© Copyright – 2025 – Athletics Illustrated
Alexandre Ricard and Samantha Jory won the 2025 BC 10K Championships. They also won the second race of the 2025 Vancouver Island Race Series, the Cobble Hill 10K that is run in conjunction.
Both athletes led from gun to tape on the gently rolling course.
The men’s race
Picard a trail and mountain runner from Squamish, BC finished first in the time of 30:41. His personal best is from the 2023 Eastside 10K in Vancouver which is 30:29.
Taking second was Brandon Vail with a new personal best time of 30:54. Finishing third was Chris Gregor who clocked a 31:15 performance.
The first U20 junior was Henry Bristol who took sixth overall in 31:51, while the first 40-plus master was Prairie Inn Harrier Running Club member Andrew Russell taking seventh in 32:59.
Asked what led to the personal best, Vail said, “Just more mileage and running some aerobic threshold sessions, that’s about it.”
Vail is coming off an 8K PB run two weeks prior in the Harriers Pioneer 8K with another second-place finish in the time of 24:16.
The women’s race
Samantha Jory clocked a 34:25 to finish first and behind just 13 men.
Vancouver’s Leslie Sexton finished second in 34:59. Taking third was fellow Vancouver athlete Jouen Chang in 35:33.
Sexton is coming back in training so was not expecting a fast time. “Yeah I’m a ways away from PB shape at the moment but I’m healthy and wanted to give it a good effort. I had some setbacks in December; I was nursing a tight calf for a few weeks after Canadian XC and I got sick with COVID,” shared Sexton. “The last month of training has gone well but it’s pretty early on and I need to stack more consistent weeks and months to get back where I want to be. I will keep putting in the miles and wait for everything to start clicking again!”
Asked if she will be racing a marathon in the spring she said, “I’m not planning on racing a marathon until the fall, I will do the First Half in two weeks, then Project 13.1 in March before I shift down to some 10K races.”
The fastest U20 junior was 11-year-old Keira-Marie Fielding who clocked a 42:16 gun time and 42:10 chip. It was her first 10K race. The longest race she had done prior was half the distance at the 2024 Bazan Bay 5K, another Vancouver Island Race Series event that takes place in April each year.
The first master 40-plus was ultra runner Catrin Jones of Victoria clocking in at 37:21. She runs in the 45-59 category.
There was a record number of athletes finishing the Cobble Hill 10K at 602 finishers.
Temperatures were cool with a 3C start and a 5C finish, under sunny skies and no wind.
The next race in the Vancouver Island Race Series is the Bastion 12K in Lantzville. The former Cedar 12K, run south of Nanaimo has moved. This will be the first running on the new course just North of Nanaimo.
