FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Vancouver, B.C.
September 16, 2015 – On Sunday September 13, 2015, the 1st annual Vancouver Spirit Run, presented by ASICS was held on the championship course at Jericho Beach Park. The ocean, mountains and the city of Vancouver provided a stunning backdrop to some great competition as we celebrated the start of the competitive cross-country and trail running season in British Columbia. The Vancouver Spirit Run is the 1st event of the year, that allows runners to score points for the B.C. Athletics Lower Mainland Cross-Country Series.
The Vancouver Spirit Run is a one-day cross-country and trail running event that features something for everyone.We have many stunning photos, courtesy of Brian Cliff that are now available to you via our Flickr feed at our website at www.whistlerspiritrun.com
With almost $3,000.00 in prize money being awarded by SierraSil, it was a very competitive set of races. Full results of the events are available here. The key highlights included the overall men’s 8k Champion Geoff Martinson crossing the finishing line in a time of 26:08, and Maria Dalzot finishing 1st in the ladies 6km with a time of 23:07.
In the always fun and entertaining team relay race, our corporate team winner again this year was SierraSil. The overall winner of the relay race was the Hershey Harriors 2 team.
In early February our entire organizing group were in deep discussions on whether we’d be able to make the move and a smooth transition to Jericho Beach Park and re-brand the Whistler Spirit Run as The Vancouver Spirit Run – there were many things to accomplish.
We couldn’t present this event without the help of our volunteers, as they do all of the heavy lifting, not only on race-day, but throughout the year. We have great sponsors and partners too. Our new presenting sponsor is ASICS, without their support, it would be difficult to hold such an event. ASICS are committed to grow The Spirit Run with us and cross-country running in this region. SierraSil provide us fabulous prize money and fully participate in all aspects of the weekend. We have wonderful media partners at Rogers Radio – News 1130, JACK FM and Kiss Radio, along with CITY TV, Omni Television and The Vancouver Sun.
Our other key sponsors help us create a family fun and “festival atmosphere” at our location and many thanks go out to Whistler Water, The Vancouver Whitecaps, Santevia, Mahony & Sons, Forerunners and of course our host hotel partner – Coast Hotels.
When we first decided on Whistler Olympic Park (in the Callaghan Valley) as our location, our choices were very limited in the Lower Mainland and we helped fill a void in the Sea-to-Sky corridor with a local running event. By relocating to Vancouver, it felt like we were going full circle, and were falling back in line with the late Frank Reynold’s original vision to build a cross-country festival, similar to “The Great American Cross Country Festival” held in North Carolina each September. It would be an event that would offer world class competition, that attracted locals and competitors from afar, right here in our own backyard. Jericho Beach Park is that perfect location.
The Vancouver Spirit Run is in the books now for 2015, thank you for coming out and we look forward to seeing all of you again next September!