Today Bear Mountain, tomorrow Tokyo. Well, not literally for the latter. It鈥檚 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鈥檚 10,000 metres and 3,000m-steeplechase respectively, is if a coronavirus pandemic somehow stops the Summer Games from going ahead. But we鈥檙e 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, sa国际传媒, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. take on the trails at Bear Mountain.
鈥淏eing on home soil will bring extra energy for the Canadian runners,鈥� said Lalonde, who was in the women鈥檚 top 20 at the 2019 IAAF world cross-country championships in Aarhus, Denmark.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have family and friends out supporting us in red.鈥�
With relatives from the Island and Lower Mainland coming out, the native of Moncton, N.B., won鈥檛 be alone on the course today.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough course, so the support will be helpful,鈥� 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鈥檚 cross-country champion, has chosen to train on the Island to advance her career.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 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鈥檓 fine with the rain, she said.
Wodak鈥檚 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.
鈥淢y confidence is high [in the wake of Lima],鈥� said Wodak, who hails from North Vancouver.
鈥淏ut this Bear Mountain course is challenging and is certainly original.鈥�
Also on the Canadian women鈥檚 team is Rio 2016 Olympic steeplechaser Maria Bernard-Galea of Calgary.
Canadian men鈥檚 team runners John Gay of Kelowna and Connor Black of London, Ont., said the Bear Mountain layout will test the mettle of the competitors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a creative course that is challenging with a lot of elements at play,鈥� said Gay.
鈥淚t makes great use of the geography on the mountain with incredibly scenic views as a backdrop.鈥�
Black, the 2018 U Sports cross-country champion with the University of Guelph Gryphons, concurred: 鈥淭his venue is unique and will help in [Greater Victoria鈥檚] bid for the 2023 world championships.鈥�
Which is the point, as the event will be live-streamed on CBC.
Gay represented sa国际传媒 in the 2019 IAAF world championships in Denmark on a course he described as a 鈥渕eat-grinder.鈥� He compares Bear Mountain favourably with the worlds course: 鈥淭hey have upped the ante here and it鈥檚 equal to the world championship course.鈥�
The route is a two-kilometre loop of Bear Mountain鈥檚 Valley golf course and features a steep climb. The elite hemispheric men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e are very excited to be competing on home turf in such a high-performance sport environment as Greater Victoria,鈥� she said.
The 10K women鈥檚 elite championship race begins at noon and the men鈥檚 at 12:45 p.m. There are several other races, as well, beginning with the 5K community run at 9 a.m., 6K women鈥檚 and 8K men鈥檚 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.
鈥淭he dream is to someday host the world championships,鈥� said two-time Olympic marathoner Bruce Deacon of Victoria, general manager of the Pan Am championships.
