The first St. Albert runner crowned the fastest female in the 27-year history of the 10-mile road race was awestruck by the accomplishment.
“Wow! That’s amazing! I didn’t know that,” exclaimed Shannon Maisano, after crossing the snow-covered finish line in one hour, three minutes and three seconds for 24th place overall Sunday morning.
“I’ve ran this race about eight times so it means a lot to me because I’m a St. Albert girl. I’ve lived in St. Albert for almost my entire life.”
It was also the first race for the 35-year-old Maisano after giving birth to her second boy, Rocco, six months ago.
“It’s really positive for me to do this well,” she said. “I just started training about three or four months ago so my goal coming in was to just run an even race and see where the rest of the season is going to take me.”
Maisano finished 27 seconds ahead of two-time champion Tara Struyk, the 27th runner to complete the race. Kerry Spearing placed third at 1:04:21.
Two years ago Maisano was the runner-up behind Struyk at 63:44 for 26th overall as the female 30 to 39 age group winner.
“I actually managed to beat my time from then by about half a minute so I’m feeling good,” said Maisano.
The Paul Kane High School alumna gradually pulled away from her nearest rivals after making a big move on the return leg down Mission Avenue.
“I was sitting in about third place for the first half and then I decided to just go for it,” she said. “The final mile was really cold and pretty painful but I barreled down and finished it off.
“It was definitely colder today than it was two years ago.”
Maisano (nee Toope), a noted soccer player back in the day, said she is a better runner now than before she became a mother.
“Absolutely. I think part of it is just the new perspective on life, maybe a little bit more positive about things. Part of it too is going through the process of labour and having a whole new pain threshold, especially after going through it twice,” said the part-time ice allocator for the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association.
FAST TRACKS: In total, 189 females completed the 10-miler.
Wietske Eikelenboom of St. Albert was the female 50 to 59 division winner at 1:09:10. The two-time defending female champion in the St. Albert Fall Challenge finished ninth among females and 57th overall. Two years ago she was the top female in the 40 to 49 division at 1:07:39.
For the second year in a row, Gerianne Zabolotniuk of St. Albert was the second-fastest female in the 50 to 59 division. Her time was 1:10:33 after going 1:14:06 in 2011.
Lynda Gilbert of St. Albert was first in the 60 to 69 category at 1:37:41 as the 118th female finisher for 331st place overall.
Grade 11 Paul Kane student Adeline Maunder placed second in the U19 female division at 1:10:03. Maunder finished 13th among females and 65th overall in the race. Last year she was the fastest St. Albert female at 1:11:12 as the U19 runner-up.
Maunder and U19 competitors Julia May (fifth female at 1:23:15), Ben Sperling (second male at 1:04:33) and Chandler McMurdo (ninth male at 1:15:31) are students of the advanced endurance class at Paul Kane taught by Marc Meunier, the 17th fastest finisher Sunday at 59:40. The winning time was 54:01.
Race results are listed on page 74, as well as online at www.resultscanada.com.
