It was a good showing for the men and women of Point Grey TFC racing Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K, Sunday morning in Vancouver's Stanley Park. Highlighting the day were Sam Pawluk and Sabrina Wilkie's second-place overall finishes in the men and women's races. The low-point of the day was that both races were both won by Albertans.

Full results

Pawluk cruised around the eight-kilometre course in 24:37, while the overall winner, Kip Kangogo of Lethbridge, AB, clocked 24:00. Reeve nearly dropped under the 29-minute barrier, running 29:08, less than 30-seconds behind overall female winner Lisa Harvey of Calgary, AB, who was timed at 28:40.

The race went off under perfect conditions - a blue sky, no wind, a cool temperature. The course was an eight-kilometre loop through the park, mostly on the flat seawall, but with the first kilometre downhil, and some uphill in the last kilometre.

Some girl in a hoodie lead the first few hundred metres of the race before being passed by the field. Ben Thistlewood got out to a good start too, using the fade from the front strategy.

Somewhere between three and four kilometres in, Pawluk passed Thistlewood, looking real smooth. He would comfortably hold second place from there on.

"I didn't even realize it was only 8 days after NACACs," said Pawluk afterwards, referring to the his running the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Trinidad last week. "I was somewhat tired going into it, and a little unsure. I figured I would just run relaxed, be patient and not over do it. I guess it worked out alright which is good... On another note, it was awesome having a team out there with five PGTFC members representing."

Thistlewood eventually faded to fifth, running 25:13. After he said, "I figured I'd go out with Kangogo and see how it went... I was really hurting for the second half, and just tried not to fade too badly. It was a good learning experience."

Dylan Gant, running in his brand new Point Grey singlet, finishing in 25:56, good for eighth overall. "Not the best performance today," he commented after the race. "But on a positive note, I ran a similar time at this race last year, and managed to split eight-k about 20-seconds faster at the Sun Run. Hopefully I'll have a similar turn around this year!"

On the women's side, Sabrina Wilkie and Katrina Bruckschwaiger were representing Point Grey. Wilkie was happy with her race result. Via text message, she said, "I felt pretty good considering February was not a great training month, nursing an injury. Was a bit concerned I had lost too much fitness as a result and was going to blow-up in the last two k's, but didn't. Great weather and I loved the uphill finish!"

Bruckschwaiger was the sixth woman overall, and nearly broke 30-minutes, running 30:12. "What a beautiful race in perfect racing conditions," she exclaimed, and continued, "I'm excited to be back racing again, especially with such an inspiring group of teammates."

Next up for Point Grey TFC are the UBC Open, Saturday, April 7, and the Vancouver Sun Run, Sunday, April 15.