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May Day Mud Run
| Twin Lakes, Juneau to Fish Creek, North Douglas | Distance: 8 miles and 4 miles
Location: Twin Lakes, or Sunny Drive, to Fish Creek across Gastineau Channel at low tide
Ben Van Allen, second in 1989 and third in both 1987 and 1986, won in 49:02. Tim McConnell, in Juneau on holiday from San Diego and carrying his running gear in hand luggage, was two seconds back, and Andrew Grossman took third in 49:23. Kathy O'Connell, the 1987 women's winner, led the women in 59:36, two seconds ahead of Shelly James, with Dawn Rider third in 63:16. Sarah Fischer won the girls 13-and-under four-mile in 43:31.
The race was markedly harder than the two before it. Runners reported more mud and standing seawater, and the rules now cut off the shortcut through the Bayview Subdivision to the North Douglas Highway that had been taking minutes off the winning time - Rick Thibodeau's 40:47 in 1989 stood eight and a half minutes faster than this.
"This is my favourite race," said Scott Foster from the back of the field. "I am not a big racer, but I always try to do this one. I just like the variety of running across the flats." John McConnochie, running his first Mud Run, found the change from pavement to mud the hard part: "The transition initially is very difficult, coming from the smooth pace on the tarmac to the mud, which is a choppy, slippery type of stroke."
59 took part, the best turnout the race had seen - 37 over eight miles and 22 over four. The 1989 race drew 45 and 1987 drew 36. Several of the leading women were using it as preparation for the Vancouver Island Relay, running for the Panhandle Pacers. | DefaultRaceDirector Unassigned | 1990-04-28 14:00:00 | no | no | yes | Registration Form |