For Wendy Stewart, the 2018 Victoria Park Challenge was a homecoming of sorts.
The Airdrie, Alberta resident returned to her husband's hometown to win the women’s 10 km race after a trial by mud.
“I was greeted with open arms when people found out I’m from Alberta and made me feel so welcome,” said Stewart afterwards. “The most rewarding part of the day was not only running with my husband, Paul Stewart, who participated in the 5k but watching my two-year-old, Chase, run his first obstacle race too.”
Hundreds of runners competed in the children’s races, 10 km and 5 km competitions.
Two of the 5 km racers were Sheena Rankin and her eight-year-old daughter Leighton, who know Victoria Park almost like it is their back yard.
That’s what led the mother-daughter duo to test their mettle against hundreds of other runners for their first ever Victoria Park Challenge.
The Rankin duo ran in the 5 km women’s race, but like all VP Challenge runners they had to endure a ‘mud bath’ just before they crossed the finish line, crawling under a net on the ball diamond as firefighters sprayed them with a hose.
Leighton loved getting down and dirty in the muck, but for Rankin the best part was spending time with her child, saying “we do everything together.”
“For me personally it was doing it with my daughter. We do a lot of things together, it was nice to be able to complete this with her,” said Rankin. “Being her first [race] we walked. We ran a little bit, we ended up walking most of it just because and we did it for fun, it was just something for us to do mother-daughter.”
Both the five and 10 km runners raced around a course laced with hilly obstacles, building up a sweat on a humid day, but they enjoyed a moment of beauty at the Joseph Howe Falls.
While some of the out-of-towners enjoyed the falls, the Rankins have seen them many times before, but took several breaks along the way nonetheless.
They were among the last runners of both the five and 10 km categories and only signed up a few days ago, but both mother and daughter are keen to come back next year and improve their times.
“We certainly will, I think we’re already planning for next year - well hopefully we’ll be a bit faster – right?” said Rankin to a smiling Leighton.
The Rankins live just around the corner from Victoria Park, but their fellow five km competitor Morgan Purdy was a long way from home.
Originally from New Glasgow, she teaches English in Jordan and comes back every summer to see family, as well as compete in races including the Not Since Moses competition earlier this month.
“Starting off on a hill was tough just to get going but they had the obstacles evenly and they weren’t that tough,” said Purdy after finishing her race.
The VP Challenge children’s races were held later on Saturday.
The winning results for the men’s and women’s races are as follows:
Men’s 10k
1st - Joel Taylor (51:16)
2nd - Vernon Arndt (54:11)
3rd - Sean Lindsay (56:11)
Women’s 10k
1st - Wendy Stewart (1:09:23)
2nd - Tracey Cox (1:15:47)
3rd - Maya Hoehne (1:21:19)
Men’s 5k
1st - Riley Webber (28:09)
2nd - Tom Shreve (28:26)
3rd -Drew MacKinnon (29:18)
Women’s 5k
1st - Michelle Newell (29:31)
2nd - Alexis Newell (32:07)
3rd - Heather Lauther (32:10)
