A frost-covered Jericho Beach Park provided the backdrop for the 27th Annual Gunner Shaw Memorial Race, hosted by the Lions Gate Road Runners, on Saturday, December 4. The sun was shining brightly, and the conditions were perfect, setting up for a great race.

A lone Point Grey TFC runner contested the 10-km race - Ben Thistlewood. UBC's Shaun Stephens-Whale was also running, as was UBC alumnus, the esteemed Jerry Ziak.

Ziak took the lead early on in the beach section, though made a wrong turn coming off the beach, and had to surge to catch up. He continued his surge over the next few hundred meters and only Thistlewood was able to go with him. Leading the chase pack behind was Stephens-Whale.

The two leaders settled into a comfortable pace for the rest of the first lap, coming through halfway together in just over 16 minutes.

Ziak then pushed the pace on the beach as he had done before, and Thistlewood couldn't stick with him. Ziak continued to open a gap all the way to the finish, covering the slightly short 10-km course in 32:28.

Thistlewood also broke the 33-minute barrier, crossing at 32:50 in 2nd place. Stephens-Whale finished in 7th overall, at 34:24.

"My race plan was to come through half-way feeling good, and then push it on the second half," said Thistlewood. "The beach section on the second loop destroyed me though. I tried to catch him but couldn't close the gap."

"The [expletive] beach [expletive] killed me!" Thistlewood exclaimed. "Congratulations to Jerry - he ran a great race."

The Gunner Shaw is likely the last cross country race of the season on the schedule for Point Grey TFC.

Full results can be found here: http://www.lgrr.com/e107_files/lgrr/results-gs2010-10k.htm

Look to see Point Grey TFC back in action racing at the Dempsey indoor facilities of the University of Washington in January 2011.