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Organizers 'blown away' at Whistler Half-Marathon turnout

725 runners turn out for inaugural event; Whistler runner Ashley McMillan comes in sixth
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The Whistler Half-Marathon has "blown away" organizers and participants, making it certain that the event will take place again next year.

Dave Clark, head organizer of the inaugural marathon, which saw 725 participants run through Whistler neighbourhoods on a challenging route, said he's already secured June 2, 2012 as the next date for the event.

"I don't think we could have had a better team to pull it off," he said. "Obviously the weather was stellar, the feedback we've had from runners from Vancouver, Seattle and across the country has just been outstanding and people were really, really thrilled with the course."

Thrilled though they were, numerous participants reported that they found the 21.1-kilometre course a challenge. Starting at 7:30 a.m., at Olympic Plaza in Whistler Village, runners then went along Lorimer Road to Beaver Lane. Then it was down Blueberry Drive to Lakeside Park before turning around and coming back to the village and to another turnaround at Rainbow Park.

Clark said he designed the course with his favourite running routes in mind.

"We went through 10 or 11 different versions of the course, most of them always incorporated neighbourhoods we ended up running through," he said. "The course design itself was about an eight-month process, from the very beginning of, 'Wouldn't it be great to have that section and that section?' to where we ended up on race day."

The course also brought numerous Whistler residents out to cheer on the runners as they sped past - some still in their pajamas or dressed up in costumes!

"On race days, hearing about people being dressed up to cheer people on and people that put up balloon arches," Clark said, "That is probably the number two comment ... about what they liked.

"The number one we heard back is how great the volunteers were."

Improvements in future Half-Marathons could include installing more food and water stations along the route. The temperature turned out to be 10 to 11 degrees hotter on race day than organizers anticipated and they already planned to have a station every four and a half to five kilometers. Next year they may look at adding another.

"It would have been nice to have one more," Clark said. "That's part and parcel of the weather we end up having, it's not that warm at race start time."

The fastest runner from Whistler was Ashley McMillan, who came in sixth in a time of 1:18:27.

"I'm pretty happy, I can't say I'm unhappy with sixth," he told Pique . "I think it's fair, I probably was hoping for a podium position."

McMillan has been a force among Whistler runners in recent races. Last summer he came in second out of 212 runners in the men's 35 to 39 category of the Vancouver Marathon, completing that race in 1:18:15. That same month he came second in the 10-kilometre iteration of Whistler's Valley Trail Run, finishing in a time of 39:33.

Speaking about the Half-Marathon's course, he said it was about as difficult as the Sunshine Coast's April Fools' Run, a 21.1-kilometre course from Gibsons to Sechelt. That race offers a "net downhill course" with trails similar to what runners endured in Whistler.

"The one on the Sunshine Coast, that was particularly difficult," McMillan said of the race in which he finished eighth with a time of 1:16:27. "(Whistler's) probably as difficult."

The top place women's finisher was Lisa Smart in a time of 1:29:30. Coming up behind her from Whistler were Tara Wight in a time of 1:33:30, Hayley Winters in 1:33:42 and Sarah Olner in 1:34:22.

Smart, a kindergarten teacher at Myrtle Philip Community School, ran the course once or twice before doing the half-marathon and said it was a "beautiful" course, but it was more challenging than others she's done in the past.

"The climb at Alta Vista, you can't even really keep your run form up that part of the climb," she said. "The fact it was my hometown course, I think that was an advantage being able to train on it, so that was certainly good."

One of the best parts of the marathon was watching friends, colleagues and even kindergarten students cheer her on from the sidelines.

"I kind of expected to go a little slower, given the hills on the course," she said. "But I think it was just having so many people locally cheering out there just made the difference. I was really pleased and had a lot of fun."

Victoria figured prominently in the Whistler Half-Marathon last Saturday as two runners from the British Columbia capital came out on top in the 21.1-kilometre race.

Jim Finlayson, a 35-year-old runner from Victoria who has been at his sport for 25 years, came in first of all runners with a time of 1:09:23, well before the second and third runners, Ed McCarthy from Vancouver and Colin Wallace from Burnaby, came in at 1:12:51 and 1:12:59, respectively.

Finlayson's finish sets a record in what was an inaugural half-marathon for Whistler.

"It feels good, it feels nice," Finlayson said of his first place finish on a sunny morning rarely seen in Whistler as of late. "It was a tough course but I think the pain of the running hard always feels better at the end when you position yourself well."

Beautiful though the course was, Finlayson said he encountered the most difficulty at the Blueberry Hill section of the race.

"Once we crested Blueberry Hill and started going down, probably for the next five kilometers are so, was pretty challenging," he said. "It puts a lot of central contraction on the quads and that's what's going to fatigue you for later in the race. Uphills are slower but the downhills are what really hurt your legs."

Care Wakely, a 27-year-old runner also from Victoria, came out on top in the women's race, finishing in the top 10 with a time of 1:21:02. A competitive runner for two years, she found the course more challenging than she thought she would.

"Hillier than I thought, but it was gorgeous," she said of the route, drawing particular attention to Blueberry Hill.

"It was a lot steeper than I anticipated and then there were a couple of other hills in the race, around 13-kilometres on the Valley Trail, those were pretty hilly as well.

"I don't know the grade, but it felt like I was running up Glacier Lane. It just felt like going up the mountain.

"I definitely prefer running uphill to downhill, I feel like on the downhill I stop myself too much, you're supposed to lean forward and I kind of land on my feels and jar my back and it's ugly, so I prefer running up, I prefer tougher grunting up a hill."

Kristina Rody of Burnaby and Amy Schneeberg of Vancouver rounded out the top three women's results, coming in with times of 1:22:52 and 1:23:30, respectively.

The winners in each category will share a cash prize of $1000, with $250 going to the first place finishers, $150 to the second place finishers and $100 going to the runners who came in third in each of the men's and women's categories.

For full results go to: http://racedaytiming.ca/whistlerhalf2011.html.