Three Rosslanders placed in the top three of their events during this year’s Broken Goat trail race on Saturday.
James Crossman, who was the second-place finisher for the 50-kilometer race last year, placed third for the men this year, while Kem Hemstreet, running Broken Goat for the first time, placed first for the woman in the 25-km race. Krista Svedahl, who ran the 25-km in 2015, finished third for the woman in this year’s 12-km race.
Rene Usner, race director and owner of PACE Sports Fitness, hugged all 350 racers as they came across the finish line out at Red Mountain.
“I had like over 350 hugs today, it was the best part of my day,” she said.
Usner started off each race with a rousing speech for the runners, and was not only at the finish line to embrace and congratulate them, but to cheer on the 50-km racers as they began their final 12-km stretch and the climb up the face of Red. She even ran along side some of them as they started the climb, before returning back down to encourage others.
Her enthusiasm was clearly appreciated by the racers. Many of them — including 17-year-old Turlan Morlan, who placed first in the 12-km race — approached her after the race to thank her for running a great event.
A large group of racers from Canmore, Alta. also pulled her into their group photo following the awards ceremony.
“They have been extremely supportive of my series in general — the other three races that we have in Kelowna — and they have come out every single year to support this race at Broken Goat,” Usner said of the Canmore group.
As always, the ceremony featured prizes either handmade or collected by Usner’s family: first place winners received a growler of beer and a stein collected by Usner’s father, second place winners received a bottle of wine and a wine goblet made by Usner, and third place winners received an engraved cheese board and a jar of strawberry jam made by Usner and her mom. Every racer received a handmade clay Broken Goat medal.
Usner also thanked all of the volunteers who helped make the event a success during her speech at the awards ceremony.
Broken Goat isn’t the only event PACE runs in Rossland.
Two weeks before the race Usner was in Rossland for a mountain running camp, which is held every year.
“We just had about 22 participants that came down and participated in that. We stayed here at Red Mountain and it was three days and one night. One night of technique running and then three days of long-distance running in the alpine,” she explained.
Registration for Broken Goat sells out fast, so anyone interested in participating next year should check out pacetrailseries.com/broken-goat.html for details and contact Rene Usner at pacesportsfitness@shaw.ca with any questions.
Women’s 50 km
First: Kim Magnus, Vancouver, 5:44:42
Second: Kathryn Drew, Vancouver, 6:03:02
Third: Liza Pye, Canmore, 6:15:11
Men’s 50 km
First: Chris Bellamy, Vancouver, 5:35:29
Second: Adam Kahtava, Calgary, 5:37:14
Third: James Crossman, Rossland, 5:47:14
Women’s 25 km
First: Kim Hemstreet, Rossland, 2:44:35
Second: Erin Woodrow, Canmore, 2:44:57
Third: Adria Snowdon, Edmonton, 2:45:30
Men’s 25 km
First: Michael Burke, Boise, Idaho, 2:13:57
Second: Joedy Dalke, Ferintosh, Alta., 2:15:13
Third: Bill Fitzner, Spokane, 2:41:14
Women’s 12 km
First: Maryse Paquette, Nelson, 1:28:47
Second: Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Nelson, 1:33:51
Third: Krista Svedahl, Rossland, 1:36:33
Men’s 12 km
First: Turlan Morlan, Spokane, 1:07:57
Second: Chris Morlan, Spokane, 1:13:54
Third: Kevin Shaw, Winlaw, 1:21:34
