Jacqui Pettersen missed the bear on the course at the 30th annual Canadian Tire YMCA Road Race, but tackled a monster with her quick finishing time.
One week shy of her 45th birthday, Pettersen won the women's half-marathon Sunday, finishing the course in one hour 36 minutes 44 seconds. That was fast enough to qualify her for her second consecutive New York City Marathon in November.
"This was the third time I've run the Y half-marathon and this was the best time and it's only four seconds off my personal best set in Vancouver a few years ago, so I was really pleased about that," said Pettersen, who placed ninth overall.
"I'm getting smarter about my training, but I was thinking I should have done more hill work. I haven't done much this year and that will be the thing I have to work on. This year I've been able to run a bit more because I've been injury-free, touch wood."
Pettersen has already qualified to run her first Boston Marathon in April 2017. She qualified for that race with her New York City Marathon time of 3:39:07 last year. Pettersen finished 5,888th in a race that drew nearly 50,000 runners and a million spectators.
"That was kind of my goal for me because I enjoyed it so much and I wouldn't mind going again," she said. "I barely made it, just by 15 seconds."
Pettersen qualified for Boston two years ago but was unable to run due to an Achilles tendon injury.
Tamara Pelletier and Jamie Royle rounded out the top three in the women's race, crossing the finish line together in 1:41:58.
The weather was ideal for Sunday's race, although the longer-distance runners probably would have liked it cooler. The start temperature at 7:40 a.m. was about 10 C with a bit of breeze to cool the runners as the mercury climbed.
"It is a long, hot slog," said Jim Van Bakel, who won the men's half-marathon in 1:21:18, defending his YMCA title from last year. "I definitely ran harder this year."
He finished 1:07 ahead of second-place Nicholas Bartell (1:22:25), while Cam McNamara placed third among the men in 1:25:27.
Van Bakel was only three minutes off his own half-marathon PB, set last year in the Hart Half. He says the Y course is more difficult, with rolling hills and more turns. He ran an extra 100 metres Sunday when he was led astray by a traffic control volunteer who asked him to turn off Westwood Drive a bit prematurely.
Van Bakel, 42, has a background as a sprinter in Edmonton and didn't start running distances races until after he moved to Prince George in 2011. He's considering running his fourth road marathon this fall in Victoria. He finished fifth last year in the inaugural Golden Ultra, an intense, three-day mountain trail run.
"The half-marathon is probably my favourite distance, it's not quite so punishing and it's challenging as well," he said. "But I would like to do another marathon or two before I decide not to do them anymore."
Race director Tara Legault said some of the mid-pack half-marathoners had to pass by a section of Otway Road where a first aid volunteer spotted a black bear right near the road. The bear took off when more of the crew of 75 volunteers arrived in their vehicles and started honking their horns.
"That's the first time we've ever had a black bear on the route," said Legault.
Sam Goodrich clocked 42:22 to win the men's 10-kilometre overall title, while Lara Pederson was the overall female 10 km winner. Mani Ngabo won the male five-kilometre race in 23:42, and Michaela Reid-Yeo was the female 5 km winner, in 24:21.
The event drew 276 adults in the road race, with 180 entered in the kids fun run. Last year's race included 275 runners in total, with 67 kids. The young runners had their choice of running one, two or three laps around the track at Masich Place Stadium and while they ran they had to pass through a section of bubbles spewing from a machine while getting dusted head-to-toe in bright neon colours.
"We thought we would add something new to try to attract kids – last year we had 67 kids and this year we had 187," said Legault. "That's a huge spike in children, which is great because the whole point of the event is to encourage participation."
