We are at the peak of our second cross country season as Toronto West Athletics! XC training started in August with the groups building strength and endurance. Also in August, we ran our second cross country summer camp that had a huge year over year growth thanks to the hard work and marketing savvy of our camp director, Andres Medina. Andres and Peter Minbashian demonstrated leadership, organizing and running an excellent camp which resulted in a number of campers joining our Minor Track Association (MTA) group. Speaking of growing, we now have over 100 registered members (101)! Also, we have started a grassroots Masters program, come join us! We hope to have at least one Master’s team at the Athletics Ontario (AO) Cross Country Championships on November 12th.
Our coaches and athletes have been working hard and have produced excellent results and below are some of the highlights. Over the coming weeks we look forward to watching our athletes compete at OFSAA, AO XC Championships, and Nationals.
Elementary/MTA Update:
In late October, our MTA aged athletes (Grades 8 and under) competed in many city championships and the MTA Provincials. The young athletes raced with confidence and skill. For Coach Jim, it was great to stand by the course and watch people work their way into their races, run strong mid race and finish with ferocious sprints. In talking to athletes Coach Jim asks them where they finished the previous year and from these conversations it allows him one way to measure success. One athlete who shall remain unnamed improved over 100 places and finished in the top ten. Two other athletes who did not compete at all last year ran superb comeback races. Another runner was bowled over by the pack in the first 100 metres, got up in last place and raced back up through the entire pack of 140 athletes to finish 6th. As a club having multiple runners finish in the top ten (Kayla, Sofia B, Caitlin, Clare, Sana, Jack, Kinnon) in the various city races (which are some of the most competitive elementary races in North America) is a testament to the power of TWA within the GTA. Thanks for representing us in such a positive manner.
The MTA XC Provincial Championships were a few days after cities and a small but mighty contingent of TWA athletes travelled to Pickering to race in driving rain and cold temperatures on a very slippery course. Our athletes, many of them some of our newest members, persevered and made us proud!
High School Update
We had 35 athletes compete at their high school regional championship (TDCAA, ROPSSAA, TDSC City XC, CISAA) for a coveted position at OFSAA and 23 athletes are OFSAA bound with many just missing the mark. Don’t miss the pictures on Facebook. Congratulations to the following athletes on their podium finishes (Roman 1st TDCAA Midget, Sophia L 1st TDCAA Midget, Hannah F 2nd TDCAA Midget, Aiden 3rd TDSB Midget, Julia 1st TDSB Junior, Laura P 2nd TDSB Junior, Isabel 3rd TDCAA Junior, Lauren J 1st ROPSSAA Junior, Ben 1st ROPSSAA Junior, Peter M 2nd TDCAA Senior). We look forward to watching our 23 athletes compete tomorrow at OFSAA. Watch here live.
University Athletes
We follow our university athletes with interest and pride. Congratulations to Ehab who was named Rookie of the Year at Iona XC. He came 8th at Regional Championships with a time of 25:40 in the 8K. Jake C continues his comeback with an impressive 3rd place at the Brock XC invite, 23:03. Jake has now been selected to the U of T team to compete at U-sports XC Championships in Victoria. Alex L, University of Maryland, finished 12th at the Big 10 XC championship. Congratulations to Ben C, Western, for his win in the 2017 Bill Salter Western International and for doing a ton of leading in the men’s OUA XC Championships securing a 9th place finish. Alex and Ehab will be racing in their regional championships looking to qualify for NCAA Championships.
We will continue to post updates and highlights on social media.
Toronto West Athletics Running Club 