Jasper’s Spring Run Off is being called bigger than anything organizers expected as the 26th annual run around Lake Edith and Lake Annette attracted a record number of competitors.

Jakub Sumbera of Fairmont Hot Spring, B.C. destroyed the competition, posting the best time recorded in the last ten years of the ten kilometre race, said Totem Ski Shop organizer Manu Loir-Mongazon. Sumbera posted a time of 35’34”37, beating out everybody.

The record of 32 minutes remains untouched since 1995.

Coming in second place overall (first in the men’s masters) was Jasperite Michael D’Antonio, with a time of 37’00”65, with Gerard Lewin coming third with a time of 38’45”52, only two seconds ahead of Richard Ireland.

Nadyia Fry, also of Fairmont Hot Springs, took first place for the women, competing in the open category with 42’07”76, while Monika Braun of Hinton finished 33 seconds later. The two beat all other women by a commanding three minutes.

Jasper junior runner Ethan Begley placed 25th overall, 20 spots ahead of the next junior runner.

But it wasn’t just the competitors’ times that were such a success this year. Last year, the race saw a record 156 racers. This year 244 running signed up.

“It was much, much bigger than anything we expected, but everything ran really smoothly with the staff from Totem and Source, plus the volunteers from the Jasper Ski Team. We managed to run that without any problems. The parking lot was almost an issue, but we figured it out, and there were only a few cars parked along the road,” said Loir-Mongazon.

At 244, Loir-Mongazon said they were at capacity for the resources they had, and everything ran smoothly thanks to all the volunteers and there was little garbage to pick up. Any more than 250 people next year would be too many, organizers said.

About 60 runners from Hinton accounted for some of the influx, Loir-Mongazon said, as the town has a running club and many runners are training for the upcoming triathlon in town, using the Spring Run Off as a training race.

Loir-Mongazon said the race couldn’t have been done without the help of Parks Canada, and said if the race was any bigger, they would have needed more help. Due to the number of runners, the awards ceremony (top male and female won a pair of New Balance shoes), had to be held back for all the runners to finish, resulting in only about 100 people (compared to 244 plus spectators) still sticking around at the end.

On the plus side, the race, a fundraiser for the Jasper Ski Team, raised approximately $1,400 for the team.