Ridge teens prove they're ram tough
Students from a pair of local high schools put their resilience to the test at Golden Ears Provincial Park early Thursday morning
Students from Maple Ridge and Garibaldi secondary schools were off to a running start to the Ram-Tough Duathlon held early Thursday morning at Golden Ears Provincial Park. The staggered starts had the more competitive runners and cyclists starting first, followed by the rest of the field.
Photograph by: Troy Landreville , TIMES
Maple Ridge and Garibaldi secondary students started their Thursday by running and cycling more than 20 kilometres through Golden Ears Provincial Park.
The autumn chill, anchored by the shade of the large trees near Alouette Lake, had both volunteers and participants shivering leading up to the 9: 20 a.m. start of the Ram-Tough Duathlon, organized by Maple Ridge Secondary.
For the second consecutive year, the duathlon had Grade 11 and 12 students from Garibaldi taking part.
MRSS participants were from Grade 11 exclusively, with the school's Grade 12 helping out along the route.
Students ran four kilometres, hopped on bikes to cycle a 14-km route, and then ran for another four kilometres to complete the race.
The 22nd annual test of endurance has altered both venues and dates through the years.
"We've changed it from fall to spring, fall to spring," said MRSS phys ed teacher Don Herman, one of the organizers.
Herman has been part of the duathlon since its inception - the first 10 years, the race was a triathlon involving a swim in the indoor pool at the Greg Moore Leisure Centre.
He said, despite the chilly early morning temperatures, conditions were perfect compared to past years.
"We've had pouring rain, we've had really hot [temperatures] in the spring.," Herman said.
The race moved east as the years passed by. Organizers chose a much more remote location, to avoid the growing traffic in downtown Maple Ridge.
"It just got so busy," Herman said. "They'd come out of the pool, they'd hop on their bikes, they're racing and we had the RCMP and traffic guards, but I was just worried [about the students' safety]."
When it was a triathlon, it was a much more serious race than it is today, Herman said.
"We've kind of downsized it a bit," Herman said.
For the MRSS Grade 11s, this duathlon is a mandatory part of their P.E. curriculum.
"They have to do this race to pass the course," Herman said.
"So kids who are sick or injured, we'll have a make-up day."
The key is simply completing the race.
"There's no time requirement, it's just complete the race," Herman noted.
There are a few competitive students who want to win.
"I'd say about a dozen or so are real competitive, and they want to finish first," Herman said.
Roughly 120 Grade 11 and 12 students from Garibaldi joined their MRSS counterparts for the race. The Garibaldi group had trained for a month for the duath-lon.
TOP MALE MRSS FINISHERS:
1st Ewert Van Rensburg - 44: 33
2nd Marc Becker - 53: 40
3rd Kolton Burdett - 54: 39
4th Cameron Umlah - 56: 45
5th Zach Bliss-Philpott - 58: 29
6th Adam Bannister - 59: 14
Brandon Spencer - 59: 14
8th Cody Davies - 59: 30
9th Daniel Clarke - 1: 02: 00
10th Derek Johnston - 1: 05: 00
Scott McKenzie - 1: 05: 00
12th Greg Mckenzie - 1: 05: 45
13th Robert Robson - 1: 06: 00
Carson Cordes - 1: 06: 00
Robert McLennan - 1: 06: 00
16th Jordan Severinski - 1: 06: 48
17th Steven Veerman - 1: 08: 00
18th Muhamad Noor - 1: 11: 00
Peng Zhou - 1: 11: 00
20th - Chris Richards - 1: 11: 15
William Pukila - 1: 11: 15
22nd Jerome Haar - 1: 11: 50
23rd Daniel Dabrowski - 1: 13: 00
Adam Pulleybank - 1: 13: 00
25th Jeremy Van Veen - 1: 16: 00
26th Keegan Skankland - 1: 17: 00
Johanas David - 1: 17: 00
Lucas Henninger - 1: 17: 00
29th Brent Strong - 1: 18: 00
Yongyi Shen - 1: 18: 00
31st Emmanuel Barrios-Rienzi - 1: 20: 00
Lukas Carr - 1: 20: 00
33rd Matthew Gattreau - 1: 20: 40
TOP FEMALE MRSS FINISHERS:
1st Kelsey MacDonald - 52: 33
2nd Brooke Spinelli - 1: 01: 43
3rd Gabrielle Bachand - 1: 05: 00
Risa Yorizane - 1: 05: 00
Denise Bohn - 1: 05: 00
6th Cristina Baptista - 1: 06: 00
7th Chantel Sauve - 1: 08: 00
8th Jessica Davidson - 1: 11: 00
9th Hinano Murayama - 1: 13: 00
10th Marlo Bellamy- 1: 18: 00
Brittany Sweet - 1: 18: 00
Christine Boatman - 1: 18: 00
Hayley Williams - 1: 18: 00
Taylor Prokopich - 1: 18: 00
11th Anna Strzalkowski - 1: 19: 00
12th Danielle Pesut - 1: 20: 00
13th Yuwen Kong - 1: 25: 00
Ji Wu - 1: 25: 00
14th Jia Yun Liu - 1: 28: 30
Jordan Donnelly - 1: 29: 00
Students from Maple Ridge and Garibaldi secondary schools were off to a running start to the Ram-Tough Duathlon held early Thursday morning at Golden Ears Provincial Park. The staggered starts had the more competitive runners and cyclists starting first, followed by the rest of the field.
Photograph by: Troy Landreville , TIMES
