Edmonton runner Eric Wiebe cruises to victory at the 2012 Steve Burgess Memorial

One hundred and forty-two runners of all ages and abilities hit the trails at the Wapiti Nordic Ski Centre on Saturday for the 2012 Steve Burgess Memorial XC Race.

When the dust had cleared, Edmonton-based runners Tara Struyk and Eric Wiebe, both representing the Running Room Athletics Club, came away with victories in the womens and mens featured race.

Struyk, who’s competed in x-country and track for both the University of Oregon and West Virginia University, crossed the line in 15:51 in the womens 4km race.  Her time was #2 all time for the Burgess Course, missing Fiona Benson’s 2010 course record by 16 seconds.

A pair of ACAC runners, Alexandra Gordichuk from MacEwan University and Marriya Jenkins from Concordia University College, placed second and third respectively.

The top local runner in the womens 4 km was 15 year old St. Joes student Danae Keddie, who placed 11th.  GPRC Wolves runners Amanda Patteson (14th) and Kayla Hardy (15th) led the way for the Wolves XC team.

In the womens team competition, MacEwan University won easily with 20 points.  The Wolves Athletics Club edged out the GPRC Wolves Varsity team by one point in the battle for second.

Wiebe established an early lead in the mens 7.35km and held on for comfortable victory over MacEwan’s Andrew Peters.  Wiebe clocked a time of 27:10, 19 seconds better than Peters.  GPRC Wolves Hayden Hollowell, in his first race college race, placed third.

MacEwan University also won the mens team competition.  The Running Room Athletics Club edged out Concordia University College for second, while the GPRC Wolves placed fourth.

Other race winners included:

Boys 1.5 km Jordan Sylvain

Girls 1.5 km Ashley Zacharias

Boys 3 km Joshua Sylvain

Girls 3 km Britany Duval

This year’s Burgess Memorial Race served triple duty by being Race #3 in the Wolves Cross Country Series, Race #1 in the ACAC Grand Prix XC Series, and Race #1 in the provincial Saucony Run Alberta Cross Country Series.

Next up in local xcountry is the Bezanson Bog on September 22.  The GPRC Wolves next ACAC meet is September 29 in Camrose.

Full results are posted on the Wolves Cross Country Series website.