Sam Pawluk's third place finish in the men's eight kilometre race was the highlight for Point Grey at the UBC Invitational cross country meet Saturday Oct. 22 at Jericho Beach Park.

Teams attending included the hosts UBC, as well as UVic, TWU, and Douglas College. There was plenty of mud on the course thanks to rain showers overnight and in the early morning, but the clouds parted by the afternoon and the races got underway with perfect running conditions.

Rachel Gardner led the Point Grey women with her 24th place result, covering the 5 kilometre course in 19:04, while Jen Moroz finished 36th overall, in 20:23.

The men were led by Sam Pawluk, an electrician by trade, who electrified the crowd with his front running performance. Pawluk is definitely hard-wired to compete. He threw in some powerful surges to take the lead on several occasions but must have blown a fuse or two as he wound up third, in 25:08. Ben Thistlewood was next across the line, 11th in 26:00, followed by Mark Wilkie (15th, 26:15), Nigel Hole (18th, 26:29), Ryan Huff (22nd, 26:49), Kerry Kazuta, (24th, 26:52), and Norweigen import Espen Jakobsen (45th, 28:56). This gave the the men a team score of 61 points, and third place in the team standings.

Members of Point Grey were later spotted heading to The Cove pub, eye-witnesses say, presumably for a post-race debriefing and to lay plans for the next race.

Full results are available at www.gothunderbirds.ca

NEXT UP

Some Point Grey athletes are running the BC Championships next weekend in Aldergrove - good luck! - while others are preparing for the first ever Whistler50 Relay, which replaces Haney 2 Harrison as the annual BC Athletics road relay race. Stay tuned for updates.