The 50th annual Labour Day Classic road race on Sunday, Aug. 31 brought a major format change and for the first time runners went the distance in a full marathon on an entirely new route.
Conditions were warm and sunny and the hilly route was no barrier to some quick times as 150 runners took to the course that started and finished at the Exhibition Park ice oval.
In the inaugural marathon, Lavis Russell set a blistering pace and finished the 42.2 kilometre race in three hours 10 minutes six seconds to capture the men’s title.
Tower Robert (3:48:48) and Jacob McInnes (3:43:45) shared the men’s podium with Russell.
Sarah Wong captured the women’s marathon title, completing her run in 4:08:11, just ahead of second-place Devon Hermon (4:09:42) and third-place Sarah Brunschwiler (4:10:09).
Sixteen men and five women completed the marathon distance.
In the half-marathon (21.1 km), Juliette Davies won the women’s title (1:36:11) and Reed Thomas was the fastest male (1:30:40). The half-marathon drew 25 females and 15 males.
In the 10km race, Ian Wrightson was the quickest of 28 male runners, clocking 41:18, while Susan Brown claimed the women’s victory in 48:49.
In the five km race, Breanna McLeary topped a 32-runner women’s field, finishing in exactly 24 minutes, while Kristian Richards was the fastest male runner (18:43).
The event drew 187 runners.
The only full marathon road race in northern BC, originally known as the Prince George to Boston Marathon, used to take on runners unconventional 17 mile (27 km) and 8.5 mile (13 km) distances. That’s now been replaced by the marathon and half-marathon distances.
“It was a huge success, we had nearly twice as many participants as we’ve had before,” said race director Mitch Guitard.
“The course goes up University Hill and there are three big hills on Foothills, way out to North Nechako for the full marathoners, and it was really well-regarded by people who have run many marathons. They loved the challenge and the strategy of the course. Everybody stayed hydrated and had a lot of fun.”
