This week marks the last home dates before the Sept. 17 semifinals for the division one women and premier division men at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
The SARFC ladies tackle Crude/West tonight in the Edmonton Rugby Union and the premier squad scrums down against the Strathcona Druids. Kickoff times are 6:30 p.m.
The women’s and men’s semifinals are Sept. 17.
In the women’s table, second-place SARFC (8-3, nine bonus points) is three points behind the Pirates (8-2, 12 BP) and six in front of the Clan (7-3, seven BP) but both teams have a game in hand on SARFC.
A win over fourth-place Crude/West (3-7, four BP) to close out league play would put SARFC in good shape for a home-field advantage in the semifinals.
The first 15 SARFC men (7-2, 10 BP) sit second in the Alberta Cup table as the top north team and the Druids (3-4-1, seven BP) are sixth as the third-ranked north team.
League play ends Sept. 10 for the two-time defending Labatt’s Cup provincial champions against the fifth-place Rams (4-4-1, four BP) in Calgary.
The Carr conference division one football season kicks off Friday for the Bellerose Bulldogs and Paul Kane Blues in the metro Edmonton league.
The Blues host the Jasper Place Rebels at 5 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park and the Bulldogs are in Sherwood Park to play the defending champion Bev Facey Falcons at 7:30 p.m. at the new Emerald Hills Regional Park behind Archbishop Jordan High School.
The junior and senior Bulldogs were in Kelowna on Saturday for exhibitions against the Mount Boucherie Bears and the scores were 20-0 for the juniors (undefeated four-time defending metro division one champions) and a 27-6 loss for the senior team.
The deadline to register for the 14th annual St. Albert Fall Challenge is Sept. 9 at www.events.runningroom.com.
As of Monday, 80 runners and walkers had registered for the 21.1-kilometre half-marathon and the 10 km and five km races on the Red Willow trails Sept. 11.
The start times at the Kingswood Park event venue are 8 a.m. for the half-marathon walk and 9 a.m. for the half-marathon run, 10-km run/walk and five-km run/walk.
Pre-registration is not required for the .5-km kids’ loop at 11:30 a.m.
The Fall Challenge is hosted by the Sturgeon Valley Athletic Club.
Visit www.sva-club.com for more information or to volunteer.
