Skip to content

Yukon runner cracks top 20 at B.C. XC championship

Whitehorse runner Logan Roots just keeps getting faster and faster. The 20-year-old placed 16th at the British Columbia Cross Country Championships in the open division (men 20-34) in Abbotsford on Saturday.
SPORTSrunning

Whitehorse runner Logan Roots just keeps getting faster and faster.

The 20-year-old placed 16th at the British Columbia Cross Country Championships in the open division (men 20-34) in Abbotsford on Saturday.

“My time this year was faster, which was definitely a good thing to see,” said Roots.

Roots completed the 10-kilometre course with a time of 33:43.52, less than three minutes behind the winner.

He placed 25th in the same category, on the same course, with a time of 36:05.57 at last year’s championship.

“My goal now is nationals, which is on November 30, so this was kind of a cross-country racing tune-up to get into it,” said Roots. “Now it’s buckling down for the nationals at the end of November.

“I didn’t really have any goals going into it. I just wanted to run hard and see how I placed. I was happy with how it turned out.”

Roots, who was the only Yukon runner at the event, competed for Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club in Victoria.

“It’s a club I’ve been with for a couple years down in Victoria, training and racing for,” said Roots. “It’s great because the club pays for your entry and travel and stuff. You get quite a few costs covered.”

After nationals Roots intends to “just keep running hard,” he said. “All the other races will be in the spring, so there’ll be training season and then in January, February there’ll be road races again.”

Roots finished 12th overall and was third for men 20-24 in the half-distance of the Victoria Marathon on Vancouver Island in the middle of October.

He finished with a personal best time of 1:12:59, 54 seconds faster than his time from last year that set the 19-and-under record.

Roots represented Yukon at the Canada Summer Games in August where he became the first Yukoner to make a final at the Canada Games in at least 20 years - maybe ever. (Previous records were not available.)

He made the A final in the 1,500-metre race, setting a personal best time of 3:59.95 to place 11th overall out of 22 runners.

Roots plans to compete in the Vancouver Island Race Series in the spring. He won his age group in the series the last three years.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com