BY SCOTT
HADDOW
Lo-Ellen Park cross-country runner Renee Jacques is out of her
element and loving every minute of it.
The senior girls' champion at both the Sudbury city
championships and the recent NOSSA championships, Renee heads
up a feisty contingent of local runners headed to Thunder Bay
to take part in the OFSAA championships.
The action takes place on Saturday.
Renee has enjoyed the comfort of running on her hometown
track at Laurentian University for the two aforementioned
races.
She lives just minutes away from the trails and runs them
daily during the running season.
But now, she must pit her will and skills against the best
in the province in an unknown town on an unknown trail. It's a
challenge Renee doesn't mind taking on.
Renee was a force at the NOSSA event, charging across the
finish line with her next closest competitor still a good
100-metres behind her.
"It felt great to win gold at NOSSA because I worked so hard
for it all season," said the Grade 12 student. "It was one of
my goals this year because this is my last year of high school
cross-country running. I don't expect to do it at the
university level…my main sport is soccer."
Renee doesn't have her sights set on earning more medals at
OFSAA.
"It's awesome to go," said Renee. "I've been going every year since Grade 10, so I wanted to keep my streak alive…the last thing I wanted to do was screw it up in my last year. Going to OFSAA is more for experience for me.
I will do my best regardless. I'm lucky I am a bit of a
natural at the sport, but I still have to work hard at to get
what I've accomplished."
At NOSSA, the thrill of the actual competition allowed Renee
to win.
"There was tough competition…I went out and gave it my all,"
said Renee. I had to or I would have lost. I'm not a good
finisher, so I went all out throughout the race."
Renee is worthy of wearing gold.
"Having Renee win is tremendous because she's the hardest
working member of the team and she deserves it," said Lo-Ellen
coach Colin Ward.
It will be a family affair at OFSAA as Renee's younger
brother, Stephane, qualified for the provincial event by
placing second at NOSSA in junior boys.
He was beat by a familiar foe.
"NOSSA was a competitive race," said the 15-year-old. "The
guy, from North Bay, I lost to beats me every time…at track and
field and cross-country running. I guess I am getting used to
it. My performance was still pretty good."
OFSAA has Stephane pumped and ready, as he knows there will
be important university coaches scouting the races.
"I went last year as a midget boy and I had a lot of fun and
it was exciting," said the Grade 10 student. "It's a good
opportunity to compare yourself to the best runners in the
province. It's also helpful for trying to land a university
scholarship."
As a midget, Stephane finished 47th out of 250 runners. He
hopes to better that result by a few spots.
"Last year…I didn't do too bad," said Stephane. "My goal is
Top 10, but it will probably not happen because I need more
training, so Top 30 is more realistic. It will not be easy
either. I have to push myself to my maximum."
Stephane has plenty of potential.
"Stephane is a very talented runner and is capable of
running a strong race," said Ward.
The brother and sister duo has a bit of a competition going
between themselves.
"It's fun to go with Stephane…we bug each other about
going," said Renee. "We want to see who can do better…it's a
friendly family rivalry."
Another Lo-Ellen student also took gold at NOSSA, Ross
Proudfoot, in midget boys.
Despite trailing the race for a good portion of the route,
Proudfoot turned on the afterburners in the final stage to take
victory away from the opposition.
"It meant a lot to me to win NOSSA," said the Grade 9
student. "I ran about a minute or so faster than my city
championships time, so it felt really good. It was my personal
best time. There was some strong people out there…being second
most of the race really got me going and helped me win."
A trip to OFSAA is good news to Proudfoot.
"It's big for me, especially since this was my first chance
to make it to OFSAA and I did it," said the 14 year old. "I
want to try and finish in the top-20. There will be even more
competition at OFSAA, so I will have to bring my time down even
more. Hopefully, I can run the same race I did at NOSSA."
Joining the three will be Notre-Dame's Benoit Bizier, St. Charles' Amy Stewart and the Lo-Ellen junior boys' squad(which includes Stephane) - Owen Montpellier, Mark Bamberger, Tomi Poll, Nicholas Noob and Alexander Bourdon.
