October 16, 2011 , (Canmore, AB) – With winter just around the corner runners took part in what may be their last running race of the season in the inaugural Spray Drag Running Race. Sixty five entrants took on the 5km and 7.5km courses that climbs from Canmore to the top of the Spray Lakes Road with an ascent of over 350 meters.

Big names like 2011 World Champion Devon Kershaw and retired Olympic medalists Beckie Scott and Sara Renner were just some of the runners lining up at the start line.

Despite the race tagline being “Stop Kershaw”, the 28-year-old took a late lead and was able to edge out teammate Ivan Babikov for the win with a time of 29:44 and claiming the yellow Podiumwear Singlet. Course record holder and Academy member Graham Nishikawa finished 3rd.

Brittany Webster crossed the line first in the women’s race, crossing the line in 25:53. Perianne Jones finished 2nd, while Rhonda Jewett finished 3rd.

The 17-19 year old categories were won by Julia Ransom and Zach Holland with a time of 27:32 and 34:21 respectively. Peter Hicks won the Youth Men with the fastest time of the day of 25:47.

Aaron Bryant was the Lactate Challenge 50/50 draw winner with an 8.0 blood lactate.

All the results from today’s race can be found on Zone4.

Stefan Kuhn, into his first year as Assistant Head Coach with the Academy, organized the run from the beginning and hopes to make it a yearly tradition.

“Today was a great success for our first ever Spray Drag Running Race, and the support from the community was enormous. It really couldn’t have happened without their support,” Kuhn said after the race.