| Saturday, July 18 2015 - Triple Gold for Canada at NACAC Mountain Running Championships |
At today’s NACAC Mountain Running Championships at Cypress Mountain, host country Canada swept the top four places in the men’s race and also placed their top woman in gold-medal position. However, the U.S. women kept their streak alive to again win team gold.
First across the line in 54:09, was 31-year-old Nick Elson from Squamish, Canada who just last week paid a visit to Cypress Mountain to run parts of the 11-kilometer course that he was unfamiliar with. He had run some sections of the course in the past during the Knee Knacker Trail Race so had some experience with the terrain. But Elson, in spite of winning the 2014 Squamish 50 miler, and placing a solid fifth at the recent Mount Marathon in Seward, Alaska, had never represented Team Canada in international mountain racing.
“I raced for Team Canada as a ski mountaineer this past season and finished 37th at the World Cup in Verbier, Switzerland. I think ski mountaineering is helpful in transitioning to mountain racing,” said Elson. “For ski mountaineering, you’re basically trained to go uphill fast.”
At today’s race, Elson showed equal prowess on the downhill. “I was in fourth until the top of Black Mountain. Kris Swanson (teammate) was really strong climbing up Black Mountain. It was in full sun and I was really struggling to keep those guys in sight. On the other side of the climb, it was much more technical and on the downhill I was able to take the lead. On the final descent, I think that is where I increased my lead. I think today my downhill was stronger than my uphill.”
Asked whether he considered himself an uphill or downhill specialist, Elson said, “On a good day, hopefully I’m somewhat equal.”
The Canadian men finished all four of their team members, before the first U.S. runner crossed the line therefore creating a sweep of the podium and gold for Team Canada. Second for Team Canada was Kristopher Swanson in 55:32, and in third Shaun Stephens-Whale in 56:30.
Josh Eberly was first for Team USA in fifth overall timed in 57:29. Close behind was fellow team member Ryan Woods in 57:42, and Jordan Chavez in 1:00:08 to round out the scoring.
For local Vancouverite, 32-year-old Chessa Adsit-Morris, the women’s victory was unexpected. “I was not prepared for that – winning. The U.S. ladies kicked my ass last year at World and I just assumed they would do the same here. I’m very pleased with my
Adsit-Morris led from the start. “My plan was to take it out from the gun and push as hard as I could to the top of the climb and then hopefully have enough of a lead for the downhill. I had a bit of an ankle injury last month and wasn’t sure how much I could push the downhill.”
Having never been on the course, Adsit-Morris acknowledged, “The course was a bit more technical than I was expecting. I think it was a bit more technical that most people were expecting. Sometimes I find that it’s better for me (not to preview the course), so I just take it as it comes. I decided not to pre run it and just go run hard.”
Adsit-Morris clocked a 1:06:56 and was followed 16 seconds later by top U.S. runner Megan Roche who led her team to gold. In third was second U.S. runner and 2013 World Mountain Running junior champion Mandy Ortiz in 1:08:16, followed by Canada’s Sarah Bergeron-Larouche in fourth in 1:09:01. Megan Lizotte finished fifth for Team USA timed in 1:09:51, to round out the top three scoring members of Team USA with 10 points, just one point ahead of Team Canada.
“I’m just really happy to have a win,” said Canadian team leader Adrian Lambert who also was the NACAC organizer this year. “It was a very competitive race. The women’s race was great and I’m obviously very pleased with how our men did. And what a day for it too. Simply beautiful.”
USA team leader Richard Bolt echoed Lambert’s thoughts on the weather, “The sunny, warm weather was a big improvement over 2012 when we had cold, rain, and foggy conditions at the same location at the same time of year.
“The overall festive atmosphere of the 5 Peaks Race (which hosted the race along with its 6k sport race, 11k enduro, and kids races) is a really good environment to have the NACAC Championships. The course was very technical and challenging at Cypress Mountain and more technical than many World Mountain Champs or US Mountain Champs courses. I think our U.S. athletes raced well overall. Some athletes may not have raced as fast as they hoped, but nobody had a bad race.”
This is the twelfth consecutive year that the NACAC Mountain Championship have been held, with the event rotating being the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. This is the fourth time for Canada to serve as host, having been the venue for the championships in 2007, 2010, (at Canmore, Alberta), and 2012 at Cypress Mountain.
Nancy Hobbs represented the WMRA, and Bill Roe, USATF Long Distance Running chairperson was also on site at the event.
(Press Release Written by Nancy Hobbs representative of WMRA) |
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