Pair of locals in cross-country meet in Florida
Falk, Ubene off to race for Canada at the Pan-Am Cross Country Cup in Florida
Nick Falk and Mitch Ubene have been chasing the competition for years.
Saturday, that chase will take on a different meaning with the two local runners competing for Canada at the Pan-Am Cross Country Cup in Boca Raton, Fla.
“It’s one thing where you’re always on a team, whether it’s university or high school,” the 26-year-old Falk said. “But when you’re racing for your country and chasing another country, you feel like you have a lot more momentum behind you.”
Saturday’s race is a warm-up for later this month when the two will race at the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda, on March 26.
“It’s definitely cool,” said Falk, a Riverside high school product and University of Windsor Lancers grad.
“You get to go to some places you never thought you would go. This is my second time going to Africa for running and I never thought I would be in Africa once.”
Falk competed for Canada at the World University Games Cross-Country Championships in 2014, while Ubene competed for Canada last year at the Pan-American Junior Cross-Country Championships in Venezuela.
Both earned national team selections this year for their performance at last year’s Canadian Cross-Country Championships.
“I really wanted to be on a world team,” said the 18-yearold Ubene, who was the silver medallist at last year’s national championships in the junior men’s division as a member of the Windsor Legion. “It’s my last year of junior. Next year, I’m a senior and if I make a world team it’ll probably be a while.”
A Tecumseh Vista high school product now attending the University of Guelph, Ubene will compete on Canada’s fivemember junior men’s team. He’ll run six kilometres, but he’s been battling a hamstring problem that cost him his indoor track and field season at Guelph.
“For me, I’ve been a bit injured and not been able to train too much,” Ubene said. “A lot of my training has been cross-training inside.
“That takes a while to adjust and you’re training different muscles. It’s kind of frustrating and I’m trying to get warmed up for the worlds (this weekend) and try to get to know the team a bit.”
Falk has been running between 120 and 130 kilometres per week getting ready for this event.
“It’s been a bit of a grind because I’ve been doing longer stuff than I would usually do and the rest of the guys are doing indoor track stuff, which is short and speedy,” said Falk, who runs for the University of Windsor Athletic Club. “I’ve been doing the longer stuff, outside in the cold. The biggest grind is training alone.”
While Falk knows many who hope to eventually springboard to the Olympics, these events are simply for the love of running to him.
“I personally just like running because it’s easy to see improvement,” Falk said. “It’s a good way to stay fit and I enjoy the sport and challenging myself.
“The Olympics hasn’t always been a big goal for me. It’s never been my main goal. I just want to improve year to year, but four years down the road, if I’m at the level where I can make the Olympics, then that’s great.”
A 1,500-metre specialist outdoors, Falk has been contemplating moving to 5,000 metres and said training for both of these events could help that transition.
But his immediate focus is on helping Canada.
“I just want to place good on the team,” Falk said. “There’s six guys (running 10km) and I want to try and be one of the top guys for the team.
“I want the team to do well and we usually have a good shot at winning (Saturday’s event). The Americans will probably be the top competition.”
I personally just like running because it’s easy to see improvement. It’s a good way to stay fit and I enjoy the sport and challenging myself.