Written by Brian Drewry and published in the Times Colonist Monday, December 10, 2007

Some of Canada’s top triathletes showed why they’re just that at Saturday’s 4th Annual Stewart Mountain 10-Mile Cross-Country Challenge. Stefan Jakobsen of Nanaimo and Kirsten Sweetland of Victoria used their impressive running ability to win the men’s and women’s divisions of the 10-mile (16.1 kilometres) event.

Jakobsen, a former national triathlon team member, pulled away from Prairie Inn Harriers club member Shane Ruljancich during the second half of the race and won by under two minutes in one hour six minutes 11 seconds.

The women’s battle was between current national triathlon team members Sweetland, Melanie McQuaid and Carolyn Murray, with Sweetland, the national junior triathlon champion, winning with a time of 1:12:01. Sweetland’s time was also good for fifth overall. McQuaid came in with a time of 1:15:57, while Murray limped to the finish line with a pulled quadricep to finish in 1:20:32.

National Triathlon Centre athlete Andrew McCartney was third overall in 1:11:10.

An event-record 184 racers took part in the event which was the final of the three-race Thetis Lake Triple Series.

Following Saturday’s race, Prairie Inn Harriers donated $10,000 from the series proceeds to the University of Victoria to initiate a Rosamund Dashwood Fine Arts scholarship.

Dashwood was a long-time Harrier who passed away last March. She set 20 Canadian age-class records.