Next year the organizers of the Beat the Bugs off-road running race might want to go after a sponsor that would serve all the competitors well.
Perhaps they should approach the makers of Deep Woods Off insect repellant.
Anybody who braved the course at Otway Nordic Centre would likely cheer seeing a truckload of the stuff arrive for everybody to use in next year's race because on Saturday morning the bugs were out on full force.
The trick was to keep moving and apparently that wasn't too difficult for the 47 runners who entered the five-kilometre race or the 60 runners who covered 10 km.
Francois Cote won the men's 10km event in 47 minutes 15 seconds, followed by second-place Sam Goodrich (50:06) and Nicholas Bartell (50:18). In the women's 10 km race, Shar Balogh was the class of the field, finishing in 55:01, seventh-quickest overall. Amy Merritt (56:32) and Lindsay Van der Meer (1:00:49), who were second and third respectively.
In the five km race, Jordan Bax was the quickest of the quick, clocking 21:20, followed by Nolan McCleary (21:45) and Isaac Goodrich (21:46). Jacqui Pettersen won the women's five km in 23:39. Kristine Roswell (24:56) and Gillian Roberts (25:48) were second and third among the women.
Go to strideandglide.ca for complete results.
