You could say it's all over but the crying for the Yk Multisport Club but there were no tears to be found at its final event for 2017.
The annual cross-country Thrills in the Hills was held Sept. 24 at the Yellowknife Ski Club and brought out plenty of runners, like it does every year.
When it came to the course, there were some changes to help with the organization this year, according to David MacMillan.
“The route changes definitely helped,” he said. “It made things a bit challenging but we'll follow the similar routes next year.”
Most of the runners were young, many of them hailing from J.H. Sissons School, which makes its presence known every year with plenty of entries.
About 50 students from the school came out to run, said teacher Danika Jobin, who's looked after the school's participation in the event in prior years.
She said the school has an annual running club but it didn't get off in time this year before the cross-country run because it was a busy start to the school year.
“What we did was send out an e-mail to the parents to let them know that they were free to sign their kids up,” she said. “We like to promote events where families can participate together and moms and dads can run with their kids.”
MacMillan said that shows why it's such a popular event year in and year out.
“The kids are a big part of it,” he said. “It's a great way for us to cap off the season.”
The adults ran the furthest, doing a 7.5 kilometre route around the club. The open men's champion this year was Steve Griffith-Cochrane, who finished first in a time of 29 minutes, 38 seconds, just five seconds faster than Spencer Pootz.
In the open women's category, Tonya Huck was the winner, clocking a time of 37 minutes, 41 seconds, nearly a minute better than runner-up Ella Kokelj.
And thus ended the 2017 campaign of the multisport club, a campaign of transition, according to Mark Cliffe-Phillips, the club's president.
There were changes at the board level and at the event level – with many new people looking after the organizational side of things -- but Cliffe-Phillips said everything went off great.
“It was a bit of a learning curve for this year but everyone did their job with flying colours,” he said. “We are a volunteer organization and we depend on volunteers to help organize our events each year and they couldn't have done any better than they did.”
The mission of the club is to provide outdoor athletic activities and healthy lifestyles for all citizens of Yellowknife and the NWT. The club organized or helped to organize nearly a dozen events this year.
“We want people to get out and be active,” said Cliffe-Phillips. “We don't charge entry fees for events like the cross-country run and the Dirt Digger Duathlon because we want to get the next generation out and involved.”
Thrills in the Hills results
Open men
1st – Steve Griffith-Cochrane, 29:38
2nd – Spencer Pootz, 29:43
3rd – Nicolas Bennett, 30:59
Open women
1st – Tonya Huck, 37:41
2nd – Ella Kokelj, 38:33
3rd – Julie Ward, 43:53
Bantam
1st – Kira Young
2nd – Kali Skauge
Peewee
1st – Caris Wood
2nd – Calen Knight
3rd – Liam Ferreira
Tykes
1st – Koray Gannon
2nd – Elliot Fast
3rd – Toryn Wheler
Mites
1st – Clyde Cressman
2nd – Dylan Skelton
3rd – Leah Wood
source: Yk Multisport Club