Barry Nakahara and Shar Jackson created plenty of separation between themselves and the rest of the field in the Mad Moose Marathon.
During Sunday's sixth annual foot race at the Otway Nordic Centre and Cranbrook Hill Greenway Trail, Nakahara and Jackson were the men's and women's winners respectively in the marathon distance. And neither of them was seriously pushed by the competition.
Nakahara finished the 42.2-kilometre course in a time of three hours 26 minutes 40 seconds. He stepped across the finish line well ahead of second-place runner Daniel Dubrule, who clocked in at 3:41:41. John-Paul Wenger of Fort St. James (4:00:21) was third.
The men's marathon featured 14 participants, including Mad Moose organizer Richard Stewart, who was running in the 98th marathon of his career.
In the women's marathon, Jackson set a blistering pace and finished in a time of 3:28:25. The next-closest runner was Devrey Robbins of Fort St. John, who completed her race in 4:37:33. Houston's Cindy Cockle (4:40:16) rounded out the top three. Nine women ran the marathon distance.
The Mad Moose included a half marathon and, for the first time, an ultra marathon.
The half marathon winners were Nick Bartell and Jacqui Benson. Bartell (1:28:24) beat Vanderhoof's Greg Tone (1:32:48) and Steven Matyas (1:33:09) to the finish line. Benson, meanwhile, ran a time of 1:35:53 and finished in front of Michelle Morris (1:44:58) and Danuta Holm (1:50:36).
In the ultra marathon race - which covered 63 km - Jeff Hunter (men) and Rio Dinu (women) out-legged everyone else.
Hunter ran a per-kilometre pace of 4:37 and finished in 4:55:56. Nick Chng (5:32:07) and Jim Van Bakel (5:50:12) placed second and third in a field of seven athletes. Other ultra runners in the men's category were Reid Roberts (5:55:02), Steve Staves (6:54:44), Ken Blair (8:12:18) and Adrian Smith (8:22:07).
Dinu, from Hixon, finished in 6:58:16, ahead of Terri Gale (7:10:43) and Sherri Peterson (7:17:01). Caroline Toews of Fort St. John (7:30:47) and Amy Blanding (8:27:23) also completed the ultra distance.
