“If you see me collapse,
stop my Garmin”
- read a t-shirt at
Sunday’s half marathon


    It was the perfect day for running. The weather was warm, but a little bit of an overcast prevented it from being too hot.
    Gathered in the lower parking lot of the Royal Tyrrell Museum were almost 600 eager runners, waiting to get started in the third annual Dinosaur Valley Half Marathon.
    Before the horn sounded, many chatted with friends, some diligently went through their pre-race rituals, others took part in a warm up and stretching session, and a few bemoaned how little they had trained.
     When the word was given, the half marathon runners gathered in front of The Little Church. Organizer Colin Kloot gave a few inspiring words and Mayor Terry Yemen welcomed everyone to Drumheller and wished them good luck.
    The horn sounded and they were off, climbing slowly up to prairie level on the first leg of a long 21 kilometer race. Afterwards, it was the 10k and 5k runners turns.
    Fans waited patiently to see who would arrive first at the finish line in the Tyrrell Museum’s lower parking lot.
    For the half marathon, the winner came in at a red-hot time of 1:25:48. Mark Faas of Hanna is the 2012 Dinosaur Half Marathon champion. This was the first year Faas competed.
    “It feels good,” said Faas. “The toughest part is doing the training. If you do that, the race is just gravy.”
    Faas had already competed in a 10 mile race, half iron man, and full iron man earlier this year.
    For Drumheller residents, the first to cross the line in the half marathon was Drumheller Valley Secondary School teacher Dan Hird with a time of 1:39:07, placing sixth overall.
    One of the youngest competitors in the race broke into the top ten. Sam Brown, a 14 year old student at DVSS, came in tenth overall with a time of 1:41:34, a pace of 4.49 minutes per kilometer. Of the under 20 men's, Brown came in first, and he was third in the under 29 men's category.
    This is the second year Brown has competed in the Half Marathon. Three years ago, Brown had wanted to compete, but he was too young. Last year, Brown finished the half marathon with a time of 1:49:10.
    For the 10k, the overall winner was Shane Andersen of Edmonton with a time of 38:47. Brett McLean was the first Drumheller resident to cross the line at 52:43.
    One of the strangest tales of the day was that of eight year old Jaxon Riste of Iddesleigh. Riste was entered in the 5k, but took a wrong turn and ended up doing the 10k race instead. He finished with a time of 1:10:47.
    “I didn’t know who to follow,” said Riste. “It [running the 10k] was a bit surprising.”
    Kevin Firman of Calgary took first place in the 5k with a time of 21:44. Kate and her mother Penny Messom were the first Drumheller residents to cross the line with times of 31:46 and 31:48, respectively.
    The half marathon was a huge success and, though not all the money is in yet, organizers estimate the race was on par with last year. The proceeds will be donated to the Badlands Community Facility.
    “Given the fact the registrations are very much the same as last year, in fact just a little higher, we expect we will be able to raise in the range of $15,000,” said Kloot.
    Several weeks before the race, organizers were concerned about registration being low. However, it seems the number of runners exceeded that of last year.
    “We had very close to 600 registrations. Last year we had 573. In the 5k we had local people make up the difference. In the larger races we had mostly people from out of town. We had a flurry of emails at the last minute asking ‘can I still register?’ That certainly helped us,” said Kloot.
    Now that race is over, organizers will be taking some time to discuss next year.
    “We’re about to have our wrap up meeting next week. We might have some innovations and changes, but we’ll certainly have the three races again,” said Kloot.
    The 2013 Dinosaur Valley Half Marathon is the weekend after Labour Day, leaving plenty of time to start training for the next race