This morning at the Utah Valley Marathon & 5k, Sojourners took many of the top places in both races, male and female. In the Marathon, Josse Tobiasson took 1st in the Overall Women’s (and a nice cash award ) with a great time of 3:15:40. Teammate McKenzie Montague was a close 2nd with a time of 3:15:51. Both ran great times for a hard course throughout the valley! In the mens marathon, Ryan Gurr took 2nd Overall with a time of 2:56:45! Bruce Miller also showed well for the Sojourners with a time of 3:33:15. Great job to the Sojourners marathoners! In the 5K, Amber Andrews placed 1st Overall for the women with a time of 20:01. Teammate Samantha Slight was 2nd Overall with a 20:16. For the men, Tyson Andrews was 2nd in the hardest division (19-24), and 8th Overall. Great job to the 5K racers on a hard winding uphill course (also the last 3 miles of the marathon…. ugh!) Props for all the amazing performances by Sojourners this weekend!

The Murdock Canal is arguably the best flat place to run off road in all of Utah County. The nice dirt trail next to the flowing water makes for a relaxing place to run that is a cooler, easier place to run than on the roads of the city.

The powers that be want to put the canal in a pipe and cover it and from our understanding, pave it. Let your voice be heard! Please attend the public Open House and Scoping Meeting this Thursday, April 10th from 4-7pm at Pleasant Grove High School (810 North 100 East, PG). This meeting is Open House style so you may come and go anytime and children are welcome, light refreshments will be served.

It is proven that running on soft surfaces/uneven ground provide multiple benefits to runners and drastically decrease injuries. Read the article on benefits of off road running here .

Here are the issues we would like to raise and have people keep in mind:

1) Will piping and covering the canal will be an unnecessary use of our tax dollars?

2) Will It will make it less scenic and paving the whole thing will add danger and destroy peace by encouraging boarders, roller bladers, etc.?

3) Running next to open water is about 10 degrees cooler and more enjoyable in the summer

4) Will piping the canal will change the habitat for summer water foul?

5) Soft Surface is the best for anyone to walk or run on. (Injury prevention, arthritis, joint recovery, less pounding, etc. One can run more miles off road with better recovery and far less injury.)

We would like to see runners everywhere support this meeting (bring your friends and neighbors) and also encourage the opinion that we prefer the canal to be left soft surface, and if possible, not piped. Remember we were originally told the Provo River “trail” would be left unpaved, but they paved the whole thing…let’s not let that happen again.

It may be wise for us to include a proposal that if paving is absolutely necessary, that half of the trail be left unpaved for runners, walkers, etc.

To gain more knowledge on the benefits of natural surface running and why the government should listen, read this article.

Runner’s Corner Employees  Amber Andrews, Danny Moody, Derek Moody, Mike Vick, Amelia Troutner, Golden Harper and Sojourners Racing Team Members: Ayisha Mitchell, Rena Chesser, Devra Vierkant, Ty Andrews, Darcy Gribble, and Ryan Gurr are gearing up for the 2008 Wasatch Back Relay to hold their title of Mixed Team Champions for the last two years. With a few teams put together to chase them, it’ll be an interesting year and a great relay. The relay starts in Logan, UT and winds through mountains and back road passages to end up in Park City, UT. Over 178 miles and 12 team members, this team looks like it could dominate the field once again as they work together to show the strength of a Sojourners Running Club and Runner’s Corner team! Good luck team! Hold onto that Championship Title!

Over the weekend, the Sojourners were seen all over Utah County running road races and doing great! In Provo Canyon, Ty and Amber Andrews had fun battling through a 3.7 mile half road, half hilly trail race in the freezing cold and strong canyon winds. Amber finished 1st for the women in a time of 22:38, and Ty was 6th overall for the men. Great job Andrews! Also, Sojourners were seen dotting the crowd at the UVSC Green Fever 5K, and the Boys & Girls Club 5k and 10k. If you have any results to share from your race, please post a comment, and we’ll get it up. Unfortunately, results from all three races are unavailable online yet, so we have no times/names. But great job Sojourners on getting out there and running well!