Today Bear Mountain, tomorrow Tokyo. Well, not literally for the latter. It’s actually in July and August. Several of the best runners in the hemisphere will use the Pan American Cross-Country Championships today at the Bear as a springboard to the track events in the 2020 Olympic Games.
In that category are Canadian runners Natasha Wodak of the Prairie Inn Harriers and Genevieve Lalonde of the national middle-distance training hub at PISE on the Camosun College Interurban campus. About the only thing that will deny the duo from being in Tokyo, in the women’s 10,000 metres and 3,000m-steeplechase respectively, is if a coronavirus pandemic somehow stops the Summer Games from going ahead. But we’re a long way from that. Of immediacy are the Pan American championships with the Canadians holding home-course advantage today as 117 runners from Brazil, Bahamas, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. take on the trails at Bear Mountain.
“Being on home soil will bring extra energy for the Canadian runners,” said Lalonde, who was in the women’s top 20 at the 2019 IAAF world cross-country championships in Aarhus, Denmark.
“We’ll have family and friends out supporting us in red.”
With relatives from the Island and Lower Mainland coming out, the native of Moncton, N.B., won’t be alone on the course today.
“It’s a tough course, so the support will be helpful,” said Lalonde, who at Rio 2016 became the first Canadian woman to make the steeplechase final in an Olympic Games.
Lalonde, the two-time defending Canadian women’s cross-country champion, has chosen to train on the Island to advance her career.
“You don’t realize until you come here how much the snow [in Moncton and her former training base in Guelph, Ont.] deters you from training. I love the trails here in Greater Victoria. I’m fine with the rain, she said.
Wodak’s career has included wins in the Victoria Half-Marathon, Pioneer 8K on the Saanich Peninsula and gold in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games.
“My confidence is high [in the wake of Lima],” said Wodak, who hails from North Vancouver.
“But this Bear Mountain course is challenging and is certainly original.”
Also on the Canadian women’s team is Rio 2016 Olympic steeplechaser Maria Bernard-Galea of Calgary.
Canadian men’s team runners John Gay of Kelowna and Connor Black of London, Ont., said the Bear Mountain layout will test the mettle of the competitors.
“It’s a creative course that is challenging with a lot of elements at play,” said Gay.
“It makes great use of the geography on the mountain with incredibly scenic views as a backdrop.”
Black, the 2018 U Sports cross-country champion with the University of Guelph Gryphons, concurred: “This venue is unique and will help in [Greater Victoria’s] bid for the 2023 world championships.”
Which is the point, as the event will be live-streamed on CBC.
Gay represented Canada in the 2019 IAAF world championships in Denmark on a course he described as a “meat-grinder.” He compares Bear Mountain favourably with the worlds course: “They have upped the ante here and it’s equal to the world championship course.”
The route is a two-kilometre loop of Bear Mountain’s Valley golf course and features a steep climb. The elite hemispheric men’s and women’s runners will traverse the course five times in the 10K championship races. The start and finish line will be at the driving range.
The Canadian team coach for the Pan Am cross-country meet is two-time Olympic 1,500-metre runner Hilary Stellingwerff of Victoria.
“We are very excited to be competing on home turf in such a high-performance sport environment as Greater Victoria,” she said.
The 10K women’s elite championship race begins at noon and the men’s at 12:45 p.m. There are several other races, as well, beginning with the 5K community run at 9 a.m., 6K women’s and 8K men’s U-20 Pan Am championship races at 10 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., respectively, 1.6K Nations Cup team race at 11:30 a.m., 5K Pacific Northwest youth championship at 1:40 p.m. and 5K Can-Am Masters Challenge at 2:15 p.m.
There is no admission charge and fans are advised to park on the outer gravel lots and walk down to the golf course.
“The dream is to someday host the world championships,” said two-time Olympic marathoner Bruce Deacon of Victoria, general manager of the Pan Am championships.
