CANMORE – Local trail runners Jacob Puzey and Jessica McNally dashed to top finishes in the 5 Peaks half marathon on Saturday (Sept. 14) at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
After 20.2 kilometres of hills and cross-country trails, Canmore’s Puzey was first to cross the finish line at a time of 1:29:19. In second place was Calgary’s Eric Reyes and in third was Calvin Zaryski.
Puzey and Reyes battled it out for almost 10-kms of the race, which had the winner constantly looking over his shoulder.
“Eric and I were running together for about eight-k and I was breathing a lot harder than he was,” Puzey said. “I thought at any minute he was going to pass me … I think the longer stretches got to him at the end, but I was surprised, to be honest.”
Coming in first for the women was Banff’s McNally at 1:56:51. McNally finished 14th overall in her first ever half marathon trail race.
“I was just trying to settle into a pace that felt I could sustain it, but I was still going for it,” McNally said. “As I was going along, they were saying, ‘You’re in the lead,’ but whenever I turned around, there were women on my tail, so it was motivating to keep going hard.”
Makenzie Johnston finished second among women and Debbie Reed was third.
In the Enduro race (13.4 km), Canmore’s Duncan Marsden finished first overall at 57:32. It was back-to-back first place weekends for Marsden, who won the Canmore 10-km race on Sept 8.
Finishing second was Calgary’s John Laughton and Cochrane’s John Clubb was third.
Canmore’s Zack Zawada finished in first place for the enduro's 15-19 men and said it was neat to reach the podium.
“It was just to see what I could do and I feel I put something into it at the finish line,” Zawada said.
First for women was Calgary’s Kelli Zacharopoulos at 1:06:59. She finished eighth overall. In second place for the women was Elizabeth Carlisle and in third was Tiffany Dang.
In the Sport race (6.8 km), Canmore’s Mike Griffiths crossed the line in first overall at 37:01. In second was Liam Waites and third place went to Sean Waites.
Shelly Escobar finished first for women (fourth overall) at 38 minutes. Cindy Aiello was second and Colleen Curtis finished third.
In the kids’ three-km race, Calgary’s Tobias Navratil was first overall, Canmore’s Connor Deegan came second and Ava Evans was third.
For a full list of results, visit www.racedaytiming.ca.
