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Cross-country runner wins bronze at provincial championships

In this blog, Ryan Noel-Hodge gives the run-down on the race
November 1, 2012
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So, we ran around on the Plains of Abraham for 10 kilometres. Up and down hills, around trees, sharp turns. People were falling, bumping into each other, getting spiked and entering into that world of exhaustion, that world of pain so unique to this sport. All to figure out who sits where, who is better than whom. It can be heart breaking. It can be rewarding. It’s cross country running.

My Coach, John Lofranco, happens to be the coach of two teams right now: Concordia University and Montreal Endurance. To be a successful and competitive runner, you have to be training and competing all year round, which means not only running cross-country in the fall, but also competing on the indoor track during the winter and the outdoor track during the summer.

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Concordia student and cross-country runner Ryan Noel-Hodge (142) takes on his competitors at an earlier race this season (also on the Plains of Abraham) where he placed second. | Photo courtesy of Noel-Hodge

Early Saturday morning, both teams hopped on a bus, greeted the friendly bus driver, and began “zoning it up” for the race.

The course was new this year. I half expected it to be the same course as the one run last year in Quebec City for the 2011 CIS Championships.

Having previous experience on cross-country courses helps a runner navigate difficult parts, know what to expect where, and understand when things will hurt. This year, the two-and-a-half-kilometre loops (run twice for the women's 5k and four times for the men's 10k) were altered by changing half of the course from a perimeter-type loop around a hilly field to a zigzag course. It went back and forth, up and down, and around. The tight turns, constant climbing and descending portions, and windy conditions were not to my advantage.

I'm a tall guy and skinny. But in the wind, I imagine myself like a sail catching the gusts and getting thrown about. My long legs and rhythm can get thrown off with a lot of tight turns. I knew this course was going to be tough. I got my jog in on the course, inspecting the turns, getting a feel for the new loop, then did my exercises to wake up the parts of my body that would help me through the more difficult moments of the race, the fast-twitch muscles that I always have to bargain with. I told them cookies were on the way.

The gun went off and 200 or so runners took off from the starting line in a stampede. The best way I can describe the feeling off the start line is survival. Stay on your feet, get out to the front, try not to kill anyone. From the start, the course narrowed alarmingly fast, as hundreds of spectators were slowly inching in on the course to get a glimpse of their sons. We whizzed by, probably clipping a nose or two.

Noel-Hodge took a bronze at the provincial championship race, again on the Plains of Abraham.
Noel-Hodge (419) fought hard for his bronze at this year's provincial championship race.

From there I established myself in the front, but kept myself tucked in behind. I wanted to win. Staying away from leading, and doing as little work as possible was part of my plan. From the first lap to the end of the third lap, that was what I was focused on. Keeping tucked in out of the wind and relaxing as much as I could. To us, we were running quite conservatively, but after five kilometres, a group of eight of us had separated from the rest of the runners.

I didn't notice that we had begun the last lap when we did. I had been so focused and so delighted at how relaxed and easy I felt, that I had lost track of where I was in the race. With about two kilometres to go, I had to yell to a friend to ask him whether it was the beginning of the end. He and one of my competitors told me it was, and a light switch went on. I surged hard. My plan to win was to make everyone hurt earlier than they wanted to, so I wouldn't end up in a foot race with someone 100 metres from the line. So, from kilometre eight to kilometer nine, I led alone, trying to run away from my competitors. It didn't work. They caught me climbing a long hill. I expected they would, and so, still following my plan, surged again once we reached the top.

This last surge proved to be too much for most. Of the eight men following me, Charles P-T of Université Laval and Ben Raymond of McGill were the only two with the jewels to hang on for good. I hammered down a steep hill, trying to maintain my lead, we were only 800 metres from the finish.

On the switch back, which was uphill, things got ugly. My gas was gone, I lost my rhythm on a sharp turn and I could feel Charles breathing down my neck. He started to inch around me. It took another level for me to stay on his shoulder. We got to another corner – 600 metres to go, and Ben was suddenly right behind me and gathering to go by. I held on, but I started to dread. They were getting ready to close hard, and I had already used my 'go past go' cards. We hit one last sharp uphill and I lost contact. In the last 700 metres or so, I went from leading, to third. I finished six seconds behind Charles, three or so behind Ben.

I did what I could. I had a plan that I thought would get me the win. In retrospect, I think I pushed too early. I think I misjudged how far I had to go. I learn.

I'm happy with my result, third in the province in cross-country is my best result yet. Charles has beaten me in every race we've done together. For those who don't know, he is one of Canada's fastest 1,500-metre runners, and is a medalist in the 2011 NACAC 1500m. That's impressive. Ben is a rookie, a first-year competitor in the university circuit, but last year he qualified and raced at Junior Pan Am Games over 5,000 metres. That's also impressive. My competitors behind me weren't pushovers either. Joel Bourgeois is a seasoned vet who has made about 13 or so Canadian World cross-country teams and is an ex-Olympian. Emmanuel Boisvert always gives me a run for my money, and finished not far behind me.

Quebec along with the rest of Canada, I think, is experiencing a resurgence in running. We saw the early signs at leading up to, and at the Olympics. Canada sent a team of three male Marathoners and two women just missed the standard to go. We had two young men run in the 10,000-metre, where both had a strong showing. The waves and ripples of the resurgence are us, in only a few years, we'll be those very names mentioned now and then racing overseas or vying for an Olympic Team spot.

I'm disappointed I beat all but two people. I wanted to win. But I'm happy with my effort, that I tried all that I could, and that I did what I could to make it honest. Cross Country is a weird sport. We're all buds. We all experience the same thing: the training, the long hours of running, the grueling pain of the grind. Its brings us together, though. There's a camaraderie that can extend across teams at the end of the season. We all know what it takes.

There's no hiding in this sport.

The Dragon


Related link:
•    Department of Recreation and Athletics - Cross Country

 



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