A man from Steinbach says this year's Polar Bear Marathon in Churchill was one of their best races yet.

Albert Martens organizes the event through Athletes in Action. He says they had 20 runners compete on Sunday in the polar bear capital of the world. This year's competitors flew in from Italy, Texas, Vermont, New Zealand, British Columbia and Alberta. They also had provincial runners, including ones from Churchill, Winnipeg and even Steinbach.

"Martin Peters from Steinbach has been there before and he ran 50 kilometres and it was beautiful," shares Martens. "I think he was doing better than ever before, and he completed it. And wow, he's quite a good runner."

The Polar Bear Marathon offers three distances for runners. There is the half marathon (21 kilometres), full marathon (42 kilometres) or ultra marathon (50 kilometres).

Competitors in this year's Polar Bear Marathon (submitted)

This year's winners were Roberto Bettega from Italy who was the top marathon runner on the men's side and Samantha Powderhorn from Transcona, who ran the fastest marathon on the women's side. 

Martens says the half marathon runners will complete the event in about 2.5 to three hours, while the marathon runners do it in four to five hours and the ultra marathon competitors will take seven to eight hours. 

All things considered; Martens says they had beautiful weather on race day. He notes the weather can obviously be intimidating, but this year the temperature rose to -15 degrees during the race. He notes though the sky was clear, it was windy. Martens says the race starts with runners heading east into a beautiful sunrise. 

True to its name, there were polar bears spotted again during this year's race. In fact, Martens says one of their runners was stopped on the road by conservation officers in order to allow two bears to cross over. 

Martens says it certainly brings him joy to organize an event that brings so much excitement and satisfaction to the runners taking part. But he says another highlight for him again this year was certainly the banquet that took place on race weekend. Martens says this is a very informal event but a chance for runners and those involved to connect and get to know one another. 

"Friendships that are built for a lifetime, it's wonderful to see," he says. "It's a small little place of 40 to 50 people eating at the banquet and the runners connect with one another and that is a highlight for me."

He notes the biggest challenge is keeping the runners safe. The race provides a support vehicle for each runner, which Martens says offers a sense of security.

"To organize the vehicles to accompany the runner for 20 runners in Churchill, that is a big, big challenge for me," he says. 

Sunday's race was the 12th annual running of the Polar Bear Marathon. Martens says that is hard to believe, considering this was only ever supposed to be a one time event. He says several runners have completed this event numerous times. And, while most of the competitors come prepared, Martens says from time to time they will get a runner that does not dress for the conditions and ends up suffering from frostbite. 

All in all, Martens says this year's race went very well, referring to it as one of their best marathons ever. 

"I think it was surprisingly well," he says. "The runners again were so excited to come in. To see them, it's just beautiful to see them run in the subarctic."

 

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