Miramichi Awards Night
December 5th, 2016

Front rowLeft to right,Dr. Paula Keating, Amy Barreau,Sondra Craig,Mary Rawlinson and Nicole MacCullum
back row,Ralph Williston, Tristen Eisnor,Daniel Landry,Sylvain Arseneau and Raymond Caissie.(Brian Richard photo)

By Brian Richard

Miramichi—On Saturday around 9pm Atlantic Time the Miramichi River Runners (MRR) handed out their year-end awards for 2016.

Leading the pack with Runner of the Year Award was Dr.Paula Keating from Miramichi and Sylvain Arseneau from Petit-Rocher.  Keating won her 11^th title in a row while Arseneau picked up his 5^th title in as many years.

Both runners had little trouble winning back to back titles that not only saw them winning besides Runner of the Year, but they pick up the hard to win club jacket.  The MRR recognize each age division winner with a jacket, similar to the procedure in golf with the Masters Green Jacket.  This recognition has been going on since 1989.

The awards night marked the 32^nd year in the clubs history dating back to 1984.  Next month on Janaury 1^st the MRR will be celebrating its 640th race, that include distances of 1 mile,5& 10km and 5km cross country runs, that is held twice a year at the Miramichi Cross Country Ski Club. There are 16 plus 1 races on the 2017 schedule.

Paula Keating and Sylvain Arseneau

Keating had no problem winning the Runner of the Year award as she accumulated 485 points in her 10 races that counted toward her achievement.  Her point total was the highest this year including all the men. Second place went to Nicole MacCullum who picked up 445 points while third place was nabbed by Dr.Tanya Wood with 403 points.

MacCallum won her Club championship jacket in the 40-49 age group while Sue Crowder was second with 326 points and Eileen Clouston third with 230 points.

Keating was also crowned winner of the 50-59 age category.  Placing second was Dr.Wood, from Ludlow, who had 403 points over the 10 maximum races to count.

Mary Rawlinson won her second in a row title in the 60-69 age class massing 351 points in the tightest win in the MRR this year.  She edged out Arlene Donaher who had 346 points.  Third place went to Eileen Clouston with 230 points.

Sondra Craig won the 70+ title for her first club jacket.

In the mens category Tristen Eisnor won the 19& under title for his second in a row club jacket.

Daniel Landry from the Bathurst area,won the 30-39 age group with 332 points while Mark Trevors who won last year was runner up with 246 points.

In the 40-49 age group Ralph Williston won his third consecutive jacket with 393 points while Sylvain Hache was second with 336 points and Jason Hickey third with 319.  Hache and Hickey are both from the Bathurst area.

For the 5^th year in a row Sylvain Arseneau won the 50-59 age class with an overall point total of 466.  He also picked up Runner of the Year to lead all male runners. Second place went to Paul Comeau with 433 points while third place went to Ludlow’s Bradley Wood.

Rymond Caissie who hails from Richibucto-Village is the most decorated runner in the MRR history picked up his 18^th jacket.  He led all 60-69 runners with 417 points while Peter Johnson was second with 357 and Billy Morrissy third at 275.

The Club had 640 runners taking part in the 17 races in 2016, including the Rocky Blackmore run.

The 2017 season opens on January 1^st with the annual Rocky Blackmore 5km Fun Run.  The run starts at the corner of Newcastle Blvd. and Beaverbrook Road at 10 am and finishes at the Linden Recreation Centre in Newcastle.

Registration is still $5 per runner while kids 19&under run free of charge. All new runners are welcome to come out for a fun 5km run and start the year off on the right foot.

Check out the www.miramichiriverrunners.comweb pages for more information.