Two-time Olympian Natasha Wodak, the Canadian women’s marathon record holder, went on to bigger things but she never forgot where it all started. That’s why she never misses a Pioneer 8K race hosted by her home-club Prairie Inn Harriers, the 44th edition of which goes today at 11:30 a.m. in North Saanich, with the start/finish line at the Tourist Information Centre just off the Pat Bay Highway.
Wodak is a seven-time women’s winner of the event and has also won the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon.
“It’s the 10-year anniversary of my first Canadian record, which was set in the Pioneer 8K [25:28 in 2013], and I am a Prairie Inn Harrier, which makes this really special,” said Wodak.
“That was my breakthrough race.”
A bigger breakthrough came last year in Berlin when Wodak destroyed the former Canadian female marathon record, held by fellow-British Columbian and Olympian Malindi Elmore, by more than a minute-and-half by running 2:23:12.
“That was a dream come true and I was so emotional when I saw the clock,” said Wodak.
“Malindi and I are good friends and she was happy for me. She knows she can take it [record] back. That moment in Berlin was like anything in life. It’s exhilarating when you reach your goals. My goal has always been to run as fast as I can and make the national team and represent my country on the international stage.”
Wodak has done that with aplomb, from winning the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games and placing fifth in the 10,000 metres in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, to placing 13th in the Tokyo Olympics, behind Kelowna’s Elmore, who was ninth.
“We looked at each other as if to say: ‘Yes, we belong here at the world level,’” said Wodak.
The quest isn’t over.
“I want to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics marathon as soon as I can, perhaps as early as this spring,” said Wodak.
At 41 years old, she has become a beacon for many: “I want to support running in the community and it’s really inspiring for me to hear from little girls to mom runners in their 40s who say they have been inspired by me.”
Wodak’s association with the Prairie Inn Harriers began 12 years ago. Legendary Prairie Inn mentor Bob Reid recalls she was running unaffiliated at the B.C. cross-country championships in 2011. The Harriers had a powerhouse club at the time with the likes of Lucy Smith, Cheryl Murphy and Ulla Hansen and so they asked Wodak to be the fourth member of the team which went on to win the provincial championship that year in the first of its six consecutive B.C. crowns with Wodak running anchor. Wodak so values that time with Prairie Inn that she has remained a Harrier, despite being based in Vancouver.
“I will keep doing it until I slow down,” she said.
That doesn’t look like it will be happening anytime soon. But she will be pushed today in an elite field that will include Victoria-based two-time Olympic 3,000-metre steeplechase finalist Gen Lalonde and possibly Victoria-based Gabriela Stafford, fifth in the Tokyo Olympics 1,500 metres.
Wodak’s 25:28 from 2013 is still the Pioneer 8K course record with former University of Victoria Vikes great and 1996 Atlanta Olympian Carey Nelson’s longstanding 22:58 from 1985 the men’s record.
The Pioneer 8K begins the eight-event 2023 Island Race Series, which continues Jan. 22 with the Ceevacs Cobble Hill 10K. The other races in the series are the Bastion Cedar 12K on Feb. 12, Westcoast Running Sooke 10K on Feb. 26, Frontrunners Hatley Castle 8K on March 12, Comox Valley RV Half-Marathon on March 19, McLean Mill 10K in the Alberni Valley on April 2 and Synergy Health Bazan Bay 5K on April 23.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
