Athletics Yukon celebrates Canada Day by holding Intersport run

Some say that the mile is the classic test in track and field. It combines speed and stamina. It has a legendary history.

Some say that the mile is the classic test in track and field. It combines speed and stamina. It has a legendary history.

On May 6, 1954, at Oxford University a British medical student, the now famous Sir Roger Bannister, became the first human in history to break the four minute barrier in a time of 3:59.4.

Until then, many experts believed that such a feat was physiologically impossible. Since that time, over a 1,000 runners have completed the mile in under four minutes. The world record is 3:43.

There were 21 participants in Athletics Yukon’s Intersport Canada Day 1 Miler. It was held on the “riverwall” portion of the Millennium Trail starting near the Robert Service Campground and finishing near the SS Klondike.

Nobody challenged the four minute mark, but there were still some very impressive performances. The fastest woman, Melissa O’Brien, flew across the finish line in a time of 5:46. O’Brien was followed by two recent graduates of Vanier Catholic Secondary School, Mascha Schelten (6:16) and Coralie Ullyett (7:11).

Fourth place went to Margie Gordon (7:53) and fifth place belonged to Mary McBride (8:54).

The ever-modest Rodney Hulstein might have been aiming for the course record.

With a first place time of 4:28 he came close to the course record (4:19) and to the world female mile record (4:12). The deceptively speedy Scott Westberg finished in 2nd place (4:56).

Thirty seconds behind Westberg were four runners who jockeyed for position during the first half of the race: Dwayne Shewfelt (5:23), Chris Hogan (5:27), Tom Ullyett (5:32) and Ian Moore (5:32).

The Intersport run turned into a real family affair for Mike Cozens, who participated in the race with his three young sons, Dylan, Connor and Luke.

Mike was able to lock down the ninth spot with his time of 8:54, while Dylan wasn’t too far behind coming in 10th with a time of 9:26. Connor also did very with an overall time of 12:20 and Luke was less than 30 seconds behind him, finishing at 12:43. 

Other upcoming Athletics Yukon events include the 5 Km Road Race Championships.

The Road Race Championships will be held on Tuesday and will start in the F.H. Collins Secondary School parking lot. The start time is 6:30p.m. and it will be a run or walk a 2.5 or 5 km course on the Millennium Trail.

For more information contact Don White at 633-5671.

Story provided by Tom Ullyett on behalf of Athletics Yukon.