Cross-country team ends season on a high note

The Concordia Stingers cross-country running team ended their season on the right foot this past weekend, with a strong showing at the CIS Nationals at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Nineteen teams competed, for a total of 130 men racing 10km and 131 women racing 5km.

Stephane Colle, the team’s strongest runner, was injured at the last minute and was unable to participate in the last two crucial races of the season. Despite Colle’s injury, Stingers frontrunner Ryan Noel-Hodge had a spectacular race. Battling a lingering injury himself, Noel-Hodge had only resumed workouts with the team a few days before the big race.
Noel-Hodge was the first Stinger to cross the finish line with a time of 32:39, putting him in 27th place overall. He earned individual honours as he was the second CIS rookie and the third overall runner from Quebec to cross the finish line.

Teammate Simon-Malik Giroux was the second Stinger to propel himself across the line, coming in 69th overall with a solid time of 33:47. The remaining Stingers Sofiane Guend, Lucas Corkum, and Jean-Marc Laforest all completed the course in under 38 minutes, placing the men’s team 17th overall. Mid-course injuries forced Ilya Kovalev, a fast runner and strong finisher, out of the race while Guend battled through his injury to finish, but the aches and pains may have hurt Concordia’s overall standings.
On the women’s side, Rebecca Trembath, one of Concordia’s fastest female runners, was also forced to back out of the race at the last minute because of an injury. Firing on all possible cylinders, Emily Hargreaves was the first Stinger to come in, clocking a time of 19:28 to put her 85th overall. Amélie Marcil-Roy was next with a time of 20:19. Every runner on the women’s team ran under 22 minutes for the 5km, putting their team 18th overall.

Despite being hit by the injury bug throughout the season, the Stingers were very successful in nearly all of the races they participated in. Individual honours stole the show, with a healthy Colle winning one race and Noel-Hodge earning several CIS honours.
The Stingers cross-country team will now take a much-deserved week of rest from running. Training will slowly resume next week, as the team prepares for the indoor track season.

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