It might be the dog days of summer, but Yukoners continue to flock to the Five-km Intersport Fun Run and Walk.

Last Tuesday night, with a comfortable temperature of 24 at race time, 25 runners and walkers participated in the weekly event.

Many were feeling sore or tired from Sunday's Yukon River Trail Marathon. That probably explains why many of the runners ran a bit slower than normal.

Keith Thaxter may have run a marathon just 48 hours earlier, but he had enough gas left in the tank to finish first overall in a time of 19:55.

Thaxter held off a charging Jerome McIntyre (20:09).

McIntyre, best known as a very competitive cyclist who excels on steep hills like the White Pass, took 2nd place. Watching this drama from a safe distance was third place finisher Tom Ullyett (20:13).

Talented runner Julia Gerlach (22:43), who was the third fastest woman in the half marathon portion of Sunday's Trail Marathon, took the women's side of Tuesday's event.

In fact, Gerlach was faster than most men on Tuesday night. Brittany Smith (23:03), who will represent Yukon at the Canada Summer Games later this month, was second. Triathlete Christine Paradis (27:33) rounded out the top three female runners.

Smoke may be getting in the eyes of some people these days, but the race walkers would have none of it.

With their natural talent and turbo charged engines, Ruth Hall, Arlene Ogden and Tanya Astika put on a clinic in the last two kilometres trying to outpace each other as they sped toward the finish line.

In the end, it was Hall's take-no-prisoners approach that allowed her to create a comfortable lead and cross the line first with a time of 34:42.

Ogden (34:50) was eight seconds behind in second place.

Meanwhile, Astika (34:51) finished in third spot just one second behind Ogden.

Please see the Athletics Yukon website:

(http://www.athleticsyukon.ca/) for past results of Tuesday's race series as well as all future events.

Article submitted by Tom Ullyett on behalf of Athletics Yukon.

Intersport Five-km Fun Run/Walk

August 4

Timing: Marg White

Male Five-km Runners:

1 Keith Thaxter 0:19:55

2 Jerome McIntyre 0:20:09

3 Tom Ullyett 0:20:13

4 Patrick Anderson 0:22:14

5 Doug Mayr 0:23:00

6 Roger Hulstein 0:23:01

7 Rodney Hulstein 0:23:03

8 Logan Roots 0:23:03

9 Brad Magnuson 0:23:04

10 Don White (& Kemper) 0:25:02

11 Clarke LaPrairie 0:25:16

12 Randy Lamb 0:26:57

13 Tim Shoniker 0:29:03

14 Dylan Cozens 0:32:17

15 Jonas Leas 0:33:54

Female Five-km Runners:

1 Julia Gerlach 0:22:43

2 Brittany Smith 0:23:03

3 Christine Paradis 0:27:33

4 Lene Nielsen 0:29:23

5 Sue Bogle 0:33:54

2.5-km Runners:

1 Darby McIntyre 0:21:54

2.5-km Runners:

1 Elyn Jones 0:21:54

Five-km Walkers:

1 Ruth Hall 0:34:42

2 Arlene Ogden 0:34:50

3 Tanya Astika 0:34:51