The marathon is perhaps the toughest and most grueling of all official road races anywhere in the world. It's not something you automatically think of doing when you wake up first thing in the morning.
Yellowknife's version of the great race happened this past Sunday as the Overlander Sports Yellowknife Marathon took over the city's streets. There were three different races for runners to tackle – a full marathon, half-marathon and a 10-km run – with a total of 137 competitors from Canada, the U.S. and even Ireland taking the plunge.
The men's full marathon was a Yellowknife sweep, led by Steve Griffith-Cochrane winning it all in a time of two hours, 50 minutes, 24.7 seconds.
He said the goal was to break the three-hour barrier, which he did, but that was secondary to him wanting to beat his previous best time when he ran the marathon five years ago.
“I was way off,” he said. “That was two hours, 42 minutes. I crashed pretty hard on the final lap of the course on the highway.”
That's known as hitting the wall in runners parlance, he added.
The course for the full marathon saw runners start at Somba K'e Park and complete two figure-eight loops of the city through areas such as Back Bay, Old Town and the airport for a total of 42.1 kilometres.
Having run the course before, Griffith-Cochrane said he knew where the tough spots would be.
“The toughest spots are going up School Draw Ave. and the hill on (Highway 3),” he said. “Even though I knew them, I still found them hard. I knew what I was getting myself into, though.”
The race conditions were chilly and cloudy, the sort of conditions marathoners love because there's no heat and Griffith-Cochrane agreed.
“It wasn't too hot so that was nice,” he said. “It made things go a bit faster.”
Doug Townson is another local who is always in the mix when it comes to the full marathon and he ended up in second place this time around, finishing with a time of two hours, 56 minutes, 10.9 seconds.
Griffith-Cochrane said he ran with Townson, who's using this race as a tune-up for one of the biggest marathons anywhere in the world.
“He's training for the New York Marathon,” he said. “He's been training pretty hard.”
William Buckland finished in third with a time of two hours, 58 minutes, 47.3 seconds.
In the women's full marathon, Tracy James of Edmonton ended up as the winner in a time of four hours, 10 minutes, 39.7 seconds while Andrea Baum of Acton, Massachusetts was second in four hours, 19 minutes, 4.8 seconds. Jenna Wickham of Ladysmith, B.C. rounded out the top-three with a time of four hours, 19 minutes, 5.7 seconds.
Wickham and Baum spent almost the entire race running together.
In the half-marathon, which was one loop of the figure-eight course, Zander Affleck won the men's race while Celine Erickson of Vancouver took the women's title. The 10-km race was run as an open event with no divisions and it was Ian MacNiven who crossed the finish line first.
FACT FILE – Race results
(Runners from Yellowknife unless noted)
Women's full marathon
- 1 st – Tracy James (Edmonton), 4:10:39.7
- 2 nd – Andrea Baum (Acton, Massachusetts), 4:19:04.8
- 3 rd – Jenna Wickham (Ladysmith, B.C.), 4:19:05.7
Men's full marathon
- 1st – Steve Griffith-Cochrane, 2:50:24.7
- 2nd – Doug Townson, 2:56:10.9
- 3rd – William Buckland, 2:58:47.3
Women's half-marathon
- 1st – Celine Erickson (Vancouver), 1:37:30.5
- 2nd – Leslie Gray, 1:44:28.6
- 3rd – Julianna Neudorf, 1:50:04.8
Men's half-marathon
- 1st – Zander Affleck, 1:28:23.8
- 2nd – Timothy Harden, 1:30:46.8
- 3rd – Daniel Wilkinson, 1:32:21.4
10-km run
- 1st – Ian MacNiven, 41:20.0
- 2nd – John Sauve, 43:25.9
- 3rd – Tonya Huck, 43:51.2