Nobody was quicker than Jason Yorke in Sunday’s half-marathon race but the winning time was slower than he expected.
“I wish I would’ve ran a little faster but it is what it is,” Yorke told the Gazette after finishing the 21.1-kilometre distance in one hour, 25 minutes and 37 seconds at the RunWild Leading Edge Marathon.
The Edmonton mapmaker led from start to finish without fear of being passed.
“I never saw really anybody the whole time. I just kept going,” he said. “It was nice to have the bike there to follow the whole time. It was fun.”
The fastest female was Ailsa MacDonald of St. Albert at 1:31:09 for eighth place overall out of 541 finishers.
“It’s a personal best,” said a delighted MacDonald. “I was hoping to break 1:30 but with the wind and the course that was a good time for me.”
Only a stiff breeze kept MacDonald from going faster.
“The wind was tough so I was a bit slow in the second half. It was challenging but it was still a good run,” said the power engineer.
The course layout brought out the best in MacDonald.
“I felt good the whole race,” she said. “The course was good. I like the one loop because it doesn’t get boring.”
Yorke, 26, had no trouble running the route.
“I found it pretty easy. It wasn’t too bad of a course. It was nice. It was rolling instead of flat. It made it a little more fun,” he said. “It was really only windy out on the long stretch.”
It was his fourth race of the year, and all were various distances, including his 20th-place finish at the St. Albert 10-miler last month at 1:01:40.
“I thought it would be a fun race to do so I signed up about a month ago and here I am,” said Yorke, who moved out west after completing university in Ontario. “I don’t have any specialties right now. [Half-marathons] are fun so I just usually do them for fun.”
MacDonald, 30, used the St. Albert race as a tune-up for the Calgary Marathon in two weeks.
“It was local, it was a good time and it worked with my work schedule,” she said of her second race of the year after doing the St. Patrick’s Day 10 km. “It was awful because of the weather.”
MacDonald gave the organizing committee two thumbs up for a job well done.
“Good support crew and good volunteers so it was awesome.”
Rounding out the top-three finishers were Nicholas Bartell of Prince George, B.C. at 1:26:26 and Robert Brunelle of Edmonton at 1:29:51.
The second-fastest female was Jessica van Soest of Edmonton at 1:35:56 for 12th place overall.
FAST TRACKS: Finishing one-two-three in the five km race were Dylan Green of St. Albert at 21:27, Shae Kelly of Sturgeon County at 22:23 and Glynis Milne of Edmonton at 22:36. Overall there were 300 finishers.
The three fastest runners in the 10 km race were Jenesse Rokos of St. Albert at 36:07, Paul Kane High School teacher Josh Machney at 38:41 and Adam Hill of St. Albert at 40:54. Total finishers were 323.
The top 32 half-marathon, five km and 10 km finishers are listed on page 59. Overall results are online at www.resultscanada.com.
