BC Cross Country Championships - Virtual Challenge Results

From Youth to Olympians, this past weekend 117 Athletes from across BC took to the trails in the BC Athletics Cross Country Championships – Virtual Challenge. Events contested ranged from the 1.5km race for our 9-year-olds all the way up to our 8km Championship distance for our Senior Athletes.

“While increasing restrictions due to COVID-19 meant that we were unable to hold an “In-Person” Championships, we were thrilled to be able to hold a Virtual Championships giving our athletes across BC an opportunity to measure their fitness against one another.” said Clifton Cunningham, Technical Manager for Road and Cross Country. “It was exciting to see athletes from across all of BC including Port Alberni, Terrace, Salt Spring Island, Trail and all points in between, take part in this virtual event. We hope that despite the challenging times we are all enduring, that this event gave athletes the opportunity to put their hard work and training to the test in a safe environment.”

Highlights from the 2020 Virtual Challenge Include:

• The Senior Women’s 8km race was won by Olympian and Canadian Record Holder Gen Lalonde who, even as a member of Athletics New Brunswick, currently lives and trains in Victoria, BC and took part in the event to help simulate a “normal” Cross Country season.
• The U18 Boys 5km event saw the largest number of competitors (26) and was won by the UBC Okanagan Junior Heat’s Michael Schriemer with a time of 15:49.  
• The club represented by the largest number of participants was Ocean Athletics with 25 athletes of all ages.
• Big representation noted from our over 70 Masters members, leading examples of keeping fit at any age.

Congratulations to all our runners who took the opportunity to challenge themselves during these difficult times!

Full Results from the BC Athletics Cross Country Championships – Virtual Challenge can be found here.

As the event is considered a BC Championships, it is required the non-eligible members and non-members be separated in the results.

Medals for the Championship winners and BC Athletics Hats that were ordered will be mailed out next week.

Would you like to buy new BC Athletics Skull Cap / Toque, just $20 including postage – click here.