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Fast time for mother of four at RunWild

First race in eight years for Brandee Leblanc is Leading Edge Physiotherapy RunWild as fastest female in half-marathon
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TOP FEMALE – Brandee Leblanc of St. Albert was the fastest female in the Priority Printing half-marathon at the ninth annual Leading Edge Physiotherapy RunWild on Sunday in a time of one hour, 40 minutes and 31 seconds for 14th place overall. CHRIS COLBOURNE/St. Albert Gazette

Motherhood didn’t slow down Brandee Leblanc’s triumphant return to the competitive running scene.

“I haven’t raced in eight years. I just had a baby a year ago, my fourth,” said the first female in Sunday’s half-marathon at the ninth annual Leading Edge Physiotherapy RunWild.

As for Leblanc’s last race, “It was the half (marathon) when I was pregnant with my third in St. Albert (at the Fall Challenge),” said the 41-year-old mom of three girls and one boy, ages 12, 10, six, and 13 months.

Leblanc’s time of one hour, 40 minutes and 31 seconds ranked 14th overall out of 160 finishers in the Priority Printing 21.1-kilometre run/walk event.

"I just signed up for this a couple of weeks ago so I'm pretty happy with the result,” said Leblanc, noting her goal was 1:40 or less. “I’ve been somewhat training, but I kind of amped it up the last three weeks and just gave her.”

The second-place female was Courtney Ayton (20 to 29) of Edmonton at 1:41:44 for 18th overall, followed by Leanna Carriere (30 to 39) of St. Albert at 1:42:57 at 20th place and Athena Bennett of Edmonton (40 to 49) at 21st place.

Last year’s first-place female in the half-marathon was Amanda Van Brabant of Sturgeon County at 1:35:47 for 11th place out of 190 finishers.

Leblanc enjoyed the ups and downs of the RunWild course while riding the wave of momentum to the finish line.

“It’s pretty good. It’s a little bit hilly in some spots, but there are some pretty flat areas too,” Leblanc said. “There are some good spots where you get some speed going. Some of the hills going down, those were good for that.”

RunWild marked a defining moment for Leblanc as a runner.

“You get wrapped up in your life with work and kids and it's really hard to try and balance work and kids and training and I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it again,” said Leblanc (née Green), a Paul Kane High School alumna. “I’ve done lots of marathons and half marathons kind of all over. I did some cool ones, like in Paris and one in Vancouver, and I did a few half-marathons around here before so I want to keep going and see what I can do.”

The half-marathon result bodes well for future competitions for the owner of B Healthy Foods, a familiar vendor at the St. Albert Farmers’ Market.

“I’m hoping to keep up my training during the summer as well even though it gets pretty busy,” Leblanc said.

FAST TIMES: The top three females in the FenceLine Rentals 10-km run/walk were Madeleine Cummings (20 to 29) of St. Albert, the first-place finisher at 38 minutes and 36 seconds, Robyn Carignan (20 to 29) of St. Albert at fourth overall at 44:05 and Isabelle Poulin (U19) of St. Albert at sixth overall at 45:34.

The female podium finishers in the Leading Edge five-km run/walk were Karissa de Sousa (U19) of St. Albert at 22:24 for 18th place, Lisa Honish (20 to 29) of Edmonton at 23:27 for 23rd place and Christina Herbers (40 to 49) of St. Albert at 24:49 for 32nd place.

Visit www.zone4.ca for RunWild results.

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