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The 2025 Cobble Hill 10K and BC 10K Championships taking place Sunday, January 26 features a strong local field of Vancouver and Vancouver Island-based runners.
The top-seeded male is Brandon Vail with Speedfarm. He is a former University of Victoria Vike athlete who focused in the 3000 metre and 1500m events during his USport career. Now, is racing on the roads over 10K to the half-marathon. His personal bests over the two distances are 31:16 and 1:10:12, respectively.
Vail is coming off a second-place finish at the Harriers Pioneer 8K, which took place on Sunday, January 12, 15 minutes north of Victoria, BC.
The remainder of the top 10 men should all finish within a minute of each other. Prairie Inn Harrier Running Club member Andrew Russell is the favoured masters (40-plus) athlete, seeded seventh overall.
In the women’s field, Leslie Sexton of Vancouver leads the way with her personal best of 32:04. She ran her marathon personal best last January clocking 2:28:14 in Houston. No doubt she will be looking for a fast marathon time again this winter or spring.
It’s interesting that Melanie McQuaid managed to get into the top-10 ranking for the women. She is a five-time World Champion in Xterra Triathlon and has competed at a world championships at least 23 times. But, she is now in her 50s. Her age-grade performance puts her at the top of the field. Two weeks ago, she ran an 8K race in 30:58.
At the other end of the career path is Maia Watson who is just beginning her triathlon career. The McGill grad is the daughter of 19-time Canadian champion Lucy Smith and coach Lance Watson.
Julia Tschanz has returned to form. The former Vike ran 28:53 two weeks ago in the Harriers Pioneer 8K. Her best is only three seconds faster run in the same race in 2020.
The Cobble Hill 10K and BC 10K Championships take place 30 minutes north of Victoria and fewer than 60 minutes south of Nanaimo in Cobble Hill, BC. Seven hundred runners are expected to take in the race. Sunny skies and cool temperatures are predicted.
Top 10 men
M1 Brandon Vail
M2 Aven Kifle
M3 Alexandre Ricard
M4 Anton Kuipers
M5 Greg Ord
M6 James Sikich
M7 Andrew Russell
M8 Liam Hobbs
M9 Martin Odendaal
M10 Devonte Scarlette
Top 10 women
F1 Leslie Sexton
F2 Samantha Jory
F3 Jouen Chang
F4 Sarah Price
F5 Maia Watson
F6 Julia Tschanz
F7 Colette Reimer
F8 Christine Bant
F9 Zoe Hamel
F10 Melanie McQuaid
