Whitehorse’s Kieran Halliday is one fast Saint.
Racing for his St. George’s School Saints in Vancouver, Halliday took first in the Independent Schools Association’s regional cross-country championships for the Vancouver region at Jericho Beach last week.
The 17-year-old won the 6.5-kilometre senior boys race in an exciting sprint to the finish, crossing the line in 21 minutes and 25 seconds. His result helped his school take first in the division as a team.
“I came first, but the whole team also won, so it was a real team effort that day,” said Halliday.
“It was a good, close race. With the last 200 metres it was a sprint to the finish and I really blew him out of the water.”
Halliday, a third-year student at St. George’s, will next race with his team at the B.C. High School Cross-Country Championships next month in Aldergrove.
He placed 51st out of 265 runners at the B.C. championships last year.
“I’m hoping to come pretty close to the top this year,” said Halliday. “We have some high expectations for the team. We’re some pretty strong guys.
“If I can finish up there, that would be fantastic and we have a chance at doing really well.”
Halliday was Team Yukon’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony at the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que., in August.
He was one of just two athletes from the territory to compete in two different sports at the Games, competing in tennis in week one and athletics in week two.
In Sherbrooke, Halliday became the first from the territory to compete in the 3,000-metre steeplechase in athletics, placing 12th out of 16 runners with a time of 10:02.02.
Halliday won four gold ulus in snowshoeing at the 2010 Arctic Winter Games and then added three more to the count in snowshoe biathlon at the 2012 Arctic Games.
He’s looking forward to expanding his ulu count once again at the 2014 Arctic Games in Fairbanks, Alaska.
“I’m really glad I can represent the school well and the Yukon, in a way, and I’m looking forward to coming back and racing in the Arctics again,” said Halliday.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com