Date: Sunday March 13, 2016 From: Warren Finlay Subject: 2016 Messier marathon from Maui I am reporting a 2016 Messier marathon for the site http://messier.seds.org/xtra/marathon/marathon.html, as follows. In an interesting variation of the Messier marathon, on the night of March 9/10, 2016 at La Perouse Bay (Maui, Hawaii) Luca Vanzella and Warren Finlay from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada each successfully observed 109 Messier objects (all but M 30) and instead of observing M 30 they observed the Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973-1975-1977) for their 110th object. They included the Running Man Nebula in their target list because in addition to the noted 110 observed objects, Warren Finlay also ran a marathon (42.2 km) the same night, completing the first "bimarathon" whereby between sunset and sunrise in one night the participant observes 110 deep sky objects and runs 42.2 km. See warrenfinlay.com/bimarathon.html for further details of this event. Best regards, Warren Finlay