Luke Carlos breezes through weekly 5-km fun run; finishes at just over 17 minutes

For many runners, the Klondike Road Relay signals the end of the running season.

For many runners, the Klondike Road Relay signals the end of the running season.

For others, it’s an important test in their preparations for the Victoria International Marathon on the Thanksgiving weekend.

For those that want to extend their running season, there’s the Intersport 5 km Run and Walk on Tuesday night’s at 6:30 p.m. until early October.

The continuation of cloudy, cool weather did not stop 10 hearty souls from participating in last Tuesday night’s event.

Held just days after the Road Relay, many of the participants were still nursing aches and pains.

Gifted runner Luke Carlos breezed through the 5-km course with no serious challengers in a 5:30 minute/mile pace. Carlos placed first with a time of 17:14.

Almost three minutes behind Carlos in second place was Tuesday night regular Fred Vandernot (20:05) who placed 16th overall on the 22 km Leg 5 of the Road Relay.

Like Vandernot, third place finisher Bill Matiation (20:16) did not run at full race speed as he was still recovering from having run legs Two and Three in the Road Relay.

Don White, the namesake of White’s High Flyers that stole the Road Relay’s Masters championship from the Smokin’ Ole Geezers, cruised to fourth place with a time of 21:50.

The women’s side saw marathon runner Sierra Van der Meer claim first spot (24:43) followed by Sheila Merkley in second place (28:41).

The walking component saw a wife and husband, Tanya Astika and Tom Ullyett, racing against each other on the 3 km route. Ullyett prevailed in the end (21:53), but Astika was only seven seconds behind (22:00).

The next Athletics Yukon event is the Thursday Night Trail run, which will be held on the Magnusson Ski Trails, off the Grey Mountain Road. The course is approximately 11-km and is rated as moderate in overall difficulty. Start time is 6:30 p.m.

Story provided by Tom Ullyett on behalf of Athletics Yukon.