Legault, Father and Mother Christmas win the honors at 386th DMA
December 3rd, 2019

It was under a sunny sky with a strong northwesterly wind that the 41 runners met in St-Isidore for the start of the 386th Half Marathon of Acadia on Sunday, December 1, 2019. Most of the riders were dressed in a Christmas garment, to welcome Father and Mother Christmas who completed the course successfully, as anticipated. Twenty-one young runners joined in at the end of the race to celebrate this last race of the year and receive a medal for their efforts. Father and Mother Christmas brought joy to the children and that is why they are the champions of this race, an honor they share with Jonathan Legault of Dieppe.

Legault was fastest with a time of 1:25:38. He was followed by Yannick Tremblay of Beresford in 1: 29: 54. 3rd place went to Anouk Doiron of Moncton who also grabbed the women's podium with a time of 1: 31: 13. She was followed by Cathy Comeau of Dieppe in 1:33:15 and Nathalie Thériault-Roy of Beresford in 1: 39: 07.

There were 14 women in the pack. Four riders were in their first participation in this race. Andrew Wagstaff of Parrsboro, NS, 1: 36: 38, Serge Allain of Grande Digue, 1: 53: 02, Marc Brun of Barachois, 1: 56: 31 and Colette Leblanc of Dunlop , 2: 05: 51. For his part, Gaétan Chiasson de Caraquet took a few minutes off his best time to establish a new mark at 1: 31: 55. Cathy Comeau also had her best time in 1: 33: 15. In addition, Denise Savage would run his 30th DMA today while Sylvio Bourque of Beresford ran his 70th.

 The draw for two free passes offered by the Acadia Half Marathon for a race in the next 12 months went to Louise Thibodeau of Beresford and Denise Savage of Tracadie. For her part, Anouk Doiron of Moncton earned a free pass from the Chaleur Runners Club.

This race, being the last of the year, coincided with the $ 50 cash prize. For every registered runner, $ 1 is put into a pot. Since we registered 332 runners in the year 2019, 6 prizes were drawn among the participants of the year. A runner who has run 5 races has five chances to win a prize, and so on. Here are the winners of this year: Christine Sands, Flavien Theriault, Jonathan Legault, Patrick Hache, Michel McGraw and Nathalie Boivin.

The race director presented Timmy Basque with the Emerging Runner of the Year Award, a prize that Basque won at the last NB Race Gala. Congratulations, Timmy. He also encouraged runners to purchase the Race NB membership card for the privileges and financial benefits offered. All details are explained on the Run NB website.

For those who want to make an early start for the next race on January 5, 2020, all you have to do is communicate your intent to the race director. Until next time!