Sixty-six Yukoners finished the Royal Victoria Marathon on Sunday.

In his second-ever marathon, Michael Richards finished 29th overall with a personal best time of 2:49, while longtime marathoner Keith Thaxter nabbed a personal best time of 2:57, good for 62nd overall.

"I've been trying to break three (hours) forever, and this was the first time I was actually able to do it,” Thaxter said.

"Everything just lined up, the conditions were good, I felt strong, I didn't have any problems, no hamstring issues, and I just kept pushing all the way through.

"Of course, you always get to the finish and go, ‘I could have run that faster.' But I guess that's always the motivation…there's always something to look forward to the next time.”

The Victoria marathon was the first time since running in the Boston Marathon that he wasn't dogged with hamstring problems.

That was key to keeping up with women's elite runner Suzanne Evans, Thaxter said.

"All I kept thinking to myself was, either I'm running too fast or she's running too slow,” he said of Evans, who topped the female 35-39 age group. "As it is, she ended up beating me by two minutes.

"I felt that overall I had a good run; but for her, she ran a little slower than normal, but I was still motivated to be running with her.”

In her first marathon, Yukoner Larra Daley posted the fasted time for a Yukon female runner in 3:25 and was 40th overall female, while Cynthia Freeman placed 52nd overall female in 3:28.

Rodney Hulstein took ninth spot overall in the half marathon and first in his age category, 20-24, with a time of 1:13, and Karl Blattmann placed 29th overall with a time of 1:18.

Katherine Scheck was the fastest Yukon female runner in the half with a time of 1:42.

In the eight-kilometre event, Yanik Freeman finished 51st overall in 31:08, and Carolyn Coombs was the fastest Yukon female in 40:49.

The Yukon group chartered an Air North flight to Victoria for the weekend.

"Most people I talked to were quite surprised by the fact that you could actually have a small place like this and organize a charter and get this many people to come all the way from Whitehorse to visit Victoria,” Thaxter said.

"It's nice to see all these people come out from Whitehorse as a group.

"I'm still amazed that you can get X number of people to come run locally, but yet that many will travel to Victoria for that particular event.”

Thaxter, who has run in some 70 marathons worldwide, said the Victoria marathon is one of the nicer, well-organized in western Canada.

"Overall, people just love the location,” he said, adding that he's pleased he chose this event over the Chicago marathon. "The course is beautiful that runs along the water. It's been a few years since I was there, and I forgot how nice and small-town

the atmosphere really is to go to Victoria to run.”

The conditions were a little windy, he added, but the weather was perfect.

"Anyone who was running slower would have had a little bit of sun, a little bit of heat,” he said, noting that the half marathoners started at 7:30 a.m. and the full marathoners started at 9 a.m.

"Otherwise you couldn't have asked for better temperatures.”

Yukon runners overall results (chip time):

Marathon

1. Michael Richards 35-39 male 2:49:21

2. Keith Thaxter 45-49 male 2:57:52

3. Larra Daley 30-34 female 3:25:51

4. Cynthia Freeman 35-39 female 3:28:34

5. Matt Ordish 35-39 male 3:43:24

6. Michelle Beaulieu 35-39 female 3:49:45

7. Natalie Dugas 40-44 female 3:49:45

8. Wendy Tayler 35-39 female 3:52:25

9. Terry Berezan 50-54 male 4:01:33

10. Danny Macdonald 30-34 male 4:01:02

11. Olwyn Bruce 35-39 female 4:10:42

12. Joanne Van Bibber-Widrig 50-54 female 4:11:35

13. Justin Kolla 20-24 male 4:22:54

14. Gilles Menard 45-49 male 4:43:29

15. Anne Landry 55-59 female 4:44:12

16. Tobias Hoeschele 20-24 male 4:52:05

Half marathon

1. Rodney Hulstein 20-24 male 1:13:36

2. Karl Blattmann 30-34 male 1:18:13 (Teslin)

3. Jacob Loos 20-24 male 1:34:39

4. Paul Flaherty 50-54 male 1:41:49

5. Dustin Shewfelt 20-24 male 1:42:21

6. Katherine Scheck 25-29 female 1:42:41

7. Piia Kukka 30-34 female 1:45:45

8. Wayne Smyth 50-54 male 1:47:05

9. Sky Pearson 30-34 male 1:48:13

10. Janice Hall 40-44 female 1:49:23

11. Justine Scheck 20-24 female 1:50:39

12. Sheri Hogeboom 45-49 female 1:49:54

13. Richard Zral 65-69 male 1:50:44

14. Barbara Scheck 50-54 female 1:55:27

15. Bailey Staffen 25-29 female 1:59:32

16. Sam Penner 30-34 male 2:01:26

17. Valerie Holmes 50-54 female 2:01:29

18. Brian Mottus 60-64 male 2:05:12

19. Liris Smith 45-49 female 2:05:17

20. Lisa Gallibois 40-44 female 2:05:18

21. Veronique Herry 20-24 female 2:03:31

22. Robert Holmes 55-59 male 2:06:08

23. Dora Cichon 50-54 female 2:07:41

24. Nicole Hulstein 50-54 female 2:07:19

25. Jessie Leschart 20-24 female 2:12:12

26. Jennifer Matchett 20-24 female 2:10:26

27. Hayley Marks 20-24 female 2:10:26

28. Victoria Castillo 35-39 female 2:18:05

29. Darlene Mataseje 55-59 female 2:17:59

30. Danette Readman 40-44 female 2:20:06

31. Susan Mackinnon 50-54 female 2:20:25

32. Emilie Bouchard 20-24 female 2:20:36

33. Manon Aubert 40-44 female 2:22:37

34. Colleen Kormos 20-24 female 2:22:59

35. Lisa Badenhorst 40-44 female 2:26:03

36. Nancy Brady 60-64 female 2:28:58

37. Sandra Duncan 45-49 female 2:35:40

38. Wanda Robbins 50-54 female 2:36:27

39. Cheryl Wishart 40-44 female 2:35:42

40. Heather Jones 50-54 female 2:49:24

8-kilometre

1. Yanik Freeman 35-39 male 31:08

2. Benoit Labelle 40-44 male 37:51

3. Carolyn Coombs 35-39 female 40:49

4. Kirsten Hulstein 25-29 female 40:50

5. Leslie Vandermaas 45-49 female 41:48

6. Ashley Kostelnik 20-24 female 43:31

7. Ian Hogeboom-Burr 12 male 48:56

8. Rachelle Zral 35-39 female 52:34

9. Marc Perreault 45-49 male 57:57

1899 1. Penny Perreault 35-39 female 57:57