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More than 1,000 runners made their way through the challenging terrain of Crowsnest Pass on July 9th and 10th, during the 4th annual Sinister 7 Ultra + Relay.
New records were set in the male, female, and group categories, showing that not only is the event growing, but the quality of competitors is also increasing.
In the female competition, Jen Segger of Vancouver came in first place, setting a new course record of 19:48:15, shattering the previous record of 22:22:24, which was set by Kathie Zeman in 2009.
Segger was followed by Calgary’s Nicki Rehn with a time of 21:05:10, and Toronto’s Audrey Kelly with a time of 22:27:31.
In the male category, Calgarian Charles Miron came in first for the second year in a row with a time of 16:36:18, followed by Vancouver’s Colin Miller with a time of 17:22:00, and Calgary’s Oleg Tablev with 17:51:09.
The winning male team was Camrose/Edmonton area competitors Stuart Erskine, Robert Renman, Brendan Lunty, Joe Larsback, A.J. Rankel, Mark Armstrong, and Jason Ernst - otherwise known as “Cool Running” – with an outstanding time of 13:07:12.
Cool Running also came in first in 2010, and set a new course record this year.
The winning female team was American team “Girls Heart Rockets” with a time of 15:53:59.
Edmonton’s “We Used to Be Fast” placed first in the mixed team competition with a respectable time of 13:44:15.
Andrew Fairhurst of Full Moon Adventure Company – which organizes the event – said he was told by several of the 1,100 competitors that they plan to come back again next year.
“There were runners checking out of hotels and bed and breakfasts who were booking for the same weekend next year,” said Fairhurst. |
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“The weekend went extremely well overall,” he said. “With the increase to 1,100 runners this year, it was certainly a lot more to manage and take care of, however, with the planning we put in place along with some key volunteers stepping up, everything went smoothly.”
He said some of his personal highlights included having local realtor John Pundyk fire the starting gun, seeing people enjoy the sport, as well as some more emotional moments.
“It was so great to stand there and watch that many runners take off on the course and think back to just four years ago, when we had about 160 runners in total partake,” said Fairhurst. “The growth has been phenomenal.”
He said another highlight was having two local high school teams compete in the race and take advantage of the donated entries.
“It’s great to see youth focus and dedicate themselves to an event like this,” he said. “It’s a great lifestyle choice for them.”
He said his final highlight was the emotional moment when 600 people emptied the arena to watch the final solo racer cross the finish line, after he was delayed by an injured knee.
“It was simply fantastic,” he said.
Fairhurst thanked all of the volunteers who helped to ensure things ran smoothly, and all of the athletes who took part in the race, adding that he has high hopes for next year.
“This year we sold the event out in five days,” he said. “Next year’s registration will probably take even less than that.”
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