The 2010 provincial Marathon championship was incorporated into the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon, hosted by the Victoria Marathon Society, and was open to any 2010 competitive athlete member of BC Athletics. The outcome was undecided until late in the race for both the men’s and women’s championship.
Early in the race, the top Kenyans and Americans broke away, leaving Todd Howard as the leading BC athlete through 10K in 34 minutes. A minute back was a larger group including Kevin O’Connor, Oliver Utting, Graeme Wilson, and Sean Chester. By halfway, Howard was in an isolated 5th place overall in 1:12:51, but had extended his lead in the Championship to nearly 90 seconds over O’Connor, Utting, and Wilson, who were still working together. Howard maintained the interval through 30K in 1:44:53, at which point Utting and Wilson had opened a small gap on O’Connor. Into the headwind on the return home, Howard started to pay for his early pace. As the chasers reeled him in, the group also broke apart as each athlete started their drive for home. Strongest over the closing stages was VFAC master O’Connor who moved through to finish fourth overall and to take the BC Championship in 2:31:09. A minute back, Utting finished in 2:32:08 for second, with Wilson a further two minutes back in 2:34:00. Howard eventually faded to 5th BC finisher in 2:37:01, as David Palermo debuted in fourth in 2:35:00.
The women’s Championship was no less exciting. Cheryl Murphy started out at 2:41 pace, and no other women went with her. By 10K, reached in 38:07, she had opened a 90 second gap on second place Lucy Smith. Kristina Rody, Shar Jackson, Suzanne Evans, and Anne-Marie Madden running with eventual overall race winner Catrin Jones, followed at 10 second intervals. Slowing slightly, Murphy still led by a minute at halfway (1:22:40). Behind her positions remained relatively unchanged, though Jackson had dropped back to seventh, and Evans, Madden and Jones were running together. Soon after Murphy dropped out, still fatigued from competing at Ironman Canada, leaving Smith battling for the lead with Rody, as both passed 30K in 1:59:57. Madden had made a move at this stage into third place. But the final 10K again found who had held most in reserve. First Jones came through to take the overall win. Similarly Evans came through from fifth at 30K to finish second overall and to take the BC Championship in 2:53:53. Smith held on for second (2:55:30), as Rody faded to third (2:58:21), with Madden close behind (2:58:50). Jackson rounded out the top 5 in 3:05:10.
Complete Championship results: http://www.bcathletics.org/results/2010/marathonchamps2010.pdf
