‘Phenomenal’ finish to capital’s run as Canadian cross country championships hosts

By Dan Plouffe

It took three tries for the nation’s best to unseat the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club’s under-18 girls, but the visitors finally succeeded in taking that title away from the meet hosts on Saturday, as 1,124 runners descended on Mooney’s Bay for the 2023 Canadian Cross Country Running Championships.

“I think the other teams came out swinging after the last couple years,” smiled Lions club head coach Richard Johnston.

The 136 and 158 points the Lions U18 girls scored to win their past two national crowns at Mooney’s Bay and Wesley Clover Parks would have only placed them third and fourth in the 2023 standings.

The Newmarket Huskies’ top four runners combined to score 95 placement points to win this year’s U18 girls’ team crown, while the Lions counted 247 to place eighth. Lauren Alexander led the way in 26th place, Kyra Lauter was 68th, Laila Lebel took 74th and Kate Johnston-Zemek placed 79th. Grade 10 and 9 students occupied the #2 and #3 scoring positions for the Lions in the race for high school age runners.

“We were aiming for [a repeat title],” said Alexander, who did earn a bronze medal with Team Ontario for a third-place finish in the branch standings. “It’s something to keep pushing and working towards, I guess.”

The home club had by far the greatest number of entries in the U18 girls’ division with 25 finishers.

“There were so many girls who lined up with us on the start line,” Alexander highlighted. “It’s so nice having a really big team with everyone trying to do their best. It’s just a great environment.”

Alexander was the high school senior girls’ city champion earlier this fall and helped her Glebe Collegiate Institute Gryphons to a sixth-place team performance at the OFSAA provincials.

“I’m pretty happy to be done cross-country. It’s a pretty long season and it’s hard racing in the cold, I found,” indicated Alexander, who jumped right into her winter sport full-steam on Sunday for a game with her Ottawa Ice hockey team. “It’s been a busy fall with both sports.”

Eleanor Voykin of Toronto added a national gold to her OFSAA junior girls’ title. The Grade 10 student won the U18 girls’ 4 km race by 15 seconds in 14:32.

In other championship races, Brockville’s Travis Gaffney won the U18 boys’ 6 km event by the same margin in 19:04, Calgary’s Chloe Turner topped the U20 women’s 6 km competition in 21:34, Regina’s Jonathan Podbielski took the U20 men’s 8 km crown in 24:58, Vancouver’s Ceili McCabe won the open women’s 10 km race in 33:28 and Vancouver’s Kieran Lumb edged Quebec’s Philippe Morneau-Cartier by two seconds for the open men’s 10 km title in 29:18.

Kiana Gibson goes from racing in Chile to just plain chilly

The top local results came from a pair of B.C.-based athletes in the senior women’s event.

Kiana Gibson went from racing in temperatures in mid-20s earlier this month for the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile to just a touch above the freezing mark back in her hometown.

The Pan Am women’s steeplechase fifth-place finisher will have a small chance to be nominated for Canada’s 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships team along with fellow University of British Columbia student Katie Newlove, though they missed out on the top-four finish required to guarantee their ticket to Serbia next March 30.

Depending on whether top athletes choose to participate and coaches’ discretionary selections, they could be chosen for one of Canada’s six spots on the worlds start line.

Canadian university champion Newlove covered the 10 km course in 34:59 to place seventh and Gibson was 10th in 35:11. That pushed their Vancouver Thunderbirds and B.C. branch to dominant victories in the open women’s team events.

Read More: Quadruple UBC champion Katie Newlove took a chance on cross-country running early, loved it

Ontario champion Kevin Robertson was 38th to lead the local crew in the open men’s nationals race. Fellow Lion Madeleine Seaby took 11th in the U20 women’s competition, while Gloucester High School grad Olivia Baggley placed 19th to lead her Saint John Reds to a U20 women’s team silver medal.

The Lions finished fifth in the U20 men’s team event, with Kyle Porter earning the top finish in 41st.

The Lions U18 boys also recorded a top-10 finish in the U18 boys’ team event. Saul Taler, who led the Glebe Gryphons to an OFSAA senior boys’ team title earlier this season, was the top Lion in 43rd.

There were also masters, community and kids’ races held to kick off the 10-race schedule that ran from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It was phenomenal,” Johnston underlined. “Like, third time’s a charm. I know we did a great job the previous two times, but what a squad we had to do the setup and the prep. The machine just rolled smoothly with our Lions and Run Ottawa.”

Though the mercury didn’t hit the balmy double-digits it managed for the 2022 nationals, Johnston was pleased to have sunny skies again this year.

“It was chilly, but it is late November,” he noted. “I’ll add that the crowds here were great. From the community race onward to that last one, there was just a tunnel of noise every race. It showed that it’s a spectator-friendly sport and that it’s popular. Just count the number of parents are supporters that were out.”

The next two national championships will be held in London, while Ottawa will be hosting the 2024 OFSAA XC Championships, which will bring over 1,600 high school runners to town in early November.

“I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish,” Johnston concluded. “We showed that we’ve done the work to make this a championship-calibre course, so we’d love to have (the nationals) return, hopefully in the near future.”

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