Dawson City’s Jack Amos has youth on his side. That and a lot of speed.
The 15-year-old outpaced a field of 37 runners to take first at the 39th annual Midnight Dome Race in his hometown on Saturday.
“I’m pretty excited. My running rival and friend Logan Boehmer and I were running it together and he’s always beaten me at all the races, but I ended up overtaking him at the Mary McLeod (Road), which is the very first steep bit,” said Amos. “That was really exciting for me. I was pretty pumped about that.”
Amos took first with a time of 35:24 on the 7.2-kilometre course up the Dome Road, climbing 564 metres in elevation. That’s four minutes faster than the time that put him in third place last year.
His race strategy ran contrary to most other people’s plan of action in the race.
“Most people say take it easy on the hills and then race on the flat. But for me, since I’m a better hill runner, I did the opposite,” said Amos. “I pushed it on the hills and when I got to the flats I didn’t pick up my speed or cadence, I just went through my stride. I sped up, but I didn’t exert myself any more.”
Amos’ win was no fluke. He won three medals in snowshoeing at the 2016 Arctic Winter Games in Greenland. He placed ninth in the 5,000-metre at the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games in Alberta.
He also pocketed three medals at the Jack Brow Memorial Track and Field Meet at the start of the month in Kelowna, B.C.
Amos thanks Athletics Yukon head coach Don White for getting him to where he is.
“Don really is a phenomenal coach,” he said. “His programs are excellent. I love to follow his training schedules.”
While the overall and men’s titles stayed in the Klondike, the women’s title is now far away.
Cochrane, Ontario’s Jessica Kaiser took the title with a time of 41:33, more than three minutes ahead of second place’s Jessie Thomson-Gladish of Whitehorse.
Kaiser, who finished fourth overall, was a heavy favourite going into the race. The 29-year-old took third at the Canadian National Mountain Running Championships a year ago and then 45th at the World Mountain Running Championships last October.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com
Results:
Top 10 men
1st Jack Amos (Dawson) – 35:24
2nd Logan Boehmer (Dawson) – 37:42
3rd Travis Cummings (Cochrane, Ont.) – 40:13
4th Michael Ross (Whitehorse) – 43:57
5th Evan Bugden (Morden, Man.) – 44:11
6th Jeff Bond (Whitehorse) – 44:39
7th James Powell (Kelowna) – 45:14
8th Fredy Rimensberger (Switzerland) – 45:35
9th Richard Thompson (Whitehorse) – 47:24
10th Liam Cole (Kingston, Ont.) – 49:21
Top 10 women
1st Jessica Kaiser (Cochrane, Ont.) – 41:33
2nd Jessie Thomson-Gladish (Whitehorse) – 44:56
3rd Elizabeth Tomczak (Regina) – 46:37
4th Ella Parker (Whitehorse) – 48:09
5th Madison Kotack (San Francisco) – 48:41
6th Valerie Dube (Dawson) – 55:21
7th Amelia Stegeman (Inuvik) – 57:22
8th Alena Puskas (Whitehorse) – 59:27
9th Laleah Sinclair (Vancouver) – 59:56
10th Sofia Bond (Whitehorse) – 1:02:25
Male walkers
1st Isaak Dube (Dawson) – 1:02:11
2nd Ryan Stewart (Burnaby) – 1:18:23
3rd Nathan Cross (Whitehorse) – 1:18:26
Female walkers
1st Wendy Cairns (Dawson) – 1:01:58
2nd Teresa Procee (Dawson) – 1:11:39
3rd Barbara Rimensberger (Switzerland) – 1:12:51
4th Anne Cross (Whitehorse) – 1:18:26
5th Christella Rudland (Whitehorse) – 1:18:27
6th Selina Procee (Dawson) – 1:19:42
7th Dawn Anderson (Abbotsford) – 1:26:34
8th Janet Helton-Johnson (Dawson) – 1:32:27
9th Rachel Olson (Vancouver) – 1:39:34
10th Kimowin Lavallee (Dawson) – 1:39:35