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Inaugural winner blows away field

A throwback performance saw a familiar face cross the finish line first.

A throwback performance saw a familiar face cross the finish line first.

Duncan Marsden, the inaugural winner of the Millarville Run to the Farmers' Market Half-Marathon, turned back the clock to blow away the field by a wide margin once again five years later.

“I wasn't feeling my best this morning so I just wanted to cruise and enjoy it and see what happened,” Marsden said. “I saved a little bit for the hills at the end, the hills all come at the end so I wanted to make sure I was in control up until the last hill.”

Control would be an understatement.

The Calgarian was in a race of his own on Saturday, edging out his closest competition by nearly nine minutes to finish the 21.1 km track from Black Diamond's Oilfields Arena to the historic Millarville race-track in 1:16:56.

“You're always worried. You never quite know where the next guy is,” Marsden said. “I try not to look behind, but anytime there was a 90 degree corner I took a quick look.

“I would ask the lead cyclist if he could see anyone now and then and they never could. But you never quite know and never want to ease up and lose.”

Aaron Swanson edged out Marsden for the victory at last year's event. Nathan Kendrick posted back-to-back top finishes in 2013 and 2014.

“You're never satisfied as a runner so the primary thing is to win. Each course is different. This one has lots of hills so your time is almost irrelevant on this course,” Marsden said. “I'll be checking my time against previous times here. You tell yourself time doesn't matter, but secretly you're always checking the time.”

Marsden's time is a couple minutes shy of his victorious run in 2012, but you can throw those numbers out the window.

Every race, every day brings different challenges.

“We were lucky with the wind,” Marsden said. “There was a wind that could easily have been a head wind, but it was a cross wind most of the race so we got away with it.

“As is always the case it was perfect conditions for the race and after the sun comes out and it's nice and warm.”

The race to the finish line was much more competitive on the female side.

Allison Blackmore crushed her previous best time from two years ago in Millarville and edged out previous race winner Melissa Kendrick to finish as top female.

“It's very hilly right from the get go,” said Blackmore. “I wanted to set in a pace and just stay with that. I was a little behind and didn't quite do what I wanted to do.”

Blackmore managed to catch her stride and take the lead for good early on in the half.

“Melissa started out ahead of me for the first three or four K,” she said. “She set into her pace and I got a little bit ahead and kind of stayed there, surprisingly.”

Okotoks' Dynamic Duo crossed the finish line first in the relay race.

Foothills Composite alumni Anthony Cortvriendt and James Hanna's combined time of 1:31:14 was nearly two minutes clear of the field.

Cortvriendt posted a blistering first-half split of 38:12 to set the stage for the win.

Okotoks' Dan Marsh was the top local performer in the half-marathon as the seventh-place finisher.

Turner Valley's Peter Maksymiw was the top finisher in the 60-69 age group, the Big Rock Runners' Tom Hughes was third in the 50-59 age group.

Fresh off the Boston Marathon, Okotoks' Lori Toombs was second in the female 50-59 age group and Niki Doyle was second fastest amongst 40-49 year olds. Foothills Composite student Pedro Pardo was third in the 15-19 age group.

The sixth annual event featured 435 runners in the half-marathon, 204 in the 8-mile run, 105 in the 8-mile bun run and 48 teams in the relay race.

Most of those athletes then made their way over to take in the dozens of vendors on hand for the opening day of the Millarville Farmers' Market.

“It's great to see how much this has grown,” Marsden said. “Rick (race organizer Rick Charlton) has done a really good job in turning this into a real quality event. To finish at the farmers' market is great. I took my kids to get popsicles and all sorts of food.

“It was great.”

For more information on the event go to millarvillehalfmarathon.com


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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