West Van­cou­ver, British Colum­bia – Sat­ur­day, July 11^th marked the twenty-first 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 excel­lent, with no snow in the high coun­try and lim­ited patches of deep mud, how­ever heat and humid­ity were likely a factor as the median fin­ish­ing time of 7:42:10 was the second slow­est ever (second only to 1999’s “Year of the Snow”).

These con­di­tions didn’t hinder Aaron Heidt of Vernon. Heidt, in his second Knee Knacker, bet­tered his 2008 time by just over 19 min­utes, took the over­all title, and broke two course records — Kevin Titus’s over­all course record of 4:42 set in 2003 and Peter Findlay’s Mens under-40 record of 4:45. Findlay’s record had stood the test of time since 1991. Heidt took the lead in the first quar­ter, and though he was pur­sued by 2008 under 40’s winner Oliver Utting of Burn­aby, and 2008’s over­all winner and 7-time over­all cham­pion, Peter Find­lay of Kam­loops, he extended his lead through­out the day to win with an impres­sive margin of just over 19 minutes.

In the Women’s divi­sion, Knee Knacker new­comer Ellie Green­wood of Van­cou­ver posted the 4^th ever fastest Women’s time of 5:36:24, plac­ing 8^th over­all. Green­wood took an early lead in the first quar­ter and though 2008’s second place woman, Mel Bos of Kelowna was within 8 min­utes at the half-way point, Green­wood extended her lead, taking the Women’s title with an impres­sive margin of over 19 minutes.

In the Super-Veterans cat­e­gory (>60), Mary Doherty’s time of 7:29:13 in her first Knee Knacker was the fasted for anyone over the age of 60, male or female, in the 2009 race.

Three people also com­pleted their 10^th Knee Knacker — Jeff Trigg, Karl Jensen and Craig Moore joined an exclu­sive group of 28 other people who have attained this milestone.

198 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 fin­ish­ing rate of 95% per­cent — just above the his­tor­i­cal aver­age of 93.3%. 77 of the fin­ish­ers this year were first-timers.

Fol­low­ing are top fin­ish­ers from all divisions:

Com­plete results are avail­able at Knee Knacker 2009 Results.

Pro­ceeds from the race ben­e­fit North Shore Rescue Team. The event has raised over $48,000 for Lower Main­land charities.

Kelsy Trigg, Race Direc­tor Tel: 604–787-8097 e-mail: rd@kneeknacker.com