This week Vancouver distance runner Natasha Wodak will be heading to Guelph, Ont., to meet up with the Canadian Olympic team on its way to Rio de Janeiro.
As preparation, she laced up for the annual Squamish Days 8K Run on Sunday morning, finishing first among the women.
As well as aiming for a strong finish, she wanted run a faster second half of the race.
“The goal was to run a negative split, so I did that,” she said.
This is the final race she will run before heading to Brazil for the Olympics, and she was pleased to be able to have the chance to run in a more relaxed environment than what she will face in August.
“I just wanted to have a good, hard effort in a stress-free environment,” she said. “It’s a beautiful day on a nice course.”
Wodak ended with a time of 25:58 or thirty seconds behind the top male, Richmond’s Tristan Simpson, who came in at 25:28.
He said he knew Wodak has faster track speed and he did not want to get into a sprint at the finish line, so his strategy was to get out of the gate strong and try to maintain a distance between himself and the rest of the pack.
“I thought I’d just run for my life,” he said. “I just wanted to have a gap.”
Simpson was leading out of the starting gate in front of Howe Sound Secondary. The event course follows along Buckley Avenue and winds up Government Road where it turns near Mamquam Road, marking the halfway point at which the runners return toward the school, the turnoff at Carson Place and onto the finish line.
Simpson ran the race five years but said life intervened. He has only started getting back into running, though he is aiming to return to B.C. and national events. He also raved about the local race and expects to be back in 2017.
The event also recognizes the top male and female local runners with the Slavo Lehockey Memorial Trophy. Margreet Dietz was the top female with a time of 32:32, which put her 20th overall and fifth best among the female runners.
Among the local men, James Newby posted 28:59, for fourth overall and third among male runners.
The three fastest times in the kids’ Flashback Mile race were posted by locals: John Hunter ran it in 6:34, Brad Hunter did 6:50 and Malia Stewart finished in 7:02.
Race director Tim Moore, who took over the event this year, said one of the main changes for this year’s installment was to shorten the race by two kilometres to try to encourage more runners, especially locals, to join the event and build on its community feel.
“People seem to find 8K friendlier to contemplate than 10K,” he said.
At the same time, the event is the 10th event of 11 in the Lifestages Lower Mainland Road Races Series in which more serious runners vie for top rankings based on their best performances.
“We’re still in the Lower Mainland race series, which is important because it draws some faster runners from out of town,” Moore said.
