).
Serena Hudson is a student-writer at Brentwood College School.