Winner beats the weather

Kieran McDonald weathered the storm as this year’s King of the Road champion.

Sunday’s snow-covered 10-mile course didn’t slow down the sleek runner from winning the Landrex St. Albert Road Race in a brisk, for the winter-like conditions, one hour and eight seconds.

“I didn’t want to do anything too crazy today but I did want to come here and win,” McDonald today the Gazette after crossing the finish line without even breathing heavy. “My plan was just to run with whoever else is going to go up and push the pace and then whenever it felt right I would kind of try and push the rest of the way myself.”

McDonald, 23, and Alex Petrosky quickly grabbed the pole position after the mass start while summiting Heartbreak Hill on Sir Winston Churchill Avenue and matched stride for stride on the southern section before the gap between the co-leaders started to widen before the five-mile marker on McKenney Avenue after climbing the Mission Avenue hill on the north portion of the route.

“I could tell he was slipping more and more than I was so I kind of just pulled away and then did my best to go as hard as I could without slipping on the ice,” McDonald said.

Petrosky, 32, watched in anguish as McDonald picked up the pace.

“Once we got through the downtown (St. Anne Street) and turned left and head on (Mission Avenue) that was when he was finding a little bit of extra speed,” said the runner-up at 1:01:45. “He looked very strong out there. I don’t think there was any doubt in his mind he was going to win it.”

The trailblazers for the rest of 10-mile finishers – 52 males and 53 females – basically snowshoed their way through the race conditions.

“One of the interesting things was we were taking very different lines through the snow and you don’t really think about that in a road race, that’s just more of a trail thing, but I noticed at times I was trying to find the bare areas where it was wet but not snowy and he would take the snowy ways. We had a different strategy so it was an interesting race as far as that goes. I think he knew what he was doing. He was sticking on the sticky snow and it worked,” said Petrosky of the Edmonton runner. “The conditions were not as bad for the first five K and then when they started getting ugly at about six, seven K he was just a pinch faster and he held that pace. I was pushing as hard as I could but it was just tough to find any speed and he just killed it.”

At the 9:15 a.m. start time it was -1 Celsius and the overnight flurries that covered the streets of St. Albert like a white blanket gradually increased, along with the blustery wind, as the race progressed.

“The whole last six months have really prepared most of these people for this race because we’ve all been winter running and trying to keep it together waiting for summer to roll around and then when we get hit with a little bit of a blast you honestly just kind of grin and bear it,” Petrosky said.

“It was pretty brutal,” McDonald added. “It could’ve been colder so I’m glad it wasn’t colder but the roads were really slick. It was actually better where it was just packed snow. When it was melting it got really slippery, like the last little bit where it was pretty tough.”

There were more toques than shorts on the course as the runners dressed for the weather.

“I had half tights under actual tights just to keep my upper legs a little bit warm and then just a long sleeve and a singlet over top was pretty good actually,” McDonald said. “If you have the toque on you’re OK.”

It wasn’t a surprise McDonald’s winning time was the slowest in the 32-year history of the 10-miler, surpassing the 56:09 effort by Paul Tichelaar, an elite level triathlete, in the 2008 blizzard.

“It was a lot slower than I went a couple of years ago but for this weather I’m not complaining at all,” said McDonald, the second-place finisher in 2015 at 53:33.

Petrosky was competing in his first 10-miler since placing 17th in 2014 at 1:00:12.

“I came out wanting to put up a good time and this isn’t even my best time even thought I’m in much better fitness and condition than I was a couple of years ago,” said the Edmonton runner. “It was just one of those races where you have to throw out your game plan and just try and take what the conditions give you and push.”

Petrosky likes longer races than the 10-miler and in past Leading Edge Physiotherapy RunWild events in St. Albert he placed second in the 2014 marathon at 2:51:42 and was third in the 2015 half-marathon at 1:19:12.

“It’s hard,” Petrosky said of the 10-mile distance. “I don’t like running fast anymore. I would prefer it would be longer.”

McDonald’s specialty is the middle distances with the Alberta Golden Bears.

“The 10-miler is kind of the longer end for me but it’s nice to come in and do that kind of stuff,” said the 22nd finisher in the 10 kilometres at the 2016 U Sports national university cross-country finals and at the 2017 Canada West indoor championships placed third in the 3,000 metres at 8:30.43 and 11th in the 1,500m at 4:02.96.

McDonald is the second Golden Bear in a row to be crowned King of the Road and the sixth winner since Travis McKay of Edmonton repeated in 2011.

McDonald’s former roommate, William Madsen, was the 2016 champion at 53:24 as one of 149 runners to go the distance and five did it in under one hour.

“I’m pretty happy to win it,” said McDonald, who works at the Tech Shop in Edmonton. “It’s kind of nice to represent my employer at the race that they kind of sponsor a little bit.”

Two years ago, when organizers flipped the course around so the south portion was the first stage of the race instead of the north loop, 139 runners finished the 10-miler and McDonald trailed the winner, Dusty Spiller of Red Deer, by 16 seconds.

“I was waiting the whole race for the big hill and then I realized at the end it starts at the big hill (going up Sir Winston Churchill Avenue), which makes it kind of easier on you because you’re not tired yet,” said the Hunting Hills High School graduate of Red Deer. “It’s just a really nice course.”

FAST TIMES: The road race, presented by Active Physio Works, featured podium finishes in the St. Albert Road Runners and Triathlon Club 10-miler by the following local male runners: Daniel Chaisson (1:12:18), second in 40 to 49, David Livingstone (1:11:05), first in 50 to 59, Donald Fairweather (1:14:32), third in 50 to 59, and David Veitch (1:22:28), Mujib Cadili (1:41:01) and David Robin (1:43:09) as the first-second-third runners in 60 to 69.