Athletics Canada reports record numbers at 2023 Canadian XC Championships

For the third consecutive year, the City of Ottawa hosted the Canadian Cross Country Championships in collaboration with Athletics Canada, Run Ottawa and Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club. The event saw course records in both the women’s and men’s open races, plus record-setting registration numbers across the board—with more than 1,400 participants across the eight races.

The 2023 Canadian Cross Country Championships (ACXC) hosted the men’s and women’s championship 10K, U20 men’s 8K and women’s 6K, plus a U18 boys 6K and girls 4K. The Frost Country community 6K was also back for another year, after a successful addition in 2022, and the inclusion of a new community kids’ 1K race.

Despite the below-zero temperatures, there was an increase in the men’s open and community 6K races, with more than 450 combined participants. Light snow and frost made for tough cross-country conditions and muddy races by the time the men’s open race began in the early afternoon. The only disciplines that were down over years past were the women’s open and the U20 division. The U18 girls’ race saw numbers soar, with 246 finishers.

15-year-old phenom wins Canadian U18 XC Championship

Two distance runners from Vancouver took home the men’s and women’s open XC titles. Kieran Lumb won his first senior XC title in a course-record time of 29:18, while on the women’s side, NCAA standout Ceili McCabe dominated a veteran field from start to finish, winning in 33:28.

“This has been an outstanding run of ACXC in Ottawa,” said Chris Winter, head of domestic programs at Athletics Canada, in a press release. “Ottawa’s Mooney’s Bay provided a challenging, scenic, and fan-friendly course for our national championship.” Winter went on to acknowledge the support from Run Ottawa and the Ottawa Lions for a record-setting year, which saw the event surpass pre-pandemic numbers at both ACXC 2018 in Kingston, Ont. (1,156) and ACXC 2019 in Abbotsford, B.C. (711).

The championships will move to a new location in 2024/2025, taking place on the last weekend in November at Fanshawe Golf Course in London, Ont., where Canada’s best cross-country runners will run the Forest City’s best trails.