Rodney Hulstein finishes with top time at weekly Intersport 5 km running event

The runners and walkers in last Tuesday’s weekly Intersport 5 km race may have thought they'd been transported to the land of Oz.

The runners and walkers in last Tuesday’s weekly Intersport 5 km race may have thought they’d been transported to the land of Oz.
Although there was a southwest wind, the Riverdale route was splashed in warm sunshine while much of Whitehorse was enshrouded in stormy looking clouds.
The 27 participants may have also been thinking about pacing themselves as the rest of the week features several races including the Thursday night trail run, the 10 km road race championships on Saturday morning and the Tour de Whitehorse cycling races all weekend long.
Rodney Hulstein remains undefeated this season in the Tuesday night races. He finished in first place again in what he’d consider a very slow time (18:18). Second place honours went to Keith Thaxter (19:11. Thaxter created the ultra marathon category in the Klondike Road Relay.
The quietly competitive Fred Vandenot, finishing in third place (19:26), had Thaxter in his sights throughout but couldn’t close the 15-second gap.
Less than two minutes behind Vandenot were three soccer players and their coach Jake Hansen from a U-16 team: David Radcliff (20:21), Hansen (20:23), Thomas Mills (20:52) and Caleb Kelly (20:56).
It was a close battle for eighth place between Don White and Tom Ullyett. In the end, White bested his closest rival by a few seconds, finishing the race at 21:12.
Dan MacDonald rounded out the top 10 in the men’s running category with his time of 23:22. 
For the second time this season, McGill University student Kathryn Dingle of Bellville, Ont. was the fastest women crossing over the finish line at F.H. Collins Secondary School in 23:08.
Finishing in second spot was Jennifer Whipple (25:46). Whipple gathered speed as the race progressed and held off two runners who were less than 35 seconds behind her.
Coralie Ullyett was third in 26:09. Ullyett probably heard the foot steps of veteran distance runner Christine Paradis who finished in fourth spot just 11 seconds later (26:20).
Claiming fifth place, Carolyn Drury (27:08) kept ahead of two runners who were less than 20 seconds behind her, orienteering specialist Barbara Scheck (27:12) and Jean Planderleith (27:25).
The walking component featured two friends and team-mates from the race walking community, Ruth Hall and Tanya Astika.
They paced each other throughout the course and finished in the same time (36:43) ahead of one of the runners.
Story provided by Tom Ullyett on behalf of Athletics Yukon.