Norwegian runners add international competition to weekly five-km race

In the heat of the summer night in the boreal forest.

In the heat of the summer night in the boreal forest.

That’s what it was like for the 35 runners and walkers who participated in Athletics Yukon’s weekly Intersport Five-km Run and Walk on Tuesday evening.

It was sunny, there was no wind and it was hot with a temperature of 27 C. Many of the participants asked “Is this Whitehorse or Arizona?”

Nobody complained about the heat, but all knew that it would pose an extra challenge for them.

With Rodney Hulstein and Sue Bogle not in the race, all bets were off as to who would cross the finish line first.

This week it was two friendly visitors from Norway, Stian and Maria Stensland. They proved to be the fastest runners of the evening.

Stian and Maria are graduate students at University of Alaska at Fairbanks. They are also competitive runners who have run in many races.

Stian easily won the men’s side of the event in a time of 16:49, which was a slower time for him. His fastest five-km time is in the 14 minute range, well beyond the wildest dreams of almost all runners.

Maria finished with an enviable time of 21:34, more than a minute slower than her best five-km time.

Almost two minutes behind Stian was the father and son duo Bill (18:24) and John Parry (18:21). Once again, the unassuming John paced his speedy father Bill throughout the course.

John then broke away in the last 100 metres to finish three seconds ahead of Bill.

One minute behind the Parrys were two running adversaries, Zeb Brown and Tom Ullyett, going neck-in-neck for all five-km.

Ullyett (19:39) finished just one-second ahead of Brown (19:40). Not too far behind was a string of very good runners.

That group included newcomer Brad Magnusson (21:10), veteran running coach Don White (22:26), fearsome road cyclist Judson Deuling (22:26), cagey William Palahicky (22:26) and regular Tuesday night racer Patrick Anderson (23:06).

Maria may have run away with the limelight among the female runners, but less than a minute behind her was Julia Gerlach who burst on to the running scene this spring.

Gerlach has had a podium finish is almost every race she’s entered including the Thursday night trail races.

Three minutes behind Gerlach were a string of well known female athletes.

Third spot was taken by cross country ski enthusiast Sheri Hogeboom (25:01).

Hogeboom pursued by Jen Whipple (25:37) who was once one of Canada’s top rated mountain bikers.

There was a gap of about 90 seconds and then another group of four runners all trying to hold on to or improve their position.

In this group was Brock University rower Coralie Ullyett (27:11), Glenda Koh (27:19), World Masters competitor Brenda Dion (27:38) and distance runner Christine Paradis (28:02).

On the race walking side, the very determined Ruth Hall propelled herself through the sauna like heat and ahead of all walkers with a time of 35:03.

Hall and the other three five-km walkers, Philips Gibson (35:08), Bonnie Love (35:19) and Arlene Ogden (35:24), raced the course together.

But, like Simon Whitfield at last summer’s Beijing Olympics, with 500 metres to go Hall found another gear, broke away from the pack and finished first.

Article provided by Tom Ullyett on behalf of Athletics Yukon.