The was no denying the challenge at hand for the fifty or so local runners who represented the city at the 2026 OFSAA Cross-Country Championships Monday at Kivi Park.
Some 2000 or so athletes from all over Ontario gathered in the Sudbury south end, with the SDSSAA contingent doing their best to chase down a handful of elite competitors in each and every race category – including some standouts who have recently committed to top-end NCAA Division I programs.
While a good number of young Sudburians unleased their best performances of the season on the biggest of stages, the highlights from strictly a results standpoint came courtesy of the boys this time around, both from a team perspective and on an individual basis.
The only hardware that would remain in our fair city came in the very first race of the day when the Lo-Ellen Park Knights quintet of Yuvraj Singh (51st), Ryan Pineau (58th), Nick Long (76th), Brendan Kingshott (109th) and Emmett Prodan (194th) secured aggregate bronze medals, with their squad trailing only Toronto’s St Michael’s College and Neil McNeil Secondary School (also GTA) in the team standings.
“It is an individual sport, but all of the effort that you put into the sport is with your team,” said Singh, who is honestly more of an 800m specialist than a pure cross-country runner. “You’re spending all of your time with your team – and that transfers to your sport.”
No surprise, given his proficiency on the track, that the grade ten student at Lo-Ellen Park taps into his end of race burst when he maps out his competitive strategy. “I have really good end speed,” said Singh. “At the end of a race, I am really good. That was my strategy today, just stick with some people and at the end, really kick.”
“It went really well today.”
Individually, the only thing more impressive than the eighth-place finish by Macdonald-Cartier Panthères grade 11 harrier Maxime Belzile is the fact that it came in his first crack at the senior division. While we did not confirm the exact total, fair to say that a majority of the top seven who preceded him in crossing the line will be graduating from high-school come next June.
“I PR’d (ran a “Personal Record”) by a full minute, which is insane, especially on this course which is harder than most other cross-country courses,” said Belzile, who covered the 6k trek in a super impressive time of 19:24. “I am really proud of myself.”
“My plan was to start out really fast and get out with the top guys and just stick to them – and then just freestyle the rest of the race – and it worked.”
Maxime is the second of the Belzile clan to rank among the very best in the city if not the province in the sport, with older brother Raphael now in his first year with the Laurentian Voyageurs.
“He’s a really good training partner,” noted little brother. “We go on a lot of runs together. And he helps me push myself because I want to try and be better than him.”
Being at their best was the order of the day for several other SDSSAA reps, including Lo-Ellen Park senior Lia Paille. After placing fourth in the NOSSA senior girls race in North Bay, Paille took her game to another level, ranking second in the northern contingent (64th overall), just nine seconds back of Tenley Cameron of Elliot Lake, who beat her by a minute last week.
“I just ran a one minute PB, which I am super excited about,” said Paille after the final race of the day. “I couldn’t actually believe it. My competition from NOSSA (Tenley) is normally about 45 seconds ahead of me but I was right with her through the first lap.”
“I felt strong.”
And in the moments following the race, Paille reaped the rewards.
“I didn’t know that I was capable of doing that well,” she said. “It’s such a surreal feeling when you surprise yourself.”
Truth be told, the very first OFSAA cross-country experience for that glut of grade nine talent is almost inevitably going to be something of an eye-opener – a statement that rang true for Lo-Ellen Park freshman Audrey Simard.
“When I first arrived, I was in shock,” said the 14 year-old who is stepping away from her speedskating career, where she had enjoyed some success, to focus on track and cross-country. “Obviously, I knew there would be a lot of people. But when I arrived and actually saw it with my own eyes, I was like: this is insane.”
With 19 different starting chutes covering the full width of the starting line at Kivi Park, butterflies are likely part of the equation for almost every single runner who is participating in the provincial showdown that groups more than 250 participants per division for the very first time.
“For every sport that I have ever raced, I am so nervous at the start line,” said Simard. “Then I go and the nerves stay at the start line.”
As much as the size of the brackets can present some challenges, the truth is there is also opportunities that lie therein, something that Lasalle Secondary junior Alice Westby noted as she leapfrogged a handful of the locals who had beaten her at cities or NOSSA.
“I always try and pick a person and tell myself to pass them,” said Westby. “Once I pass them, I pick another person – and then I try and do that for the whole race.”
And as she began her kick down the home stretch, Westby is unlikely to soon forget the roar of the crowd, one which dwarfs any previous races that has enjoyed, with the final half-kilometres or so fully lined on both sides to the finish line.
“That last straight, I picked up the pace there,” said Westby. “It was really nice hearing a lot of people cheering my name – and other people’s names. I gave me a bunch of motivation and helped out a lot.”
