The longest run for Sarah Bergeron was Sunday’s road race in St. Albert.
The fastest female in the 10-miler completed the course in one hour, one minute and 47 seconds for 21st place overall.
“I’m very happy,” Bergeron said with smile. “It’s the first time I run such a long distance. Usually I’m running 10 K, it’s the longest I do.”
Last November the University of Alberta science student finished 43rd out of 130 female runners in the five-kilometre final at the CIS cross-country championships in Sherbrooke, Que.
“This is my first outdoor race. It felt good,” said the second-team Canada West all-star in cross-country. “This winter I was running track. I was doing three K so what I did today was pretty good.”
A distant second behind Bergeron was Kristen Baker of Edmonton at 1:05:37 for 37th place overall.
“I was leading the whole way,” said Bergeron of her St. Albert 10-miler debut. “I was asking boys if I can I stick with them because I was by myself. People were nice. It was fun to run with boys.”
Her biggest challenge was the hills past the mile seven marker.
“It’s really hard the last two miles. It goes up and you think, ‘OK, I have to keep going because it’s hard,’” she said. “You still have two miles to go and you always think that it’s the end of the hill but no, there is a second one and then a third one so it was tough.”
Bergeron, 23, said the cool weather made for ideal race conditions.
“It was a good temperature to run in. I liked it. You don’t lose as much water as usual.”
The transplanted Quebec City resident was awarded $500 as the top female runner. Her boyfriend, Maxime Leboeuf, finished second overall in the 10-miler and received $300.
FAST TRACKS: The fastest St. Albert female was Grade 10 Paul Kane student Adeline Maunder at 1:11:12 as the runner-up in the U19 category. She finished 13th overall among females and 72nd overall in the race.
Susan MacDonald of Morinville was the first-place female in the 50-59 age category at 1:12:59. Her time was 14th best among females for 80th place overall.
In total, 190 females crossed the finished line.
Race results are listed on page 60 and online at www.resultscanada.com.
