Brandon Vail and Zoe Hamel of Greater Victoria won the *39th annual Comox Valley RV Half Marathon on Sunday. Vail finished in a personal best time of one hour, eight minutes and 32 seconds. Hamel clocked in at 1:18:47 and 20th overall.
Men’s race
Vail with Speedfarm Running Club, ran a near two-minute personal best and more than three minutes faster than he raced the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon in 2024.
“Yes, I am happy with running over three minutes faster than last year. The conditions were good except the final 3km had a tough headwind,” shared Vail.
The 25-year-old ran 1:10:12 at the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in October and 1:11:38 at the 2024 Comox race.
Finishing in second place was Andrew Russell with the Prairie Inn Harrier’s Running Club. He also finished first in the masters 40-plus category clocking in at 1:10:43.
Taking third was Nanaimo’s Nicolas Jirot in 1:11:32. He was the second 40-plus master. Jirot has run as fast as 1:10:09 at the 2023 Vancouver Half Marathon.
Vail will compete in the Bazan Bay 5km on Sunday, April 13. He will look to run faster than the 14:44 that he did last year on the flat and fast course. In August he will compete in the Canadian Half Marathon Championships in Edmonton, where he grew up.
Women’s race
Zoe Hamel had one of her better Island Series races in Comox finishing in the time of 1:18:47 for the win. The performance gives Hamel her highest age-graded performance to date at 84%.
“It was good, but that final stretch was windy,” shared Hamel, a sentiment every runner shared upon finishing including Kate Ayers who took second in the time of 1:20:39. Ayers is back racing. Next up for her will be the TC10K in Victoria as well as an internship on a farm around her agriculture studies this summer, “I will need a distraction.”
Hamel, a competitive tennis player from France is a teacher at Pearson College. She is with Esprit Run Club and is coached by Jim Finlayson, who also raced winning the 50-plus category.
Taking third was Speedfarm’s Patricia Roney with her 1:21:15 performance. She was also the first in the 40-plus category. Her best on the course is 1:20:05 from 2024. Her finish time on Sunday and last year are a long cry from her days as a beginning runner 19 years ago, where she finished the Comox race in the time of 1:53:06.
Race director Rob Kelly took in the event coming in at 1:28:57 and finishing first in the 60-plus age group.
The race had the most finishers in the event’s history at 701, with 1101 registered. The race was capped for 2025. This year is the first time in the 45-year history of the series and 39 years of the race to sell out in advance. From 1986 to 1994 it was run as a 20km distance event.
The inaugural race (20km) was won by 1980 Olympian Mike Creery in the time of 1:07:07. Sally Balchin won the women’s race in 1:18:49.
Kelvin Broad — five-time winner of the Royal Victoria Marathon won the first edition of the half-marathon (21.1km) in the time of 1:08:33. Stephanie Wood won in 1:21:11 that year.
Next up in the series is the McLean Mill 10K in Port Alberni on Sunday, April 6 and the Bazan Bay 5K happening Sunday, April 13.