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Weekend recap: Cross country competition returns to Canadian soil

Laval shows their dominance in XC action, and Trayvon Bromell runs a 100m world lead in Nairobi, Kenya

Photo by: Matt Garies

It has been two seasons since Canadian universities have last competed against one another on Canadian soil. This weekend, two cross country meets took place, giving us an early glimpse of runners to keep our eye on as the season progresses.

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In Montreal, McGill University hosted the McGill XC Invite, which took place at the historic Parc de Mont-Royal over a 6K (for men) and 4K (for women) course. U of Laval’s Jessy Lacourse continued her impressive form from the summer track season, winning the McGill Invite in 13:34, over Rouge-et-Or teammate Catherine Beauchemin, by 15 seconds. The Laval women’s team won the meet, having five women finishing in the top 15, for a total score of 32 over McGill’s 43. It is important to note that McGill made it close, with four of their runners finishing in the top 10, led by Corinne Leclerc, who finished third (13:52).

In the men’s race, the two U Sports individual title favourites Jean-Simon Desgagnés and Thomas Fafard dominated the 6K race from the start. The Laval men asserted their dominance over the RSEQ conference with seven of their runners finishing in the top 10. No team at this meet challenged Laval as they compiled a total score of 18 points. McGill’s men team finished second, with a 49-point deficit behind Laval.

The top three finishers at the StFX 6K Invite in Antigonish, NS. Photo: Krista McKenna, StFX Sports

Antigonish, NS, was the setting for the 6K StFX Invite race in the AUS conference. In the women’s race, it was StFX’s Siona Chisholm who broke away from the field early on, crossing the line in a time of 24:13. She was followed by Paige Chisholm of the UPEI Panthers at 24:50. The X-Women had their top five runners in the top 10 to put 22 points on the board to win the meet. The Dalhousie Tigers came second with 65 points.

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In the men’s race, it was fifth-year SMU veteran Andrew Peverill, who came out on top to win the 6K race in 20:43. It was the St. Francis Xavier X-Men that had three runners in the top ten as they garnered 40 points in the first place team finish. The Dalhousie Tigers were a close second, finishing with 43 points and four runners in the top ten.

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In the last track meet of the season, American sprinter Trayvon Bromell ran a wind-legal 9.76 seconds at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya. Bromell’s time is the sixth-fastest of all time over 100m. On his charge to the line, he dipped ahead of Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala by a hundredth of a second. This exceptional end to the track season comes after Bromell and Omanyala both missed out on the men’s 100m Olympic final.

Toronto saw a return to in-person road racing with RunX Toronto at Exhibition Place, a time-trial 5K put on by the Toronto Triathlon Festival. The course involved four 1.2 km loops of Bandshell Park and featured 200 runners. Groups of 30 to 50 runners went off per hour to ensure the safety of all participants. Toronto’s Ben Devito won the race in 15:43.

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