Vancouver Sun Run

Vancouver Sun Run
Date Third or fourth Sunday in April
Location Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Event type Road
Distance 10km
Established 1985
Course records Men: 27:31 (1996)
Joseph Kimani
Women: 30:58 (2006)
Isabella Ochichi
Official site Vancouver Sun Run

The Vancouver Sun Run, sponsored by The Vancouver Sun newspaper, is a 10-kilometre road running event held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, each year on the third (sometimes the fourth) Sunday in April since 1985. It is one of the largest road races in North America.

Attendance

The first Vancouver Sun Run in 1985 started with approximately 3,700 participants,[1] and has grown significantly since:

Race details

The primary mandate of the Sun Run is to "promote health, fitness and community spirit and to support amateur athletics". In conjunction with the run a large number 13 week clinics (including Nordic walking, walking, learn to run and run faster) are conducted at community centres throughout the province.The run is not a charity event; however, the organizers claim over $1.1 million in race proceeds have been donated to charities since 1985. It includes a relatively small number of competitive elite runners, a wheelchair race, and numerous other categories of participants ranging from running enthusiasts to parents walking with their children in strollers. The various categories start the race at different times, with the wheelchair and elite runners first, and slower runners following in numerous waves. For several years, individual runners have had their times recorded by an electronic chip attached to their shoes, which triggers a timer at the starting line and again at the finish.

Vancouver Sun Run in 2006

The current route of the race begins on Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver, with the starting line just west of the intersection of Burrard Street, and ends outside BC Place Stadium after guiding runners through the downtown peninsula and parts of the Kitsilano and Fairview neighbourhoods south of False Creek. The run organizing committee hires numerous entertainers to perform along the route and in the stadium at the end of the race, including local humour/cover band The Neurotics, who have played at the starting line every year since 1995.[5]

Hundreds of volunteers also assist with organizing, preparing for, and coordinating the race, including amateur radio operators involved in ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) programs from the Lower Mainland.

In the aftermath of the bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon, Vancouver Sun Run race organizers have petitioned runners to wear blue and yellow, the official Boston Marathon colours, in solidarity and remembrance of those killed and injured in Boston a week prior.[6]

Race organizers have noted a surge in race registration in the few days after the Boston Marathon explosions as the Sun Run anticipates one of the highest turnouts in its 29-year history.[7]

Past winners

Key  = Course record
Year Male winner Country Time (m:s) Female winner Country Time (m:s)
1985 Rob Lonergan  Canada 28:47 Susan Lee  Canada 32:39
1986 Graeme Fell  Canada 29:30 Debbie Scott-Bowker  Canada 33:31
1987 Graeme Fell  Canada 29:11 Lynn Kanuka-Williams  Canada 32:15
1988 Paul Williams  Canada 29:12 Lynn Kanuka-Williams  Canada 33:04
1989 Rex Wilson  New Zealand 28:44 Lynn Kanuka-Williams  Canada 32:19
1990 David Campbell  Canada 28:54 Debbie Scott-Bowker  Canada 33:06
1991 Philip Ellis  Canada 29:03 Patricia Puntous  Canada 33:48
1992 Paul Williams  Canada 29:03 Nancy Tinari  Canada 32:44
1993 Silvio Guerra  Ecuador 28:42 Leah Pells  Canada 32:48
1994 Daniel Komen  Kenya 27:46 Daria Nauer   Switzerland 32:55
1995 Simon Chemoiywo  Kenya 28:27 Olga Appell  United States 32:57
1996 Joseph Kimani  Kenya 27:31 Angela Chalmers  Canada 31:05
1997 Tom Nyariki  Kenya 27:56 Sally Barsosio  Kenya 31:47
1998 Christian Weber  Canada 28:40 Krystina Pieczulis  Poland 32:55
1999 Simon Chemoiywo  Kenya 28:52 Tina Connelly  Canada 32:41
2000 James Koskei  Kenya 27:36 Sally Barsosio  Kenya 32:24
2001 James Koskei  Kenya 28:06 Sally Barsosio  Kenya 33:04
2002 James Koskei  Kenya 27:58 Sara Dillabough  Canada 33:17
2003 Paul Koech  Kenya 28:48 Aster Demissie  Ethiopia 33:20
2004 Thomas Kiplitan  Kenya 28:43 Émilie Mondor  Canada 31:10
2005 Michael Power  Australia 29:26 Nicole Stevenson  Canada 32:30
2006 Gilbert Okari  Kenya 28:27 Isabella Ochichi  Kenya 30:58
2007 Solomon Tsige  Ethiopia 29:22 Teyba Erkesso  Ethiopia 32:05
2008 Festus Langat  Kenya 29:26 Genet Gebregiorgis  Ethiopia 33:35
2009 Willy Kimosop  Kenya 29:04 Abebu Gelan  Ethiopia 34:04
2010 Kip Kangogo  Kenya 29:02 Malindi Elmore  Canada 33:06
2011 Eric Gillis  Canada 29:06 Lucy Njeri  Canada 33:41
2012[9] Kelly Wiebe  Canada 29:13 Natasha Fraser  Canada 34:12
2013 Paul Kimugul  Kenya 29:04 Natasha Fraser  Canada 32:42
2014 Paul Kimugul  Kenya 28:59 Rachel Cliff  Canada 33:14
2015 Luke Puskedra  United States 28:53 Risper Gesabwa  Kenya 32:28
2016 Eric Gillis  Canada 28:52 Lanni Marchant  Canada 32:15

Charity

Since 1997, only one dollar from each Sun Run registration has been contributed to Raise-a-Reader, a national literacy campaign. The campaign went national in 2001, and has since raised over $10 million.[10][11]

Sun Run proceeds also benefit B.C. amateur athletics through the Achilles International Track And Field Society and The Vancouver Sun Jerome International Track Classic, an annual track and field event that gives local athletes the chance to compete against some of the world’s best in their own province.

Race dates

The race is held on the third Sunday of April each year (but the fourth Sunday in 2014 (Easter is third Sunday in April, 2014)).

References

  1. ↑ Vancouver Board of Trade, Sounding Board November 2003 Vol 43 # 6
  2. ↑ Running USA Accessed November 6, 2007
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Vancouver Sun Run on Canada.com, http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/sunrun/index.html
  4. ↑ Vancouver Sun Accessed April 26, 2013
  5. ↑ Vancouver Sun, April 5, 2004, page C5
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Vancouver Sun Run registrations spike in solidarity with Boston - British Columbia - CBC News. Cbc.ca (2013-04-17). Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
  8. ↑ Association of Road Racing Statisticians Accessed September 2, 2006
  9. ↑ April 2012 AIMS Results. AIMS. Retrieved on 2012-04-19.
  10. ↑ Raise A Reader, National literacy campaign tops $10 million
  11. ↑ The Vancouver Raise A Reader, CanWest Raise A Reader Day
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