West Vancouver, British Columbia – Saturday, July 8^th marked the eighteenth annual running of the Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run (the “Knee Knacker”).  Good weather conditions greeted the runners and volunteers on this occasion with light cloud cover in the morning and lots of sunny breaks throughout the day.  The hot weather over the last several weeks made for near ideal trail conditions with almost no snow in the high country.

203 ultramarathon runners started the “Race Across the North Shore” at 6:00am, just above Horseshoe Bay.  The goal for most was to reach the finish line, 30 miles later in Deep Cove, within the 10-hour race limit.  190 of the runners achieved their goal on this day, making for an excellent finishing rate of 93.6 percent.

Overall winners in both the Women’s and Men’s divisions this year were returning 2005 Knee Knacker champions, Mark Bates and Suzanne Evans.

First overall was Mark Bates of North Vancouver.  The former professional world-class Ironman triathlete showed his toughness on the North Shore trails with a winning time of 5:08:26, just under 3 minutes off of his 2005 winning time. Bates was vying for the title with 6-time champion, and 2005 and 2006’s Master’s winner, Peter Findlay of Kamloops.  Bates and Findlay ran a tight, tactical race through three quarters, arriving at the 7.5 mile, 15 mile and 22.5 mile aid stations together.  Bates pulled ahead in the last quarter to win the overall title by 3 minutes and 56 seconds. 

The story of the day was in the women’s race with the most competitive field in Knee Knacker history.  New Westminster's Suzanne Evans took top honours in a record time of 5:18:57, shattering the previous record of 5:41:23 set by current Master’s Champion Patricia Jensen in 2003.  On this day, that time was good enough for Evans to place 3rd overall.  This was the top female overall placing ever, with Evans only 10 minutes and 31 seconds off of Bates’ winning time.  At the half-way point, elite athlete and Knee Knacker newcomer Lisa Polizzi was in the lead by a mere 11 seconds.  Polizzi posted an outstanding performance, also bettering the previous course record to post the second fastest ever women’s time of 5:27:55, and to finish 4th overall.  11 time finisher, Marcia Boulanger of Chilliwack posted the fastest overall time in the Super-Veterans category. 

Dean Ashdown, Janet Green and Kathryn Banks completed their 10^th Knee Knacker this year, joining an exclusive group of 18 other people who have attained this milestone.