From the time he took his first steps as a marathoner in 1988 to now, three days before he runs in the Mad Moose Marathon, Richard Stewart has become hopelessly hooked on running long distances.
Sunday's race from Otway Nordic Centre to UNBC and back along the Cranbrook Hill Greenway trail will be Stewart's 60th marathon. Considering the Mad Moose is a event he started as an organizer four years ago, he can think on no better race to celebrate that achievement.
In his marathon endeavours, a hobby that spans 22 years, Stewart has already run the distance from Prince George to Saskatoon and back again. At 56, he is showing no signs of slowing down, but don't expect him to win Sunday's marathon. Stewart has nominated himself as the course sweeper, which means he'll run at a slower pace to make sure nobody gets left behind on the heavily-forested course.
The race starts at 7 a.m. Sunday (9 a.m. for half-marathon runners) and Stewart figures he'll be finished by about 12:30 p.m. Then it will be time to dig into the legendary homemade cookies Tanis Wey provides every year.
"Those cookies are worth the run themselves," said Stewart, a member of the Marathon Maniacs club.
So far, 90 entrants have signed up for the fourth annual Mad Moose, including 23 marathon-distance runners, an all-time high. Stewart expects those totals to rise before the 6 p.m. Friday entry deadline.
For more, see Thursday's Citizen
