Penticton’s David Matheson took one hour, 21 minutes and two seconds to capture the half marathon distance in the Peach City Half Marathon and 10 K run Sunday at Skaha Lake Park.
Matheson said it was a great day, with perfect weather conditions since he expected some rain.
“It was a pretty good course, and there really weren’t any challenges apart from the two little hills at the end, it didn’t feel too bad,” said Matheson, who competed in a sprint triathlon in Kelowna two weeks ago and finished fourth overall. “This weekend I didn’t want to go too hard because I have a big race next weekend.”
Etienne Robert of Gatineau, Que., and Kelowna’s Gary Wade rounded out the top three males.
Victoria’s Katie Munro finished sixth overall and won the race on the women’s side in 1:30:30. Merritt’s Marie Josee Bedard finished second, with Kelowna’s Dannica Wade rounding out the top three.
“It’s pretty exciting. I was really happy with how the race went,” said Munro, who moved to Penticton for the summer. “I felt really good the whole way.”
Munro said the final small hill on the way back on the nearly 30-kilometre course was a bit of a struggle.
“I forgot about it so it really hurt as you’re coming up, but then you know the finish is close,” she said. “I just had to focus on the person ahead of me. It’s a pretty windy course. Keeping that person in your view is really key.”
After finishing in third last year, Munro came in wanting to win and accomplished her goal while trimming four minutes from her previous time. Munro said her lead was hard to maintain initially, but she built confidence and remained cautious about her lead.
The top woman from Penticton was Sue Logan, winning the 50-54 age group and finishing 18th overall. For Logan, it was her second race in 15 years.
“I’m just getting back into it. It was a lot of fun and really good weather,” she said. “It was nice because it wasn’t too crowded.”
Winning the 10 km distance was Calgary’s Ken Myers in 34:49. In second place was Vancouver’s Jason Curran in 37:33. Rounding out the top three was Brent Morrow of Edmonton. He finished in 42:42. Penticton had two runners place in the top 10. Rene Michaud finished seventh in 44:41 and Brian Schroeder, ninth in 45:23.
Summerland’s Erin Trainer was the top local female finishing 13th overall with Sunette Louw of Naramata finishing 18th overall in 49:53. Kelowna’s Louise Richardson rounded out the top three females finishing 20th overall in 50:24.
The 10 k run had 87 runners finish and 101 runners completed the half marathon.