More than half way through the Woody's RV World Marathon, Red Deer's Kristen Spady began to feel the pain.
"My training was awesome and I had a great coach, but I hit a wall in the last 15K. It was hard. It was really hard," Spady said.
But she was able to push through that pain and finish with the best time among all female competitors at the 24th edition of the annual marathon, which began and ended in front of Camille J. Lerouge School in Red Deer on Sunday.
"I'm glad I was able to finish. It's rewarding to be able to win even though I struggled. I've done the Woody's half-marathon many times, but never the full one. This was my first-ever full marathon," said Spady.
Does she plan on running another full marathon in the future?
"We'll see. I'm hurting pretty hard after this one. I'd love to come back and do as well as I had planned. Hopefully I'll be back," she said.
Rounding out the top three female runners in the full marathon were Samantha Warawa (3:17:57.576) and Melissa Ray (3:22:24.176). The top three male runners were Daylan Wizniuk (2:43:55.416), Nathan Olson (2:47:10.156) and Adrian Schermers (2:47:46.999).
In addition to the full marathon, the event featured a half-marathon and a 10-kilometre race.
The top three female half-marathon runners were Andrea Lammers-Pottage (1:44:40.829), Erinn Smith (1:46:01.595) and Tara Snow (1:46:44.695). The top three male half-marathon runners were Noah Arychuk (1:18:39.957), William Allaway Brager (1:19:38.548) and Tristin MacDonald (1:25:09.532).
In the 10K race, the top three male runners were Cody Mills (40:04.964), Zackery Chalmers (41:02.970) and Devin Woodland (41:44.384). On the female side, Chloe Turner (37:59.996), Bea Swiegocka (42:00.556) and Heather Hurdle (44:50.099) finished with the top three times.
Between the three races, about 700 people participated in the 2024 Woody's RV World Marathon, said race director Brad Meding.
"This event is important to the community," Meding said.
"We have countless volunteers throughout the course, as well as those at aid stations assisting the runners. ... We have runners from across Western Canada – there's even the odd international inquiry from people who happen to be in the area. We welcome them all."
Last year's full marathon had to be cancelled due to smoky conditions – shorter-distance runs went ahead as planned, so those who were scheduled to participate in the full marathon, raced in the half-marathon instead. Despite a little rain and hail every race happened as planned, Meding noted.
"We're very happy with how it turned out. The sun was out for the better part of the morning. We have a bit of a breeze, but it's generally comfortable weather for people to be out racing," he said.