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