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The History of the St. Albert 10-Mile Roadrace

The St. Albert Roadrunners club was established in late 1984. We became aware of the fact that the Edmonton Roadrunners were looking to stage a spring 10 mile Roadrace in Edmonton. In consultation with the Edmonton Roadrunners it was decided that as a kickstart for St. Albert, we would host the race. The decision was made very quickly and the first annual St. Albert 10 Miler was held the second Sunday in April 1985.

The club organized a committee to set up the race. The only goal we had in mind was to offer a race that would include all the things we thought made up a great event. Our order of priority was - 1. Accurate results. 2. - Good food and refreshments after the race, and 3. A good accurate course.

That first race, it was decided, would start and finish at the St. Albert Rugby Club in the Riel Business park. That turned out to be the one and only time the race was held there. We knew the railroad tracks that separated the business park from the rest of St. Albert were still used, but we did not know the train schedule.

Well sure enough, we were told by the CN officials that a train was indeed scheduled for that Sunday morning. With a great amount of tension it was decided to go ahead with the planned start. It really is funny now but as the gun went so did the first train whistle. The last runner barely made it across the tracks when our buddy the train came through. This heralded the end of the Rugby Club as race headquarters.

One of the things that set that race apart from the others in the Edmonton region was the food. It was the responsibility of each club member to bake at least two dozen muffins for the race. Everyone who was there will comment and remember this.

The race had about 225 entrants that year and over the years has seen that grow to almost a thousand for the 13th annual in 1998.

The race has had some growing pains. The second year we used the community hall in downtown St. Albert for the ceremonies. That year we also had a sponsorship from Labatts, who supplied us with complementary two packs of Labatts lite. Every runner got one, this is the only race I can think of that ever had that for the entrants.

Year three was the last year for the Community Centre. We had about 475 runners that year and it was wall-to-wall people. The following year we moved to St. Albert Place, our city hall and a beautiful building designed by the famous native Albertan architect, Douglas Cardinal.

This proved to be a very good venue and has hosted the race up until 1997 when, for traffic reasons we moved to Grandin Park Plaza.

Venues aside the race has gained a strong reputation over the years for a quality event. As was stated previously the race started in 1995 with 225 runners registered and last year saw 976 entries. The race has been used over the years as a training run for the Vancouver Marathon. With that event being held two to three weeks after St. Albert's race most marathoners have welcomed the 10 miler as a final test of their marathon pace.

Also many Jasper - Banff relay teams used it as a qualifier for their teams. This added the speed dimension to the race. In about 1992 there were more than fifty runners who finished in under one hour, this is amazing considering that the course is not an easy one. Unfortunately the J-B is now but a fond memory. The 10 miler remains a popular spring challenge for many who ran the relay for so many years.

The race has also had it's fun with weather. Many will remember the year of the snow!!! The memory of waking that morning to a driving blizzard is one I will never forget. The first thing that crossed my mind was the question "How do you call a Roadrace on account of weather???".

I remember the images of the runners, some in shorts and singlets (fools) and some in clothing that would be suitable for arctic running. What a horrible day, the City of St. Albert street maintenance crews were up early plowing and sanding the course. By race time it was a mixture of water, salt, sand and ice. I am so grateful I was no running that day.

Peter Moore, the venerable athlete that he is, won the race that year. Just coming out would have been enough for many but Peter came within 2 seconds of a course record set by Brian Countryman on a lovely plus 16 degree day. The record stood until we made a change to the course.

Over the years we have had many splendid champions, I am writing this story from memory and being of advanced age I may have forgotten a few but the ones I remember are - the winner of the first race, Anne Galloway and Dennis Colburn (Dennis is a multiple winner), of course there was Brian Countryman and Peter Moore (also a multiple  winner), Val Chowaniec (current female course record holder) and there were Calgarians like Tom Boone (current record holder) and John Birmingham who ran the race just before heading back to Australia. John made himself famous racing the indoor masters mile circuit and finished second just behind Eamonn Coglin at Madison Square Gardens.

As usual we have the support of many St. Albert and Edmonton business. They enable us to offer many valuable draw prizes and fabulous refreshments for the runners.

Well that it the story for now. The St Albert Roadrunners would like to thank all of you who have supported the race over the past 17 years. If you have any comments on your experiences running the St. Albert 10 mile Roadrace, please email us with them. We will not publish anyone's name without their permission so your recollections may be allowed some latitude, or as they say "literary license".

Happy Running

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