Tag Archive for: VIRA Cup

Prairie Inn Harriers recapture VIRA Cup Championship trophy from Ceevacs Road Runners

The Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club recaptured the Vancouver Island Runners’ Association (VIRA) Cup from the 2022 winning Ceevacs Road Runners of the Cowichan Valley. It was the 30th win since records have been kept starting in 1985.

While the Harriers battled hard against the upstart Speedfarm club for the new Island Series Cup throughout the 2023 eight-race season, it was the powerful and growing Speedfarm who prevailed at the 11th hour during the Synergy Health Centre Bazan Bay 5K.

However, the Harriers also had their eyes on the VIRA Cup. The team had strong representation at the Sidney waterfront race and in so doing firmly cemented their victory in the VIRA Cup race. Ceevacs battled hard and finished second. Run to Beer Comox Valley finished third.

A few Prairie Inn Harriers at Cedar Hill Rec Centre, celebrating the win

The final point standings were 3209 to 2802, respectively. Run to Beer collected 1724. Seven teams earned at least 1000 points during the series. Capital City Run Crew (4th), Comox Valley Road Runners (5th), Speedfarm (6th) and Saltspring Sneakers earned 1028 points for seventh position.

It was at the club’s own race, the Harriers Pioneer 8K and the TWC-hosted Bazan Bay 5K where the Harriers gained the most points with 582 and 552, respectively — bookending the season tidily. Ceevacs’ big performances happened at their run, the Cobble Hill 10K, with its superfast new route where they collected 433 points. In the next event, the Cedar 12K the team in yellow collected 380 points for their two best showings. Consistency was key with 300 points or more earned in every race except the Pioneer 8K where they earned 299 — close enough!

Although some teams were not really clubs or teams, a total of 114 are indicated in the results — the biggest year in the series’ history.

The Prairie Inn Harriers have been a BC Athletics-associated and registered athletics club since 1978. BC Athletics is the provincial authority of the sport under the national governing body, Athletics Canada. The Harriers also have the Prairie Inn Harriers Racing Team and the Prairie Inn Harriers Youth Team.

Each time the Harriers were unseated, the club bounced back the following year to win again, except where the Ceevacs won twice in a row in 2020 and 2022. There was no series championship in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interestingly, each time that a club moved up in the standings to second place, they would then unseat the Harriers, the following year. Bastion Run Club in 1996 won, after finishing second in 1995. Team West Coast won in 2002 after finishing second in 2001. Comox Valley Road Runners did the deed in 2015 and 2016, as did Ceevacs in 2018, then again in 2020.

Frontrunners Westshore, which became Frontrunners Athletic Club emerged as a contender in 2009 and 2010, taking second in both years.

The trophy (shown in both pictures) was donated to VIRA from the Victoria International Cross Country Association (VICCA), which held the Pan Am Cross Country Cup at Bear Mountain in 2020.

The Vancouver Island Race Series offers a new season-long team competition: the Island Series Cup

The Vancouver Island Race Series is offering a new team competition for the 2023 season, named the Island Series Cup.

The series has added a perpetual series championship based on the often-used cross-country-style reverse scoring system to award the fastest overall team.

Currently, the VIRA Cup (Vancouver Island Runners’ Association), which goes to the team that wins the age-group competition will continue as usual — it is a sought-after championship annually and requires as many club members as possible to race. The 2022 winner is the Ceevacs Running Club of the Cowichan Valley, which host the Cobble Hill 10K. They will be presented with the VIRA Cup championships trophy at the 2023 season kick-off on Friday, January 6 at Frontrunners Footwear at Yates and Vancouver. Mark your calendars if you are a season pass holder, sponsor, member of the media, or racing the Pioneer 8K two days later on January 8, as the event will also act as race package pick up.

How the reverse scoring system works


In each race, finishers earn points awarded as per the overall finish position within their gender. Top-6 runners on all teams score only, three women and three men. If your third man or third woman athlete finishes, for example, in 200th place, that person earns 200 points. Both male and female overall winners earn 1 point each for their respective club — the lowest team score wins.

Example

Team A’s six scorersPointsTeam B’s six scorersPoints
1st overall (either gender)12nd overall (either gender)2
10th overall (either gender)103rd overall (either gender)3
20th overall (either gender)204th overall (either gender)4
30th overall (either gender)305th overall (either gender)5
40th overall (either gender)406th overall (either gender)6
50th overall (either gender)507th overall (either gender)7
Total points151Total points27

Team B wins with a lower score. Men and women are completely equal contributors to their respective clubs.

Now over five of their best races, if Team B happened to average those same 27 team points and that was the lowest average team score over the series, then they win this new team competition. 

Non-scoring runners can help to displace the competing team’s finishers from scoring higher simply by running faster, even though they may be out of the top three.

Currently, results are available and they include age-graded performance (%), World Athletics points performance rating, and VIRA Cup club competition points, a column will be added for the reverse scoring points earned.