Rodney Hulstein places first at annual Haeckel Hill run

When mother nature smiles, runners and walkers bask in her goodwill. That's the way it was last Saturday.

When mother nature smiles, runners and walkers bask in her goodwill. That’s the way it was last Saturday.

More than 40 runners and walkers tackled the Yukon Energy Haeckel Hill Mountain Run. It’s been a favourite event in the racing circuit since the mid-1990’s when it was established by noted cyclist and runner Michael Barton now of Norway.

The 7.2-kilometre run is almost all uphill and has 600-m of vertical rise. It takes place on a steep, rutted gravel road that is wet in places from melting snow.

Why would any one want to run or race walk to the top of Haeckel Hill? After all, some have described the degree of difficulty as being ridiculous.

Most would agree that this race is a bit harder than Dawson City’s famedDome race that is held every July. Yet, 44 runner and walkers of all ages and sizes took on the challenge of Haeckel Hill.

It’s been a good week for Rodney Hulstein who, until recently, was a member of Brock University’s cross country running team. He came into this race having placed first in both theIntersport 5 km run on Tuesday night and the Sportslife trail run on Thursday night.

Hulstein made it a triple crown on Saturday by being the first racer to get to the top of Haeckel Hill in a mind-bending time of 35:10. Hulstein edged out, by 32 seconds, teenager Knute Johnsgaard (35:32), a gifted member of the Yukon Cross Country Ski
Team.  It was down to the wire for third spot with skiers Gerry Noble (38:41), Jeff Wood (38:42) and Scott Weersink (38:45) finishing within four seconds of each other.

Two old lions, Dan Shier (39:14) and Tom Ullyett (39:51), took sixth and seventh spot, respectively.

Eighth position was claimed by NCAA cross country skier Ray Sabo (40:39). He won the race in 2008 and ran with the front pack on Saturday until he was overtaken by stomach cramps that forced him to slow down and even walk at times.

Ninth spot was hotly contested with cross country skier Logan Roots (42:35) beating Ontarian Brett Weersink (42:36) by just one second.

Cheered on by her sons and husband, Sue Bogle, a top contender in any race she enters, was the first woman to crest the Hill (46:09). Bogle could hear foot steps because a minutebehind her in second place was the formidable Chantel Gagne (47:39) who enjoyed a running career at Trent University.

Taking the third spot on the podium was Janet Clarke (49:24) who may be a gentle librarian by day, but is well known as an intensely competitive runner.

Masters runner and skier Angela Sabo (51:32) has no equal in her age class category, but she had to settle for fourth spot racing against younger competitors.

The rest of the top 10 female runners are known as endurance athletes who can run virtually any distance.

They all finished at or under the one hour mark. In this group were Margaret Mundell (52:30), Elyn Jones (53:08), Robin Fairburn (57:15), Anilee Ault (57:36), Catherine Ziegler (59:07) and Brenda Dion (1:01:22).

Race walker Phillip Gibson, known for his genteel manner, was the first walker to get to the top of the Hill.

He did so in under an hour (59:47), which may be a course record for the walkers.

Just 46 seconds behind him was Ruth Hall (1:00:33) earning her second silver medal in a week. Third place went to Rick Griffiths (1:00:59) who managed to get ahead of Bonnie Love (1:01:13) and create a 14 second lead. Behind Love in fifth spot was another of the fast race walkers Arlene Ogden (1:02:49).

It’s noteworthy that the top five race walkers were faster than some of the runners.

Story provided by Tom Ullyett on behalf of Athletics Yukon.