A beaming Amanda Van Brabant was a ray of sunshine Sunday as the first female to finish the Priority Printing half-marathon at the eighth annual Leading Edge Physiotherapy RunWild.
“It’s awesome,” said the mother of three from Sturgeon Country. “It’s such a great day too. It’s so sunny. It was just a fun race.”
Van Brabant, 35, was clocked at one hour, 35 minutes and 47 seconds for 11th place overall.
“I finished under 1:36 so I’m very happy,” said the third-fastest female last year at 1:38:10 for 11th place as well. In 2017, Colette Agnew of Edmonton was the top female at 1:33:15 for sixth place and Christina Lynn of St. Albert was the runner-up in 10th place at 1:36:57.
Van Brabant was joined on the female medal podium by Emilie Josh (20 to 29) of Edmonton at 1:39:04 for 15th place and Brittany Vogel (20 to 29) of Coraopolis at 1:41:19 for 18th place.
Lori Anaka (40 to 49) of Edmonton at 1:41:44 and Maureen Dwyer (50 to 59) of St. Albert at 1:43:19 were also among the top five females in the 21-1-kilometre race.
Van Brabant’s game plan this year was “just to catch the lead and keep it” while racing among the females.
“There was one little rough spot at around 15 K but it was good today.”
RunWild was Van Brabant’s “first competitive race of the season, aside from a 10 K,” and her objective is to “get towards 1.30” for a time.
“To shave five minutes off would be great.”
Van Brabant, who prefers longer distances like the half or full marathon, is gearing up for the Edmonton Canada Day 15 km and the Edmonton Marathon on Aug. 16.
As for RunWild, “It’s a great way to start the racing season. I live close and I know lots of people running in it. It’s really fun,” said the Morinville Community High School alumna. “I have nothing but good things to say about it. It was an awesome race.”
Meanwhile, the leading females in the Rapid Cash 10 km were Robyn Carignan of St. Albert (20 to 29) at 43:38 for third place, Amber Clarke (30 to 39) at 45:21 for fourth place and Tara Willan (20 to 29) of Edmonton at 45:33 for fifth place.
The female podium finishers in the Leading Edge five km were Shannon Maisano (40 to 49) of St. Albert at 20:39 for third place, Michelle Brindza (40 to 49) at 22:42 for 11th place and Isabelle Poulin (U19) of St. Albert at 23:09 for 14th place.
Visit www.zone4.ca for RunWild results.
