The rain held off for the elite women at the Vancouver Sun Run last Sunday.

Former Yukoner Lindsay Carson powered to the finish, passing a few runners to finish eighth overall in the 10K field.

“I raced to the best of my ability,” she said from Burnaby, B.C. Tuesday. “I really did dig in.”

Carson moved to the Lower Mainland last month to advance her training and career.

She is a junior engineer with Golder Associates.

She moved to Whitehorse about four years ago. Her mom and dad, both active in the sporting community had already made the move north from southern Ontario.

In Whitehorse, Carson would run with “whoever I could get to train with me.” Her running buddies changed with the wind and it often wasn’t a big group.

Coming from the club-oriented running atmosphere in southern Ontario, the shift was hard and in the end, she said she was tired of trying to find people to run with.

On the Lower Mainland, Carson is part of a group including about 20 collegiate runners from Trinity Western University coached by Mark Bomba.

They meet at various trailheads and tracks throughout the week.

Carson thinks she may be the only non-collegiate runner in the group.

“I’m happy that I’m in a good training group,” she said.

The Vancouver Sun Run was her first major road event of the season.

At the end of the race, she gave the medics a scare. Sprinting to the finish with a “collapsing effort” she would normally find a pole or bench or railing to lean against. The Sun Run finish offered no such architectural support and instead she leaned against another person.

After a rush of medics hurried over, she sat on the ground and a few minutes later, walked away unscathed.

With her proximity to many meets on the Lower Mainland, Carson said she is likely to take advantage of that.

She plans to work on her 5K time on the track and to race well at the national track championships this year.

With her parents still in the Yukon, Carson said she will “definitely be a frequent visitor to Whitehorse.”