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Women’s 10K preview: Canadian Cross-Country Championships

The final national title of 2016 will be awarded as the Canadian Cross-Country Championships hits Kingston, Ont. on Saturday.

Canadian Cross-Country Championships

Senior Women's 8K

Canada’s best middle- and long-distance runners will be in Kingston, Ont. on Saturday for the Canadian Cross-Country Championships. The senior women go off at 2:30 p.m. EST, and for the first time in history, they will run 10K, the same distance as the senior men.

RELATED: Photos from the 2016 Canadian University Cross-Country Championships.

The returning champion, Natasha Wodak, will not be racing on Saturday, in part because she has been in a battle with the nation’s governing body over funding issues. Wodak’s absence gurantees a new national champion with Rachel Hannah, Sasha Gollish, Emily Setlack, Leslie Sexton and Rachel Cliff being the favourites.

 

Here’s some #mondaymotivation for ya: 3 ? that illustrate why #xc is so special #acxc

A photo posted by canadianrunning (@canadianrunning) on

All the favourites have shown excellent fitness lately including Gollish’s win at the Indianapolis Half-Marathon, Sexton racing the men’s 10K at the Athletics Ontario Championships and Hannah running a strong marathon in Toronto in October. The course is four times a 2.5K loop.

Top university runners Claire Sumner, Lisa Brooking, Stefanie Smith and Julie-Anne Staehli will also be in the mix as will top-100 finisher from NCAAs (American university championships) Jillian Forsey. Sumner won both Ontario provincials and nationals.

The site of the race will be at Fort Henry, a National Historic Site of Canada, near downtown Kingston. Currently, the course is snow covered following consistent snowfall over the past seven days. The course is located on Lake Ontario and is notably windy.

Course conditions as of Wednesday afternoon

“Course is pretty good, some drifts but nothing major,” race director Clive Morgan said when he took the photos. “That’s the benefit of it being windy up on the hill. Given forecast, course should be clear but wet on race day.”

Runners will be looking to earn a spot on the 2017 IAAF World Cross-Country Championships team in Kampala, Uganda. Potential team members earn their spot on the squad by virtue of placing well at Saturday’s championships. A spot on the North American, Central American and Carribean (NACAC) Championships team is also on the line.

Eligiblility is based on finishing in the top-10 at the national cross-country championships. The team is then further broken down into the top six runners who have declared an intention to represent Canada. Simply put, the 10th place finisher could earn a spot on the team if four runners in front of him/her opt out of the eligibility pool.

The course is spectator friendly and admission is free as races on Saturday begin at 9 a.m. EST and finish at 3:30 p.m. The live stream for the event can be found here. Canadian Running‘s editor-in-chief, Michael Doyle, will be commentating along with Steve Fleck on Saturday.

Schedule

9:00 am U18 Girls 4k
9:30 am U18 Boys 6k
10:10 am Community Races 2.5k & 5k
10:15 am U18 Awards
10:45 am Masters 8k
12:00 pm U20 Women 6k
12:45 pm U20 Men 8k
1:30 pm Masters Awards
1:50 pm U20 Awards
2:30 pm Open (Senior) Women 10k
3:30 pm Open (Senior) Men 10k
4:30 pm Open (Senior) Awards

2015 champions

Youth Girls – Brogan MacDougal
Youth Boys – Jonathan Stoppa
Junior Women – Hannah Bennison
Junior Men – Ehab El-Sandali
Senior Women – Natasha Wodak
Senior Men – Ross Proudfoot

Canadian Running will be live on location on Saturday providing up-to-the-minute updates. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat for the latest from Fort Henry. Don’t forget to subscribe to CR‘s YouTube channel for race videos.

Entries

*Abera, Yeabsira Senior
OTOC
Bedard, Alyssa Senior
TNOR
Belanger, Claudia Senior
CALT
Bottomley, Jenny Senior
TNOR
Boyle, Shari Senior
RRAC
Brooking, Lisa Senior
LANG
Butterworth, Alycia Senior
UNBC
Butterworth, Lindsey Senior
VRTC
Carlin, Taylor Senior
RRAC
Carson, Lindsay Senior
AYYK
Cigagna, Beatrice Senior
NMKT
Cliff, Rachel Senior
TBIR
Coates, Victoria Senior
PHYS
Comeau, Anne-Marie Senior
CAUL
Desjardins, Laura Senior
NMKT
Elliott, Brittany Senior
RIVA
Fisher, Katie Senior
GUXR
Flynn, Jullien Senior
MGOC
Forsey, Jillian Senior
UNNL
Gagnon, Catherine Senior
FLYS
*Gebremedhin, Sentayehu Senior
OTOC
Geneau, Mary Claire Senior
UTTC
Gollish, Sasha Senior
UTTC
Hambleton, Brittany Senior
HARB
Hambleton, Julie Senior
HARB
Hamilton, Georgia Senior
MGOC
Hannah, Rachel Senior
UTTC
Harrison, Kathryn Senior
UNON
Hegland, Chloe Senior
UVIC
Howard, Liza Senior
OTOC
Jacquemin, Charlotte Senior
MGOC
*Jara, Dehininet Senior
OTOC
Johnston, Stephanie Senior
BRNT
Kaiser, Jessica Senior
RRAC
Kallos, Alecia Senior
RRAC
Kanz, Isabelle Senior
OTTL
Kary, Lindsay Senior
PHYS
Langley, Clara Senior
PHYS
Locco, Lauren Senior
HARB
Maxfield, Heather Senior
LRUN
Mildren, Robyn Senior
TBIR
Murray, Shannen Senior
PHYS
Myrand, Melanie Senior
MGOC
Neigel, Emma Senior
CALT
Norminton, Jennifer Senior
RRAC
Peacocke, Anna Senior
RRAC
Petrick, Heather Senior
OSPR
Pieterson, Rebecca Senior
LWTF
Raby, Arianne Senior
CAVD
*Radivojevic, Marija Senior
OTOC
Ryer, Ashley Senior
UNNS
Setlack, Emily Senior
RRAC
Sexton, Leslie Senior
LRDC
Sills, Taylor Senior
PHYS
Smith, Stefanie Senior
LRDC
St-Laurent, Noémie Senior
KJNS
Staehli, Julie-Anne Senior
PHYS
Strain, Mary Senior
TNOR
Struyk, Tara Senior
RRAC
Sumner, Claire Senior
UCAC
Tallman, Emma Senior
LWTF
Thiel, Danielle Senior
LEGA
Trofimenkoff, Vanessa Senior
RRAC
Valade, Claire Amy Senior
KJNS
Wilkins, Amanda Senior
PGNL
Wilson, Colleen Senior
HFST
Wismer, Katie Senior
TNOR
Wismer, Sarah Senior
OSPR

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