Victoria’s Matthew Winkler won the 7km race and Shelby Drope of Nanaimo finished first in the 13km event as the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series stopped at Mount Tzouhalem on May 7.
Winkler completed the 7km route in 37 minutes and 50.2 seconds, ahead of North Saanich’s Edward Cunningham (38:19.6) and Ceevacs runner Cory Ramstead of Duncan (39:31.7).
Shawnigan Lake’s Adrienne Hollings was the top female runner with a time of 44:33.2, followed by Heather Afford of Victoria (45:16.8) and Brittany Brooks of Lake Cowichan (46:03.6).
Several other Cowichan Valley runners had top-three results in their divisions. Maddie Born-Crocker (Shawnigan Lake) won the FU19 division, Hollings won the F20-29 division, and Denise Aucoin (Ladysmith) won the F60-69 category.
Second-place finishes went to Brooks in F20-29, Matthew Pickering (Shawnigan Lake) in MU19, Ramstead in M30-39, Lauren Arcilla (Shawnigan) in FU19, Jennifer Switzer (Ladysmith) in F30-39, and Brenda Niziol (Shawnigan Lake) in F60-69. Third-place results went to Christopher Ziehr (Duncan) in M30-39, Barbara Hyde-Lay (Shawnigan Lake) in FU19, and Kari Pollock (Shawnigan Lake) in F40-49.
Drope finished the 13km distance in 1:05:12.1, ahead of Victoria’ runners Andrew Pape-Salmon (1:13:46) and Kim Shortreed (1:14:07.8).
The top female runner was Cheryl Davies of Nanaimo (1:25:11.9), followed by Kyla Beattie of Victoria (1:26:57.6) and Loni Martineau of Nanaimo (1:28:49.9).
Jake Erwin (Shawnigan Lake) finished first in MU19, as did Christina Saladat (Shawnigan Lake) in FU19, and Susan Miller (Ladysmith) in F50-59. Shawnigan runners Mady Martin and Madi Johnstone were second and third, respectively, in FU19, and Sophie Cutt of Duncan was second in F20-29.