Laura Ankrum (l) won the Great Turtle half marathon on Mackinac Island.
MACKINAC ISLAND (10/29/05) - Heroes of a horror story might share an island with monsters; the unlucky ones might die of a bite for blood. Heroes of the Great Turtle race share Mackinac Island with a swarm of little monsters; the lucky ones just die to give away bites of candy.

Mission Point Resort on the island's east end plays host to the Great Turtle half marathon, 5.7-mile run, and 5.7-mile walk on the last Saturday of the tourist season every year. After that the island, likened to a turtle's back by Native Americans, shuts down for six months of winter.

Mission Point simultaneously plays host to an event billed in some quarters, with some hyperbole, as "The Biggest Halloween Party in the Midwest." Racing families with little monsters kill two birds with one stone by mixing the run or walk with trick or treat.

John and Anne Gault of Flushing, owners of Gault Race Management, founded the Mackinac Island Great Turtle Run 10 years ago. Gault said they selected the late-season date as optimal for both the race organizers and their island hosts.

"During summer the island is booked solid," he said.

In past years the Great Turtle attracted as many as 1,200 runners and walkers. Gault attributed a dropoff to 859 participants in 2004 to a scheduling overlap with the inaugural Grand Rapids Marathon.

Despite a repeat of the overlap, he got his wish for a recovery in 2005 when 1,020 men, women, and children finished the three divisions of the race.

Participants got their wish for pleasant weather with temperatures in the 50s accompanied by brisk winds.

Starting along Main Street in front of the resort, the half-marathon course followed Route 185 for almost three flat miles along the island's north lakefront, then climbed the turtle's back to wind for about seven miles through Mackinac Island State Park.

The course descended off the turtle's back to retrace its way along Route 185 and finish where it started.

The women's overall winner, Laura Ankrum of Crivitz, Wisc., covered the distance in 1:31:20. Ankrum said the flat of the beginning and end evened out the turtle's-shell up and down of the middle. But she didn't mind the rough part.

"I like the hills," she said.

Winning was old hat for Ankrum. "I've been doing this for 20 years," she said. She pointed to her 10-month-old child to explain a ho-hum time.

"This was just training for me," she said.

Whether the race of the overall men's winner, Stephen Eles of Sault Ste. Marie, was just training is best known to him. Eles covered the course in 1:14:30.

Starting along Wendell Street halfway up a slope west of the resort, the course of the 5.7-mile run and walk began with a challenging climb to the top of the turtle's back. The course angled toward the top of a limestone cliff above the resort, offering a good view of Round Island across the channel, then followed Huron Road into the state park, where it took to a trail.

The woods yielded gusts of wind and occasional views of the Upper Peninsula in the distance. Leaves fallen from hardwood trees carpeted the trail except where race organizers had cleared circles in order to chalk mile markers on the paved surface. In a bit of ghoulish comedy, mile 9 of the half marathon preceded mile 2 of the short course, and so on in alternation.

At the turnaround the leafy carpet frayed away as the course descended through softwood forest to Route 185 and the flat closing half.

Overall men's winner Anthony Pavicic of Sterling Heights covered the distance in 30:58; women's champ Andrea Collins of Grand Rapids recorded a chip time of 40:22.

Walkers accounted for 22 percent of finishers. Half marathoners, bearing down over the last three miles, wove among the walkers.

Women's walk winner Lori Lynn Lindquist of Montrose stepped off the 5.7 miles in 1:00:22; men's winner William Gardner of Fenton finished on her heels in 1:00:31.

A pasta dinner rewarded any participants who chose to spend the money. Between a registration fee, a camel quarter-zip fleece and dinner, an entrant could spend as much as $55 on the race, not to mention candy for little monsters.

Gault said race proceeds would go to a worthy cause. "Every year we make a large donation to the schools," he said.

At the stroke of 4 p.m., just as school let out on the pasta dinner, school let in on the cat women, princesses, ninja turtles, surgeons, skeletons, Harry Potters, butterflies, Darth Vaders, Yodas - on all the little monsters.

First they paraded through the resort. Next they performed the trick of knocking on doors of resort guests for treats. Finally they took a hayride around the island.

Between the Great Turtle and Halloween, racing moms and dads kept running for hours. MR