Tina Lindgren-Hendra crosses the finish line with her friend Terra Walters after competing in the five-mile walk as part of the 50 Annual Canal Run in Hancock Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Chris Hendra)

The Canal Run celebrated 50 years of history on Saturday with its biggest event on record, but the most meaningful moment of the weekend had nothing to do with the 1,103 registered participants or the 50 years of history.

It was the moment Tina Lindgren-Hendra crossed the finish line. Last fall the Dollar Bay native was told she has pancreatic cancer. Since that time she had six months of chemotherapy. Was forced work remotely to keep safe as her body battled through it. In May she had surgery to remove half of her pancreas and the whole spleen. Two months later, there she was stepping through the finish line with childhood friend Terra Walters.

“I never thought I’d be at this point,” Lindgren-Hendra said as she fought back tears. “Especially after working from home all winter and not seeing people that was the most difficult. It feels great to be here again. Sometimes it’s so hard to believe that all happened.”

Doctors told her she’s in good shape, but it could be years before she is cleared of cancer. Seeing her posted on the other side of the Canal Run finish line had a little extra meaning for her and those close to her.

“Having cancer is long, difficult journey,” Walters said prior to giving a hug to her long time friend. “I’m so proud of you.”

The proud moments could be found up and down the board at the Canal Run this year with racers celebrating finishing their longest race, participating in their first ever race, completing their first ever sub two hours half marathon and for Clayton Sayen it was a wining his fourth Bob Olson 10-mile run. The Houghton native set a new course record at 49:49.5, and was congratulated by a pretty unique crowd.

Organizers of the Canal Run reached out to former event champions and welcomed about a dozen of them back to the the event. That included Gladstone’s Gary Whitmer who won the race in 1986 and Kevin Holmes who won the race in 1979, 1980 and 1981.

“These guys were studs back in the day,” Sayen said. “Talking to them about the history of the race is so cool.”

Other winners on the weekend included half marathon champions Kate Abbott of Houghton and Nik Thomas of Hancock, half marathon wheelchair race winners Dean Juntunen of Mass City and Jenifer Jennings Shaud of Houghton, 10-mile walk champions Kathy Marino of Hancock and Paul Halonen of Calumet, 10-mile female Cedar Gordon of Houghton, five-mile run winners Ingrid Seagren of Hancock and Alex Guy of St. Augustine, Florida, and five-mile walk champions Joan Rundman of Hancock and Joseph Vial of Farmington Hills.

Jake Jakovich, a war veteran from Calumet, won the five-mile blade run, and actually finished ahead of the rest of the competitors in his age group, over 70, in the five-mile run by over seven minutes.

Full results from the event can be found at www.canal.run.

The record number of participants was a 30.5% jump in registrations compared to 2024 (845) and a huge jump over the previous record of 969 in 2017.

While the numbers look great going in, the weather didn’t look promising from the start with scattered showers beginning in the early AM hours and running through the start of most of the races, but that didn’t slow down racers.

That wet weather didn’t slow anyone down though. Especially Lindgren-Hendra, with her newly named clean bill of health.

“Life is good,” she said, beaming with pride and a clear sense of renewed hope. “You gotta stay positive, just like my dad always said.”

Next year’s event is slated for Saturday, July 18, 2026.