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Continental athlete lands in Saranac Lake

Bonnie Hallinan runs a marthon on King Georges Island in Antarctica in 2015. (Photo courtesy Bonnine Hallinan)

SARANAC LAKE — Bonnie Hallinan has traveled all over the world pursing an active, athletic lifestyle while enjoying the outdoors.

A 67-year-old from Danvers, Massachusetts, Hallinan has completed two Ironman triathlons, including one in Lake Placid, she’s a Boston marathoner, and perhaps most impressively, she’s a member of the Seven Continents Club, an honor that goes to those who complete a marathon on every continent on our planet.

This weekend, Hallinan will be in Saranac Lake to pursue another outdoor adventure when she participates in the Snowshoe World Championships in this village. While Hallinan is in town, she’ll stay with her daughter Lindsay, who attended Paul Smith’s College and now lives in Saranac Lake.

“I saw that Saranac Lake was having that big event. Lindsay lives up there, so I decided that gave me a nice chance to go and see her,” Hallinan said on Monday. “She’s been a great traveling companion over the years, and I’m excited to pay her a visit.”

Hallinan has always been energetic and athletic. During her college days, she was a member of the University of Massachusetts Amherst tennis team, and said she also enjoyed playing volleyball there on an intramural level. But her affection for endurance sports didn’t really blossom until she was in her 40s. Eventually, Hallinan discovered she was pretty competitive when it came to running.

Bonnie Hallinan poses for a photo in Lake Khovsgol, Mongolia following a sunrise to sunset marathon. (Photo courtesy of Bonnie Hallinan)

“I’ve always been an athlete,” she said. “I went to school a long time ago when there weren’t a lot of opportunities for women. I think women such as myself were considered tomboys back then. I really started running just to stay active after college, and I started getting more competitive in my late 40s and into my 50s.”

Growing up in the Boston area, Hallinan recalled that women never ran in the earlier Boston Marathons. The big women’s race back then, and one that still exists today is the Bonnie Bell 10-kilometer run, which takes place on Columbus Day. Hallinan first participated in the Bonnie Bell in 1976, and 30 years later, she found herself as one of the tens of thousands of runners pounding the pavement in the 2006 Boston Marathon.

“By then, I kind of branched off into the triathlon thing, and I just wanted to get a marathon under my belt and then do the Ironman,” she said. “The Boston Marathon was my first marathon, and it was so exciting. A year later, I did the Ironman Lake Placid, and did another Ironman in Florida (Panama City) in 2008. The ball kept rolling, and it still is.”

Hallinan eventually stepped away from triathlon, and instead, found a new adventure to chase — completing at least one marathon on each of the seven continents of the world. And with a North American race already in the books, she began the remainder of her quest in 2012 in Iceland at the Clavichord Marathon. In 2015,

Hallinan’s pursuit led to Antarctica, where the world’s southern-most marathon is held each year. Hallinan said about 200 people participated in that event, with 100 runners racing at a time over a two-day stretch. She got ill on the journey there, but was still able to complete the race.

Bonnie Hallinan poses for a photo in front of Ayers Rock in Australia where she completed her final marathon to become a member of the Seven Continents Club. (Photo courtesy Bonnine Hallinan)

“It was a long trip,” she recalled. “It was a 10-day trip from the bottom of South America. I was seasick and had pneumonia. Fortunately, I felt better when it came time to race. It was actually quite warm there — in the low 30s.”

The trip to Antarctica was the only marathon journey that Lindsay did not join her mother on. She was at the other six, including their adventure to Australia last year where Bonnie became a member of the Seven Continents Club after completing the Outback Marathon.

“My goal was to do them all before I was 70, so it’s nice that I got it done early,” Hallinan said.

Hallinan also has some experience snowshoe racing, and said she’s actually a member of a club in the Boston area. The problem there, and the same one that unfortunately looks like it will greet racers here this weekend, is conditions aren’t always very good. Her biggest snowshoe event to date was participating in the United States national snowshoe championships in 2015 in Vermont, where she placed fifth in her age group.

“I get the chance to snowshoe around Boston occasionally, but it’s usually sketchy,” she said. “We have a few local races, and there are some in New Hampshire that I’ve done. They started a local snowshoe club a few years back, and it’s a lot of fun. Our snowshoes came from the Canadian Special Olympics team.”

Hallinan has few expectations when she races Saturday in the 10-kilometer event, stating that her only aim is to “not finish last” and have fun.

“I don’t know what the competition will be like,” she said. “I just want to have a respectable time and not be at the end of the pack.”

Hallinan said her most enjoyable type of endurance athletics is trail running and added that she really likes ultra-trail running events.

“For me, it’s all about being out in nature with like-minded people,” she said. “I love being in the woods, I love being outdoors, and I love being active. It’s really meditative.”

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