Team ‘Coast Mountain Brewing’ extends win streak to seven at Whistler 50 Relay

Photo courtesy Evan Dunfee.

Photo courtesy Evan Dunfee.

Photo courtesy Evan Dunfee.

Photo courtesy Evan Dunfee.

A stacked team comprised in part of Olympians and IAAF World Championship qualifiers helped extend a winning streak to seven years at the Whistler 50 Relay on Saturday.

Though the team’s name and members have changed over the years at the Whistler, B.C.-based ultra, its main cast returned for another year to defend its title for the eight-stage relay event. The start/finish and one of two exchange points is located at Whistler Olympic Plaza, near the Olympic rings, a legacy of the 2010 Winter Games.

The winning squad has run under “Team Honey Bucket,” “Point Grey Port-A-Loo,” “Point Grey Man Toilets,” “Point Grey Royal Flush,” “Royal Flush #2,” “The Point Grey Full Moon,” and this year ran under the name “Coast Mountain Brewing.”

This year’s team was perhaps its best in terms of notable names. Team members included Ryan Brockerville, Ryan Huff, Evan Dunfee, Dylan Gant, Rachel Cliff, Nigel Hole, Justin Kent and Chris Winter. Dunfee and Winter are 2016 Olympians, in the race walk and 3,000m steeplechase, respectively, and Cliff represented Canada at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in the 10,000m.

For the first time, the winning team went with a non-portable-toilet-related name as Coast Mountain Brewing Company acted as support including official team race apparel. Winter’s brother, Kevin, is the head brewer at Coast Mountain Brewing Company, which is based in Whistler.

.@cwinter3 breaks the tape to win @whistler50relay for team @coastmtnbrewing in 4:37:24 pic.twitter.com/2JofPBeErT

— BC Athletics (@BC_Athletics) October 14, 2017

Brockerville, an 8:34 steeplechaser, and Huff have been on every winning team dating back to 2011, the year the event made its debut. On Saturday, the eight-person squad completed 50 miles (80K) in 4:37:24, which averages out to 3:28 per K. Kent, a Francophone Games qualifier for Canada, posted the fastest splits of the all team members, clocking 3:12 per K for 13K.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaO6tHfFky6/

The legs alternate between 7K and 13K with about 15K of paved trail and 5K of packed gravel trail for each pair of stages. The winning squad’s fastest time came in its debut, clocking 4:31:49 in 2011, with slight alterations to the course since. Team Coast Mountain Brewing won by 30 minutes over the next best team on Saturday, the “VFAC Men.”

There was also an individual portion of the Whistler 50, won in 6:08:10 by Ian McIlvenna.