Seventy-Eight-year-old Helly Visser who competed in The Q’s Victoria Track Series during the 2011 season is now training for the yearly outdoor Canadian Masters Athletics Competition, that will take place in Saint John, New Brunswick. At the same time it is also North-Central American, Caribbean & Canadian Masters Track & Field Championships. The events take place, August 9-12, Saint John NB.

Visser received the Master of the year in Track & Field for 2011 from Athletics Alberta. Visser said, “I want to thank you again for the good competition I had in Victoria. I am also one of three ladies nominated for the Canadian Track and Field Athlete of the Year”.

Visser competed in the 70-79 age-group in the Q’s Victoria Track Series and took a world age-group record, while being nearly 80-years-of-age (78).

May 12th – 3000m removed
June 30th – Add: 5000m, remove 3000m.
New meet: 10,000m invitational. Saturday September 1st 2012.

- 10,000m High performance – sub 33:00 (qualifying times subject to change)
- 10,000m competitive – sub 37:00
- 5000m All-comers – Open

*Date and races subject to change

February 15th Season Pass and Clinic Series Season Pass go up in price.

Make sure you register and pay for the Awards Ceremony and Silent Auction – TBD: Likely to happen Sunday, September 2nd.

Registration is NOW AVAILABLE .

For the 2012 season, there are already 6 meets with several races in each meet planned.

Potential for a second, annual Popeye’s Supplements 10,000m event exists.

The second annual Q’s Victoria Track Series Awards and Silent Auction night was a success despite low-ish turnout.

Mark Jackman garnered the most votes from fellow athletes to win the Maurice Tarrant Performance Award, which includes a two-night stay at the beautiful Sunrise Ridge Resort in Parksville, BC. The Maurice Tarrant Performance Awards also includes a 2.5 foot tall trophy and series technical shirt – bigger is better, right?

Jackman also drew for 1 of 4 pairs of Saucony shoes however, he is secretly rich and generously returned the voucher to be live-auctioned off to the guests in attendance. The voucher went for a fair dollar helping to raise over $1600 for the Mustard Seed Food Bank.

Despite attendance being lower than in 2010 due to a perfect storm of cancellations, the 2011 silent auction raised nearly $100 more than 2010.
These estimates do not include food and small cash donations that are brought in throughout the series at the various meets.

The evening started off with a two-song swing dance performance by regional award winning duo, David and Tina Lee. Top-3, 10-year age-group award winners were presented with bronze, silver and gold medals, 50 and 100% off of their 2012 Season Pass Registrations and an opportunity to win a pair of Saucony shoes, generously donated by Saucony of Canada.

The Silent Auction and Awards night took place in the Maple Room, at the Sticky Wicket in the Strathcona Hotel.

Marcia Stromsmoe accumulated the most age-group points for the series with her total of 180, besting the 2nd place finishers by 32.

Steve Osaduik, the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon record holder (2:16:49) has his sights set on competing at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 16th. In preparation he ran a spectacular 10,000m (25 laps) race Saturday, by running a nearly solo effort in 30:01.9. Osaduik split the first half in 15:08 (unofficially). His second half is impressive considering his competition was well back and not in position to help push the pace. Osaduik owns a 29:12.17 10,000m personal best. “Osaduik and I were planning to share the lead throughout, but I was a little flat out there tonight”, said 4th place finisher Trevor O’Brien, who had higher expectations than his 31:21.1 finish time.

Second place went to James Lander in 31:05.1. Lander finished second in the 2010 Victoria Marathon, with his 2:23:57 finish time. Third place went to Vancouver master runner Kevin O’Connor. O’Conner was looking for the men’s BC provincial master’s record time of 31:11.83, however, despite finishing with a furious effort he narrowly missed the mark by a mere three seconds crossing the line in 31:14.4.

Women’s Race – Gillian Gook of Vancouver took the women’s race finishing in 35:25.0. She was first woman and second overall in the B-section of the Popeye’s Supplements 10,000m Invitational. The top-three women’s results are rounded out by Melissa Ross whose next race is her first ever entry into international running as she will represent Canada at the IAAF World Mountain Running Championships. Ross finished in a personal best time of 36:37.5. Ross and Katherine Moore ran an exciting race-within-a-race exchanging leads throughout and both finishing in an exciting sprint to the line, Ross narrowly besting Moore by three tenths of a second.

Masters Race – The Popeye’s Supplements 10,000m Invitational also saw very competitive men’s masters’ field, which featured the above-mentioned, Kevin O’Connor (31:14.4), Craig Odermatt (31:42.8) two-time Olympian, Bruce Deacon (32:14.2), and Graeme Wilson (32:28.9). “A stacked field and exciting race”, said Odermatt who ran to a nine-year personal best time before collapsing at the line demonstrating the sheer enormity of the effort.

The Q’s Victoria Track Series is an eight-meet series that spans 4.5 months from May until August. The series allows runners of all abilities to race in distances from 400m to the 10000m. The Charity of Choice for the series is the Mustard Seed Food Bank.

Complete results: http://victoriatrackseries.ca/results/

*keep in mind anything shown here is subject to change!

6:00 PM – Check-in/Register

6:30 PM – 400m Open – mixed (may have more than one 400m race)

6:40 PM – 1500m Open – mixed

6:55 PM – 1500m Elite Women

7:05 PM – 1500m Elite Men   ** if there is a women’s race

7:15 PM – 5000m Open – mixed

7:50 PM – 5000m Elite – mixed ** depending on number of participants this race could be combined with Open.

Helly Visser - world record holder - 1500m World's finish

Helly Visser, the 77-year old competitor who raced in the 4th meet of the 2011 Q’s Victoria Track Series continues to win and set records. In Victoria, she took the world record for the 70-79 age-group (which is quite the feat considering she is much closer to 80) with her world best time in the 1500m, 7:47.40.

In a recent email message, she wrote, “…now I have competed at the World Masters Athletic Championships in Sacramento… I came away with 2 gold medals. The 800m, 3:46.57 and the 1500m, 7:40.85″.

Helly also thanked the Q’s Victoria Track Series for all of the support and cheering she received when she competed at the University of Victoria:

“I have to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the Q’s Victoria Track Series in June.

I learned that I had a kick after running at my best. The encouragement you and the cheering crowd in the stands helped so much”.

Congratulations to Helly and continued success in your running endevours!

Below is the schedule, going-forward. Note that the final meet, Saturday August 27th is at the University of Victoria and at least one of the races will be under the lights – so start time may be different, check back often for updates. The Elite men’s race will likely feature one of the best fields of open and master, 10000m runners in BC or western Canada – working on that as we speak!

After that race, we will head to the Sticky Wicket Rooftop to celebrate the evening.

Saturday May 14th – 400/800/1500m – Centennial Stadium – University of Victoria – Done! See results, photos & videos.

Saturday May 28th – 400/800/1500/3000m /2000m Steeple – Centennial Stadium – UVic – Done! See results, photos & videos.

Saturday June 4th – 800/1500 – Jack Wallace Memorial @ Oak Bay High School – Done! See results, photos & videos.

Saturday June 18th – 400/MILE/5000m – Centennial Stadium – UVic – Done! See results, photos & Videos.

Saturday July 9th – 400/800/3000m – Centennial Stadium – UVic – NEXT!!

Saturday July 23rd – 1500/5000m – Jack Wallace Memorial – Oak Bay High School

August 6th – 1500/5000m – Jack Wallace Memorial – Oak Bay High School  —-NEXT!!!!

Saturday August 13th – 800/3000m – Jack Wallace Memorial – Oak Bay High School

Saturday August 27th – 5000m/10,000m – University of Victoria – under the lights!! – post-race beverages at the Sticky Wicket’s Rooftop.

Sunday August 28th – Silent Auction and Awards Night – Stick Wicket (Strathcona Hotel)

Popeye’s Supplements Victoria, 10000m Invitational will take place at the University of Victoria track at Centennial Stadium, Saturday, August 27th.

Currently the schedule includes a 10000m elite race (Popeye’s) for men and women – two 10000m races – and a 5000m open-mixed race for all abilities.

All events are capped at 16 participants, per race.

Qualifying quidlines are suggested.

Men:

Open – Sub-31:30

Masters – Sub-33:00

Women:

Open – Sub-36:30

Masters – Sub-38:00

These are guidelines and will only be used if necessary (number of competitors).

Contact info@victoriatrackseries.ca anytime.

Saucony of Canada has once again donated two pairs of shoes to the Q’s Victoria Track Series. Their are a pair of mens and womens shoes each to be drawn from the winners of each age-group.

Win the age-group, enter the draw!

The draw will take place at the Silent Auction and Awards Celebration, Sunday, AUgust 28th at the Sticky Wicket Pub.