Winning the half-marathon at the Leading Edge Physiotherapy RunWild sets the stage for a season-ending fast time for Franz Castro-Wunsch.
“This is my season start run so I wanted to set myself a good personal best and try and beat it later on,” said the top finisher in the Priority Printing 21.1-kilometre run/walk in one hour, 31 minutes and five seconds during a chilly and dry Sunday morning.
“I really wanted to set the bar high and then push myself the rest of the season,” Castro-Wunsch said.
The half-marathon is the distance of choice for the 24-year-old Edmonton runner and his personal best time is 1:18.
“It’s my favourite,” Castro-Wunsch said. “Every year I do the Kelowna half (marathon) and that is a lot of fun. That’s my end of season kind of goal so I will try and get my best time there.”
It was smooth sailing once Castro-Wunsch grabbed the early lead and his nearest competitor was basically the lead cyclist on the route.
“I started out pretty strong and I was really happy with that,” Castro-Wunsch said. “I had good pressure from the guys behind me and it was really pushing me along.
“It was a nice and quick race with the temperature. It was a lot of fun.”
The number of finishers this year was 160, compared to 190 in 2018.
David Mercer (50 to 59) of Devon was the runner-up at 1:32:41, Rory Rogal (30 to 39) of St. Albert placed third at 1:33:54 and in fourth spot was Mark Longman (20 to 29) of Fort Saskatchewan at 1:34:25.
Last year, Longman finished fourth at 1:31:21 and Mercer was fifth at 1:31:45.
The winner was Trevor MacLean of Edmonton with the second-fastest time in the nine-year RunWild history at 1:17:53.
The course record of 1:15:39 was set by Sean Seville of St. Albert in 2015.
The half-marathon route started in front of St. Albert Place and weaved its way up Sturgeon Road to link with the trails beside the Sturgeon river to Kingswood Park before heading towards the Sturgeon Valley Golf & Country Club.
After a stretch on Bellerose Drive, the route continued into Oakmont before crossing the Oakmont bridge to rejoin the trails on the way to Riel Drive and Sir Winston Churchill Avenue for the last rush of adrenaline into the Victory Lane finish area between Lions Park and St. Albert Curling Club.
“It was a pretty course, so that really helps. I find that scenery makes all the difference. Running urban streets in cities isn’t very nice but along the river valley like that it's really good. It helps you go faster and keeps your mind off the pain,” said Castro-Wunsch.
The high school alumnus of the Strathcona Lords is a previous RunWild racer but never in the half-marathon.
Winters were spent studying economics at the University of Alberta before ramping up the half-marathon training sessions for summer racing.
“I really enjoy that Kelowna run and that’s where I got my personal best. That’s my strongest and happiest run so far.”
FAST TIMES: The podium results in the FenceLine Rentals 10-kilometre run/walk were Madeleine Cummings (20 to 29) of Edmonton in 38:36, Barry Fairhurst (40 to 49) of Fort Saskatchewan at 42:24 and Vincent Sauer (30 to 39) of Edmonton at 42:56.
There were 345 10-kilometre finishers – 45 more than last year’s total.
Dawson de Sousa of St. Albert repeated as the Leading Edge five-kilometre run/walk winner in 18:44 after going 20:10 last year.
de Sousa was joined on the medal podium by Jeremy Poulin of St. Albert at 19:17 and Easton Herman of Sturgeon County at 19:30 and all three were U19 age-division racers.
A total of 530 participants completed the five-kilometre and last year there were 445 finishers.
Visit www.zone4.cafor RunWild results.
This year's 2,112 RunWild registrations eclipsed last year's record of 1,691.
The biggest turnout was the 900-plus in the Cybertech Automation WildOnes Kids MaraFun, a 1.3-kilometre distance for ages four to 12. Last year's MaraFun featured 620 youths.
