Plenty of medals given out at 5 km road championships

Participants in this week's Tuesday fun run displayed a little bit more of a competitive edge as gold, silver and bronze medals were on the line at the annual 5 km Road Race Championships.

Participants in this week’s Tuesday fun run displayed a little bit more of a competitive edge as gold, silver and bronze medals were on the line at the annual 5 km Road Race Championships.
There were more than a few seasonal bests achieved and plenty of hardware handed out at the event, which was held in Riverdale.
“It’s a championship, which makes it more exciting,“ said Don White, organizer of the event. “I think people tend to run a little bit harder.“
The 5 km championship race has a rich history in the community, which goes back more than 30 years. The race uses the same course as the Intersport 5 km run and walk competition.
The start of the race began in front of F.H. Collins Secondary School and worked its way onto the Millennium Trail, before finishing back at the school.
This year’s competition featured six separate age categories for both men and women participating in the race. The different categories included juvenile, midget, open and several different masters levels.
Despite brisk conditions, runners in the championships were decked out in shorts and t-shirts and a few of them warmed up by doing a light jog around the F.H. Collins track before the start of the race. The cooler weather wouldn’t last and the sun came out to provide some additional warmth for the competitors during the run.
Brittany Smith, 17, won the top honour in the juvenile women’s category with her time of 20:44. Smith is a member of the Yukon Cross-country Ski Team, and her off-season training usually prevents her from taking part in the Tuesday night fun runs.

This was the first time all season that she was able to make it out to the race, which she said was important enough to miss one day of cross-country ski training.
“It was a nice day and I would take this over roller-skiing any day,“ she said.
Despite not participating in the Tuesday run series, Smith has been very active in the sport and is a member of the local running team, which meets three times a week.
Smith said she was happy about coming out to the run, but was a little disappointed about her time,which was just shy of her goal of under 20 minutes.
“It’s definitely not my best time because we have not been training for the short distances yet this year, but I’m still happy for coming out and trying my hardest and feeling rough at the end,“ she said. “That’s always a good sign that you pushed hard.“
David Ratcliff was the fastest among the juvenile men with his time of 21:02, while Brent Hills finished not long afterwards to claim the silver medal.
Caleb Kelly’s time of 21:02 earned him a gold medal in the midget men’s category, while Keith Thaxter won the masters one men’s category with a time of 19:10. Sue Bogle finished in first in the masters one women’s group with her time of 20:35.
Bogle said Tuesday’s race was her best run of the season in the series.
“It was a fine run, it was my best this year, so I was happy about that,“ she said. “It certainly wasn’t my best overall, but that’s OK. It was nice out there and I was following Brittany Smith for a lot of it, so she kept me going. I knew once I passed her that she would be right on my heels, so that was good motivation to keep going.“
Bogle, who is a regular in the Tuesday night fun runs, said she always enjoys racing in this event.
“It’s a really good race,“ she said. “Five km is a good hard distance. You have to run fast from beginning to end, so it always pushes you. You feel like you have worked at the end of it and it’s a nice course along the Millennium Trail, so I always enjoy it.“
A record time was set by Colleen Laitham in the open women’s group. Laitham won the gold, finishing at 19:52, which is the first time all season that a female runner has come in before the 20 minute mark.
Rodney Hulstein blew away all of the competition in the men’s open category finishing with a time of 16:22.
Other gold medal winners included Nicole Hulstein, Barbara Scheck, Don White, Lena Nielsen, Brian Mottus, Phillip Gibson and Susan Dennehy.