The Landrex St. Albert Road Race is good to go Sunday morning despite the threat of snow in the forecast.
The projected wet and windy weather shouldn’t slow down the 32nd annual 10-miler and the third annual 10- and five-kilometre races, as well as the one-km fun run for kids.
“It’s shaping up to be a true Canadian road race with a crisp minus-two Celsius forecast with a possible dusting of snow for our 9 a.m. race time,” said organizer James Dean of Active Physio Works. “But it should warm up slightly by 11 a.m. for the kids’ fun run start.”
On the eve of Friday’s online registration deadline, the confirmation totals included 122 for the St. Albert Road Runners and Triathlon Club 10-miler, 70 for the Tech Shop 10 km, 83 for Sturgeon Valley Athletic Club five km and 120 for the Panago kids’ one km.
Runners can still sign up Sunday morning before 9 a.m. at the St. Albert Curling Club, the race day venue headquarters.
This is the third year for the start/finish line location on Sir Winston Churchill Avenue in front of the curling club and the start times for the road race, presented by Active Physio Works, are 9 a.m. for the 10-miler, 9:05 a.m. for the 10 km and 9:10 a.m. for the five km.
The 10-miler route, a rolling course that winds into a figure-eight through the Sturgeon River valley and the Lacombe and Grandin neighbourhoods, was switched around two years ago. The runners now tackle the southern loop first – summiting the Heartbreak Hill portion on Sir Winston instead of tackling the mile seven section in past races – before turning left onto Levasseur Road and then left onto Grandin Road for the downhill descent through St. Anne Street towards the original first section of the race. After crossing the Perron Street Bridge, runners swing left onto Mission Avenue for the north portion of the course that veers off onto McKenney Avenue before making a left onto Dawson Road and then another left onto Giroux Road before eventually whipping around Larose Drive to begin the return leg down Mission and past St. Albert Place to the finish line.
The 10- and five-km races will head in the opposite direction of the 10-miler by going east on Sir Winston Churchill and then left on St. Anne Street while following the same 10-mile course in terms of the north section.
Visit www.stalbertroadrace.com for more information.
Last year’s 10-miler featured five finishers in under one hour and the winner was William Madsen of Edmonton in 53 minutes and 24 seconds as the 21st King of the Road Champion in race history.
The top 25 runners included four females, led by Kendall Barber of Edmonton at 1:06:03 for 13th place.
Overall, 72 males and 77 females completed the 10-miler, compared to 239 finishers (108 males and 131 females) in 2015.
There were also 44 finishers in the 10 km and 49 in the five km last year.
All proceeds from the road race will benefit You Can Ride 2, an Edmonton Bicycle Commuters program which adapts bicycles for children with disabilities through its free learn-to-ride initiative.
Medals will also be awarded in a variety of age groups and increments in all four race events
