VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds officially began the 2026 Cross Country season Sunday with seven combined top ten finishes at the Vancouver Spirit Run.
Hosted at beautiful Jericho Park,
Grace Beach clocked in at a blistering 30:07 to claim second overall in the women's eight kilometre open race, the first of four consecutive Thunderbirds to cross the finish line.
Freshman T-Bird
Ryerson Stockton-Thomas clinched ninth overall on the men's side, eighth in the open division with a time of 26:45, the first of five Thunderbirds in the top 20.
"The Spirit Run was a nice opportunity for the crew to bust some rust and get it all out," said UBC Lead Endurance Coach,
Steve Weiler. "We're excited to keep training with our eyes on the November prize."
Fourth-year
Katelyn Cotterell was hot on Beach's heels, taking individual bronze in 30:15, just ten seconds ahead of senior Thunderbird
Sarah MacGillivray.
Racing in her first event in the blue and gold, graduate transfer student
Mia Zurkovic rounded out the top five with a time of 30:33.
Clare Goodison finished eighth overall and second in the women's U-20 division, completing the course in 30:46 while
Rachel McDonald was the sixth T-Bird to cross the finish line, nine seconds later.
Now in his third year with the 'Birds,
Kai Martland took 15
th overall and 12
th in the men's open division with a time of 27:26 followed immediately by freshman
Randy Ren.
Kouken Narbett and
Andrew Corbeil completed the day 19
th and 20
th, respectively, out of 65 total competitors.
Next up for the T-Birds will be a very rare home cross country meet – the first in many years – as the UBC Farm Fest is set for Saturday, October 10.
The following week, the B.C. Cross Country Championships are being held in Nanoose Bay while the Canada West Championship is slated for Saturday, October 31 in Calgary.
COMPLETE SPIRIT RUN RESULTS
