Distance runners need not apply

Despite claiming to be in pursuit of, “leadership, development and competition” and maintaining that their efforts ensure, “world-level performance in athletics,” Athletics Canada’s disengagement from and disinterest in Canadian distance running has been nothing short of a travesty.

Canadians might like their athletes humble but few would suggest that they also like them rendered invisible by a system that studiously disregards them, unless of course they happen to specialize in hurdles or the 100 meter dash; sports in other words that have little context to most Canadians.

Dylan Wykes, one of Canada’s top marathoners, agrees. “Athletics Canada gets nothing from sending three 2:16:55 guys” to the Olympics. Athletes who, “are not going to place well enough to help Athletics Canada achieve their mandate of X number of athletes in the top 8 or top 16.”

This disposition is far easier to understand if you follow the money, and are willing to accept that Athletics Canada really isn’t about supporting aspiring Canadian distance runners but concerned primarily with the political manoeuvring required to increase the budget. The sad reality is that men and women who aren’t in that top eight provide no real upside and, subsequently are not worth the gamble.

“They want the guys who will get them funding from the COA, own the podium etc. They aren’t willing to hedge their bets on a 2:16:55 guy”, said Wykes.

It’s the equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul but in this case, it involves stealing the untapped potential of Canada’s future distance runners to increase the budget and directing those same resources towards the Boardwalk and Park Place properties of sprints and hurdles; sure bets certainly, but hardly the spirit of their mandate. If you know what an “easy ten” is and think that a five mile run is merely a good start than it’s likely Athletics Canada isn’t interested in anything you’re selling.

Rachel Seaman was a rising star in race walking. Athletics Canada agreed, and in 2009 they sent her to compete at World Championships despite the fact that she had still only managed to hit the B-standard. In a slight aberration from regular protocol, Athletics Canada created a loophole to support up and coming talent. In a leap of incredible short-term thinking, however, they deemed that once this exception was used, the window closed forever. It didn’t seem to matter to Athletics Canada that two years later she broke the Canadian record in the 20K race walk in a time of 1:34:22, a time that most Canadians would struggle to hit while running. There wasn’t even a press release from Athletics Canada until days later and contact between her, and an organization whose mission has been to support Canadian athletes, has been close to, in her words, “non-existent.”

At the ripe old age of twenty-five she now finds herself on her own. “I am only 25,” lamented Seaman and, “I am in an older category now, even though, just like the marathon, you peak at a later age. . . This is not even taken into account.”
Consider that it is only at the age of thirty-one that Reid Coolsaet is now hitting his peak and yet still the carding standards favour younger athletes. This is all fine and well, if again, the main focus is shorter distance track events, where athletes’ longevity is inherently brief but it appears as if Athletics Canada is using a one size fits all approach and distance runners need not apply.

In the void that Athletics Canada has left, corporations and clubs have stepped in. Brooks supported Tara Quinn-Smith and gave her a house to live in. Scotiabank made it possible to send a marathon team to the world championships in 2009. Athletics Canada’s contribution has been limited. “Basically, I pay Athletics Canada $300 per year to be enrolled in their athletes’ insurance program and get decent rates on physiotherapy, massage, chiropractic, Wykes said.” Seaman is supported by her husband and the New York Athletic Club. This club has contributed funds for her current trip to Europe and will also be covering her way to Nationals in Calgary this year. “I get more support from them, a US club, than I get from anyone in Canada,” she states.

The tragedy here isn’t just the poor treatment of Canadian athletes by a cold-hearted and indifferent institution or even the official neglect that has driven athletes to seek help from the competition. The tragedy here is the elimination of the opportunity to fail.

Wykes’ experience in the 2009 worlds made him realize that, simply put, he just wasn’t good enough. “I learned a lot from being given the opportunity to be on that team. I ran poorly and it made me realize I had to change things up in my life if I wanted to be successful at an international level in the marathon.” Not long after, he ran a 1:02:14 half-marathon in New York, placing 11th in a strong race.

Under the current system athletes are given preference based on several criteria. Athletes who opt to train full time at the Athletics Canada National Training centre are considered more favourably than those who do not which sounds fair except for one small detail; no such training centre exists for distance running. It’s difficult to imagine the next Jerome Drayton emerging in such a climate.

One-hundred-mile weeks haven’t left Wykes with much in the tank. “Sadly, I don’t have the energy to fight the system. I have conceded that I cannot change it and that even collectively we as a distance running community will struggle to change the system.” Seaman agrees. “I have decided that I will only care about what I can control which is my own training and performance and hope that it’s good enough one day.”

Certainly there is an argument to be made that setting high standards pushes people to meet them. But what continues to be baffling is the lack of accountability as it pertains to the people who are supposed to be in charge of making sure that running continues to matter beyond the recreational level. The current philosophy is the equivalent of cavalierly setting rigorous NHL standards, directing aspiring hockey players as to where they can buy equipment and then ten years later absently wondering why no one can skate.

The void left by Athletics Canada has been largely filled with a quasi Marxist jogging culture that at the same time celebrates the collective participation of the masses while selling overpriced shoes and water belts. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with this so long as the runners at the highest level are being consistently supported. Sadly, this isn’t happening and through this official policy of apathy and indifference we have let our athletes down.