On Saturday, November 4, Angeline Carreau raced at OFSAA XC, the provincial cross country championships. OFSAA XC is one of the largest cross country meets in North America. It features over 1600 of the best high school runners in Ontario, racing in 7 events: midget (grade 9) boys and girls 4km; junior (grade 10) boys and girls 5k; senior (grade 11 and 12) boys and girls 6km; and mixed para 3k. These athletes don't just choose to attend OFSAA: they need to qualify by earning a spot as a member of one of the top two teams in each of the province's 18 associations, or as one of the top five individuals not on those teams. Thus, even getting to the race is a huge achievement!
Angeline ran in the midget girls' 4km race. She started conservatively, running a smart pace and not getting too caught up in the human stampede of about 270 girls that stormed out of the starting area. She looked strong throughout the race, moving ahead of the middle of the pack by the 2km mark, and then picking off 15 additional runners in the second half the race to place around the top third, in 95th position. She ran such a smart race that she was actually able to "negative split," which means that the second half of her race was faster than the first. A lot of runners find it very challenging to do this, especially on a big stage like OFSAA where the excitement level is high and it is tempting to go out too quickly. When all was said and done, this was definitely Angeline's best race of the season. She represented herself and RLC with character and strength. Congratulations on your fantastic accomplishment, Angeline!