Schaaf, Bairu win cross-country championships, Whitfield top 10

Seven Canadian cross-country titles in eight years is an enviable achievement by Simon Bairu, but had circumstances been slightly different, his destruction of a classy field at the 2009 Nationals on November 28 in Guelph, Ont. might never have happened. The 26-year-old native of Regina, Sask. had originally planned to make his marathon debut in New York City, November 1, but had to put the plan on hold.

“I kind of hit the wall in training,” Bairu explains. “I had increased my mileage pretty drastically. After a couple of weeks of running about 30 miles more than I usually do, I just hit the wall [at 125 miles a week]. Coach said in mid-October ‘ease back’ and so I am pretty confident that if the New York Marathon was in January, I would be in it.”

Finishing in 28:49, well ahead of the Speed River Track Club duo of Eric Gillis (30:00) and Matthew Brunsting (30:11) in cold, damp conditions, Bairu was quick to put into perspective the importance of cross country. “It’s a national championship race, it’s cross country, so it’s special to me because I love cross country,” Bairu said. “I don’t really race that much right now. I am doing a lot of training, so it’s an opportunity to test myself. I ran two minutes faster than last year so we are getting off to a good start with the training.”

The championships also served as trials for the 2010 IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland on March 28. Bairu intends to represent Canada there before turning his attention to road racing.

Though Bairu’s was a popular victory, the man who finished in 10th place (30:55.0) attracted most of the attention. Simon Whitfield, the 2000 Olympic triathlon gold and 2008 Olympic silver medallist had spent two weeks in Portland, Oregon training with Bairu, but had no illusions of causing an upset. “I was here to have fun today,” he said while signing the back of fans’ T-shirts. “I wanted a fall goal and the National Cross-Country Championships made sense to do … I ran around with some Alberta guys and a Speed River guy. I can’t compete with Bairu and those guys.”

Finishing exactly 10 seconds ahead of Whitfield in eighth place was 2008 Olympic trials 1500m champion Taylor Milne, another Speed River runner. “Sometimes you don’t get the team aspect running after college, but we have a big group here,” Milne said, “so cross country gives us a chance to compete as a team. We are doing the miles and it’s in our backyard, so we may as well come out and try to win the team championships.”

Kendra Schaaf dominated the women’s 7K race. Coached through high school by Steve Gersten, the same man who guided Bairu, the 19-year-old held off a late challenge by Megan Brown, 23:21 to 23:28, six days after an impressive second-place finish at the NCAA (U.S. college) championships. “I love cross country,” said the University of Washington sophomore. “I really want to go to Poland for the World Cross-Country Championships and I am pretty sure [Washington] coach [Greg] Metcalf will want me to. I knew it was a strong field so it’s great for my confidence. I was in a good position because there was no pressure.”