2024 Club Results
Marathon Des Sables, Morocco, April 14-20, 2024
Roanna and Lloyd Sehn of Estevan survived and excelled at the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, held Apr 14-20. The course covers 253 km in seven days and is it a challenge! The temperatures were in the mid-forties most days - and our Saskatchewaners had to handle that coming off winter training. The course is highly technical with jagged black rocks so sharp they can cut into runners’ shoes; soft sand; and sand dunes. The longest stage, number 3, had a technical descent where runners lowered themselves from rigging bolted into a mountain, and then skied through the sand to finish the descent. Distances each day were 31,41,86,43,32,and 21 km with two days allowed for stage 3. The finish rates were discouraging- 50% for women and 65% for men.
Runners slept in open sided Berber tents shared by 8 runners. The Sehns reported that sand got everywhere. A sand storm hit on the final night, knocking out one pole and requiring the runners to fix the tent in the middle of the night. Possibly the biggest challenge was foot care. With the slicing rocks and ubiquitous sand, both runners suffered bad blisters. And yet…our runners thrived, improving their rankings nearly every day. Both runners finished in 51 hours and 15 min, with Roanna placing 14th (of 46) the Veteran women’s V2 category , and Lloyd placing 94th in the V1 men’s category.
We are super proud of these two tough Saskatchewaners, and pleased that they ran MM’s Canada Goose ultra last year! Congratulations!
Boston Marathon, April 15, 2024
Congrats to our Regina area runners for fabulous running in Boston. Boston runners reported hot conditions (21 degrees - difficult after only winter training!) and runners collapsing on the course.
Our top age group placing was Yvonne Cafik in 143rd place in W60, (although we should note the youngest age groups, 18-39, cover four times the span of years as the other age groups.) Our runners who covered the course the fastest were Morgan Bradshaw and Darbi Edwards in 3:00:04 and 3:17:34 respectively. Here are the Regina-area results:
Morgan Bradshaw, 3:00:04, 1895th M18-39
Darbi Edwards, 3:17:34, 826th W18-39
Sonia Rees, 3:18:29, 893rd W18-39
Gaylene Jeannot, 3:45:48, 261st W50
Yvonne Cafik, 4:09:15, 143rd W60
Brian Mikuliak, 4:22:24, 815th M60
Patrice Krueger, 4:28:08, 264th W60
Lana Thompson-van Eaton, 4:30:54, 279th W60
Alysen Phee, 4:39:36, 1352nd W40
Taipei Half-Marathon, March 10, 2024
Talk about an exotic adventure/race! Head Gopher Dale Harvey just finished the Taipei half-marathon on March 10. It was well attended with 3,500 runners and eight minutes just to reach the start line. The course along the Tamsui River had long undulations. Dale described the country as “safe, welcoming, and inspiring “.
Dale’s time was 2:18:47. Congratulations Dale!
Arizona Half-Marathons, March 2 and 9, 2024
Congrats to Jim and Terri Carlson on their recent Arizona runs. Neither has entered races for more than a year, but they returned in an impressive way! At the Arizona half-marathon in Peoria, Jim ran 1:49:42 to claim second place in the M60 division, while Terri ran the 10k event. A week later, they ran the Mesquite Canyon half marathon in White Tank Mountain regional park. The event has an elevation gain of 521 m! Jim ran 2:24:36 for 36th place man (sorry, no age group results), and Terri ran 2:35:47 to finish as the 19 th overall woman. Check out Jim’s trail rash from a wipeout. Congrats on these notable results!
Napa Valley Marathon, March 3, 2024
Congratulations to our three Regina runners who finished the beautiful but hilly Napa Valley marathon in the rain. Angela Arnold earned a super impressive 5th place in W55 with 4:07:23. Jed Azcueta ran 3:46:44 and Dhon Gumban ran 5:12:36 for 37th and 96th in M40 respectively. Congratulations to a group of great athletes!
Tokyo Marathon, March 3, 2024
Congratulations to the Regina runners who completed the Tokyo marathon. Tokyo is one of the six Abbott major marathons, and as those who are chasing their Abbott six star medal, very difficult to get into! Four lucky Reginans managed to do just that. Gaylene Jeannot finished in a PR of 3:40:07 (1269th); Teresa Saccucci ran 4:04:20 for 2410th; Kyle Smyth ran 4:19:44 for 14367th; and Doug Opseth ran 4:37:32 for 16427th. No age group rankings were found yet, and so at this time, we list only overall rankings.
An especially exciting part of the race is that Teresa Saccucci finished her Abbott six star challenge - check out the photo with Teresa showing off both the Tokyo and the six star medals. Although Teresa is a very fast racer, for her the six star journey wasn’t about achieving race times - she wrote about the life-long friends and the people she’s met along her journey.
Congratulations on a memorable achievement, runners!
Las Vegas Half-Marathon, February 15, 2024
Regina runners got to run the Vegas strip at night at the Las Vegas Rock and Roll half-marathon on February 25. Kerry Strong and Guillaume Laroche both finished in 2:07:25, good for 52nd in W50 and 334th in M40. Cari Bode finished in 2:14:34, good for 173rd in W45-59. Way to go, runners!
Atlanta, Georgia Marathon, February 15, 2024
Congratulations to Jan Steenkamp and Tania Diener who ran a marathon in their 27th state, at the Publix Atlanta marathon. Tania earned third place in W60 in 5:33:27, and Jan was 18th in M60 in 5:25:14. Jan reported that the course was non-stop hills with approximately 870 feet of climbing. Congratulations!
Mesa Half-Marathon, Arizona, February 10, 2024
Congratulations to Florence Michon who finished the half marathon in Mesa on February 10 in the cold and rain. Florence ran 2:02:37 for 6th place in the women’s 60-64 age division. Well done, Florence!
Bermuda Triangle Challenge, January 12-14, 2024
Gay Renouf ran the Bermuda Triangle Challenge - 1 mile on Friday night; 10 km on Saturday; and a marathon on Sunday. The courses are all varied - the mile is in the dark, on the main street with two 180 degree turns past crowds of spectators. The 10 km route is on very hilly country roads, and the marathon course winds through narrow lanes, a bike path and through a tunnel, and on coastal roads past turquoise blue water.Gay ran 4:35:51 in the marathon to win the Women’s 60-69 division.
The cure for the brrr, January 7, 2024
Congrats to all our runners who braved the prairie winter weather to stamp their mark on 2024. The weather was gentle (-13) and the runners were invigorated! Many runners commented on the spectacular unique ceramic polar bear medals. These were designed and created by our own Wendy Tomyk and Doris Burdon - they put hours into sewing the flannel polar bear ribbons, cutting the polar bears, and figuring out how to hang the bears. The first iteration actually melted the metal hangers in the kiln. Our artists persisted and the medals are beautiful - thank you!
The fastest marathoners were Zoe Clin and Michael Dahlman, both of them going on to run an ultra - 51.8 km for Zoe and 50.0 km for Michael. Our fastest half-marathoners were Lorraine Brezinski and Trevor Hopkin.
Special congrats to Dale Clark, who ran his furthest ever, and was the happiest runner out there!
Full results in the Race Together>Cure for the Brrr tab.
