Justin Brisbane CANMORE
Phillippe Albouy of Bragg Creek and Allison Ezzat of North Vancouver ran 76 kilometres over three days to win the second annual Kananaskis3 Stage Race, which had to find a new home at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
TransRockies organizers originally planned to hold the race on the Powderface trails near Bragg Creek, however the Nordic Centre is currently the only venue with enough open trail to host such a distance.
Although he lost his hometown advantage, Albouy finished second in the 13-km race (1:00:44), third in the 42-km marathon (3:45:42) and fourth in the 21-km half-marathon (1:51:49). That left him with a 17 minute overall lead over Dave Proctor of Black Diamond on the strength of his hill climbing ability.
“It feels good (to win),” Albouy said. “I do some trail running, but not many races. I’m a pretty good climber and good at downhills. I’m not too good on the flats, so it was perfect here.”
Between building a new house in Bragg Creek, Albouy is training for the Death Race in Grande Cache, so he thought the Kananaskis3 was a perfect training ground. He wants to defend his title next year, hopefully on the Powderface trails.
Ezzat showed tremendous speed throughout the entire weekend. The West Coaster is in Calgary for work, and joined the trail running race to augment her training. She and her boyfriend are racing the TransAlpine race in Europe, which traverses three countries over eight stages. She rolled her ankle badly in the 13-km race, but still secured victory. As a physiotherapist, she treated it quickly and didn’t let it get in the way of her win.
“It was a great time. There was beautiful weather and beautiful trails,” Ezzat said. “By day three, it was more tiring. I took a wrong turn at the end and the second place runner caught me, but it worked out fine.
Saira Reed was the top local runner in the three-day event. She finished fourth overall with a total time of 8:18:05.
Although all of the races were challenging, the 42 km trail run on Saturday proved to be the most grueling. Ezzat and Canmore native Amy Golumbia battled it out for the entire race. Golumbia crossed the line first, but took a wrong turn on the trails and was assessed a penalty, which allowed Ezzat to claim victory with a time of 4:04.38.
“There was lots of runable sections and beautiful trails. I’m from North Vancouver, so I’m used to more sea level, but I’m also used to hills and mountains,” Ezzat said. “Amy and I ran together for most of the first lap, but I passed her when I thought she took a bathroom break and kept looking for her. I was on my toes the whole time.”
Ezzat has been a runner for 12 years, has six ultra marathons under her belt, and says trail running is her favourite.
“It’s great to get out in nature. You can have somebody 20 feet behind you, but you feel alone,” Ezzat said.
Golumbia was still happy she accomplished the distance near the four hour mark (4:06:15 to be exact), as she is increasing her volume for bigger races down the line.
“I definitely accomplished my goal. I wanted to be around four hours and I think that’s a personal best,” she said. “I felt great the whole way. It was fun single track, but disappointing not to be at the Powderface.”
Golumbia tried to keep a conservative pace through the race as she’s rehabilitating her Achilles tendon, but a wrong turn cost her the race. She hopes to be in good shape for the TransRockies Six-Day solo race later this summer.
“I did a double lap on the first lap of one section. I don’t know where I went wrong. There’s lots of weaving in and out at that distance.”
Ryan Twa of Calgary won the men’s marathon in a time of 3:39:45.
“I was here last year and had second, so I had to come back. The course was good, muddy and conditions were fantastic.”
He and MitoCanada teammate Adam Kahtava battled it out for the entire race, with Twa taking the race on the climbs.
“I’m the uphill guy. He’s the downhill guy. You just get into that gear, diesel down and grind away.”
