Isabel Spence, a Grade 10 Meaford student and a member of the Georgian Bay Coyotes, competed at the 2024 Athletics Canada National Cross Country Championships in London on Saturday, November 30.
Light snow cover dusted the rolling hills of the Fanshawe Golf Course under cooler -2’C temperatures with a stacked field of runners in the 4km Girls U16 age group from across the nation.
There were 120 girls spread across the wide starting line area, which quickly narrowed after about 200m. So a quick start was important over the out-and-back 2km loop. There was also one short but steep hill lasting about 10 seconds close to the end of the loop.
Isabel had a great start and was sitting in about 15th spot as the course narrowed and headed down a short hill. She settled into her pace and positioned herself around 30th spot after the first 2km. Her legs started to fade during the second loop after her strong start and aggressive first half of her race. She finished strong up the final short, steep hill and sprinted the last 100m to cross the line in 69th spot with a time of 17:01.
Her goal was to be within 1:30 of the girl who won both OFSAA high school provincial championships in early November and the Athletics Ontario Championships in mid November. This would have reached her overall race goal of top 50. She was just shy of that as she was just under two minutes behind the OFSAA/AO winner (who was 4th overall in this race).
Many positives were gained for Isabel. She accomplished her goal of having a great start and also being well placed after the first loop. She controlled her pre-race jitters and was able to ‘stay out of trouble’, avoiding being boxed in during the race. She also gained valuable race experience competing against girls from across Canada and building her confidence level.
The 2025 Canadian Cross Country Championships will be held on the same course next year. Isabel will be a much stronger runner by then and will spend much of the coming year improving on her endurance speed for the back half of her race.
Prior to the national championship race, she was the lone Coyote to compete at the 2024 Athletics Ontario Cross Country Championships held at the Lakeridge Links Golf Club in Whitby on Sunday, November 17.
Athletes were welcomed with pleasant overcast skies and 8’C as they raced through the natural rolling terrain of this very nice golf course. Isabel competed in the U16 age group, lacing up with most of the top Grade 9 and 10 girls from across the province, many of whom were top performers at the OFSAA XC Championships held in Ottawa two weeks prior.
The AO Championships would include those top high school runners as well as the top runners in track clubs similar to the Georgian Bay Coyotes who did not qualify for OFSAA. Isabel was overly determined to have a strong race this weekend as she missed qualifying for OFSAA due to illness. Her strong training over the last several months allowed her to be in very good shape and was ready to line up with the top girls.
Still being relatively new to the sport, Isabel ran strong throughout the race and had many ‘positives’ in her performance as well as some great learning experiences, finishing in a very solid 38th of 138 girls over the 4km course. It was a very solid performance and she can be very proud of her efforts. Despite being boxed in over the narrow course for the first 2km, she finally broke out and finished strong. She was only 1:31 minute behind the eventual race winner, who also won the Grade 10 Girls 5km race at OFSAA. For comparison’s sake, assuming Isabel would have competed at OFSAA, her 1:31 minute time difference from the race winner would have placed her somewhere around 12th-20th position.
