Hundreds run in 25th Woody’s RV World Marathon in Red Deer

About 900 people ran in the 25th Woody’s RV World Marathon in Red Deer.

The annual event was held on Sunday, May 17, and featured a full marathon, a half marathon and a 10K run, all of which began and ended by Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.

“It’s been a great event. Mother Nature co-operated beautifully. We couldn’t have asked for a better race day. All of the runners out there are happy and everything has seemed to go off without a hitch,” said race director Brad Meding.

This year’s event featured more runners than in the past couple years, Meding noted.

“It’s up a fair bit over last year. It was a good boost,” he said.

“I think we’re finally starting to get our numbers back from pre-COVID times. It took a couple years, but it seems to be growing year after year.”

The first Woody’s RV World Marathon was held in 1999.

“It’s been going strong for a long time. We’re doing our best to keep things going. We lost a couple years with COVID. This is our 25th running of the event, so we’re considering it our 25th anniversary,” Meding said.

Meding said the event wouldn’t be possible without volunteers and sponsors, including Woody’s RV World, which has been the title sponsor since the event’s inception.

“This is kind of Alberta’s first marathon of the season. For a lot of people training during the winter months, this is the first race they can look forward to,” he said.

“It’s an amazing event. It wouldn’t be possible without all the participants and the community coming out to show support. It takes a huge effort from everybody to make this happen.”

Several of the runners come from outside of Central Alberta, Meding noted.

“A vast majority of runners are from Alberta, but we do have some who join us from much further away. I know we get a few registrations from overseas — maybe they happen to be visiting family and the timing works out. But we have people come from all over,” he said.

“This is a small-town race. It’s not a big race like Calgary, but here you get a more personal feel. You’re not tripping over people for 42 kilometres. You get your own space and you get out on the trail. There aren’t many better trail systems out there. You get to see some beauty and scenic views.”

Here are the top finishers from this year’s Woody’s RV World Marathon:

Full marathon female

1. Kristen Spady (Red Deer), 2:54:42.039
2. Cassandra Tomas (Sherwood Park), 3:30:57.557
3. Amberly Adema (Kamloops, B.C.), 3:44:55.935

Full marathon male

1. Dylan Wizniuk (Camrose), 2:40:52.497
2. Nathan Olson (Lacombe), 2:48:55.587
3. Kyle Chester (Didsbury), 2:49:49.961

Half marathon female

1. Brooke Slipp (Red Deer), 1:33:34:442
2. Christina Fedoronko (Calgary), 1:38:43.979
3. Melissa Ray (Red Deer), 1:40:09.760

Half marathon male

1. Scott Kohlman (Edmonton), 1:17:23.950
2. Amol Mand (Edmonton), 1:21:58.425
3. Brett McPhedran (Revelstoke, B.C.), 1:22:12.887

10K female

1. Maria Zambrano (Calgary), 37:49.392
2. Jenna Schnare (Red Deer), 44:34.856
3. Sarah Daviduck (Calgary), 45:18.074

10K male

1. Noah Arychuk (Red Deer), 32:16.350
2. Ben Higham (Red Deer), 33:39.857
3. Andrew Weinkauf (Edmonton), 33:52:091