If the more than 900 runners need any inspiration today in the sa国际传媒 high school cross-country championships at Royal Roads University, they only need look up at the presenters during the awards ceremony, as the medals will be handed out by two-time Olympic medallist triathlete Simon Whitfield and two-time Olympic 1,500-metre runner Hilary Stellingwerff.
The senior girls’ favourite, Ruby Broadbent of Parkland Secondary who took to running to stay fit for soccer during the pandemic, will be looking to defend her title from last year and has international-career dreams of her own as the Canadian U-18 champion will have several NCAA and U Sports teams recruiting her. Broadbent, with a gifted stride, routinely ran in the senior boys’ races during the Lower Island season and won.
Broadbent’s biggest challenge today will come from another Island athlete – Ella Ballard of Royal Bay, who was third last year in the provincials at Jericho Beach in Vancouver. On the senior girls’ team side, Oak Bay and Dover Bay come into provincials after finishing 1-2 in the Island championships held last month in Port Alberni.
Tyler Brown is the senior boys’ Island champion and leads a deep Oak Bay team. Also vying for the boys’ team championship will be a thorough squad from Nanaimo District Secondary, which placed a close second to Oak Bay at the Island championships.
“We have some of the best runners in sa国际传媒 competing this weekend,” said race director Jeff Hunt, who coaches the St. Michaels University School team, and designed the course, as the provincial championships return to the Island for the first time since 2014.
“This may be the most stunning setting ever for a sa国际传媒 championships, with the vistas of the Juan de Fuca Strait and the Olympic Mountain range and the beauty of Hatley Castle, and we are excited to have the best high school runners in the province here to experience it,” added Hunt, in a statement.
Hunt described the course as spectator accommodating with easy access for supporters along a course that will feature tricky corners, steep inclines, two creek jumps and a long straightaway to the finish line.
The Para athletes will cover a 2K course, the junior boys and girls will run a 4Kcourse and the senior boys and girls will each race 5K. The Para race starts at 9:15 a.m. with the junior girls off at 10 a.m., junior boys at 10:45 a.m., senior girls at 11:30 a.m. and senior boys at 12:15 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 1 p.m.
It could be sa国际传媒’s Team Tommorow on display this morning at Royals Roads.
“Some of the previous winners of Ontario’s and sa国际传媒’s high school championships have gone on to become Olympians and Canadian record holders. A majority of these champions will be recruited by NCAA and U Sports programs for cross-country and track,” wrote Canadian Running Magazine, following last year’s provincials at Jericho Beach.
It should be no different today among this year’s champions at Royal Roads.
