NORTH OLYMPIC DISCOVERY MARATHON: It was made in the shade for 5K/10K runners

PORT ANGELES — The 23rd annual North Olympic Discovery Marathon started off Saturday under bright sunny skies Saturday with the vast majority of the runners more than holding their own against warmer than normal temperatures.

The 5K and 10K races and children’s marathon were run Saturday with temperatures by late morning nearly 70 degrees, the warmest NODM weekend in many years.

The North Olympic Discovery Marathon will wrap up Sunday with the full marathon from Blyn to Port Angeles, a half marathon from the Agnew soccer fields to Port Angeles and team marathon events. The North Olympic Discovery Marathon is put on by the Port Angeles Marathon Association with title sponsors the Peninsula Daily News and Sequim Gazette.

The weekend is the crown jewel of the Run the Peninsula series, which has races at the Elwha River Bridge, the Sequim Railroad Bridge, the Spruce Railroad Trail in October and in Blyn in December for the Jamestown S’Klallam Glow Run.

Times were slightly up this year — only two 10K runners cracked 40 minutes when most years six or seven runners have sub-40 times — perhaps because of the temps.

More than 560 runners took on the 5K and 10k, just over 200 in the 10K and 364 in the 5K. Out of all those runners, only two or three were in any discomfort at the finish line and even then, it appeared to just be cramps and upset stomachs.

The winner of the 10K was Jack Weaver of Bremerton in 36 minutes, 2.12 seconds.

“It was hot, but the course is beautiful,” he said. “There was a good amount of shade and the volunteers were very supportive with the water.

“I managed the heat well and executed my plan,” Weaver said.

Winning the women’s 10K in 47:24.7 was Cecelia Maginot of Chicago, who has loved ones from this area. She said the route along the Olympic Discovery Trail and the Strait of Juan de Fuca reminded her very much of the lakefront trail along Lake Michigan in Chicago.

“It was shady most of the course,” she said.

As is often the case, young runners dominated both the 5K and the 10K. Finishing second in the 10K was Justin Garrett, 18, of Port Angeles, in a time of 39:20.24. An impressive third-place finish was by Mason Mai, 14, in 41:27.81.

The winner of the 5K in a sprint to the finish was Port Angeles High School cross-country and track runner Easton Dempsey, 17, who won the first Run the Peninsula event he had competed in.

It was no mean feat, as Dempsey held off Sarah Paquet of Bothell, who completely blew away the entire field in the Sequim Railroad Run 10K in April. Dempsey won the event in a solid time of 18:30.83. Paquet was right behind at 18:40.7. She was nearly a minute ahead of the third-place runner, Emmett Steuwe, 14, of Frazee, Minn., who had a time of 19:36.41.

Dempsey said the heat didn’t bother him. “It was definitely shady, it was pretty nice,” he said.

Paquet picked up her second straight winners’ poster for winning the women’s race. “I’m feeling pretty good. That was nice and fun,” she said.

Start time for the 5K and 10K was 11 a.m. Fortunately for the marathon runners, start time will be at 7:30 a.m. when temps will still be pretty cool. The start time for the half-marathon is 8:30 a.m.

Top 10 runners in each race, plus marathon, half-marathon and team marathon winners will be posted online at www.peninsuladailynews.com on Sunday and in Monday’s e-edition.