Portager goes the extra mile during half-marathon

A Portager breathed a sigh of relief crossing the finish line of the Manitoba half-marathon. Rachel Poblano was able to complete the race with no warm-up and an extra two kilometres tacked on.

Athletes from across the province gathered in Winnipeg on June 18th to put months of training to the test for the marathon and half-marathon. Poblano completed the 13.1-mile race but had to get started a bit earlier than planned.

Rachel Poblano.

"I was definitely a little bit nervous as, classic Winnipeg traffic, we weren't going to be able to get to the race on time," explains Poblano. "I had to hop out of the car about two kilometres early and run to the race. I got there just in time, so I didn't even get time to stretch or anything."

She adds, she's been training for the race since November, with countless trips over the Tupper Street bridge. Even with all of that training, it didn't prevent her from hitting the wall partway through the half-marathon.

"Maybe, about halfway through, I was feeling a little bit like, 'Oh, what did I sign up for? Can I really do this?' Luckily, we had some nice beverages along the way," notes Poblano.

She started running half-marathons for her father, who used to run them, but now has knee problems preventing him from running. With two half-marathons under her belt, she's excited to see what the future holds.

"My dad says that maybe I should stick with the half-marathon," says Poblano. "But, to run the full marathon, that would be quite the dream, so, maybe one day, I'll be able to get there."

When looking over the results, two people from Portage la Prairie completed the full marathon. Tim Nichols clocked a time of 3:55:24 and Karen Yanchyki also accomplished the feat in just over 5 hours.

A total of 14 people who registered Portage as their home completed the half marathon. Ferdi Van Dongen clocked the best time of the bunch at 1:55:54. Tamara Sawatzky had the best time of all the females at 2:09:48.