Tara Struyk was slower than expected as the fastest female for the second straight year at the St. Albert 10-miler.
“I’m really happy to win it again but I ran quite a bit slower than last year,” said Struyk after striding across the finish line in one hour, three minutes and one second for 22nd place overall Sunday. “I was probably a bit fitter last year. I had done more at this point through the winter but it still worked out great.”
Last year the Edmonton runner was clocked at 61:32 for 18th place overall.
“My best time was three years ago at 60:20 so I always want to go under 60. It didn’t happen but that’s OK; I'll keep coming back,” said the runner-up to Chantell Widney’s 59:16 for the 2007 crown and Sandy Jacobson’s 59:54 for the 2002 title at 63:44.
Struyk, 28, joins Jacobson, Anne Galloway and Aster Demissie as multiple female winners.
“I’m always so excited for this race because there is something special about it. It’s really fun. The course is so nice. Usually the weather miraculously turns around for this weekend and today it was super nice,” said Struyk, who ran competitively at West Virginia University after graduating from Jasper Place High School.
While making tracks towards the mile-seven marker, Struyk held a sizable lead over Krissy Dooling, the 2008 female champion.
“I just kept keep looking forward and running as hard as I could and hoped she wouldn’t catch me,” said Struyk, who averaged a 3:55 pace through the St. Albert streets
Dooling eventually finished third out of 315 females in a field of 645 runners at 63:57 for 29th overall.
A strong surge pushed Shannon Maisano of St. Albert into second spot at 63:44 for 26th overall as the female 30 to 39 age group winner.
The 25th anniversary celebration of the 10-miler also made the sweet repeat extra special for Struyk.
“They made a bigger deal about the race this year so it’s pretty cool,” said the senior editor at Investopedia.com, a division of Forbes. “Maybe if it goes to 50 years I can run another 25 of them.”
FAST TRACKS: The top under-19 female for the second year in a row was Tara Fyffe. The Bellerose Composite High School student was the 14th fastest female, and 83rd overall finisher, at 1:10:32. Her time last year was 1:19:39.
In third place was Bellerose student Katelyn Moorhouse at 1:22:28.
Female age-group winners from St. Albert included Wietske Eikelenboom in 40 to 49 at 1:07:39, Susan MacDonald in 50 to 59 at 1:11:10 and Wilma Gonsalves in 70 and over at 1:55:16.
Race results are listed on page 58, as well as online at www.resultscanada.com
