2016

dec 26-jan 03, 2016
Across The Years Ultramarathon


What an interesting event and results.  Marathon Matters members may not know that we have two very accomplished multi-day runners in the club - Christian Riegel and Katherine Robinson.  In a Mobius-strip kind of way,  Chris and Katherine introduced Jen Ruland to the format of timed race on a short loop course, and in return Jen Ruland prepared their training programs and coached the two of them.  And here's the best part - all three nabbed PRs at Across the Years!

The Across the Years event is held on a 1.05 mile loop, for four different events - 24 hour, 48 hour, 72 hour and 6 days.  Each runner has that allotted time to amass as much distance possible - they can stop to eat or sleep, but as race organizers say, the clock is always running.

Chris Riegel, 2nd Man in 72 hour event, 295.66 km

Katherine Robinson, 3rd Woman in 72 hour event, 250.05 km

Jen Ruland, 6th Woman, 2nd W30-39 in 24 hour event, 167.26 km

Congrats all, we are super proud of you!

March 13, 2016
Barcelona MarathoN

Mike and Gay Renouf completed the Barcelona marathon, adding a new country to their marathon tally, in a time of 4:24:53.


April 2, 2016
Beyond Limits Ultra 24 hr, Mountain Center CA

Katherine Robinson and Christian Riegel got a double win at this timed event on a two mile loop.  Katherine won the trophy for top woman with 80 miles, and Chris won the overall men's trophy, again with 80 miles.  Sweet accomplishment, congrats!



April 10, 2016
Blooms to Brews Marathon, Woodland, WA

Our President, Cari Bode, nabbed a new state and a great time at this marathon in Washington.  She ran 3:38:16 and won her age division of W40-44, also placing 7th Woman.  Here's Cari's race report:

If you’re looking for somewhere new to attempt a spring PR, I highly recommend this event.  It’s a quick 30 min drive from Portland, OR.  Scenic & beautiful, mostly rural course along the Columbia river, flat, sea level, and the weather was perfect – around 10 degrees Celsius, overcast, no wind.  All of the perks of a small race, including the host hotel a few blocks from the start/finish, and a post-race party to rival larger events, where finishers were treated to choice of several local beers on tap & a hot meal (bbq beef or a vegan option). There were several pacers, and I ran with the 3:30 group until a foot issue at mile 18. 



April 18, 2016
Boston Marathon

The Boston marathon of 2016 was once again a spectacular affair.  Race times were slowed somewhat by sunny and hot conditions.  Here are the results of the southern Saskatchewan runners.

May 1, 2016
Vancouver Marathon 

Congrats to the Vancouver marathon and half-marathon finishers.  Here are all the Regina finishers, and the Marathon Matters members who finished the half-marathon:

Carly Graham, 4:43:10, 188th W25-29

Donna Jackson, 5:03:21, 112th W45-49

Dhon Gumban, 5:06:51, 276th M30-34

Half-Marathon

Bradley Hanowski, 2:38:21, 249th M50-54

Colleen Kozan, 2:42:25, 78th W60-64

May 22, 2016
Blue Nose Marathon, Halifax, NS

Congrats to these Regina runners - great results!  Special congrats to Alvin Yau for a PR and Lana Thompson-Van Eaton for her age group win in the half marathon.


May 29, 2016
Calgary Marathon

The Calgary marathon weekend was an important one for many Regina runners, not least of whom are Marsha Crossman and Jon Paradowski.  Along with Jen Ruland, both were crucial in raising over $2000 for MitoCanada in the Superhero run in April.  That fundraising effort culminated in the marathon weekend when Team Mito athletes set 7 world records on treadmill running.  Congrats to all our other runners too!  Here are the Marathon Matters results for the distances of half-marathon and up.  Special shout out to Justin Cheshire, who has been trying to break the 1:30 mark in the half-marathon for a couple of years - with a lot of hard work and dedication, Justin finally crushed that time.  Jordan Sperling also set a whopping PR in the half.  The Calgary half-marathon was designated as the Canadian Half Marathon national championships - Jordan placed 18th in the Men's race!  


June 17-18, 2016
Big Horn 100 mile race, Wyoming

The Big Horn 100 mile race has been named as the fifth hardest 100 miler in the USA, but fortunately in Regina, we have ultra-runners tough enough to handle it.  It is run at elevations of 4,000 to 9,000 ft, with three huge climbs, up to 4,500 ft.  Jen Ruland, our prolific and accomplished ultra runner, had to drop out at 30 miles after climbing 3,000 ft in the extreme heat.  Jon Paradowski soldiered on to finish in 32:21:03 for 35th place in the Men's 30-39 category.  Well done!



June 19, 2016
Banff Marathon

Congrats to our Regina runners doing the marathon in Banff.  Jan Steenkamp (4:58:46) and Tania Diener in the marathon; and Jim Carlson (1:59:46) and Bradley Hanowski (2:38:30) in the half.


August 13, 2016
Berlin Wall 100 Miler Germany

Katherine Robinson and Christian Riegel finished the 100Meilen Berlin in identical times of 29:26:43, which gave them 11th and 41st in the Women's 45 and Men's 45, respectively.  It was a grueling race in heat and cobblestones - congratulations - great feat!



August 21, 2016
Blackspur Ultra, Kimberley BC

Jon Paradowski finished his 4th major ultra trail race of the year!  The Blackspur ultra has 4460 m of climbing and descent in 108 km of trails.  Jon finished in 21:20:17, placing 14th in the Men's division!




September 12-17, 2016
Centre of the Nation - 6 Marathons in 6 Days in 6 States

Our most prolific marathoners, Jan Steenkamp and Tania Diener, have done it again - 6 times again!  They ran and finished strongly in the Centre of the Nation event holding consecutive marathons in: Baker, Montana; Bowman, North Dakota; Belle Fourche, South Dakota; Sundance Wyoming; Chadron, Nebraska; and Sterling, Colorado.  The courses were all multiple (12-20) loops or out-and-backs, but that's where the similarity ends.  Jan described the weather as ranging from cool and windy to unrelenting sun; the scenery varied from a relaxing and scenic forest to loops in a fairground.  Likewise, the surfaces varied from mostly paved to loose sand and gravel. Their impressively consistent times were: 5:54, 6:01, 5:49, 6:29, 6:04 and 6:17.  Congratulations, Jan and Tania!


Sept 17, 2016
Beaver Flat 50, Saskatchewan Landing

Many Regina area runners are raving and cursing over the inaugural sky running event at Saskatchewan Landing.  The race offers 50 km, 20 km and shorter events with the 50 km having 2500 m of vertical gain.  The climbs were hard, the trails were harder...I heard the trails and race course described with phrases like "goat-paths, barely there, clinging to the side of a steep hill, bum-slides, semi-cliffs"  and my favourite "and then the trail just disappeared".  The curses may have been over the race course, but the raves were focused on the well-marked course and impeccable organization.  Congrats to everyone on completing what accomplished ultra runner Jon Paradowski called "the toughest 50 km I've ever run".  Here are the Regina and MM member results.





OCt 9, 2016
York Marathon, England

Seven Regina runners were joined by other world-wide Marathon Matters members in the ancient city of York.  The marathon and shorter events had close to 20,000 runners, so there was a crowded start on the University campus, winding through the old, narrow streets past the famous Minster with church bells continually ringing.  Then the course went out into the countryside, down narrow roads completely closed to cars - lots of small hills in perfect weather.  Loanne Myrah ran her second PR in a row!! and nabbed an age group placing. Rowena gutted out the run despite her serious hamstring injury. Here are all of the results:


Oct 9, 2016
Chicago Marathon

Tim Schneider achieved a long-running goal of qualifying for the Boston marathon here, along with a PR!  In other notable results, Gerry Nagy earned a 10th place age group finish, and Wayne Nielson made another BQ. 


October 23, 2016
Cote du Rhone marathon, France 

Our Quebec-based member, Philippe Lacroix, finished the Cote du Rhone marathon in France in 3:44:46.  Philippe described it as winding through vineyards and old towns, with a quarter of it on trail.  The down side was that there was no medal!  But the upside was that there was free wine!