The 2018 Iron Horse mini saw around the same numbers of participants they had in last year's marathon, but a noticeable increase in local participation.
Event coordinator Monique Poulin said in the last five years, the numbers of local runners has increased from an original 20 per cent to over 90 per cent.
Of the 55 participants this year, she said 91 per cent of them were from the Lakeland region.
"Our goal was to try and make (the run) more local and bring people from the community together, and it seems like that goal is starting to be reached," Poulin said when comparing the first run five years ago to this one.
Poulin has seen growth since the beginning, not just the with race itself, but also within the participants.
"I have a few runners this year who ran as team members in our original mini, and now they've moved up to running this event solo, so it's nice to see (progression)."
A St. Paul team called 'I thought they said Rum!' finished the 42.2km trek in first place with a time of three hours and 38 minutes.
The solo division had a Wainwright podium sweep, with the first three runners making the drive out to St. Paul to participate.
One of those runners, Loisl Fortmuller, spoke to the Journal before the run.
"This is my first marathon, so I'm just gonna give 'er and keep on moving and see where it goes."
Fortmuller said he prepared for the Mini for two months, starting out training only to help a friend.
"There's another guy who was looking for a training partner, (and is) doing the death race at the end of the year. I started training with him and he was like 'hey, sign up for this race it's a pretty sweet race from around the corner,' so I signed up."
Fortmuller placed second, with a 3:45 time mark. Four minutes behind Alain Gorge's first place finish.
Hannah Cote, a solo participant from St. Paul also spoke about her thoughts before the race.
When asked what she was expected, she responded with a chuckle, saying, "Not to get injured."
She said she'd been training for the mini "basically since the snow melted."
It was her first time running the mini, but she had done the Iron Horse Ultra before as part of a team. She finished with a time of 6:34.
The Iron Horse Ultra this year takes place on Sept. 29, with the option to run solo or team up, and take on either 100km or 100-mile courses.
Team Results
'I thought they said Rum!" - 3:38
Team Rynderfull - 3:41
Honey Badgers - 3:43
Trail Pounders - 3:44
Kenya Catch Us - 3:53
Girls Just Want to have RUN! - 4:03
Team Mascarin - 4:31
Twisted Blisters - 4:32
Cabernet Queens - 5:11
Solo Results
Alain Goge - 3:34
Loisl Fortmuller - 3:45
Shane Mascarin - 4:31
Matt Pauliny - 4:52
Diana Lamoureux - 4:54
Jen McCracken - 5:10
Tatianne Pomerleau-Mahe - 5:45
Hanna Cote - 6:34
Ben Poulin - DNF
Richard Willkie - DNF
