For a guy who specializes in 160 kilometre mountain runs, Canmore’s Adam Campbell proved he’s still got the speed for a race one-tenth that length.
Co-owner of the 5 Peaks running series, Campbell won his own race on Sunday (June 14) at the Canmore Nordic Centre, completing the 16 km course in 1:10:06. Finishing nearly two minutes ahead of his nearest competitor, Graeme McConnell of Calgary, Campbell flew over root-strewn single track with ease, showing little sign of fatigue at the finish line.
“I live right on the trails here, so I jog these every morning,” Campbell said. “It was more of a push myself kind of day. You don’t want to ease up, because you never know who’s coming up behind you.”
Campbell has several 100-mile races coming up this year, but he also wants to lay down a few FKTs (fastest known times) around the Canadian Rockies. He plans to take another shot at the four peak challenge (Grotto, Lady Macdonald, Ha Ling and East End of Rundle in a day), challenge the Rockwall, and take on the Mount Assiniboine run.
“I’ve run across Canada and I think Banff and Canmore has the best trail running in all of Canada – definitely the best mountain running. It would be great to make this a mountain running mecca,” Campbell said.
Calgary’s Kim Collier was the fastest female on the day, clocking a time of 1:16:43. She’s training for the World Mountain Running Championships in Zermatt, Switzerland, and had a good battle with many of the top men and women in securing the win.
“I love these trails. I race them a lot,” Collier said. “I like trail running mostly because you’re competing against people, and not the clock. I was definitely not expecting to win.”
The diabetic educator finished ahead of Shari Boyle (1:18:55) in second place and Jessica Kaiser in third (1:21:14).
In the sport category, Mark Knoll won the 7 km run in 32:03, followed by Keith Bradford and Rhys James. Claire Sumner was the top female runner, clocking a time of 33:46. Sophia Nowicki finished second, and Kenn Brandon was third.
The race drew 550 competitors in three different races, plus another 60 children in a kids race. Race organizers changed the run this year to include one larger loop with more single-track options.
Jenna Sherrington won the 3 km race with a time of 9:05. Alexander Boucher was the fastest male, finishing in 9:12.
