Winning a cross country meet is no easy feat considering the strength and sheer numbers of competitors on the island.

But Cowichan Secondary School’s Christine Ridenour is the cream of the crop in her age group anywhere, never mind just the island, and proved that during the island school cross country meet at Victoria’s Beaver Park.

Ridenour was the first girl across the finish line in 16:16 for the four-kilometre circuit, a full 32 seconds ahead of Claremont’s Alison Hooper in the field of 152.

The valley sent a total of 18 athletes to the event — nine from Shawnigan Lake School, five from Cowichan and two each from Frances Kelsey and Mount Prevost.

The senior boys’ six km event featured two great performances by valley runners to earn places in the top 11. Shawnigan Lake’s Logan Roots was ninth overall in a larger field of 174 finishers in 22:41 while Cowichan’s Jonas Golf-Myers claimed 11th spot in 22:58.

Other valley boys’ individual results were: Milan Varma of Shawnigan Lake (81st, 26:41); Mount Prevost’s C.J. Pagaduan (88th, 26:57); Nader Malekyazdi of Shawnigan Lake (108th, 28:24); Brandon McNeill of Cowichan (122nd, 29:00); David Whitney-Brown of Kelsey (129th, 29:50); Matthew Schmidt of Shawnigan (145th, 31:07); Shawnigan’s Hyun-Sub Shin (148th, 31:20); and Kirian Chalmers of Prevost (167th, 35:43).

Other girls’ results were: Arden Gill of Shawnigan (25th, 18:15); Maya Munzar of Kelsey (26th, 18:23); Anna McMullen of Shawnigan (34th, 18:33); Sophie Cutt of Cowichan (45th, 19:06); Ashley Haley of Cowichan (84th, 20:34); and Shawnigan’s Jessica Eastwood (101st, 21:37); and Sarah Pickering (113th, 22:29).