A narrow chute, frozen terrain, a crowd of 280 people and cow pies. This was the start gate of the Subway B.C. high school cross-country provincial championships held on a forested, steep telemark ski course in Kelowna on Saturday.
Killarney's Tanya Humeniuk, defending her No. 1 finish as a Grade 10 runner last year, finished fifth. Her time of 16 minutes, 58.76 seconds was 18 seconds behind the winner from Walnut Grove who finished in 16:40.51.
"I was pretty disappointed on Saturday," Humeniuk said. "But it's only one race and there's always another race."
She hadn't lost all season, but couldn't break ahead of the pack at the start, a narrow chute that bordered a cow paddock, and estimated she fell 100 metres behind the lead runners on the 4.65-kilometre course.
"Right at the beginning, where we were lined up, the ground was really uneven so it was hard for me to get outside. I ended up getting out too slow. I needed to get out right in front, right away.
"In the beginning, I was probably in 30th place."
She lost sight of the leaders but pushed to make up ground.
Watching at the end of the course, her father Andrew Humeniuk was alarmed when she didn't appear out of the woods among the race leaders.
"When I saw the first girls come around the corner-just being her dad-I just got so nervous I thought maybe she fell and wiped out," he said. "It was a pretty gruelling course, it was minus five [degrees]. The Lower Mainland girls and the Island girls, they're not used to those conditions."
Race director and Kelowna high school teacher Tom Carlson said the course was challenging but was in an ideal state. "Conditions on Saturday were perfect: cold and clear." The 2013 provincials will be held at the same location.
A description on the course map warning runners about muddy sections was unheeded. "The ground was frozen," Carlson wrote in an email. This was the first provincial championship he's seen in 21 years of coaching that was entirely without mud.
"The course itself was undoubtedly the most challenging of the Provincial Championship courses, as well, with quite a number of hills and a nice variety of terrain throughout."
Humeniuk expected a better finish than fifth. But the Grade 11 student qualified for nationals, which will be held in her backyard at Jericho Beach Park later this month.
"I've run that course a million times," she said. "It should be good.
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