By Laura Keil

The fifth annual Mount Robson Marathon took place last weekend – only this year the feature event was a 50km ultra-marathon.

Cormac Hikisch took home the top prize in the ultra marathon with a time of 04:03:19.0, followed by Francois Dagenais Cote in close second and Chris O’Sullivan in a close third.

The day included a half-marathon run, 12km and 5km runs as well as kids’ races. Some 350 people were registered this year, higher than any other year.

Several locals took part including Lorelei Schneider, Amy Pawliuk, Gail Burbidge, Nikki McNaughton and others. Burbidge came in first place in her category in the 5km race.

Organizers remarked on the large number of women who took part in the event and outnumbered the men. One of the organizers and volunteers Patricia Thoni said she isn’t sure how it compares to previous years but this year seemed remarkable in that respect.