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