After a long run of supplying long runs, the sun has set on the Mayo Midnight Marathon.
The 20th annual event, held Saturday in Mayo, is said to be the last one. The Fly By Night Running Club, which hosts the event, is calling it quits.
“This is the last one the executives are going to put on,” said the club’s spokesperson Anne Leckie. “They’ve left it open in case somebody wants to take it over, but nobody has leapt to the floor to say they want to do that.
“A lot of the runners, the people who have the passion behind it, are no longer in Mayo. It was really just a small group who were keeping it on for the last three years.
“We just don’t have the runners in Mayo any more and we thought 20 years was a good time.”
About 220 runners and walkers came out for one last scamper in the midnight sun, up from 144 last year. Participants came from as far away as Poland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and the U.K.
Whitehorse’s Sue Bogle believes Saturday’s event was her ninth or tenth. She was the fastest woman on the half-marathon course, finishing in one hour, 35 minutes and 33 seconds.
“It’s a great community event. The whole community gets involved,” said Bogle. “They do a great breakfast the next day and it’s just so neat running in the evening as well. It used to start at midnight ... the first time I was drawn there because I thought, that’s cool: running solstice week, a half marathon at midnight. Went the first time, really enjoyed it.
“The whole family goes, we camp at Five Mile Lake, you’re up all day before the run and then you run at midnight and it’s still bright.”
“A lot of people were talking about how they’d be really sad if it ends.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com
Division winners
5km run (females under 13)
Remie Cherepak (Whitehorse) - 28:00
5km run (females 14-19)
Chanel Newell (Whitehorse) - 33:42
5km run (females 20-39)
Moriah MacMillan (Whitehorse) - 31:02
5km run (females 40-49)
Wendy Cairns (Dawson City) - 25:03
5km run (females 50-59)
Kristine Fisher (Whitehorse) - 45:45
5km run (females over 60)
Jan Klippert (Whitehorse) - 41:40
5km run (males under 13)
Errol Elkholm (Whitehorse) - 23:19
5km run (males 14-19)
Ethan Vanderkley (Whitehorse) - 21:42
5km run (males 20-39)
Jared Chipman (Elsa) - 28:22
5km run (males 40-49)
Daniel Atkin (Whitehorse) - 20:00
5km run (males 50-59)
Richard Cherepak (Whitehorse) - 28:06
5km run (males over 60)
Ted Staffen (Whitehorse) - 33:34
10km run (females under 13)
Meghan Pennington (Whitehorse) - 54:50
10km run (females 20-39)
Sabrina Long (Whitehorse) - 51:42
10km run (females 40-49)
Yolande Cherepak (Whitehorse) - 45:02
10km run (females 50-59)
Maureen Johnstone (Whitehorse) - 53:04
10km run (males under 13)
Naoise Dempsey (Whitehorse) - 40:08
10km run (males 20-39)
Tyler Martin (Whitehorse) - 43:59
10km run (males 40-49)
Yanik Freeman (Whitehorse) - 39:45
10km run (males 50-59)
Kevin Siu (Hong Kong)- 56:50
10km run (males over 60)
Ross Knox (Whitehorse) - 53:00
10km walk (females 20-39)
Amy Gripton (Mayo) - 1:37:45
Cheryl Buyck (Mayo) - 1:37:45
10km walk (females 40-49)
Dawn Moses (Yellowknife) - 1:49:46
10km walk (females 50-59)
Jane Haydock (Whitehorse) - 1:12:22
Becky Striegler (Whitehorse) - 1:12:22
10km walk (females over 60)
Susan Dennehy (Whitehorse) - 1:20:34
10km walk (males 14-19)
Morgan Blattmann (Whitehorse) - 1:42:59
10km walk (males 40-49)
Ricky Moses (Whitehorse) - 1:49:54
10km walk (males over 60)
Ron Bain (Lethbridge) - 1:30:13
Half run (females 20-39)
Valerie Dube (Dawson City) - 1:47:07
Half run (females 40-49)
Sue Bogle (Whitehorse) - 1:35:33
Half run (females 50-59)
Suzanne Duncan (Whitehorse) - 2:02:04
Half run (females over 60)
Polly Thorp (Whitehorse) - 2:00:38
Half run (males 20-39)
Mathieu Gagnon (Montreal) - 1:20:56
Half run (males 40-49)
Rick Brown (Whitehorse) - 1:35:58
Half run (50-59)
Andy Blattmann (Faro) - 1:35:44
Half run (males over 60)
Richard Zral (Whitehorse) - 1:59:40
Half walking (males 50-59)
John Storms (Whitehorse) - 2:19:21
Marathon (females 20-39)
Marit Rjabov (Whitehorse) - 3:49:48
Marathon (males 20-39)
David Stanford (Edmonton) - 3:11:13
Marathon (males 40-49)
Glenn Currie (Vanderhoof, B.C.) - 4:23:37
Marathon (males 50-59)
John Bulmer (Medicine Hat, Alta.) - 4:23:20
Marathon (males over 60)
Marek Sliwka (Poland) - 3:30:11