Gusty conditions led to gutsy efforts Sunday in the Times Colonist 10K, with Thomas Nobbs and Makenna Fitzgerald taking the men’s and women’s titles.
“The wind was definitely a bit of a surprise. Coming out here I knew it was going to be a bit tougher than last year,” defending men’s champion Nobbs told the media scrum following the race.
The former University of Washington Huskies and UBC Thunderbirds runner was unable to crack 30 minutes, as he did in winning last year’s TC10K and in placing fifth last weekend in the massive Vancouver Sun Run, and was across in 30:06.
“Wind, plus hills, made it hard to keep the same pace,” said Nobbs, who joined the likes of two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon as a multiple winner of the TC10K.
“You kind of have to put time out the window and go by feel [on a day like Sunday]. Sometimes I run pretty dumb. I go based on feel. In early kilometres, I doubt myself, and then I kind of rally.”
Fitzgerald was also adept in feeling her way around the course in winning the women’s title in 34:15 to join past champions such as 2020 Tokyo Olympian Dayna Pidhoresky, Olympic-medallist Angela Chalmers and three-time Olympian Debbie Scott.
Defending women’s champion Pidhoresky, a back-to-back female champion in 2017 and 2018, was unable to compete this year because she is in Hamburg, Germany, for the last-chance marathon qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Fitzgerald grabbed the mantle in the first official road 10K of her career.
“The half-marathon is my sweet spot, so this is a good [10K] confidence boost,” she told the media scrum following her win.
Raised in Kamloops, Fitzgerald graduated from the ultrasound program at SAIT, and now resides in Calgary. She went from prairie river to seaside victory ahead of second-place women’s finisher Jennifer Erickson of Victoria (34:48) and Jouen Chang of Vancouver (35:24).
“It’s a really pretty course here in Victoria and I had a good group of people to run with and that made a huge difference for the first six kilometres,” Fitzgerald said. “It was helpful not to run that real windy spot all alone at a hill at about five kilometres. All along Dallas Road was really windy.”
Both winners said the atmosphere along the course was inspiring, with two bands playing, and well-wishers cheering and clapping.
“I have family here, and my girlfriend was here, which I am fortunate for,” said Nobbs, who was raised in Vancouver and is now based in Ottawa.
“It was a pretty special experience coming here. It was solid. My recovery off the Sun Run was better than expected.”
Paris Olympics-hopeful Liam Donnelly of Victoria, bronze medallist in the mixed-relay triathlon at the 2023 Santiago Pan Am Games, was second in 30:48 and Russell Pennock of Calgary, another international triathlete, third in 31:04.
“It was a great elite field again,” said Nobbs, who will race the 5,000 metres in the Canadian track and field championships and Paris Olympic trials this summer in Montreal.
“It was great having guys around me. I wanted to keep the pace hot. I knew I had to break things open because I didn’t want people drafting off me. I wanted to make sure no one was benefitting from me pushing them.”
Chris Kelsall, manager of the elite division of the TC10K, said he believes Nobbs is capable of cracking 28 minutes, which would put him in position for the big European 10K races.
But Sunday’s conditions were not conducive to fast times.
“The theme of the day was all about the wind, and the runners battled through it hard and the best they could,” Kelsall said.
The 35th Times Colonist 10K had 8,643 registrants for Sunday’s race as it continues to emerge from out of the shadow of the pandemic. That is up from the 7,500 last year and the 5,500 in the first race after the pandemic in 2022. The 2020 race was cancelled due to COVID and the 2021 event was held virtually.
“You can see the upward trend and it was again exciting to see a growing number of smiling faces back at the start line today,” said Mark deFrias, producer of the TC10K event.
— With files from Michael John Lo
