OFSAA Report

Despite four consecutive days of rain and windy cold temperatures leading up to the OFSAA Championships in Etobicoke, race day dawned clear and sunny and set the stage for a great day of racing. The mostly flat course, with one significant hill (although the junior and senior boys got it twice) was in great condition despite the rain and many National Capital athletes ran great races.

Sikubwabo earns Gold, Jarvis nabs Silver

The day began with NC's midget girls champ Olivia Robertson (Brookfield) just missing the podium. Robertson found herself in a great position at the top of the hill (7th) and continued to move through the field to finish 4th, just 6 seconds out of the bronze medal position.

Alec Jarvis (AY Jackson) ran a brilliant race. Content to stay with with the chase pack as several athletes who went out too hard were eaten up by the pack. Jarvis bounced around in the chase pack, at times being as high and third and as far back as 7th between the 3 and 4 K mark. Over the final 600m Jarvis made his move and was only two seconds back of gold medalist Elmhirst (Bill Crothers) at the line.

Glebe's Yves Sikubwabo ended the day with a predictable bang. The showdown between Sikubwabo and Eamonn Kichuk (Bill Crothers) never materialized as Kichuk had an off day, placing 34th and was never in contention. It was Connor Darlington (RS McLaughlin) who took the race out hard and at one point had a 30m lead on Sikubwabo as the field spread out very quickly with the fast pace. Sikubwabo played it patient waiting until just past the 4K mark, as Darlington started to struggle to move into the lead. Sikubwabo ran unchallenged over the final 3K to post a 12 second victory over hard closing Rob Denault (Aurora) and Xavier King (Pickering). Darlington faded to 4th.

No NC teams on the podium

No NC teams managed to achieve a top 8 finish this year, with Glebe coming the closest placing 9th in the Junior Girls race with Charlene Rhead (12), Alexa Derksen (46), Rowan Harris (108), Emily Copeland-Dinan (191) and Heather Kirby (206) combining for a total of 358, 40 points shy of 8th place Lo Ellen Park (Sudbury).

Top finishers
Midget Girls
Olivia Robertson (Broofield)-4th; Kerstyn Farrell (John McCrae)-27th; Kelesy Grimes (Hillcrest)-36th
Team: Earl of March (456) - 18th (note, Earl of March was re-instated to run at OFSAA)
Midget Boys
Alec Jarvis (AY Jackson)- 2nd; Brandon Howard (AY Jackson) 21st; Farah Abdulkarim (Gloucester)-23rd
Team - AY Jackson (379) - 11th
Junior Girls
Samantha Klus (Bell)-11th; Charlene Rhead (Glebe)-12th; Lindsay Kary (St. Matthew)-13th
Team - Glebe (358) - 9th
Junior Boys
Kyle McCleery (South Carleton)-23rd; Mickey Day (Holy Trinity)-28th; Alex Maxwell (St Paul)-49th
Team - South Carleton (447)-19th
Senior Girls
Emma Galbraith (Franco Ouest)-9th; Kathryn Tuck (Colonel By)-26th; Isabelle Kanz (Garneau)-47th
Team - Colonel By (401)-14th; Nepean (408)-15th
Senior Boys
Yves Sikubwabo (Glebe)-1st; Adam Palamar (Merivale)-12th; Alex Berhe (Woodroffe)-43rd
Team - Glebe (423) - 14th; Merivale (452)-15th


Full results are available at: www.trackdatabase.com