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Palm finishes in top 100

Whistler runners strong in Seattle More than 1,600 people of all ages and abilities took part in the annual Seattle Marathon on Nov. 25, including local marathon veteran Mae Palm.

Whistler runners strong in Seattle

More than 1,600 people of all ages and abilities took part in the annual Seattle Marathon on Nov. 25, including local marathon veteran Mae Palm.

Palm finished the hilly race in 3 hours 49 minutes 51 seconds – 78 th out of 531 women, and 500 th overall.

Not bad when you consider that Palm is 61 years old, and was racing against women as young as 20. The other two female 60-and-over racers in Seattle finished with times of 4:23 and 4:55.

This was marathon number 99 for Palm, and in her opinion it couldn’t have gone much better.

"I was quite happy with my time," said Palm. "This was my first marathon since the Triathlon in Kona, and I didn’t know what to expect. I’m still recovering. I’ve been for a few longish runs, but haven’t done much in the way of speed work."

While her Seattle time is half an hour slower than her personal best, it was a significant improvement on her last time of 3:57 in the Boston Marathon. A faster time in Seattle will give her a higher seeding when she heads back to Boston in April of 2002 for her 100 th marathon. It will also be her 10th Boston Marathon. She will go for her 100 th under four hour marathon next summer in Vancouver.

After winning the triathlon world championship in her age category in Kona, Hawaii on Oct. 6, Palm says it was good to be able to concentrate on marathons again.

"Was it easy? Let me put it this way, I was happy I didn’t have to swim 2.4 miles or cycle 112 miles. It’s like training by running five miles every day, then entering a one mile race," she said.

While she will ride her bike over the winter as she attempts to break the world record triathlon time for her age group in Penticton next August, she also wants a win Boston.

"That would be the icing on the cake."

Seven other Whistler locals took part in the women’s half-marathon, which attracted 2,200 women.

Anna Flint, 26, led the pack by finishing 588 th . Karen Laughland was 753 rd , Joan Paterson 759 th , Belinda Mogridge 777 th , Tania Marie Jenson 1,160 th , Lisa Mason 1,338 th , and Lauren Wornig 1,618 th .