RECORD HOLDER TITUS WINS KNEE KNACKER & EVANS KEEPS WOMENS TITLE

West Vancouver, British Columbia – Saturday, July 14th marked the nineteenth 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 warm temperatures for the rest of the day. The hot weather over the last several weeks made for near ideal trail conditions with almost no snow in the high country.

209 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. 193 of the runners achieved their goal on this day, making for a very good finishing rate of 92 percent.

This year saw one of the most competitive fields to ever race the North Shore trails. Current record holder Kevin Titus of Whistler returned after a 3-year hiatus and was challenged by 2-time defending champion (2005/2006) & world-class triathlete, North Vancouver’s Mark Bates. They were joined up front by North Vancouver’s Kevin Vallely, a 1997 Knee Knacker finisher in 5:01, accomplished road-racer Oliver Utting of Burnaby running his first Knee Knacker, and 6-time overall champion, 9-time finisher, and 2005/2006 master’s champion, Kamloops’ Peter Findlay.

Titus set and maintained an early lead, with Bates, Vallely, Utting and Findlay within 3 minutes of each other at the 15 mile mark, competing throughout the day. Posting a time of 4:52:49, Titus bettered Peter Ladner’s previous Veterans (50-59) record by 53 minutes to take the Overall & Veterans titles. This is the first year in Knee Knacker history to have two sub 5-hour times with both Titus and Bates breaking this mark. Additionally, Titus, Bates and Vallely each won their Age Division.

In the Women’s race, current record holder New Westminster’s Suzanne Evans took an early lead, and continued to gain momentum, posting the winning time of 5:26:10 and the 3^rd overall fastest time in the final quarter. Second place went to a hard-charging Nicola Gildersleeve from North Vancouver in a time of 5:48:26, an improvement of 52 minutes on her only prior Knee Knacker attempt.

August Albrechter and Peter Findlay completed their 10^th Knee Knacker this year, joining an exclusive group of 21 other people who have attained this milestone. Findlay’s average finishing time over 10 years is a phenomenal 5:04:04

Following are top finishers from all divisions:

	Men			Women
Open (<40)	1. Mark Bates	N. Vancouver	4:56:46	1. Suzanne Evans	New Westminster	5:26:10
	2. Oliver Utting	Burnaby	5:14:30	2. Nicola Gildersleeve	N. Vancouver	5:48:26
	3. Chris Downie	Vancouver	5:34:50	3. Jacquie Trudeau	Vancouver	6:40:15
Masters (40-49)	1. Kevin Vallely	N. Vancouver	5:09:21	1. Patricia Jensen	N. Vancouver	6:05:53
	2. Peter Findlay	Kamloops	5:20:36	2. Susan Reynolds	Vancouver	6:30:02
	3. Mark Bennett	Vancouver	5:25:59	3. Joanne Wild	Vancouver	6:46:11
Veterans (50-59)	1. Kevin Titus	Whistler	4:52:49	1. Susan Giuffre	N. Vancouver	7:28:40
	2. Andy Jones-Cox	N. Vancouver	6:04:58	2. Kathryn O'grady	Port Moody	7:57:08
	3. Fred Bushell	Rossland	6:05:55	3. Lori Wong	Vancouver	7:57:12
Super-Vets (>60)	1. Dan Crockett	Kelowna	6:41:16	1. Jan Selman	N. Vancouver	7:40:03
	2. Gottfried Grosser	N. Vancouver	7:31:56	2. Heather Parker	W. Vancouver	8:40:57
	3. Jim Guthrie	Courtney	8:11:26

Complete results are available at 2007 Overall Results and Split Times.

Proceeds from the race benefit North Shore Rescue Team. The event has raised over $42,000 for Lower Mainland charities.

For further information contact:

Kelsy Trigg, Race Director

Tel: 604-787-8097

e-mail: rd@kneeknacker.com

FAX: 604-988-5694