The following article contains information gleaned from the following stories in the Kamloops Daily News
Marathon another day in the park for Day
Bigger and better eyed for marathon

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Photos Day 1 | Photos Day 2 | Results
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The first annual 2012 Kamloops Marathon streaked across the finish line with flying colours. A total of 397 people, many from outside the city, participated in one or more of the four-featured races on Saturday, July 29 and Sunday, July 30.

Ryan Day, a youth worker from Cache Creek and member of the Bonaparte band, won the premiere full marathon (42.2km) race on Sunday, July 29, with a time of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 25 seconds.

Day is one of B.C.’s top distance runners. Over the last two years, he’s finished among the top five in marathon races in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and now adds his first place finish in Kamloops to the list. He writes a regular blog dealing with everything from the philosophy of running to nutrition and training. He is currently doing a master’s degree in indigenous government with the University of Victoria.

Second place went to Vancouver’s Nick Sunderland with a time of 2:44:45, and third was claimed by Rick Brewster, a professor from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Thompson Rivers University with a time of 2:47:43.

The women’s event was won by Catrin Jones of Victoria, B.C. She was the only other full marathon runner to break the 3-hour mark with a time of 2:52:43.

The half-marathon (21.1 km) was the most popular race with 189 entrants. The winner was Hans Aabye, from Merritt, B.C with a time of 1:15:32. Aabye also won the 5 km race the day before with a time of 17:10.

The Kamloops Marathon was a fund raiser for the TRU cross-country running team and generated about $5,000 in scholarships and bursary money.

Christopher Seguin, the VP of Advancement at Thompson Rivers University, which was one of the marathon sponsors, says the Kamloops Marathon was a clear success. “Our goal structure is to double every year for the next couple of years,” he said. “We had around 500 runners this year, we want 1,000 next year and, after that 2,000.”

The flat route makes it a potential qualifying track for the Boston Marathon and local organizers are looking into that possibility, hoping it would draw even more entries next year.