Not too often you get to wrap a Dicken’s quote into a write up about a cross country race, but the conditions at this past weekend’s Capital Cross Country Challenge was straight out of the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities. Friday afternoon’s high school section was most certainly the best of weather, while Saturday seemed to bring the worst of weather, but none of that seemed to deter any of the more than 520 runners competing.
Running under near ideal conditions, Amelia Van Brabant dominated the varsity girls field as she finished the grueling five kilometre course in a time of 17 minutes and 54.55 seconds. The grade 11 student at Earl of March High School in Kanata crossed the line more than a full minute ahead of runner-up Clara Hegan. The girls junior varsity crown was taken by Isabella Chiumera of St. Pius X, while Lauren Alexander of the Lions was third.
Frontenac Secondary School’s Angus Skinner claimed the win in the varsity boys five kilometre race in 16 minutes and 2.07 seconds, 21 seconds ahead of St. Paul’s Zackary Sikka. Caden Turcotte, of Kingston’s Physi-Kult Running Club, rounded out the medalists in 16:44.55.
Producing the tightest finish on Friday was the boys junior varsity four kilometre contest, where Simon Rosenthal of Montreal’s Villa Maria High School crossed the line 14 minutes and 13.61 seconds, just two seconds ahead of Mother Teresa’s Will Sanders.
The clear sunny skies of Friday quickly turned into dark grey rain clouds over night, but as bleak as the skies may have appeared, it failed to dampen the excitement for both the elementary school children and post secondary runners.
The open women’s six kilometre contest was won by Charlotte Langley of Queen’s University in 23 minutes and 6.04 seconds, but it was McGill who would claim the team title with an impressive 28 points as they managed to place all five of their scorers in the top-10. Sophy Wood was the top scorer for the Carleton Ravens, placing 30th overall in 25:23.69, while Kylee Fowler was the top runner for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
The open men’s race was dominated by Queen’s as Kirby Mitchell led the Gaels to a sweep of the top four positions, winning in 19 minutes and 7.94 seconds. The Gaels totaled 19 points, 32 ahead of second place McGill to take the team title. The Gee-Gees placed third with 111 points led by veterans Andre Alie-Lamarche and Adrian Fournier who place 7th and 11th overall respectively. The top Lion was Nicholas Pedersen, who finished a spot behind Alie-Lamarche in eighth. Darion Dillabaugh of Carleton was the top Raven, placing 27th overall.
The cross country season continues this coming weekend, October 10th, with the both the Gee-Gees and Ravens travelling to Quebec to compete in the Sherbrooke Invitational.
For complete results and photos from the Capital Cross Country Challenge, visit our results page.