Rob Wheatley was walking on sunshine while winning his sixth-straight Hypothermic Half Marathon in Edmonton.
The St. Albert power walker completed the 21.1-kilometre route around the Highlands Golf Club in two hours, 32 minutes and 49 seconds on a recent Sunday morning.
“My time surprised me because I honestly thought I would get similar to what I had the previous year,” said Wheatley of his 2:42:43 result in 2014 after going 2:34:40 the year before. “I was about a couple of seconds off my personal best, which was at a RunWild race about two or three years ago.”
There were 34 finishers, compared to 20 last year, and Wheatley was one of six males in the annual Running Room competition.
The runner-up was Oscar Quintanilla of Edmonton at 2:36:36.
Wheatley, 47, averaged 7:15 minutes per km this year.
“It was really icy. It was like walking on a rink,” said the Paul Kane High School alumnus. “You want to go fast but you want to be careful too. I did push myself so when there was no ice I just kept up the same pace and really pushed myself and when I got to the ice I just kind of gingerly stepped along but still tried to keep that same pace.”
The weather was better than expected.
“It wasn’t as cold as last year. The sun was out and there wasn’t much of a wind,” said Wheatley, who was decked out in light pants (not wind pants like last year), long johns, long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts, coat, neck warmer, hat and glasses.
“It was just the footing that was kind of iffy. I had to continually look down at where I was stepping or else I would’ve slipped for sure. There were really high ruts in the road and you’ve got certain areas where you could walk and other areas where it was pretty icy and if I were to have looked up then I would’ve slipped and there were a couple of times I actually did that.”
Wheatley put his best foot forward without missing stride for the sixth consecutive year. His winning streak started in 2010 with a time of 2:37:55.
“It’s quite the honour. I feel very humbled,” he said. “I kind of had it in my head that it was going to go the same as the previous years. I had that feeling I was going to take first but it was really the time I got that really took me by surprise because I didn’t expect to do as well as I did.
“Towards the end I was really, really pushing myself to maintain the pace that I had already set and just keep going. I was literally grasping for straws. I actually had the same songs going through my head to try and motivate me to keep going. I would have things like the Rocky training montage going through my head and that kind of pushed me a little further and then I would say I’ve got this much further to go and I can do this so I just went for it.”
The shipper/receiver for Benjamin Moore Paints switched to power walking after running wreaked havoc with his knees.
“With walking it’s more of a controlled stride and there is a lot less impact. I’ve been doing it for years and I also seem to be good at it. I was told you should get involved in some of these races and get a medal for it,” Wheatley said. “It’s the same as running, the only difference is you have to keep one foot on the ground at all times and that’s really how I look at it. I go as fast as I want as long as I’ve got that one foot always on the ground.”
