New high-performance running group formed in B.C.

BC Athletics has announced a new high-performance training group based in Vancouver. The team will bring Olympic and world championship athletes together to train.

The British Columbia Endurance Project (BCEP) is planned to be an elite training group for distance events, mainly the 5000m to marathon, on the West Coast.

Canada has had a notable lack of post-collegiate, top-calibre training groups in recent years, especially outside of the Montreal-Windsor corridor.

B.C. is one of the regions which has notably lacked a group like this. There have been many top-tier athletes living and training in the area, but there hasn’t been an cohesive training environment. In Ontario the elite training scene has been dominated by Speed River, based in Guelph, Ont. The new B.C. group will look to rival many of the Speed River athletes at national championships and compete for selection to national teams.

Richard Lee, who was appointed provincial endurance coach in August, will coach the group personally.

Lee coached his future-spouse, Sue Lee, to the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and has been 2012 Olympian Dylan Wykes’ personal coach since 2010.

The roster of athletes now training under Lee is impressive. Rob Watson, a major force in Canadian men’s marathoning and the 2013 Canadian marathon champion has joined up. So has 2012 Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship-winning-stud and 2013 world cross-country team member Kelly Wiebe. Luc Bruchet, another 2013 world cross team member is also training with them.

On the women’s side, 2013 Canadian 10,000m champ, Natasha Wodak, who recently made her marathon debut will be leading the group. Training with her is Sabrina Wilkie, the 2013 BC 5K and 10K champion on the roads.

The team’s first major event will be at the national cross-country championship in Vancouver’s Jericho Park at the end of November. The men will certainly be looking to win the meet and prove they are a serious force in Canadian distance running, which they certainly will be.

The group will be funded and supported by Bc Athletics, the Canadian Sport Institute and ViaSport