Barry Nakahura won his first half marathon of the year Sunday.
The 47-year-old from Prince George covered the 21.1-kilometre distance in one hour 29 minutes 35 seconds at the 28th annual Northern B.C. YMCA Road Race.
"It was a tough race and there was a lot of wind," said Nakahura who works at WorkSafe BC. "I'm pretty happy to finish like this, that last little hill [southbound on Ospika] is always tough. This is a rare occasion where I finished ahead of people, but I'm usually a minute faster."
The half marathon course, that began and finished at Masich Place Stadium, wove around the Pinewood and Westwood neighbourhoods, north along Foothills Blvd to Otway Road and then back along Ospika Blvd to Massey Drive to the stadium.
A total of 295 runners competed in the 5 and 10km and half marathon races.
Damian Pgihin finished second in the men's half marathon, clocking 1:29:44, and Cameron McNamara followed in third place at 1:30:04.
Jacqui Pettersen, 42, was the fastest woman in the half marathon, posting a time of 1:38:59 in her first 21.1 km race of the year.
"I felt really good out there, the weather was perfect," said Pettersen who has four marathons under her belt. "I started really slow and paced myself. Then I started feeling better and better."
Pettersen has been hampered by plantar fasciitis which affected her training. Yet she still won the race.
She plans to do a 5km race in Copenhagen in mid-July.
Marissa Kellett posted the second fastest time in the women's half marathon, clocking 1:40:44, followed by Wanda Nemethy in third place at 1:42:21.
The overall winners in the 10km distance were Devon Liversidge in the men's division, posting a time of 38:41. Anita O'Brien was the fastest woman, clocking 41:13.
Andrew Seabrook finished second overall in the 10km men's division with a time of 44:44, and Matthew Prosk was third overall at 46:34.
On the women's side, Margaret Jones-Bricker was second overall, clocking 46:38, while Lorelei St. Rose was third overall at 47:42.
Zachary Matyas won the overall 5km race in the men's division, clocking 17:13. Isaac Goodrich was second overall at 18:52, followed by Steve Matyas in third at 19:30.
Rebecca Powell won the overall women's 5km race with a time of 22:36. Aileen Machell was next in second place at 25:24, followed by Brooklyn Negard in third at 26:21.
Bianca Branco was the youngest competitor in the entire race, completing 5km in 43 minutes.
Grant Yule was the oldest runner at 86 who clocked a very respectable time of 38:02 in the 5km race.
The Healthy Kids Marathon featured 190 children completing the final 1.2km of their marathons that they'd been tracking the entire year.
Funds raised from Sunday's race went to the YMCA's Camp Kannanaq.
