Akim Johnston and Rebecca Harrison emerged as the top junior male and female runners during Monday’s Labour Day Road Race.Dellwood Middle School student Johnston claimed overall honours after covering the 1.5 mile racecourse in eight minutes and three seconds. He was the sole runner competing in the 13-15 age group.It was the promising runner’s first win in this event, bettering last year’s second place finish in the junior field.Johnston’s strategy heading into the race was to focus on his own race.“I just wanted to run my own race and not worry about anything else,” he said.Johnston’s race was anything but smooth as he encountered some difficulties due to lack of fitness.“The course was pretty challenging because I haven’t been training in a while,” he said. “But even though my legs were tired I kept pushing myself and it was all right. I was pretty pleased with myself.”Harrison was the first female runner across the line and fourth overall. The 12-year-old Saltus Grammar School student also successfully defended her title in the girls 11-12 age group after covering the course in nine minutes and 31 seconds.Harrison was delighted with the outcome of the race.“I was very excited because it’s really fun and I tried to do the best I could,” she said.The youngster coped well in the conditions on the day.“It was pretty cool for me but I guess at the end of the race it got pretty hot,” she said.Harrison encountered very little difficulty getting around the racecourse.“I found the course very easy,” she said. “I am used to running and it was just a nice course to run.”Top male runner in the 11-12 age group was Adam Larson who covered the distance in nine minutes and 19 seconds.Claiming top male and female honours in the eight to ten age group were Malik Joell (8:23) and Jade Johnston (11:46) respectively. Johnston is the sister of overall winner Akim.Ray Mederios (56:14) was first in the walkers division followed by Devina Dickinson (56:20) and Sinclair Smith (56:20) who rounded off the podium finishers.