Surprising finish for fastest female

The fastest female in the 32nd annual St. Albert 10-miler was surprised by her performance.

“My goal was just to get to the finish line with a smile on my face,” said a beaming Kelly Marcotte after completing the snow-covered course in one hour, 11 minutes and 10 seconds.

The St. Albert Catholic High School alumna placed 10th overall out of 105 runners, including 53 females, at the Landrex St. Albert Road Race, presented by Active Physio Works.

“This is an amazing race. It’s been around for so long and I never ever, ever would have imagined that I would be crossing the finish line as the first female ever,” said Marcotte (nee O’Toole) of competing in her third hometown 10-miler.

“The weather has been like this all three times,” she added. “It’s an April race so you never know what you’re going to get.”

It was slow going in the wet snow and brisk wind and it only got worse after the 9:15 a.m. start time.

“It was pretty slushy so the footing wasn’t great but it was still a great workout. The volunteers were amazing and running with a group of people kept us motivated and kept us going,” Marcotte said. “In terms of the snow and the sleet it’s been like that all spring. We’re used to training in it so it was no surprise today.”

Marcotte, 34, out-distanced Kacey Keyko (1:12:32), Alexandra Gordichuk (1:12:49) and Jen Elliott (1:14:32) – the next three top females in 14th, 15th and 16th place, respectively – after gaining ground on Gordichuk, the first female to cross Sir Winston Churchill Avenue onto St. Anne Street from Grandin Road after completing the southern loop of the route.

“At about four miles (going up Mission Avenue) I saw a girl ahead of me and I know her from previous racing and she’s quite a good runner,” Marcotte said of Gordichuk, the 2013 female champion at 62:47. “I was feeling good so I went in for the pass and I was able to maintain the lead so it was great.

“She’s an amazing runner. Anytime you can finish ahead of her it’s great.”

Marcotte’s time was the slowest for a female in race history but that’s a moot point considering the brutal weather conditions, similar to 2008 when the 10-miler was staged in a blizzard and Krissy Dooling was clocked at 68:41 as the first female for 14th overall.

Anne Galloway was the inaugural 1986 female champion at 58:34, Kendall Barker was last year’s winner at 66:03 and the course record of 54:36 for females was set by Aster Demissie in 2005.

“I forgot my watch today and that’s probably a good thing because the times were not personal bests by any means today,” Marcotte said. “Just getting out there and doing it with a group of like-minded people is what it’s about.”

Marcotte’s dad, Ted O’Toole, also plowed his way through the snow en route to the finish line.

“He’s done a couple of 10-milers. He did it last year and he said never again but he found out I was doing it so he signed up for it as well,” said Marcotte of the 97th place runner at 1:51:15 for sixth in the men’s 60 to 69 age division.

The 10-miler was a tune-up for next month’s Calgary Marathon for the occupational therapist.

“My parents live here (in St. Albert) so I often go for training runs when my mother takes care of the little ones,” said the Edmonton resident of her daughters of 11 months and three-and-a-half years. “When I get time I also do a lot of treadmill runs when my girls are napping in the afternoons.”

FAST TIMES: Podium results in the female age divisions for St. Albert runners included Christina MacKinnon (1:25:38) in second and Joanna Cooper (1:26:47) in third in 40 to 49 and Maureen Dwyer (1:20:27), Gerianne Zabolotniuk (1:23:28) and Corinne Fawcett (1:26:09) as the one-two-three finishers in 50 to 59.

Visit www.resultscanada2017.com for the 10-mile results.