Whitehorse runners are fast. They are very fast for their age.
Of the over 80 Whitehorse runners who participated in the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon on Sunday in B.C., six placed in the top-five for their age categories.
Topping the list was Logan Roots.
The 19-year-old produced an identical result to last year in Victoria. Out of 4,755 runners in the half-marathon distance, Roots snagged 18th overall and first place for males 19-and-under.
“It was really good, the weather was absolutely perfect, great for running,” said Roots. “I had a good group of people to run with for most of it. It was awesome.”
Roots, who won the full-distance event in the Yukon River Trail Marathon in August, completed the race in one hour, 13 minutes and 53 seconds.
The fact that he placed the same overall as last year, despite shaving almost four minutes off his time, doesn’t bother him.
“Not at all,” said Roots. “I was just going for a time. The overall placement I wasn’t too concerned about at all.
“I am happy to win my category again, of course.”
Yukon MP Ryan Leef, who usually represents the Yukon in the House of Parliament, was representing Whitehorse in the full distance event in Victoria.
Out of 1,616 competitors, Leef was the top Yukoner, placing 38th with a time of 2:58:15. He was also fifth for men 35-39. It was Leef’s 14th marathon in which he broke the three-hour mark. He plans to run the Boston Marathon in April, an aide to Leef told the Yukon News.
Whitehorse’s Dominic Bradford and Simon Lapointe finished consecutively not far back from Roots in the half marathon.
Bradford claimed 31st in 1:17:53 and Lapointe 32nd at 1:18:02. Bradford was third for men 40-44 and Lapointe was fifth for men 35-39 for the second year in a row.
Lapointe placed 27th overall and 12th in his category at the Marathon des Deux-Rives Levis in Quebec in August and has twice won the Mayo Midnight Marathon.
Logan Boehmer took second for males 20-24 in the half distance. Boehmer, who has represented the Yukon in athletics, was 79th overall with a time of 1:24:21.
Whitehorse was also well represented in the eight-kilometre race with four finishing in the top-10 for their age group.
Yanik Freeman came in 35th out of 2,501 runners with a time of 30:12 and was third for males 35-39.
Sammy Kent placed 119th overall, and eighth for males 20-24, with a time of 34:47.
Kara Nyland, the top female from Whitehorse in the eight-kilometre, took 249th overall at 39:16, was eighth for females 16-19 and was 71st for women.
Tiffani Fraser was fifth for women 40-44 and 282nd overall at 39:57. She also pinned 80th for women.
Nathalie Dugas was the fastest Whitehorse woman in the full marathon. She reached 288th overall with a time of 3:35:20 and was 14th for women 40-44. She was also the 60th woman across the line.
Dugas ran the BMO Vancouver Marathon in May and took 16th for her category.
New Yukoner David Eikelboom, who moved to Whitehorse from Thunder Bay, Ontario, in May, came 174th in the marathon at 3:22:18. Eikelboom, who won the open men’s division at the Yukon Cross Country Championships last month, was 23rd for men 25-29.
Cynthia Freeman was the second fastest Whitehorse woman in the marathon. Freeman placed 425th overall, 92nd for women, and 22nd for women 35-39, with a time of 3:45:57.
Another noteworthy result was Whitehorse’s Samantha Wilson hitting 20th for women 25-29 in the full marathon. She was 495th overall with a time of 3:50:25.
In the half marathon, Sam Bonar was 12th for men 19-and-under, completing the race at 1:46:27. Aisha Montgomery came 20th for women 35-39 with a time of 1:40:18.
“It was just awesome to see so many Yukon people down here,” said Roots. “The guy announcing the results kept getting Yukon people on his top-five list. His comment was, ‘There must be some good training, good running, up in the Yukon.’”
Roots represented the Yukon in track at the 2009 Canada Summer Games and the 2011 Western Canada Games. He won three golds and a silver in snowshoeing at the 2012 Arctic Winter Games. While attending school on Vancouver Island, Roots won five races in the Island Series, earning him a top ranking in the 16-to-19 age division in 2011.
Leef ran in Ottawa’s Army Run half-marathon in September, taking 26th overall, and the Ottawa Marathon in May, taking 88th overall and 22nd for his age group.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com