FINDLAY RETURNS TO RECLAIM OVERALL TITLE & GILDERSLEEVE TAKES WOMEN'S TITLE

West Vancouver, British Columbia – Saturday, July 12th marked the twentieth 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 clear skies in the morning and warm temperatures throughout the day.  Course conditions were good, but challenging in the high country with some remaining snow, mud and trees that had been blown down by the recent winds.

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.  188 of the runners achieved their goal on this day, making for a very good finishing rate of 92.6 percent.

This year saw 6-time overall champion, and current master's champion, Peter Findlay of Kamloops return to reclaim the overall title.  Findlay's win marks the 4th time in 6 years that the race has been won by a runner over the age of 40, including the current record of 4:42 set by Kevin Titus in 2003.  While this year saw the first time in Knee Knacker history that three athletes posted sub 5-hour finishes, Findlay's 1991 record of 4:45:11 still stands for the under 40 category.

Knee Knacker newcomer Aaron Heidt set the pace for the first half with Findlay, Oliver Utting, Kertis Heidt and Chris Downie rounding out the top 5.  At the half way point, Aaron Heidt had extended his lead, and was close to Kevin Titus' record pace.  Findlay and Utting ran exceptional races to close that gap and finish first and second overall, each winning their respective age divisions, and Utting bettering his 2007 time by over 16 minutes.

In the Women's race (35.6% of the field), 2007's second place woman, Nicola Gildersleeve took an early lead and won the women's title by a strong margin of over 10 minutes, placing 9th overall in 5:50:44.  Second overall went to Knee Knacker newcomer, Mel Bos from Kelowna in 6:01:01.  This year saw the highest number of female competitors finish under 6:30, with 10 athletes breaking this impressive barrier.

Five people also completed their 10th Knee Knacker -  Mike Ackerfelt, Rick Arikado, Jennifer Brown, Bill Dagg and Tony Humphries joined an exclusive group 23 other people who have attained this milestone.

Following are top finishers from all divisions:

Complete results are available at Knee Knacker 2008 Results

Proceeds from the race benefit North Shore Rescue Team. The event has raised over $45,000 for Lower Mainland charities.