Whitehorse runner Lindsay Carson was just nine seconds away from achieving her goal of a top-10 finish at the Canadian Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Kingston, Ont.
But considering the women’s field, which included Pan Am Games medalists and national champs, she’s OK with an 11th place result.
“I’m feeling pretty good. The field was really deep this year, so it’s nice seeing the senior field for women was competitive and to be a part of that,” said Carson. “I was kind of hoping to crack the top 10, but 11th is a strong finish for me.”
Carson, who was the lone Yukon runner at the championships, completed the eight-kilometre course in 28 minutes and 9.3 seconds.
The 26-year-old was less than a minute behind winner Natasha Wodak of Vancouver (27:13.5) and defending champ Rachel Hannah of Toronto.
“The conditions were good. The course had received some rain a couple days leading up to it, but other than that it hadn’t been raining too much in Kingston,” said Carson. “So there was mud, but we weren’t sinking.
“There were a couple of tight corner - hairpin turns - so we had to go slow around some of the turns.”
Carson, who is originally from Cambridge, Ontario and moved to Whitehorse in 2013, knows the course well. She represented her university and Canada in Kingston, helping the latter take third in the team event in 2010.
“I’ve raced that course quite a few times. I placed second at the CIS championships when I ran for (University of) Guelph. As well, I was part of the FISU (International University Sports Federation) team for the World University Games when they hosted a cross-country championship there,” said Carson. “I have some very fond memories of racing on that course.”
As great as placing 11th out of 71 of Canada’s best female runners, Carson placed eighth at last year’s nationals, earning the opportunity to compete for Canada at her second world championships. She went on to take 59th at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China, in March.
More recently, Carson posted a seventh place finish at the 2015 B.C. Provincial Cross Country Championships and won the eight-kilometre women’s race at the Victoria Marathon for a second year in a row, both in October.
Carson also won her first Yukon Cross Country Championship title - in her first time competing - in September.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com