The weather grounded the air show, threw a mudslide on horse racing at Marquis Downs and washed out the stock cars at Auto Clearing
Motor Speedway. But it couldn’t stop more than 400 brave souls from a scenic canter at the annual River Run on Sunday. On a day that seemed to reward the masochists — or at least those determined to get out of the cold as fast as possible — it was no surprise to see two University of Saskatchewan Huskie cross-country athletes rise to drizzling heights. Marcia Richards won the women’s 10-kilometre event and Julian DeCiutiis cruised to victory in the men’s race. “It seems like you wouldn’t like the rain,” said DeCiutiis. “But it keeps you really cool, which is a lot better than running in the heat.” DeCiutiis finished in 35 minutes, 32 seconds on a day when he was taking it easy. The Huskie sophomore, who also won the 10K at the Saskatchewan marathon in May, wanted to get an idea of where he was in terms of training before the season kicks off with the Cougar Trot Sept. 19 in Regina, but surprised himself by ending up at the front of the pack. His only close competition was Saskatoon coach and teacher James Funk, who finished second in 35:34. Chris Schwarz ran 38:59 for third. DeCiutiis thought he was in good shape, running in a pack of five-kilometre run participants, when he realized one of those runners, Funk, was competing in the 10-km event. DeCiutiis paced himself against Funk until the final two kilometres, when he took off for the win. Funk, who prefers longer distances, was happy to give the younger athlete a run for his money. Funk, a cross-country coach at Aden Bowman and Walter Murray Collegiates, bettered his personal best by 26 seconds, proving again that runners have a strange relationship to weather.
“I think it’s more psychological,” he said. “When you’re happy, you run faster.”