I really suck at running in sloppy conditions, whether it’s mud or a pile of wet snow. I think I’m too weak in my lower body – feels my stride and technique just collapses.

The course was just crazy muddy! Sink holes, and puddles 2 feet deep. It was just plain ugly. I know some runners love this stuff, and I don’t mind the dirty part – I just don’t run fast in conditions like these.

I took some photos for Senior Womens and Senior Mens races – will post them soon.

I missed watching the Junior races – I had to go inside to warm up my frozen feet.

Results

The 2011 XC Nationals Running Results have been posted on Athletics Canada’s website.

In the Womens race, Kendra Schaaf ran a hard, impressive race and nobody could stick with her. Megan Brown ran a great race as well, and there was  bit of a gap to 3rd place.

1   Schaaf, Kendra  25:00
2   Brown, Megan A25:08
3   Pidhoresky, Dayna 25:47

The Men’s race had a fairly large group for a while, but last year’s winner Cam Levins put the hammer down after 2 laps, and he looked amazingly strong the whole way. He kept on pulling away from the rest of the field and won by a large margin. Very impressive.

You can see from these times how slow the course was. Last year, on a hillier course, Cam won in 29.25. This year, he had 32:04.

1   Levins, Cameron  32:04
2   Britt, Barry 32:49
3   Winter, Chris 32:51

Photos

It was an exciting day on Saturday, as 224 runners raced in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association cross-country championships in cold and overcast conditions at McArthur Island in Kamloops, BC.

Jodi Sanquin of Red Deer College finished first in the women’s 5k race with a time of 18:10. It was a very exciting race to watch. Jodi was not among the top runners right away (she runs very smart), but in the final lap, she kicked it up a notch,and passed race leader Vicky Siemon of Humber College. “I was nervous because I was pretty far back in the first kilometre,” Jodi said. “On the last lap I said, it’s now or never, so I picked it up and then once I had her, I just tried to get some space and finish on my nerves.” Fantastic run by Jodi, and I’m so happy for her to finally get her gold. She was so close last year in Fredericton.

Our top Augustana runner Kalli Green had a great race and was 22nd in the time of 20:15. Karly Johnson was 2nd Augustana girl in 46th place, with new personal best time of 21:28.

The men’s 8k race turned out to be a fantastic show as well. Many talented runners from across the country were present, and the field was large. Our runner, Andy Pohl , did the most AMAZING race of his career, and took the gold with a blazing time of 25:30. He was part of a group of five runners that kept the lead pace for the four laps. “It feels amazing,” Andy said. “I’ve been beaten all year and to pull it out at National’s feels great.” Andy added that it was the biggest achievement in his running career.

Andy was sitting behind Clint Smith of Fanshawe College for most of the race, but during the last lap, he took over the lead. Exactly what he hoped might happen – I knew Andy was going to put the hammer down on the last lap, if he was in the lead group. For Andy, this was a perfect race. Smith finished 2nd with a time of 25:41. “Clint won the race for me,” Andy said. “He was doing all the work in the first two laps. Full credit to him, he’s a great runner.”

Coming in third was Lethbridge College runner Peter Kayla with a time of 25:52. “I was relaxed and comfortable even though it was cold,” Kayla said. “This is my best time ever in three years I’ve been running.”

Gerhard and I are of course ecstatic about this. It still feels unreal that Andy won the gold! He so deserved it. He has worked hard and he is an amazing athlete. Congratulations Andy!

Our Men’s team ran incredibly well, and placed 5th overall. Our Women’s team had a good overall result too and were 11th overall.

Women’s Individual Finalists
1. Jodi Sanquin, Red Deer Queens
2. Vicky Siemon, Humber Hawks
3. Richelle Moore, St Lawrence – Kingston

Women’s Teams
1. Humber Hawks
2. Grant MacEwan Griffins
3. Red Deer Queens
4. Dynamiques Cégep Sainte-Foy
5. Indiennes Ahuntsic
6. Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves
7. Champlain St. Lambert Cavaliers
8. St. Lawrence – Brockville Schooners
9. George Brown Huskies
10. St. Lawrence – Kingston Vikings
11. U of A-Augustana
12. SAIT Trojans
13. UBC-Okanagan Heat
14. Concordia Thunder

Women’s Conferences
1. OCAA
2. ACAC
3. RSEQ
4. PACWEST

Men’s Individual Finalists
1. Andy Pohl, University of Alberta-Augustana
2. Clint Smith, Fanshawe Falcons
3. Peter Kayla, Lethbridge Kodiaks

Men’s Teams
1. Dynamiques Sainte-Foy
2. Fanshawe Falcons
3. Grant MacEwan Griffins
4. Lethbridge Kodiaks
5. U of A-Augustana
6. Boomerang André-Laurendeau
7. Indiennes Ahuntsic
8. Humber Hawks OCAA
9. Fleming Collee
10. Mohawk College
11. Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves
12. SAIT Trojans
13. UBC-Okanagan Heat
14. TRU WolfPack

Men’s Conferences
1. OCAA
2. RSEQ
3. ACAC
4. PACWEST

MEN’S INDIVIDUAL

MEN'S TEAMS

Position	Institution	Conference
1	Cégep Sainte-Foy	RSEQ
2	Fanshawe	OCAA
3	MacEwan University	ACAC
4	Lethbridge College	ACAC
5	Augustana	ACAC
6	Cégep André-Laurendeau	RSEQ
7	Collège Ahuntsic 	RSEQ
8	Humber College	OCAA
9	Fleming College	OCAA
10	Mohawk College	OCAA
11	Grande Prairie Regional College	ACAC
12	SAIT	ACAC
13	UBCO	PACWEST
14	Thompson Rivers University	PACWEST

MEN'S CONFERENCE

Position	Conference	AVG. TIME	TOTAL TIME
1	OCAA	26:16	2:11:19
2	RSEQ	26:19	2:11:36
3	ACAC	26:54	2:14:29
4	PACW	29:38	2:28:11

WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL

WOMEN'S TEAMS

Position	Institution	Conference
1	Humber College	OCAA
2	MacEwan University	ACAC
3	Red Deer College	ACAC
4	Cégep Sainte-Foy	PACWEST
5	Ahuntsic	RSEQ
6	Grande Prairie Regional College	ACAC
7	Champlain St. Lambert	RSEQ
8	St. Lawrence College - Brockville	OCAA
9	George Brown College	OCAA
10	St. Lawrence College - Kingston	OCAA
11	Augustana	ACAC
12	SAIT	ACAC
13	UBCO	PACWEST
14	Concordia University College	ACAC

WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

Position	Conference	AVG. TIME	TOTAL TIME
1	OCAA	18:59	1:34:54
2	ACAC	19:08	1:35:40
3	RSEQ	19:41	1:38:24
4	PACW	21:51	1:49:17

Ahh, what a day I had. This is going to sound stupid, but oh well. What happened was, I got a 13 km warmup before my race. My hotel was only about 5 km from the zoo, so I decided to get up early and walk/jog there. I carefully wrote down the instructions on a piece of paper, and studied the map. Well, it turns out I read the map wrong. What I thought to be east, was actually west. By the time I realized this (after asking a guy walking his dog), I had already put in a half hour jog… so I had to backtrack try to get to race start in time. I hadn’t picked up my race bib either. However, I got there 10 minutes before race start, WELL WARMED UP… hehe! I got my race big right away and got ready in time.

The race was fun. I actually felt quite good, but my speed wasn’t quite there. We know the reason… My 5km splits were 16:43 (ok) and 17:41 (bad). There were lots of turns and a few little hills too, so I found it to be a slow course, but still fun to run.

I got spanked by 2 women, and I managed to sprint by Malindi Elmore at the last second. I had to apologize to her after!

I had 34:23 and was 4th Master. I think I would have been 3rd if I had done a shorter warmup….

The results are posted at www.canadarunningseries.com/results/2011/zoo/zoo.htm

The top guys were

    1   29:34.6   29:33.7  2:58    2 COOLSAET, Reid
    2   29:41.6   29:41.3  2:59    3 GILLIS, Eric
    3   30:12.2   30:12.2  3:02   28 ONGERI, Josephat
    4   30:13.7   30:13.7  3:02   12 MACHARIA, Giitah
    5   30:19.7   30:19.7  3:02    4 WYKES, Dylan
    6   30:24.0   30:23.1  3:03    1 WATSON, Rob   

Last year, we won because the 2 top teams got lost. This year, we had a much faster team, but this year, we had serious competition from a fast team from the USA. They were very tough.

The race was dramatic today. Our first runner was first on leg 1 by about a minute. Our 2nd guy lost about 10 minutes after missing a turn. They then extended their lead a bit on leg 3. Then I made 2 minutes back on my leg 4. On leg 5, their runner got waaaaay lost and our guy was suddenly ahead. We weren’t sure by how much. Our guy on leg 6 got a bad, bad cramp and barely finished. We thought we lost the race there. However, we were still in the lead though! The 7th and last leg ended up being a victory run – the other team had lost too much time on leg 5 and that was it. We won, again!

I feel sorry for a runner who gets lost on course. I have done it in the past, and it is no fun, especially when that means your team loses 1st place. However, it happens, and it is very easy to get lost in trail running. It can happen to anybody.

It was dramatic and a lot of fun. My leg was very hard, 32 km hard mountain run and I ran out of water the last 5 km. Ugly. I still was fastest on leg 4 though.

Some photos of the area – the beautiful Crowsnest Pass. Fantastic race – highly recommended!
More here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvfLU3t

What is the K-100 Relay?

The K-100 is a hundred mile relay in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. I think it’s a little shorter than 100 miles to be honest, but who cares. It’s a beautiful course, just amazing. You usually see a lot of wildlife as well, including grizzlies, black bears, elk, big horn sheep, etc.

This was a 25th year anniversary for the relay. I don’t know remember exactly how many times I’ve done this race, but I’m pretty sure I was there for the 20th anniversary too.

Our team, the Camrose Pirates, finished in 5th place in the Open category, which was very competitive this year. The top 2 teams were insanely fast. Some major recruiting must have had taken place!

Results are posted here.

If you like running relays and you haven’t done the K-100, then this is one you have to do. Highly recommended – well organized, friendly people, fun, clever team names, spectacular scenery, amazing course and stiff competition!

Photos

I ran in the 40-49 category, and I followed behind Shawn Muldrew, who is an ace at middle distance running. With 150 meters to go, I was still right behind so I decided to kick as hard as I could all the way to the finish. To my surprise, I immediately got a meter or two, and managed to keep it all the way in. I had 4:50.6 and Shawn was right behind in 4:50.8 – see results here.

The Elite races for Women and Men were very interesting to watch. Malindi Elmore impressed us all immensely with her strong running. The Men’s race was intense, with a large group sticking together. Jordan Mara ended up having the best kick at the end, and won in 4:17.9.

See all results here

The Northland’s Mile Race is a great event for families. There is a kids half mile race early in the evening, and then the different age category races, and last the Elite races.

There is even a Beer Mile at the end of the night! I did it last year, but I skipped it this year. My friend Brendan did it and ended up 3rd I think.

A big thanks to Matt Norminton, who does an amazing job organizing this event. Matt works hard for the running community in Edmonton – be sure to thank him when you see him!

Photos

The Marathon and Half-Marathon both had winners from Camrose. I managed to out-kick my friend Andy to take 1st place in 1:16:03, and my training buddy Brendan Lunty won the Marathon in 2:42. This was my first race for the season, so I am extremely happy with how this day went. My time was about 25 seconds slower than my 3rd place finish last year, although the course was a bit different that time.

My wife did really good on the half-marathon, and our daughter Karly had a great race, and finished 4th among the women on the 10 km race. She is only 17 years old.

A big thanks to Red Deer Marathon organizers and volunteers – this race is one of the best ones in the province, without hesitation! I try to make it down to this race every year. I don’t know how many times I’ve run this race, but it has to be 6 or 7 times. This is the first time I’ve placed first – I have many top 2-4 finishes here.

There were a lot of runners from Camrose this day, great to see. Our friends Erin, Mary, Lori, Alvin, Paddi, Kathi, Neil, Wade were there, but there were actually many more people from the City of Camrose.

This turned out to be an extra lucky day for me, because I also won one of the grand draw prizes – a 1 year family pass to the Canyon Ski Resort in Red Deer. Yipppee!

My own training has been pretty good the last few weeks, but I got started later this year than I usually do, so I’m a bit behind on speed and endurance. However, I’m injury free and keen on training, so I’m hoping to get in good shape for the summer’s races. Northlands Mile Race, K-100, Sinister 7, Canada Day 15 km are some of the races I plan to do.

Happy Running, everyone!

Race Results Red Deer 2011

• 10 km
• Half-Marathon
• Marathon

Photos

I am getting back into it now, albeit slowly. I find that after several weeks of no running, I get very sore from even shorter runs. Oh, I ain’t a teenager any more!

In late March, I went back to Sweden to see family, and I met my old running friends from 25-20 years ago over dinner. Yes, OLD we are getting… but it was good fun to see them all.

Have you used the Garmin 405CX by the way? I am thinking about getting because I’m too lazy to update my training log by myself. The Garmin does it for me, which I need. I have no energy left to update my log after I run. I did say I’m getting old, didn’t I?

I think I did pretty good in my first attempt at Nationals. I placed 6th overall with the time 27:07. That is a good time for me, especially considering the difficult conditions. I was 18 seconds away from 3rd place.

The weather was brutal; windy and lots of wet snow coming down. When the conditions are – grass that is wet, slippery and slushy, long spikes is must. I screwed in 12 mm spikes in my shoes, which gave me better traction. It was still tricky, because the fresh soft snow was thicker than 12 mm, even when packed, so footing was difficult.

The event was very well organized, and the course was good. It was easy for spectators to view the race since it’s a 2 km loop.

Next year, Nationals will be in Vancouver and I’m already excited about that. I definitely want to go then, as long as I can stay in good shape. A dream would be to place among the top 3, and hey, there is nothing wrong with aiming high, right?

Video

Check out the lovely conditions for this race! You can watch the video here!

Results

Masters Overall

       1    Richard Minichiello    42   M       1 40-44      26:24.1
       2    Padraig McCluskey      41   M       2 40-44      26:36.4
       3    Steve Boyd             47   M       1 45-49      26:49.1
       4    Colin Dignum           44   M       3 40-44      26:52.4
       5    Alex Coffin            42   M       4 40-44      27:00.5
       6    Robert Renman          40   M       5 40-44      27:07.1
       7    Craig Odermatt         40   M       6 40-44      27:11.5
       8    Kevin O'connor         43   M       7 40-44      27:23.2
       9    Warren Ringler         34   M       1  0-34      27:25.8
      10    David Tepper           35   M       1 35-39      27:41.3

Females Junior

       1    Victoria Coates          17:42.0
       2    Ciara Kary               17:48.8
       3    Caroline Pfister         17:49.6
       4    Annie Leblanc            17:57.4
       5    Emily Driedger           17:58.9
       6    Jaclyn Rollins           18:02.5
       7    Fiona Benson             18:22.6
       8    Cerise Thompson          18:30.4
       9    Natalie Kannenberg       18:33.1
      10    Maria Bernard            18:37.1

Men Junior

       1    Ross Proudfoot       24:27.7                       

       2    Lucas Bruchet        24:37.1                       

       3    Robert Denault       24:40.1                       

       4    Connor Darlington    24:42.4                       

       5    Paul Janikowski      24:46.2                       

       6    Andrew Kowalsky      24:47.2                       

       7    Xavier King          24:55.2                       

       8    Daniel Piticariu     25:05.2                       

       9    Benjamin Raymond     25:06.4                       

      10    Jeremie Bourget      25:11.6                       

Senior Women

       1    Kate Harrison        23:43.5                       

       2    Dayna Pidhoresky     24:04.3                       

       3    Kate Van Buskirk     24:11.1                       

       4    Dana Buchanan        24:17.3                       

       5    Natasha Wodak        24:27.2                       

       6    Kate Vaughan         24:27.7                       

       7    Geneviève Lalonde    24:35.8                       

       8    Sarah-Anne Brault    24:41.2                       

       9    Victoria Fratczak    24:46.0                       

      10    Lucy Smith           24:54.4                       

Senior Men

       1    Cameron Levins  Comox Valley Cougar    28     M      29:25.7                       

       2    Robin Watson    Team Ontario          336     M      29:49.0                       

       3    Reid Coolsaet   Team Ontario          315     M      30:04.7                       

       4    Kelly Wiebe     Team Prairie          460     M      30:10.0                       

       5    Kip *Kangogo    Team Prairie          286     M      30:22.7                       

       6    Alex Genest     Equipe Quebec         528     M      30:35.4                       

       7    Barry Britt     SJTC                  306     M      30:44.5                       

       8    Yves *Sikubwabo Team Ontario          234     M      30:44.8                       

       9    Derek Snider    Speed River TFC       328     M      30:50.0                       

      10    Matthew Hughes  Team Ontario          393     M      31:10.7                       

Our teams did well today, and Augustana took home the combined team award! Things are looking great for both our womens and mens teams.

I ran today too, and placed 4th overall, behind Kip Kangogo, Ed Kangogo, and Dylan Hackenbrook. I felt quite strong today, better than in Red Deer last weekend.

Men’s top 6:

Women’s top 6:

Two weeks from now, Augustana will be hosting the next race, Grand Prix #5. Looking forward to this one. I am curious to see what our top runners can do on our course. Both Buddy and Andy are capable of running low 28:00′s, or perhaps even under. I am hoping for a sub 29:00 time for myself, which would be my fastest Augustana race time since 1999.