Baseless rumours of cancelation may have played a part in a drop in participation at the Mayo Midnight Marathon over the weekend.
The 18th-annual event saw a drop of nine per cent from 2012, with 207 runners and walkers taking part, down from last year’s record turnout of 230.
“I’m wondering if it had to do with word getting out that the marathon was cancelled,” said Sandy Washburn, the new president of the Fly by Night Running Club, which hosts the event. “In January-February the old executive decided they weren’t going to do the marathon and word spread quite quickly around the territory that the marathon was not going to happen. It wasn’t for a few weeks that a few of us got together and decided to take it on.
“I’m not sure if the news that it was happening spread to everybody.”
Last year’s record turnout, which saw a growth of 59 runners from 2011, is believed to have occurred due to a change in date. It was the first time in years that the marathon wasn’t held the same weekend as the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, which has filled up with 1,200 cyclists the last few years.
With the new executive board came a couple new additions to the race, which began Saturday evening with runners and walkers finishing around midnight.
Prior to the race there was a barbecue specifically for family and support crews of the runners. They also introduced a craft table for people to make signs to support their racers.
No record times were posted in the marathon, half marathon, 10-kilometre and five-kilometre distances.
Top-five results
Marathon - women
1st Kealy Sweet (Whitehorse) - 3:46:07
2nd Sandra Orban (Whitehorse) - 4:12:46
3rd Melissa Atikinson (Dawson) - 4:21:22
4th Tanya Harper (Whitehorse) - 4:27:18
Marathon - men
1st Jonathan Belanger (Whitehorse) - 3:52:03
Half marathon run - women
1st Susan Bogle (Whitehorse) - 1:37:13
2nd Jeanette Gallant (Whitehorse) - 1:46:15
3rd Kathleen Campbell (Whitehorse) - 1:47:19
4th Terri Cairns (Whitehorse) - 1:49:31
5th Emily Wale (Whitehorse) - 1:50:36
Half marathon run - men
1st Stephan Atmanspacher (Whitehorse) - 1:30:49
2nd Tom Ullyett (Whitehorse) - 1:30:50
3rd Ben Yu Schott (Whitehorse) - 1:38:17
4th Quinn Landreth (Whitehorse) - 1:43:29
5th Fraser Huslop (Vancouver) - 1:46:17
Half marathon walk - women
1st Linda Elliott (Lake Oswego, Ore.) - 3:35:20
Half marathon walk - men
1st Mark Newman (Anchorage) - 3:11:32
10-kilometre run - women
1st Laura Erickson (Mayo) - 46:21
2nd Brittany Weber (Carmacks) - 47:22
3rd Miriam Cook (Whitehorse) - 52:03
4th Kennedy Cairns-Locke (Whitehorse) - 52:33
4th Hanna Atmanspacher-Wirth (Whitehorse) - 52:33
4th Ashley Swinton (Salt Spring Island, B.C.) - 52:33
10-kilometre run - men
1st Yanik Freeman (Whitehorse) - 39:35
2nd Neil Chambers (Whitehorse) - 42:29
3rd Jess Staffen (Whitehorse) - 45:43
4th Jared Leary (Mayo) - 49:15
5th Martin Zral (Fernie, B.C.) - 49:52
10-kilometre walk - women
1st Bonnie Love (Whitehorse) - 1:06:47
2nd Tanya Astika (Whitehorse) - 1:09:11
3rd Becky Striegler (Whitehorse) - 1:15:36
4th Susan Dennehy (Whitehorse) - 1:19:13
5th Mary Hartshorne (Whitehorse) - 1:20:28
5th Lorraine Lefebvre-Kitchen (Whitehorse) - 1:20:28
10-kilometre walk - men
1st Peter Johnson (Dawson City) - 1:20:04
2nd Al Routhier (Whitehorse) - 1:21:15
3rd Marc Johnston (Mayo) - 1:27:21
4th Ray Schmidt (Perth, Ont.) - 1:27:36
5th Ron MacMillan (Whitehorse) - 1:28:02
Five-kilometre walk/run - women
1st Cynthia Freeman (Whitehorse) - 22:43
2nd Asia Winter-Sinnott (Mayo) - 25:30
3rd Lisa Freeman (Whitehorse) - 25:38
4th Wendy Cairns (Dawson) - 25:45
5th Kelli Taylor (Whitehorse) - 26:40
Five-kilometre walk/run - men
1st Naoise Dempsey (Whitehorse) - 22:39
2nd Eli Cairns (Dawson) - 25:31
3rd Alexandre Cusson (Whitehorse) - 29:31
4th Alex Brown (Whitehorse) - 31:00
5th Delton Whipple-Grantham (Whitehorse) - 31:30
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com