Cliff poised to defend Canadian 10K title
Rachel Cliff had a good time in Ottawa last year, on and off the course, so she’s back to defend her national 10-kilometre road race championship.
“Your goal on the day is always to give it your best. Being national champion maybe adds a bit of pressure, but you try not to let it,” the 30-year-old Vancouver resident said after a Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend media conference at City Hall on Friday. “It’s just about who is the best on the day tomorrow, and that’s going to be my focus.”
Already this year, Cliff has broken the Canadian half-marathon record (1:10:08) in Texas, run a personal-best 31 minutes 56.86 seconds for 10,000 metres on the track, placed ninth for Canada’s in the 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Australia (32:11.11) and finished third in the Vancouver Sun Run (32:41).
The latter time was nearly a minute faster than the 33:35 that earned Cliff the 2017 Canadian title. She placed fifth overall.
Some credit for Cliff ’s improved results in recent years goes to the 2016 completion of University of British Columbia master’s degree studies in occupational and environment hygiene. “Skating on ice” was how she described two years of combining professional running with higher education.
“Everything was great until you get hurt and your schedule was just jam-packed every minute,” she said. ““So, it wasn’t impossible, but it’s all about that extra one per cent and you can’ t quite get that out of it when you’re spread too thin.”
Four more years: The agreement between race weekend organizers and Athletics Canada to make the Ottawa 10K the national championship for women and men, scheduled to expire this year, has been renewed through 2022. As well, the national cross-country championship will be in Ottawa in 2021-22.
Forecast: Race medical director Dr. Jon Hooper said weather forecasts appeared to be favourable. The only potential issue, he added, seemed to be a potential temperature hike Sunday afternoon.
Race Weekend schedule for Saturday: Ottawa 2K, 3 p.m.; HTG Sports Ottawa 5K, 4 p.m.; Ottawa 10K, 6:30 p.m. All events starting and finishing near City Hall.