From OFSAA to the world…three of the best female hurdlers in the world talk about their experiences and motivations as teenagers. Felicien says she just ran to please Mom and never thought much about a career in track; Priscilla sounds like she was pretty focused from an early age. George – maybe the next big thing in women’s hurdling – ran through injuries and wound up with a full ride to a US university. All three have made a big mark for Canada on the world stage.
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Ryan Cassidy is a New Brunswick native running for the University of Victoria.
Cassidy: "Yves who?"
Cassidy won the Junior division of the Canadian Cross-Country Championships last month on a rain-soaked morass of a course in Vancouver’s Jericho Park. (Rain? Fall? Vancouver? Huh?) He finished the 8K in 26:20 – just one second ahead of Ottawa’s seemingly unbeatable Yves Sikubwabo and another second ahead of Rob Denault, another great young Ontario runner currently competing for Villanova.
With these three continuing to perform brilliantly, and others like Xavier King and Connor Darlington in the mix, Canada’s future in distance running is brighter than it’s been in ages.
Can’t wait for track season.
Cassidy (R) leads Sikubwabo (L) and Denault through the mud on his way to a huge win
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Ontario high-school X-C runners got a great day November 5 for the provincial championship. As expected, there were some fantastic performances. For full race results, check the OFSAA page at runnerspace.com.
One especially notable result is the win by BP’s fave young Canadian runner, Yves Sikubwabo of Ottawa. Yves won the Senior Boys’ race for the second straight year – but this time his 7 km time of 22 min 25 sec was a full 25 seconds ahead of Xavier King, the second-place finisher and another very fine runner. Repeating as champ is even tougher than winning the first time, as any successful competitor knows; but Yves’ average pace of 3:07 per kilometer over the 7k must have been impossible to live with unless you were riding in the pace car. A victory that decisive is rare.
Rare, yes… but Midget Girls’ champ, MacKenzie Lemieux of Toronto, won her race by an even bigger margin – an amazing 37 seconds in a 4km race. We’ll be watching for more great things from MacKenzie as she continues her high-school running career.
Congrats to everyone who competed. Cross-country is a tough sport like no other tough sport – the training is days, weeks, & months of hard work, and the races get you nervous like nothing else. Any Ontario runner who even qualified to go to Ottawa is something special, and Best Player salutes you.
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BP wishes good luck to all competitors traveling to Ottawa, Canada for Saturday’s OFSAA cross-country championships.
We’re expecting to hear about some great runs on both girls’ and boys’ sides. One big question will be whether anyone can beat 2010 boys’ champ Yves Sikubwabo, who’s a year older and also running on a home course. Not many athletes have repeated as champions in OFSAA history, though – the seniors run a grueling 7k course, and lots can happen…
The OFSAA championships are a jumping-off stage for Ontario’s best young runners, some of whom move on to sweet scholarship offers at universities across Canada and the U.S.
Watch here for race results.
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Anyone who runs – especially anyone who runs races – knows that training and competing are as tough as it gets in sports. So we’re right behind anything that makes the grind a little easier. Like this video from some high-school runners in Ontario, Canada. Enjoy!
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Canada’s Dylan Armstrong, one of the two or three best shot putters in the world, took gold in the Pan Am Games this week with a Games record of 21.30 meters. With an impressive finish to the 2011 season (Armstrong also won the Diamond League shot put championship), he looks ready for a run at an Olympic Gold medal next year.
Read the full story here. Congratulations, Dylan.
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