For the second-straight year Travis McKay was crowned King of the Road at the St. Albert 10-Mile Road Race.
“It’s exciting because I love this race,” said the fifth repeat winner in the storied 26th year history of the oldest sprint race in Alberta.
McKay, 25, broke the tape in 52 minutes and 29 seconds. His winning time last year was 53:01.
“It was actually a lot harder this year,” said the University of Alberta law student.
Maxime Leboeuf finished 47 seconds behind McKay for second place.
“I didn’t slow down really, he just went faster,” Leboeuf said.
The taller McKay and shorter Leboeuf ran stride for stride past the 10-kilometre sign in front of the Perron Bridge while gearing up for the toughest part of the route.
“Max was right with me for the first seven miles. We were pushing each other hard,” McKay said. “It’s cold so we started off a little slower and eased into our pace and then right around mile four and a half we really started to go and from there on out it was a good race.
“The way we ran it was definitely a good workout.”
McKay gradually pulled away on St. Albert’s version of the Boston Marathon’s legendary Heartbreak Hill.
“Two-thirds of the way through the race they give you a hill to really test you,” he said.
The taxing stretch going up Sir Winston Churchill Drive and Levasseur Road took its toll on Leboeuf.
“I had a cramp and the body was starting to fall apart at the beginning of the hills. I thought maybe if I started it slow I might be able to catch up but he was actually increasing his pace,” Leboeuf said. “Probably halfway through the hill I thought it would be smarter to just let him go by himself, otherwise if you’re trying to stay with him for too long there is a chance you might be really, really tired and the ones behind you will pass you so I just slowed down a little bit.”
Leboeuf, 24, was pleasantly surprised by his effort of 53:16.
“It was a good race for me,” said the University of Alberta economics student.
“It’s the first race of the season so it’s not a bad start. Travis is very fit right now so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.”
The newcomer from Quebec City received a scouting report from his running buddies prior to his first St. Albert 10-miler.
“Even though I didn’t do it before, I was prepared. I spoke to a few people so I knew what to expect and what mile to expect hills,” said Leboeuf, who placed 22nd overall in the 10 km men’s final at 33:33 at the 2010 CIS cross-country championships with the Alberta Golden Bears. “I will be back next year, that’s for sure. It’s a great race. Great atmosphere. Good course. It’s definitely not an easy 10-miler. Either you’re going down or you’re going up. There are not many flat sections so you always have to work to run a good time.”
At race time Sunday morning the temperature was below zero with partly cloudy skies.
“Actually it wasn’t bad. At the 10th mile there was some wind but other than that it wasn’t too cold to run,” McKay said. “I’m very much a warm weather runner. I did my undergraduate [studies] down in Mississippi, which is very much warm weather. I think around 15 Celsius is generally what everyone runs their absolute best but as long as we’ve got enough clothing on it’s possible to run well in these conditions. I had long sleeves on today just because it’s probably two degrees right now, whereas last year I didn’t because it was a balmy and warm.”
After winning his St. Albert debut in last year’s 10-miler, the Harry Ainlay High School alumnus finished third at nationals in the 3,000-metre steeplechase at 8:45.12.
“That was a big accomplishment for me,” said McKay, who competed at the 2007 NCAA championships in the steeplechase for Mississippi State University. “I do these to get ready for track season. I will be running a couple of steeplechases either out in eastern Canada or somewhere in the central U.S. because I’m really trying to make the [World] University Games this year [in China]. It’s a multi-sport games for university athletes. I’m in my last year of law school so this would be my last chance at that.”
McKay pocketed $500 as the first-place runner out of 422 finishers, but he said the big winner was the St. Albert Roadrunners and Triathlon Club.
“They’re all-stars in putting on this race. They know exactly what they’re doing. Nobody gets lost and I’ve had it happen. I’ve been on road races and your route just disappears and you’re in a strange city,” said the Edmonton Thunder Track and Field Club member. “Here you know exactly what you’re going to get and you can just go and run a time and you don’t have to worry about navigating or anything.”
FAST TRACKS: The fastest St. Albert male was Paul Kane High School athletic director Marc Meunier at 59 minutes for 11th place overall.
In the high school category (three runners per team), the Jasper Place Rebels finished first with the lowest aggregate time of 1:13:17. The New Norway Spartans, last year’s champions, placed second at 1:14:21. In third place was the Paul Kane Blues’ trio of Ben Sperling (1:07:53 as the third-best U19 male), Adeline Maunder (1:11:12 as the U19 female runner-up) and Tatiana Bowzaylo (1:28:53) at 1:16.
Race results are listed on page 60 and online at www.resultscanada.com.
