The University of Victoria Vikes crosscountry teams came flying out of the gate last weekend.
The Vikes men won their divisions and the women finished second overall at the first event of the season, the St. Martin's Invitational in Washington.
Last season's Canada West rookie of the year, Ryan Cassidy, led the UVic men to the title with a victory in the eight-kilometre race thanks to a time of 25 minutes 40.75 seconds.
Second-year Vike Forrest Simpson came in just after Cassidy, while Dylan Haight, Doug Oxland, Patrick Psotka and Josh Cloutier also had top-11 finishes.
On the women's side, Madeline McDonald crossed the finish line second overall with a six-kilometre time of 22: 09: 50.
Senior Vike Brittany Therrien was 10th.
Next up for the UVic team is the Western Washington Classic Oct. 6 in Bellingham.
CHARGERS GOLF TEAM ON THE RISE
Even though they had a rest week, that didn't stop the Camosun Chargers golf team from climbing the overall country-wide rankings.
Heading into this weekend's Pacwest tournament in Nanaimo, the Chargers are the top-ranked Pacwest team and No. 2 overall in Canada.
Vancouver Island University hosts this weekend's tournament at the Nanaimo Golf Club, and that will be followed by the final Pacwest tournament of the year Oct. 6-7 at the Chilliwack Golf and Country Club. The PING Canadian Colleges Athletic Association National Golf Championships is slated for Oct. 15-19 in Oshawa, Ont.
SPEAKER SERIES LINEUP SET
There's a definite Olympic flavour to the upcoming Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon Speaker Series.
Two-time Olympic medallist Simon Whitfield, track cycling bronze medallist Tara Whitten and 1,500-metre runner Hilary Stellingwerf headline the list of speakers for the series, which goes Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 3: 30 p.m. at the Victoria Conference Centre. Also featured in the series are CBC broadcaster Paul Kennedy, Victoria Marathon race director Rob Reid and 19-time Canadian running champion Lucy Smith. Also, ultramarathoner Niobe Thompson will be showing a special presentation of his film, The Perfect Runner.
The Speaker Series will be followed the next day by the 33rd annual Victoria Marathon and for the fourth year in a row the race will act as the B.C. Marathon Championships.
For more information, runvictoriamarathon.com.
OKELL DRIVES INTO CONTENTION
Victoria driver Bill Okell is peaking at the right time.
Okell continued his climb up the Confederation of Autosports Car Club overall standings last weekend when he picked up his first win of the season at Mission's River's Edge Raceway Park.
Okell drove his MGB to victory and now sits in fourth spot in the overall standings heading into next month's final two races of the season, which are also in Mission.
