A large contingent of Comox Valley Road Runners bundled up to join almost 2,000 athletes on a wintry February morning at the 2025 First Half Marathon in Vancouver.
The race was in danger of being cancelled up to the last moment due to recent snow and cold creating icy and unsafe conditions on the Stanley Park Seawall. In spite of a whiff of snowflakes still falling on race morning, organizers were made the call to hold the event on an alternate route, while still preserving the spectacular views on the course. The overall winner of the race was Andrew Davies with the second fastest time ever in the First Half in a time of 1:03:05, only surpassed by local Olympian Cam Levins鈥� Canadian record of 1:00:18 run in 2023. The woman鈥檚 overall winner was Samantha Jory in a very fast time of 1:13:53.
CVRR runners did well even as they used the First Half as a stepping stone in their training towards other upcoming racing.The local contingent were lead by fast-improving Nic 鈥淧izza Boy鈥� Samsom who ran his debut half marathon in a smoking fast time of 1:23:07 to finish 169th overall. There will be many more fast times ahead for Nic as he continues his running journey. Leon Heath, another local rising star, ran an excellent race, improving his personal best by more than six minutes while running a hard closing 1:28:01. Samsom had best watch his back!
Other CVRR runners also had great results in spite of running the race strategically, showing that they are in good form in their early season training. Andrea Wilson continued her stream of podium finishes with second place in the F4549 age group and a great result of 1:29:02. Roslyn Smith was once again on top of the podium in F7579 running a world-class time of 1:56:46. Another highlight was novice runner Zoe Buscho who took on the challenge and persevered to complete her first half marathon in a time of 2:30:05. Other results included Rob Kelly with a huge comeback performance of 1:33:33 for fifth place M6064. Danny Keyes, with a time of 1:36:59 and ninth place M6064, paced Cabiri Calisto to a hard-fought finish in a solid time of 1:41:50 in F4044. Following were Coco Elgood (1:43:54 eighth W5559) and Wayne Crowe (1:44:23 sixth M6560). Full results are available online.
The next big event on the local road racing calendar is the CVRR Comox Valley RV Half Marathon, the sixth race in the Vancouver Island Race Series, taking place March 23. For more information on this and other club activities go to cvrr.ca.
