Enid Au won all the league cross-country meets she entered this year. Then, last week, she won the 麻豆传媒映画public school final. On Saturday, the Killarney senior will race in the B.C. championship in Victoria.
Her nerves might be heightened, but her approach will be the same. She won鈥檛 care how she places.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a result-centred runner,鈥� said Au, 17. 鈥淚f I focus too much on results, it ruins my psyche. It may affect my form.鈥�
鈥淭his is my last provincial high school cross-country race. I want to run to my best ability and not worry too much about my placing.鈥�
Au, whose older sister competed for Canada world ultimate championships this summer, won in back-to-back weeks at Quilchena Park, improving her showing on the 3.5-kilometre course by six seconds the second time around. At Fraserview for the Oct. 21 final, she covered 3.8 km in 14 minutes and 58.42 seconds.
In two of the three races this fall, Au beat Calli Charlton, an impressive runner from Lord Byng who was a top-5 league finisher in Grade 9 when she placed 48th at provincials. Last year, as a Grade 10 student, Charlton won the league final in 14:46.43 and won bronze at provincials. Au came second at Fraserview in 15:23.52 and finished 42nd in the province.
鈥淚t鈥檚 healthy because it pushes us both to run harder,鈥� Au said of the competition with her Byng rival.
Au is one year older than Charlton and didn鈥檛 race in 2010 or even 2011. In 2012, the first year Au joined the cross-country team at Killarney as a Grade 10 student, she qualified for provincials and finished 103rd out of 251 competitors. A year later she was in the top 45.
Not that it matters much to Au. Or her coach.
鈥淚 hesitate to say how I think she will do at provincials,鈥� Don Chang wrote in an email. 鈥淭hat would be focusing too much on the number and not the process.鈥�
The Cougars coach named Au a captain this season because of her quiet leadership.
鈥淭he other kids on the team care about, respect and admire her, as do the alumni who still follow what she does and how the team is going,鈥� wrote Chang. 鈥淓nid has been one of our team's prime examples of focusing on training consistently, dedication to running workouts well, and having a commitment to going out and running her best, and not worrying so much about the 鈥榥umbers鈥� 鈥� time and placement.
鈥淪he usually leads workouts with our top boys. The others on the team follow suit. If they run their best, the 鈥榥umbers鈥� will take care of themselves. Respect the process and trust the process.鈥�
The tight Killarney team is one reasons athletes like Au stay involved. She practises six times a week.
鈥淚t takes up a large part of my life now,鈥� she said. 鈥淎fter school every day there鈥檚 practice, I look forward to it. The people is what makes it even more special. We always stay behind after meets and we cheer each other on as a team.鈥�
Largely because of her training partners, Au has learned to keep up with leaders when she鈥檚 not out in front herself and she doesn鈥檛 just keep the same pace.
鈥淔or the [league] meets this season, I was leading but during hard races like Provincials, I try to latch on and I prefer to run behind someone because that鈥檚 how I practise,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 doing that, I try to make my breathing the same as theirs, I set my pace and I don鈥檛 let go.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 running, I focus on form. I take care of the little things that you need to do like breathing, keeping cadence and try to keep everything else out of the way, especially results and times. These things take care of themselves if you take care of what you have to do.鈥�
