© Copyright – 2025 – Athletics Illustrated
Vancouver Sun Run and Victoria Times Colonist 10K races produced fast times on Sunday. The winners on the day were Sam Atkin of Great Britain and Glynis Sim of Vancouver during the Sun Run. The winners of the TC10K, just a 90-minute ferry ride away on Vancouver Island, were Liam Donnelly and Vancouver’s Dayna Pidhoresky.
Vancouver Sun Run
Atkin from Great Britain took in the 2025 Vancouver Sun Run and bettered some of Canada’s fastest distance runners, clocking 28:09 for the win. Back from injury, Cameron Levins finished second, recording a 28:23 performance. Taking third was Vancouver’s Kieran Lumb in 28:42.
Six athletes finished under 29 minutes. While 14 clocked under 30:00.
For Atkin, Sunday’s race was his 10km road debut. He has run 10,000m in a time of 27:26.58, which the 32-year-old ran in San Juan, CA in 2020. For Levins, it was an excellent comeback from a heel injury that kept him out of racing for the second half of 2024 and the first four months of 2025. His personal best is 28:11 from Paris this time last year. He has run 27:07.51 on the track, which is the former Canadian record.
The top women were Sim from Vancouver, Natasha Wodak from North Vancouver, both credited with 32:54 and taking third was Eliyah Brawdy from North Vancouver. She clocked in at 33:59.
Victoria’s TC10K
Men’s race
There was pre-race talk about taking out the new course in sub-30 minutes, which seemed a tall ask on the rolling and honest route. Liam Donnelly was good on his word, holding off training partner Martin Sobey, who finished in 30:01 to Donnelly’s 29:48. Finishing third was Jaxon Kuchar in 30:13.
All three ran new personal bests.
Donnelly and Sobey are triathletes looking to start the 2025 professional season shortly. The two athletes were left adrift after Triathlon Canada shut down their Victoria training centre in November. Not sure about their future, both do want to take one last crack at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Asked what it feels like to go 1-2, Donnelly said, “We have done a million miles together….today my legs may have felt better, next week we could do this again, and he might win.”
Sobey is off to China and then Japan to race, and the two will meet up in Yokohama for world triathlon points.
Kuchar, coached by three-time Olympian Hilary Stellingwerff, was pleased with his 30:13 performance.
Andrew Russell of the Harriers Running Club won the 40-plus masters division in a time of 31:45 and in ninth position.
The famous headwind along Dallas Road hardly materialized this year, which enabled the athletes to take advantage of the fast final 3km.
Women’s race
Vancouver’s Dayna Pidhoresky, a 2021 Tokyo Olympic marathon runner and former winner of the TC10K, narrowly defeated local athlete Kate Ayers; they finished in 33:51 and 33:58, respectively. Taking third place was Elise Coates from Victoria, recording a 34:53 performance.
“It was good to have a pony tail to chase, it made me run faster,” shared Ayers.
“I ran scared knowing she wasn’t far behind,” said Pidhoresky.
The top master 40-plus runner was Care Nelson, who finished in 36:50 and in sixth place.
Over 50,000 people registered for the massive Vancouver Sun Run, while a solid 9,300 signed up to race the TC10K.
There were 7,037 finishers in Victoria and 39,584 finishers in Vancouver.
Next up on the West Coast circuit is the BMO Vancouver Marathon and Half Marathon.
While Pidhoresky will attempt to take the course record in the marathon, Wodak will be attempting to take the half-marathon course record next Sunday. Pidhoresky won the 2022 and 2023 Vancouver Marathons in 2:34:30, then 2:34:27, respectively. The latter is the current course record.
Pidhoresky had hoped with her win that Wodak would win in Vancouver and the two would take the respective course records in Vancouver. “That would be nice if Natasha wins today and then we both take the records in Vancouver next week.”
The half-marathon record is 1:12:33 from 1996 by Mina Agawa; Wodak has run as fast as 69:41, which is the former national record over the distance. She achieved that time during the 2020 running of the Houston Half Marathon.
