Nationals XC. FISU XC and NACAC XC

The National XC championships were this weekend at Jericho Beach in Vancouver. It was a pretty huge success, highlighted by wins in the Jr. women's race by Ellen Pennock and in the Jr. men's race by Ryan Cassidy.

Ryan's race was one of the most exciting XC races I have ever seen. It was one of those races that every runner dreams about having. I don't think anybody predicted Ryan to win. I thought if he had really good race he could be up in the top 3 or 4 somewhere. This didn't stop him from gettin' after it though. The conditions were absolutely terrible. Muddy, cold and windy. At points the mud was close to a foot deep. Ryan ran was with the lead pack for the first 5k not making any moves just biding his time. At 5k he moved to lead and started pushing the pace. A very ballsy move. Especially considering that Ryan wasn't 'supposed to win.' From 5k on he continued to lead unable to shake Rob Denault or Yves. This was troubling because Denault is a 3:45 guy, Yves beat Denault in the 1500 at OFSAA last spring and Ryan  isn't known for his blazing speed. With 500m to go I was worried. Ryan was still leading but Denault and Yves where still right on him. At this point I was thinking he is probably going to get 3rd. Not to bad. But he kept pressing and denault started to drop back. 200m to go Yves starts to make a move. At 50m to go Yves was pulling away but Ryan put in one last surge. Beating Yves by just 2 seconds.

The Sr. men's race was also very successful. Doug overcame a deep seeded hatred for adverse weather condition's to place 18th. Probably his best ever XC race. I went with the leaders and started falling back at around 5k. I managed to hold on for a solid 11th. Not my best day but not a terrible day by any means.

Ryan's win also qualified him for the NACAC XC championships on March 17th in Trinidad. Indoors will look a bit different this year as Me and Dylan just found out we qualified for FISU XC in Poland in April. We will have a pretty solid group doing some longer stuff this winter/spring. I am super excited. This will be my first time on a Canadian team and fulfils a life long dream of mine to represent Canada internationally.

Clifford C. Childs

The Hardware

CIS XC thoughts

GUN:

Get out. Don't get stuck to far back. Holy shit the this is a rough start DON'T FALL.

500m Why the fuck is Jackson still ahead of me. SETTLE Jackson. Good he's coming back to me. WHOA pushed from behind DON'T FALL. Ross passes me I follow.

1k WTF why is Doug still ahead of me. SETTLE in Doug!

Hill: No need to hammer the hill right now. Caught up to Dylan. "This is are pack Buddy"

Downhill; Wow this crazy slippery DON'T FALL.

2k: aight pace is slow lead pack starting to form. Shit Dylan just fell. Please god, I hope is hip is alight. How the fuck did he fall on the flattest part of the course. Ok don't catch up all once Dylan, be patient.

2.5K Aight Dylan is back. Seems to be ok.

3k. Still getting pushed a ton. Really bunched up.

2nd hill: Ok no need to hammer this hill lets just chill at the back of the lead pack for bit longer. (almost immediatly after I have this thought.) Shit, how did the lead pack just get 40 meters on me. I need to catch up. (Hammer up the Hill) Berkis goes with me.

4k-5.5k: work with Berkis and catch the leaders.

5.5k: (caught Guelph and windsor guy.) aight solid pack here but still gotta catch that lead pack. I'm in 7th ish still got a real good shot at AC

3rd hill: Oh man this is hard. damn how did the that guelph and windsor guy drop me again. (hammer up hill) Jeez Berkis is not lookin good.

6.5-7.5 ok I'm in no man's land. Damn the last AC spot is runnin away from me. Holy shit this hurts. (Dylan passes me) RALLY V! lets go! BANGARANG. Nice, caught those 2 guys again.

7.8k (catch 7th place.) Jeez I'm hurtin. Damn how did those guys drop me again. A least Dylan is up there.

8k and last hill: Brent "Let's Go" Keith "Team is doin great you gotta get after it NOW" Hammer up the hill. O man those guys are still gappin me. SHIT BALLS this is painful. RALLY CANNON. Team needs me. LETS GO.

Down hill: Aight catchin these guys again. O wait, no I'm not. HOLY SHIT I'm in pain. Arms Buddy ARMS! BANGARANG lets go. Fuck this is not happening. I'm dying Hard. (Queen's Guy catch's me)  Steve Boyd: "THIS YOUR GUY!" me: FUCK THAT. stay with him till the flat.

Hit the flat: Alright I better make damn sure the tank is empty. This guys gunna have to bleed to beat me. pass the girls team: WOW Alicia does cheer really loud. FOCUS. ARMS ARMS ARMS BANGARANG. Don't let up. Don't let up. GOGOGO. Im gunna catch Dylan. GOGOGO. No I'm not.

9th solid. Dylan Freakin Killed it.

LOOK BACK. Ryan comes in! hell ya thats gotta an AC finish (so close Ryan) Come on boys! JACKSON WHOOO. JOSH HELL YA! aight think we did it. (we did)



I always find it funny how weird my thought process can be during an XC race. Especially on a tough course. I also remember hearing someone absolutly freaking out at Curtis Merry of Calgary. Like she genuinely sounded angry at him. Some guy also yelled "fuck you Windsor" when me and Berkis where running together. Which really bugged me for some reason.

Overall I'm extremely happy with the result. I'd be lieing if I said I wasn't little bit dissapointed with 9th. I really wanted to crack the top seven. I think had a been able to cover the move the lead pack made a at 3.5k I would have been there. But I couldn't and 9th is still a lot better then any other result I've had at CIS (including track).

 More than anything I'm just really proud of this team. Going into the race and all year I knew we had a really strong team. I thought we had a really good shot at breaking 100 points. I was was fairly confident that anything under 10points would be good enough for 3rd (history was on my side). To score 82 is amazing. I can't help but feel a little bad for Queens. 97 for 4th has got to be one of the lowest 4th place scores ever. Good job guys. Having 2 rookies step up the way did really helped us! And falling and still getting 8th! Dylan stepped up HUGE.

There has been a lot of ups and downs throughout my 5 years as a vike. I'm glad everything was able to come together the way it did. After 5 years of going to CIS thinking we would medal and after coming up short by only 2 points last year I am glad I was finally able to come home with some hardware. I owe everything to my teammates past and present we couldn't have done it without each other. Stay focused, work hard and run for eachother. If you do those things you will be winning championships before you know it.

My coaches have been phenomal. Their commentment to the program and the longterm develep of their athetes is phenomenal. In my five years here I finished 38th, 25th, 34th, 17th, 9th. Brent and Keith have everything to do with the steady improvement I have made. The improvement is even more impressive when you consider that how much the CIS has improved over the years. I told Rob Jackson ( http://watchingtheriver.tumblr.com/) of Guelph after the the race that I figured 38th in 2007 when there were only 88 finishers is probably equivelent to around 80th today. Looking at the results there are not many other people who have shown that kind of improvement/consistency over all five of their years. In fact I think me and Kyle O'neil are the only 2007 rookies that finished in AC spots in there final year. I wish I could take credit for this but I know had it not been for my coaches looking at the big picture and holding me back a bit in my first few years, I wouldn't have been where I am today.

Future is looking really bright for the Vikes. The gap between us and a championship is shrinking every year.


Clifford C. Childs

Western Washington Invite

Another great performance for the Vikes! Moustaches and beards where in full force during our second outing of the season. The air was crisp and cool, and there was a slight fog coming off the scenic Lake Padden in Bellingham, Washington. This created a perfect setting for an XC race. The team atmosphere was fantastic, as everyone was ready to put their 1-2 months of build up to work in a race. What followed was a massive 10k performance, including course PB's from rookie sensation Ryan Cassidy, Jackson Bocksnick, Josh Clouthier, Doug Oxland, , Karl Robertson, Kyle Irvine, Cody Therrien, Trevor Schiavone, Scott Secco, and myself. More important than the times (because XC times mean nothing) is the improvement in placing. Our team score dropped from 96 points last year to a miniscule 43 points this year missing first place by just 10 points to the University of Alaska Anchorage. Ryan finished in 7th place only one placing behind where I finished last year. All of our top 6 placed higher then 2010 CIS 28th place finisher Dylan Haight placed last year. Overall an extremely good race! Jackson Bocksnick gets the clutch performance of the day. Way to go budday.

Before we get to far ahead of ourselves it is October 9th today. Nobody cares who runs fast in October. November 12 is what matters. The goals are now to stay healthy and start sharpening up for CIS.

Side notes:

1.) Local celebrity D. Haight tweaked something at around 5.5k and dropped out fearing he might further injure himself. I am confident he will be back in action after a quick tinker from the local physio.

2.) UBC, Trinity Western, and SFU were at this meet. We beat them.

3.) Look for us at the UBC Invite at Jericho Beach in 2 weeks time in what will be our final outing before the big dance.

Results: http://www.wwuvikings.com/sports/c-xc/stats/100811aaa.html

write up: http://runvictoria.com/

Clifford C. Childs

PS: Item #36 has been crossed off my life to do list. I now officially own a pair of blue suede shoes.

St. Martin's Invite

UPDATED 09/25:

Complete and utter dominance is really the only way to describe the Vikes showing in Lacey, WA this morning. The men swept the top 5, with a substantial gap between UVic's fifth man and the next competitor. The Vikes were led by our fearless captain Clifford C., followed by Dylan and Ryan, our latest east coast transplant. The freak-of-nature Kyle Irvine and Jackson's flow weren't far behind. Forrest also made his debut in the navy and gold (Forrest will take 4min off his time today by the time he graduates in 5 years time, you heard it hear first.) The Vikes braved suicide-hot temperatures and a 3 second mystery surge from the competition at about 2 miles but were pulled through by their commitment to do battle on the Plains with the greasiest facial hair the CIS has ever seen. When asked about how his first race as a Vike went rookie sensation Ryan Cassidy may or may not have responded with the following "My ginger-beard will be a least 3 times as bushy and 2 twice as greasy come Nov. 12th. That thought alone gives me reassurance that I will be able build on my all-star type performance from today." Our female counterparts also put in a strong showing, sweeping the top 6 places in their race.

Next race is a 10k in Bellingham in 2 weeks time. Look for season debuts from 3k superstars Doug Oxland and Josh Cloutier, Mid-D guy turned XC guy K-Robertson and Vikes Debuts from red-shirt rookie Scott Secco, former tri-guy Austin Horn and top recruit Cody Therrien.





Here's the UVic recap of the race:





http://vikes.uvic.ca/news/2011/9/24/MXC_0924113545.aspx?path=mcross





And the full results:





http://vikes.uvic.ca/documents/2011/9/24/Results.htm?id=340

Clifford C. Childs & Doug Oxland

Update

Just a quick update on the team's progress.

Everyone  - with the exception of the 'sprinters' - is now fully immersed in cross country training under the leadership of Keith & Brent and newly minted captain Clifford C. Childs. The rookie class appears to be one of the most talented in recent years and the returning veterans are continuing to improve. The group is looking stronger than ever after a weekend of training and team-bonding in the wilderness of Sooke, BC.

Most the men will be opening their cross campaigns in Lacey, Washington this Saturday. We will post an update after the dust settles.

Doug "Diggler" Oxland

The season so far

We have decided to finally get this blog going! By that I mean I finally remembered the email address-password combo that I used to create it.

Our summer season started with half the team (the better-looking half) going to Phoenix for a week of hot and hard training. The other half (the socially accepted half) of the team went to Flagstaff to get in some hard and hot training of their own. Brent and Keith (our coaches) were torn between whether to take me to the Phoenix camp or the Flag camp being as I am by far the best looking and most popular person on the team. So they were forced to take me to both. Both camps where extremely well run and prepared us beautifully for our outdoor season. Here are some highlights of our season so far:



Thomas "Trivia" Riva

Lowered his 800m PB to 1:50.4 at the SFU high performance meet making him the top ranked junior in Canada for a whole 2 days and is currently ranked 2^nd




Adam "Beast from the East" Gaudes:

Ran his first ever 800m with 1.5 shoes and still managed a 1:53. A very solid debut.



Josh "Gorilla Biceps" Clouthier

Has PB'd in every race he has run this year. Running 3:55, 8:30, 1:56 to improve on his previous PB's of 4:06, 8:56 and 1:58 he also boasts a sick, wicked, and nasty 35:09 10k PB. Look for him to run in the low 3:50's by summers end. Stellar breakout year.



Doug "Diggler" Oxland

Has lowered his PB from 9:05 to 8:32! And is ready to bust out a big one in the 1500 as well.



Kyle "I can do backflips" Irvine

Kyle has had an interesting season. He opened with a 3:57 1500m PB but 2 weeks later was involved in a heroic biking incident that ended with him getting 18 stitches. This is what went down: Kyle is biking down the street in flip-flops suddenly 2 small and defenceless children jump onto the street in front of oncoming traffic. Kyle, being the heroic, selfless, and good looking man that he is, immediately jumped off his bike grabbed both kids and gently put them down on the side of the road. Unfortunately for Kyle, God decided to spite him for being a Canucks fan by causing his toes to somehow come into contact with the spokes of his bike, leaving him with 36 stitches. One would think this would slowdown Kyle and his chiseled features, but it did not. Less then 72 hours later Kyle solo'd to a 1:56 800m PB in which he opened in 70 seconds and closed in 46 seconds. What a stud.



John "Muscle Glasses" Pratt

Despite insisting on wearing sunglasses 24hrs a day JP has had stellar season thus far. Finally dipping under 49 in the 400 and lowering his 800 PB by a whopping 4 secs to 1:51.2. He has also increased his max bench bench press from 175lb to 300lb since his move to the Vikes last fall. Look for big/bigger things from/on John as the season continues.



Check back for more updates.

Signing Out,

Clifford C. Childs

Vikes Team Blog

This is the official blog of the University of Victoria Vikes cross country and track team.