MAPLE CREEK — Two years ago around this time, Ty Heron’s experience as a runner more or less consisted of a few laps around the base paths during ball season each summer.
May 17 he completed his fourth race of at least a marathon distance, placing fourth overall and second among men in the Reesor Mountain Marathon – one of two long-distance races held at Historic Reesor Ranch, southwest of Maple Creek.
The 38 year old from Cabri finished the hastily revised, off-road course in 4 hours 18 minutes 16 seconds, just over nine minutes back of Saskatoon resident James Beer, who won the overall event.
“I was a couch to marathon guy,” Heron told SaskToday, explaining that he was looking for an activity that would mesh better with family life as his children – now aged six and three – continued growing.
Hockey, baseball and golf weren’t going to fit Heron’s schedule the way he liked, so he found inspiration in an uncle who began competing in Ironman triathlons as a 50-something.
“Running was something I could find time to do whether it’s early in the morning or late at night, and still have family time, and you still can do your job,” said Heron.
And eight months after he started lacing up the runners with intention, Heron found himself in Mesa, Ariz., for his first marathon.
There, he completed his first (and so far, only) road marathon, finishing in 3:25:04.
He then switched to trail running, finishing a 50-kilometre race in Arizona and another at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park in advance of this year’s Reesor run.
“Everything about it was awesome,” said Heron, whose experience also included camping on site in the back of a rented cargo van with his two kids. “You heard a few comments where it was like ‘It’s too bad they had to change’ (the course), but once it was all said and done, the course was perfect.”
No rain, no gain
Last-minute changes to the course for both the Mountain Marathon and the event’s namesake Reesor 50 (as in miles, not kilometres) were deemed necessary after close to a half-inch of rain fell on the area in an hour on May 15.
That was the post-race report from Jeff Dudar, who served as race director for the event’s inaugural running alongside his brother Warren under the Prairie Sky Running banner.
“Initially we had set the course and flagged it all, got it all ready, as a 50-mile loop,” said Dudar. “For the 50-mile loop you ran out around Reesor Lake into the Alberta side of the park then, originally, would come back in and run a 40-kilometre loop in the Saskatchewan side of the park. And the Sask. side of the park was originally set as the marathon course too.”
Then came the rains.
“And all the roads leading back, all the roads we used to access our Saskatchewan side of the park, were impassable and ... they wouldn’t be drivable for race day, so what we ended up doing was create an out-and-back using the same course, and both the 50-mile runners and the Reesor Mountain Marathoners ran the same thing.”
That meant one out-and-back to the lookout point just west of Reesor Lake for the marathoners and two back-and-forths for the ultramarathoners.
It also meant an added degree of difficulty that wasn’t originally in the forecast – something multiple competitors who spoke to SaskToday agreed was actually pretty enjoyable.
“Arguably this course, the plan B course, would be harder than the original course because the original course, there was more running on the wider Trans Canada old road trail and old quad trails and lumber roads, mill roads,” said Dudar.
“With the plan B course, there’s only about two kilometres of running that’s not on single track and so it was actually just a beauty of a course.”
Sequel announced
Other local competitors in the Mountain Marathon included Blake Bennett of Leader, Emmett Harrison of Swift Current and Tracy Philp of Waldeck.
Gull Lake’s Jon Kirby was the top local male finisher in the Reesor 50, completing the course in 11:42:43, while Eston’s Jocelyn Nash was the top local female, crossing the finish line in 16:10:37.
Other local competitors in the 50-miler included Gareth Strydon, Haden Harrison, Jamie Lombard, Ken Duncalfe, Michael Rutherford and Rej Stringer, all of Swift Current.
They were among 151 competitors in all who arrived at Saturday’s start line – 84 for the marathon and 67 for the ultra.
And for those who recover from this year’s event in time, they’ll have a chance to do it all again next year.
“There’s going to be a sequel,” Dudar said. “The ranch and the Reesor family was really happy with how things turned out, so before we left, we were chatting with Jason (Reesor) about Year 2 and what that might look like.
“We’re just trying to pin down some dates and we got a lot of great feedback on our plan B course so what we haven’t decided is if we’re going to revert to Plan A.”
