The following comments by runners and organizers of the past 24 St. Albert 10-mile road races were compiled from the St. Albert Gazette archives.
1986: “I was watching the last guy plodding along from the steps of the St. Albert rugby club and I heard the train whistle blow and I thought, ‘Oh, no,’ but they all made it across the tracks,” said race director Bob Cross of the unscheduled freight train that almost interrupted the 10-miler.
1987: “Right now I’m not too thrilled with life in general,” said Anne Galloway, the fastest female at 60:24 for 19th place overall despite stress fractures in her shins.
1988: “I felt great out there. I had no idea I’d go that fast; I thought I’d come in around 57 to 59 [minutes],” said winner Brian Countryman, who set what was then a course record time of 52:34.
1989: “I was getting a little impatient. Ten miles is a long way to go all by yourself ,” said winner Peter Moore, who took the lead at the four-mile marker near Lacombe Park Lake en route to a 52:37 finish.
1990: “We’ve been biting the nail for four years. We knew sooner or later we would get hammered,” said race director Bob Cross as the fifth annual 10-miler got dumped on by snow.
1991: “It went really well. I felt strong today. I just glided along,” said winner Tom Boone, who broke the course record with a time of 50:55.
1992: “I was surprised to find myself out there like that. There’s a lot of competitive, very good runners. Just beating them is fantastic. I don’t win many races,” said winner Nigel Watts, who sprinted away from his nearest challenger after the six-mile marker to finish 52:28.
1993: “I didn’t catch him until after 8-1/2 miles. I tucked in behind him and caught my breath. I stayed right with him, and right about [near the finish line] he started kicking and I was having a rough time with 200 metres to go. I was sort of worried about it, but I kept digging and stuck it out with him. I guess I gutted it out a little tougher than he did,” said Dennis Colburn, the inaugural 1986 winner who was victorious in his second St. Albert 10-miler by one second over Adrian Shorter at 51:18.
1994: “This is the kind of weather [no wind and 13 C] you want to race in. It was ideal and I enjoyed it. I had a good time running this hard course,” said Kelvin Broad, the winner at 51:29.
1995: “I wasn’t sure how I would go, I wasn’t very fit for this race. But once I started, I got relaxed and felt good. The pace felt good and easy. It’s a lot of fun and I can see why people like coming here to run,” said John Bermingham, the oldest winner of the 10-miler at age 43 at 51:03.
1996: “It was a good, hard race. Everybody was working hard together and it was fun. The footing was a little rough with the late snowfall. There was still a lot of gravel [on the road] and we were slipping a little bit,” said Chris Nicoll, winner of his first 10-miler at 51:21.
1997: “I wrote a real big eight-hour exam [the day before the race] and I think I had a lot of pent-up stress, so it was real nice to finally get outside and not study and run. I guess I wasn’t thinking too much about the run, I was thinking more about the exam. It kind of made the run more fun,” said Sabina Parkes, the fastest female at 62:31 for 33rd place overall.
1998: “It’s hard to judge all three for toughness. Today was the best day for weather so that made it a lot more comfortable out there,” said Chris Nicoll, winner of his third-straight 10-miler at 52:09.
1999: “It was nice, really relaxing. Quite enjoyable, for the first one anyway. I would definitely do it again. At first I was really worried, thinking 10 miles was such a long way. It wasn’t really that hard at all to do,” said Catriona Morrison, who equalled what was then the second-fastest time by a female in the 10-miler at 58:32 for 12th overall in her first crack at the distance.
2000: “I was real late arriving for the race. I was late picking up the number so I had no idea who was racing until basically the start time,” said Paul McCloy, the winner in his first St. Albert 10-miler at 52:59 in chilly conditions.
2001: “It’s really nice to win it four times. I really like winning,” said Dennis Colburn, who set a course record with four race victories with a time of 54:28.
2002: “Kelsey [Kelemen] was working hard but I knew he was tired and I just thought this old dog still has a little bit of kick left in the legs,” said Dennis Colburn, who beat out Kelemen for his record fifth 10-mile victory at 54:40.
2003: “The whole way through I was thinking I should be in pain today because one year ago I was in a lot of pain. It reminded me of that experience quite closely,” said Sabrina Valentine, who relived the birth of her second child as the fastest female at 65:18 for 33rd place overall in frigid race conditions.
2004: “It was a good course. I had a good race. I worked hard. At eight miles I felt some pain and it was windy but I slowly kept on going,” said Aster Demissie, the runaway female winner, and fourth overall finisher, at 54:38 to break the long-time race standard of 57:07, set in 1990 by Val Chowaniec.
2005: “I had a little extra motivation today. I thought it would be nice to have my name down there for the 20th annual race and now nobody can take that away from me,” said Kelsey Kelemen after his sweet three-peat as the 10-mile winner with a personal best 52:22.
2006: “I just turned 40 and to be able to win here as a masters athlete is something I’m very, very proud of. Even though I’m getting older I still adopt that fitness lifestyle and to be able to race is just a beauty to enjoy,” said Sandy Jacobson, the top female for a record fifth time in race history at 64:09 for 38th place overall.
2007: “It’s a high, totally. I’ve always enjoyed running for course records. You’ve just got to get out and go for it,” said winner Matt Norminton, who broke Tom Boone’s course record by nine seconds with a time of 50:46.
2008: “It was a brutal, brutal day. It’s pretty much unanimous. This is the coldest, slipperiest 10-mile road race we’ve ever held in the past 23 years so kudos to everybody who showed up, especially the volunteers,” said race director Ian Laxdal of the nasty wind chill and heavy snowstorm that left runners struggling to identify the grain elevators on Mission Avenue.
2009: “I like to save my best for last. I had the lead in the last two miles and I just ran on a lot of excitement. It also helps that it’s downhill too [to the finish line],” said Brian Torrance, the winner at 54:25.
