Seven new champions were crowned, while one athlete defended her title at the 2022 Canadian Cross-Country Championships on Saturday, November 26 in Mooney’s Bay, Ottawa.

Julie-Anne Staehli and Connor Black respectively triumphed in the women’s and men’s open 10k after best absorbing the course’s tough hills on a calm and sunny day uncharacteristic of recent national cross-country championships.

Follow these links to view the full individual results, the club Championship results, and the branch Championship results.

Here is a breakdown of what happened on the course, per category.

Open Men’s 10k

Connor Black is no stranger to cross-country podiums: the 26-year-old from Forest, Ontario, won U SPORTS gold in 2018, and finished third at the Canadian Cross-Country Championships’ 2019 edition. A victory at these nationals, however, still eluded him.

From the race’s start, Black pushed the pace at the front with Bandits Elite teammates Phil Parrot-Migas, Jeremy Coughler and Mike Tate, while defending champion John Gay of the Vancouver Thunderbirds kept pace with the quartet. Black and Gay broke away from the field on the third hill climb at the sixth kilometre and, from there, Black started gapping the defending champion. He crossed the finish line first in 29:38, eleven seconds ahead of Gay. Black’s Bandits Elite teammates (the high-level distance branch of London Western Track Club) finished fourth, seventh and eighth, respectively, and handily capturing the team title after falling to third in 2021.

“We were hungry this year, we got our doors blown off us last year… and were like, ok, it’s time to get back to work,” said Black, adding the Bandits had trained on hills since August in preparation for the race.

Open Women's 10k

The absence of three-time defending champion Geneviève Lalonde from the start list opened the door for a new champion, and a pair of Olympians appeared determined to seize the opportunity. By the race’s third kilometre, Julie-Anne Staehli and Natalia Hawthorne, teammates and fellow 5,000m athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, had slightly gapped the rest of the field.  

After shadowing each other in the middle stages, Staehli steadily pulled away from Hawthorne in the final two-kilometre, finishing in 34:12, 22 seconds ahead of her rival. Kate Ayers, an Ontarian training out of British Columbia, finished third in 34:48. Staehli, who has raced mostly on the track and the roads in recent years, said she asked past ACXC champions Lalonde and Claire Sumner for advice on how to tackle these championships. She said both encouraged her to be patient before making a move.

“Each time up the hill I felt better and better. All of a sudden we were three left and I made a move… I was smiling and thinking ‘just send it’. said the 29-year-old, who trains in Boston, adding she prepared for the Mooney’s Bay course by doing reps up the Boston Marathon’s Heartbreak Hill.

Men’s U20 8k

A pair of Queen’s University teammates stole the show, sprinting towards the finish line together and holding hands across the tape.

Roman Mironov and Jude Wheeler-Dee realized they had gapped the rest of the pack as they sprinted down the home stretch. Ecstatic, Mironov grabbed Wheeler-Dee’s hand seconds before they clocked in at 25:13.0. Official chip results declared Mironov the gold medalist, while Rudy Saal finished third just six seconds behind the pair.

“When we saw it was just the two of us, we asked each other ‘do you want to kick or do you want to finish together?” said Wheeler Dee.

“And then,” continues Mironov, “we’re like ‘why not? We raced together all season, we’re roommates, we share the same toothpaste, same body wash… might as well win together.”

Women’s U20 6k

The most dominating win of the day belonged to Saint John Track and Field Club’s Erin Vringer. The freshman at University of Utah led the U20 women's 84-athlete field from start to end, eventually crossing the finish line in 21:55, 58 seconds ahead of her closest competitor, Marika Couture of Quebec.

Vringer, also the 2022 Canadian 1,500m indoor champion, said that racing six kilometres on five separate occasions this year, including on a hilly course at the NCAA championship at Oklahoma State University, prepared her for the ACXC course. But while she came prepared, her plan had not been to lead this early.

“I was just going to get out with the front pack and see how I feel, but I felt really good today so I decided to push the pace a little.”

Boys’ U18 6k

Erik Unger upgraded last year’s bronze medal to gold. The 18-year-old from Bridgenorth, Ontario put ten seconds on British Columbia’s Yemane Mulugeta to claim his first national cross-country title in 19:27.

Unger, who is coached by his father, said that intervals around their family farm and up its steep hill were staples to his training, and that he was confident enough in his fitness to tackle the race at a progressive pace.

“I wanted to take the first couple hundred metres easy knowing that hills was right off the start,” he said. “I got a couple people to break the wind for me… from there I made my move and try to hold the lead from there, and it ended up working.”

Girls’ U18 4k

Gabby Jones saved her fastest 200m for the final stretch, and blew past defending champion Ruby Broadbent of B.C. in the day’s closest finish.

Jones, who trains out of Sarnia, said she had been used to racing 6k all year, and found herself near the end of the shorter race with a reserve of energy. She said she is thrilled to win her first national title, and tried to not let her focus waver as she approached the finish.

“I just tried to keep a good mental attitude throughout the race, keep that positive mindset I think is the biggest thing.”

Master’s men 8k

Brian Torrance of Edmonton raised his arms in triumph as he broke free from a pack of four that had formed at the race’s very beginning and became the day’s very first athlete across the finish line. The Edmonton-based athlete’s time of 27:51 was seven seconds too quick for runner-up Adam Hammond of Toronto.

“I think Adam made the break in the third lap,” said Torrance, adding that he caught up with him and passed him with 600m to go. “It was one of those decisions: ‘do you go now or not ever?’"

Torrance has raced in the Master's event for each of the seven years since he turned 40 but, despite always being near the top, he had never claimed gold.

“It was exciting throughout the race to feel like ‘hey at least I’m in reach, you never know what could happen.”

Master’s women 8k

Jen Millar of British Columbia repeated as ACXC Master's champion, covering the course in 31 minutes and three seconds. The 41-year-old ran in a pack of three women for most of the race, before gapping runner-up Kerri Labrecque on the last lap and besting her by seven seconds.

“The three of us (with Labrecque and bronze medalist Lynda Gingras) were just working together for the first half of the race and pushed each other up the hill… in the last lap two of us just broke away. I just tried to finish as strong as possible.”

Millar said the race felt nothing like last year’s, when she had to contend with sub-zero temperatures and a course at times sloppy and icy. Still, she called this year’s course “true cross-country” for its hills and its intermittent breeze.

Athletics Canada would like to thank its hosting partners the Ottawa Lions and Run Ottawa for collaborating on one of the largest championships of the year. An event of this scale would never have been possible without your course preparation, volunteer involvement, and love for the sport.