Erik Unger runs away with it
Bridgenorth athlete wins midget four-km Ontario title by 25 seconds
Erik Unger made some Adam Scott Collegiate history on Saturday.
The Grade 9 student became the first Adam Scott runner to win an OFSAA cross-country gold medal by winning the midget boys race in Sudbury. He finished the four-kilometre course in 13 minutes, 56 seconds with a 25-second margin of victory.
Unger wasn’t the only local runner to post impressive results. St. Peter’s Grace Murphy placed 10th in the midget girls division. Adam Scott’s Molly Strain placed 13th in senior girls as a Grade 11 student. Thomas A. Stewart’s Anna May finished 16th in the junior girls race. Norwood District’s Marisha Thompson placed 43rd in senior girls.
The last local runner to win an OFSAA cross country gold medal was Thomas A. Stewart's Bethany Bolton in 2013.
Unger continued his unbeaten high school season which includes COSSA and Kawartha gold medals and victories at a pre-OFSAA race in Sudbury last month and an invitational race at Port Hope’s Trinity College School.
“I was so relieved I could race at OFSAA and win,” said Unger. “It’s a huge accomplishment. So much could have gone wrong. I could have got boxed in. I could have tripped. A shoe could have come off but everything went perfect.”
The 14-year-old Bridgenorth resident is ranked No. 1 in Canada for his age in the 2,000-metre run. He won a gold medal in the 2,000m in his age group at the Finland national track and field championships In August. He was born in Finland while his father Michael Unger, a Canadian native, was working there. Erik has lived in Canada since age five.
Unger grabbed the lead off the start and never relinquished it.
“I wanted to get a fast start. It was a mucky course with snow, ice, mud. I didn’t want to be at the back of the pack.” “The first kilometre was all ice and fairly flat with one big hill. The second kilometre was a bit more interesting with more hills and turns. The third kilometre was the toughest. There were a lot of big uphill’s and one really big downhill that was all ice. The fourth kilometre was a straight run with one hill to the finish.”