Both the men's and women's course records were broken at the St Patrick's Day 5K in Vancouver's Stanley Park, the second race in the 2010 Lower Mainland Road Race Series.
Ontario's Dylan Wykes, who has been training in BC for the past two weeks, showed the locals a clean pair of heels. He sped through the first mile in 4:40.4, to earn a $50 bonus. In the early running he was shadowed by Willy Langat from Victoria. But Langat was unable to maintain the pace, as Wykes opened up a significant gap by the end, coming home in 14:32. Scott Simpson passed Langat before halfway, to finish second in 15:01. And Oliver Utting came through strong in the second half to claim third place in 15:30.
The women's race was a much closer contest. Kristina Rody and Natasha Wodak were practically tied at the hip for the first mile, as both were timed at 5:18.1, with Rody given the nod to win the $50 bonus. And like Wykes, Rody pressed on in the second half to come home a clear winner, also in a course record of 16:46. Wodak held on for second in 17:15, while Anne-Marie Madden passed Meaghan McCollum in the second half to take third in 17:34.
The masters winners were Colin Dignum in 15:55, and Sheila Mullins in 19:20. Junior winners were Christian Gravel in 16:42, and Tanya Humeniuk in 18:15.