Twisted Blisters Workout Leader Gwyn Pociluyko shares her race experience at the prestigious Boston Marathon....

The 128th Boston Marathon was held on Monday 15th April 2024. Among many marathon runners, the Boston event is seen as the epitome of marathons, because strict qualifying standards must be met. It appears the standards were particularly tough this year: due to the numbers of entries, only those who had achieved 5 minutes 30 seconds faster than their original qualifying time were accepted. 32,000 runners were accepted.

The whole event is a logistical miracle – the administration, how they move that many runners out to the town of Hopkinton for the start, how they ensure each runner starts in their assigned corral, how there appears to be endless supplies of water, Gatorade etc. at each mile water station.

As a runner there is a lot of walking, queueing, sometimes in giant serpentine queues, and security checkpoints – but the mood was always light and good humoured from the volunteers, the Police and the runners.

Monday April 15th – race day - was a particularly beautiful weather day (last year the race had torrential rain and was very cold). Hot sunshine is not every runner’s dream, but it certainly brought out the crowds.

There was no part of the course that wasn’t attended by throngs of cheering supporters, the screaming students at Wellesley college, the many kids along the route high-fiving, and the offers of free beer. Oh, and my cheering husband too!  All the encouragement helps you to the finish line even when your body says differently.

I was very lucky to accompany Hillary W., a fellow Penticton Pounder on her first Boston marathon. To see an experience through someone else’s eyes can give you a new perspective and I thank her for the incentive to return for my 4th Boston. I may have fallen a little short of the target time I wanted, but I took some photos, high-fived many hands, ran 43.14km on my watch, and yes had some beer along the way!

The Penticton Pounders ran away with the podium this weekend at the Oliver 10km, taking both 1st place in the male and female divisions. Congratulations to workout leader Lauren Prufer for winning the female division in (38:15) and Ben Thistlewood winning the male division in (34:50).

Weather conditions were near  ideal with cooler temperatures, slight winds, and sunshine as runners ran along the Okanagen River channel in Oliver.  Over 15+ Pounders members attended the race, and this was the first time the new singlets were worn in a race.

RESULTS
Results can be found here:  www.interiorrunningassociation.com/race/2024/oliver_10k/

View more photos at: https://www.pentictonpounders.com/2024-gallery.html

Photo Credit: Thank you to Neil Macdonald, Hillary Ward, and Emma Carter for providing photos.
Other notable results:

• Simon Bleich (37:10) - 1st in 40-44M
• Maximilian Goetz (40:01)
  
• Jordan McIver (40:10) - 2nd in 40-44M
• Emma Carter (40:51) - 2nd in 30-34F
• Mateusz Skaszczyk (41:26)
• Richard Millard (43:34) - 2nd in 50-54M
• Saskia Kowallik (43:55) - 1st in 25-29F
• Michael Kascak (46:25) - 2nd in 60-64M
• Gloria Woolner (51:54) - 3rd in 60-64F
• Nola Steininger (59:00)

What's next?
Next up is the Peach City Runner Blossom 8 MIler Race on May 12, 2024. We are hoping for a great turnout for our favourite local race. If you're looking for help training for your next event, come join one of our weekly runs!

Happy new year to everyone! The Penticton Pounders club is happy to have completed our annual AGM and are looking forward to 2024 with numerous races and social events. A friendly reminder that we meet weekly for road and trail runs (see Weekly Runs page).

The first event in the Interior race series for 2024 is the Vernon Winter Carnival Mile race on February 3, 2024. You can register here or learn more about the winter carnival on their website: https://vernonwintercarnival.com/