It was a good day for the University of Regina Cougars at the eighth annual Moose Jawg Wednesday morning.
With a large portion of their track team taking part in the race, runners from their squad won both the men's and women's divisions in the Timex Series five-kilometre race.
Swift Current's Kelly Wiebe took an early lead and led from start to finish in the men's race, while Bankend's Melissa Petersen followed a similar tactic and crossed the line first in the women's division.
"It was a good race, my first one of the (outdoor) season, so I was pretty happy with it," Wiebe said shortly after crossing the Wakamow Valley finish line.
"I knew the guy in second was going to be on my butt the whole race, so my strategy was to kick as hard as I could right off the bat because I knew he was going to sit on me right to the end. . . that's pretty much how it was and it worked out pretty well."
Long-time Athletics Saskatchewan standout Nigel Sharp finished second just ahead of the U of R's Iain Fyfe.
Moose Jaw's Matt Neff crossed the line in fourth and as the top local racer.
"I just wanted to put in a good effort today and whatever place I got I'd be happy with," the recently-graduated University of Mary competitor and Central grad said. "I thought I ran pretty hard and it was a good finish, so I'm pretty happy about it."
Neff carried third place much of the way but was passed by Fyfe three-quarters of the way through the race.
"After that I could feel (Cougars third-year) Dale Wig coming up on my heels the whole way, so I kept it moving pretty well for the rest of the race, otherwise I would have let up a bit," Neff said.
The quality of the elite competitors in the men's race was proven in their finish times - while official marks were unavailable, as many as five runners crossed the line under the old course record of 15 minutes, 54 seconds set in 2005 by Chris Belof.
"We had all the Cougars out from the university team, and a few guys who were running in the States, so it's pretty good competition for a charity run," Wiebe said. "It definitely pushes you along."
A mutiple-time Jawg competitor, Neff was especially impressed with the array of top runners he saw at the start line.
"This really is by far the best we've had in this race for depth and talent as well as numbers," Neff said. "I think the course record was broken by something like 1:10, so it was a good race."
While Petersen didn't have as ultra elite a field pushing her along in the women's division, being surrounded by plenty of top male runners kept her on stride.
"I just wanted to push myself as much as I could, and when I thought I was at a pace just go 'no, pick it up', and I just kept that in my head," she said. "It helped to push me along.
"And I could always hear someone behind me, so that kept me going, too."
Race organizer Dawn Luhning was especially impressed with the showing put together by the field's top runners.
"You watch them run a 14-minute five-k, it's almost like it's not an effort for them," she said. "You really get an idea of just how good those guys are."
Results from the 10 kilometre race and official times were unavailable as of press time and will be reported when available.
