It was a perfect day Sunday for the third annual Otway Challenge.
"We just had the best time out there," said Lanita Horning, co-organizer of the Otway Challenge committee. "The weather was wonderful and trail conditions were great. We had everything go right for us."
It took to mid-August for many runners and mountain bikers to sign up for this year's event, but in the end 99 participants took part. In 2010, 150 people trudge through muddy, wet weather to the finish line.
The challenge consists of a 10 kilometre trail run and a six-hour enduro mountain bike event, which can be done solo or in teams.
In the men's run, Prince George's Mike Smith was the winner, finishing in 0:48:14, while another local runner, Chris Turski, was second with a time of 0:49:18. Austin Bartell and John Hagen, both of Prince George, were next at 0:50:14 and 0:50:21 respectively.
Two runner, Greg Tone and Jeremy Seely, from Vanderhoof joined the 27 local men on the trail. Tone finished fifth, while Seely was 15th.
In the women's division, Anita O'Brien placed first [0:53:19], Jacqui Benson was second [0:54:24] and Lila Fraser third [0:59:24]. Angela Wheeler of Vanderhoof was fourth [1:00:47] with Erica Olesiuk of Fort St. James [1:02:09] right behind her.
In the men's bike event, the top three riders completed eight laps with local rider Sullivan Reed defending his 2010 title, finishing the course in five hours, 39 minutes and 39 seconds [5:39:39]. John Courtney of Quesnel [6:01:40] was the runner-up with another local rider, Kris Yip placing third [6:05:34].
Only two women took up the mountain bike challenge with Nikki Kassel [5:08:22] riding six laps on the trail, while Cheryl Parker [4:52:22] completed three laps.
In the two-person team event, Quesnel's Jason Jacobs and Glen Boudreau were first with a pair of Prince George teams placing second and third. Merle Tutle and Nathan Blok beat out Phil Evanson and Cheryl Moors.
The three-four mixed team event was won by local father and son Barry and John Hagen and family friend Benita Kaytor.
Saturday the organizers held a kids event with a 1.5 or 3 kilometre run, followed by a one-hour mountain bike enduro - participants do as many laps as they can in 60 minutes.
Loic St-Denis beat out 11 other cyclists to claim first place in the bike portion.
Horning said the participants she chatted with at the event all had positive experiences.
"The comments we had from the people out there was that it was just a well-run event," she said. "Everyone was really pleased."
The challenge was started by Martha Shoemaker in 2009 before Horning and other outdoor sports enthusiasts decided to come on board to make the event more successful.
"We all put a lot of hours into this [event], but it's really worthwhile to see all the runners and cyclists," said Horning. "Next year, I hope we see a lot more cyclists out because it's a really great event."
