AO Provincial XC

Boardwalk was represented by 4 athletes today. Two Bantams ran in the 2000m race and two Masters contested the 5000m distance.

As is always the case though in cross country, those are just posted distances. All the athletes reported races that were longer than advertised. Not to mention the wet and cold conditions that the ran was happy to usher in. Add in some hills, mud, and tree logs and you have the makings of a very fun and challenging race day.

First on the course was Sasha Melnyk. Sasha was capping off a strong cross country season. She had competed in the TDSB City Finals, the MTA Provincial Championships, and now the AO Provincial Championships all in the course of two weeks. She ran a strong race and finished in 10:33.63.

Cameron Woo followed Sasha up with the same resume, having run in all the same meets. He did well to hang in a group of fast runners. He ended up crossing the line in 54th place in a time of 9:12.23.

In the Masters 5000m race, Mark Duff and Jimmy Semes got to race head to head. The last time they raced together Jimmy had pulled away to win the Walk, Run and Roll 5k at Variety Village. This time their fortunes were reversed. Jimmy went out strong, looking to compete for a top 20 showing, but as the race went on those places slipped away, Mark paced himself properly and powered his way past his struggling teammate at 4000m. Mark crossed the line in 20:59.83, good for 34th place; Jimmy was 15 seconds behind at the finish, his 38th place finish time was 21:14.09.

Now on to the indoor season!