Brockville Legion tops individual & team races in U16 boys’ event

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By Elio Elia

COVID-19 has thrown the world off kilter and it kept Derek Strachan from training in a group, but the under-16 boys’ bronze medallist discovered another nemesis hellbent on throwing off his rhythm at the Capital XC Challenge: Mount Mooney.

“Pacing,” Strachan says of the race aspect he wished had gone better. “Pacing up the hills.”

The compact COVID course sent the U16 boys for 3 loops up the formidable toboggan hill at Mooney’s Bay.

But overall, Strachan nevertheless felt that he “performed the best I could.”

Simply getting the chance to race was a cause worth celebrating already, adds the Ottawa Lions athlete.

“I’m really happy,” Strachan underlines. “I haven’t raced in a while.”

Nolan Legare spends most of his athletic energy on playing soccer for the Ottawa South United Force, but the John McCrae Secondary School student showed that his speed works great on XC grass too by finishing as the top local competitor in the race.

Legare won Heat 3 to finish just back of Brockville’s Travis Gaffney, who posted a winning time of 14:27. Brockville Legion also won the team category, with Nicolas Dardano, Ayrton Meier and Gavin Clarke all placing in the top-8 out of 25 entrants.

Travis Uren sets the pace in U12 boys’ race

The races for the under-12 division took place a day earlier on Friday evening. Winning the 3 km boys’ race was Travis Uren (Avonlea) in 12:18, followed by Henrik Froeschl (Westboro Academy) and Noah Calendino (Lions), while 6th-place finisher Karsten Barbeau (Holy Redeemer) was also a heat winner.

Read more coverage on the 2020 Capital XC Challenge via: https://sportsottawa.com/2020/10/07/2020-capital-xc-challenge-coverage/