Showcasing his strong stamina, an Airdrie runner huffed and puffed his way to a top-five finish at the Alberta Schools Athletic Association’s (ASAA) high school cross-country provincial championships on Oct. 16.
Competing in the senior boys’ six-kilometre event in Red Deer, Bert Church High School student-athlete Willem Grant crossed the finish line with a time of 21:41. His 3:37-per-kilometre pace was enough to claim the fifth spot, in a field of 65 competitors.
The Grade 12 runner said it felt great to finish in the top five in the province, considering the challenges presented by the course at Red Deer’s Riverbend Golf Course.
“It was a difficult course with a ton of elevation – I believe 120 metres of elevation, so a very hard course,” he said. “I felt I was [running] very strong up the hills and just had to stay focused during the second half of the race to get in that top-five position.”
The 17-year-old had qualified for the provincial race on the back of a dominant performance at the South Central Zones meet in Trochu on Oct. 6. He ended that race in first place, with a time of 21:18 in the six-kilometre event – more than a minute faster than the second-placed finisher.
This year wasn’t Grant’s first time running at the ASAA cross-country provincials, as he also competed in the 2019 provincials as a Grade 10 student. That year, Grant finished 34th in the junior boys’ division with a time of 16:49 in the four-kilometre race.
Though he excels at cross-country, Grant said he is also a competitive track-and-field athlete. He started his track career with the Airdrie Aces when he was in Grade 7, but now competes with the University of Calgary Athletics Club (UCAC), as the Aces dissolved last year due to difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I just like the competitiveness,” he said, of long-distance running. “It’s just a sport you can see your progress in and do well.”
During the track season, he competes in various middle-distance and long-distance running events, from the 800-metre to the 5,000-metre. He said his aspirations include getting an athletic scholarship for track or cross-country, either in Canada or the United States.
“I take it pretty seriously,” he said, adding his biggest strength in cross-country is his hill-running ability.
Grant said another attribute that make him a strong cross-country athlete is his mental toughness and tenacity – something he said is key during a long-distance race.
“Staying strong throughout the race and not giving up – that becomes a big factor when it comes down to it,” he said.
Now that the high-school cross country season is wrapped up, Grant said his next focus will be the national cross-country club championships, which will be held in Ottawa in mid-November. In the lead-up to the national meet, Grant said he is training three times a week with his UCAC teammates in order to get ready for the big race.
Grant was not the only Airdrie athlete to compete at the ASAA cross-country championships this fall. His two Bert Church teammates Chayson Gikas and Zayne Bonghazale also raced in the senior boys’ six-kilometre final, with Gikas finishing in 43rd with a time of 26:55, and Bonghazale finishing in 51st with a time of 29:05.
“Chayson has always been a runner who I’ve known for a while,” Grant said. “Zayne recently moved to Alberta, I started talking to him, and noticed he was a pretty good runner. I invited him onto the cross-country team and he qualified for provincials.”
In the junior boys’ four-kilometre event, Edward Healey of George McDougall High School ended the race in 12th, with a time of 15:09.
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
