Dear Dianne Garrett,Another Vancouver Sun Run has come and gone. This year's 54,317 participants was breaking new record, exceeding last year's 50,746. As usual it was a wave starts, 5 all together. Each wave was marked by coloured balloons high above their starting lines. Yellow balloons for fastest runners, followed by greens, whites, purples and reds. The fastest runners starting first then the slower ones. It was done to prevent collisions and accidents. The starting gate was marked by the noisy chip sensors to detect individual numbers on the chip placed on runners' shoes, and recorded the starting times. Similar sensors were placed at the finish line to record finish times. The race started from West Georgia at Burrard heading west to Stanley Park, continued to Beach Avenue, Burrard bridge, West 6th, Cambie bridge and finished at BC Place Stadium. The route was dotted with big numbers from 1-9 indicating the distance in km to the finish line.
The winner this year for the men section was Soloman Tsige from Ethiopia with time of 29:23 and the prize $3000. Dylan Wykes won $1000 for 2nd place + $2000 for top Canadian, Ryan Hayden won $500 for 3rd place + $1000 for 2nd top Canadian. The women section was won by Teyiba Erkesso Wako also from Ethiopia with time of 32:05 and receive the prize of $3000. Lioudmila Kortchaguina won $1000 for 2nd place + $2000 for top Canadian, and Lisa Harvey won $500 for 3rd place + $1000 for 2nd top Canadian. The Kenyans that dominated the event 11 times in the last 13, did not participate, so the Ethiopians took over. People from East Africa seem to be very good at distance running.
And what was my time? It was a "decent" 154:15, about 2 1/2 hours. I was keeping my neighbour company participating for the first time. It was a very nice day, and we had a leisure walk. We visited nearly all of the water stations, and stopped at nearly all of the pit stops. If you had to go you had to go, I guess. A day later, she called me to complain about not being able to get up because of sore body, even after taking Tylenol 3. And added that this would be her first and her last. I just laughed and said that first time Sun Runners always said that, and next year they will be back again. I also pointed out to her that the Sun Run is all about participation, exercises and healthy living. No pain no gain.
