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The men’s race
Thomas Nobbs came to the 34th Victoria TC10K motivated to win and to make sure that he feels ready to run well in both the Ottawa Tamarack 10K, and the Pacific Distance Carnival later this spring — both are national championships. He came, he ran and he dominated a strong field. The Vancouver native ran to a new personal best time of 29:43.
From the gun, Nobbs took the lead, however, Langley’s David Mutai (a Kenyan living in Canada), challenged him until about the 8K mark, where the 23-year-old Vancouver athlete dropped the pace and spread the field on a downhill portion of the race. Mutai clocked a 30:04 and taking third place was Calgary’s Matthew Travaglini who clocked a 30:22 finish time.
“I am happy with how it went. I underestimated the wind today, but it worked out well,” shared Nobbs. “I look forward to running in the Tamarack Ottawa 10K and the Pacific Distance Carnival coming up.”
Travaglini entered the race with tempered expectations. His training has been less race-specific and more about training volume. The engineering grad, from the University of Calgary, is now weighing options for work and perhaps where to live. Victoria was suggested and he agreed.
“Victoria is great. Every time I come here to race, there are people running pretty much anywhere you go. You can’t beat running the trails and up at Elk and Beaver Lakes.”
The top finishers also included former University of Victoria Vikes, Jackson Bocksnick (31:26), Josh Kozelj (31:01), and Matt Noseworthy as well as former Victoria athlete Jack Stanley (31:37).
The women’s race
Like Nobbs, Dayna Pidhoresky came in as the pre-race favourite and delivered. Her finish time wasn’t quite where it was when she won in 2018, however, she is preparing for the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Pidhoresky came into the race four days removed from a 40K marathon training session. She did well to clock a 34:33 finish time for her 2nd TC10K win.
“At the beginning of the race, I felt good, then at about 2K, I thought, ah, there it is.” Referring to marathon training fatigue. “I am not a 10K runner, definitely a marathon runner through and through,” added the 2021 Tokyo Olympian.
The BMO Vancouver Marathon is taking place Sunday, May 7.
Victoria’s Jennifer Erickson finished in second place and recorded a one-second personal best with her 35:57 finish time. The Speedfarm club member is hoping that she will qualify for the national 10,000m championships at the Pacific Distance Carnival.
Victoria’s Jennifer Millar took third and first 40-plus masters position with her finish time of 36:13. The men’s first master was last year’s overall winner in Teferi Balcha. He crossed the line in the time of 31:35, half a minute off his 2022 finish. Balcha limped across the line and could be seen icing his calf afterwards.
The women’s course record is 32:56 by Karolina Jarzynska-Nadolska. The men’s record is held by Kenyan Simon Chemwoiyo who ran a 28:47 performance in 1995 on a different course.
Eighteen men finished under 34 minutes. Nineteen women clocked sub-40.
Race times were affected by the strong winds along the waterfront for nearly half the race. Nobbs, however, ran faster in Victoria than he did two weeks prior during the Vancouver Sun Run, where he finished in 29:52. Considering the wind and the Sun Run’s big downhill start, his performance was impressive. Nobbs’ best on the track in the 10,000m event is 29:31.68. He will be looking to improve upon both times this summer.
RESULTS
Post-race video interviews will be available soon.
