Sabre sprints to OFSAA
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Simcoe Composite’s Fiona Joynes has joined an elite group of Norfolk runners to qualify for the OFSAA Championships.
Competing in her second Central West (CWOSSA) Championship meet at Bechtel Park in Waterloo Thursday, Joynes finished fourth in the 5km junior girls event, earning her a place at the provincial race Nov. 3.
Just as she did last year, Joynes came into the event as the county champ but unlike 2017 (a 12th place finish in the midget girls race) she’ll continue on.
“I kind of knew the whole time where I was sitting but I wasn’t ever really sure if someone was going to come up behind,” said the Port Dover native. “When we came along the last 200m and I could feel the girl behind me was kind of losing it a little bit, it was really satisfying.”
Joynes is a two-time Young Canada Day Road Race champion but the start of Thursday’s race brought a faster pace than even she was expecting.
“It was a really quick start which was a bit of a shock but I got through that and was sitting in second for a while,” she explained while en route back to Norfolk. “There was a bit of a group that came up and I was running in fifth for a chunk of it. I knew that it was top five that go to OFSAA so I was keeping that in mind and not letting it slide too much.”
“A lot of the race was trying to stay in (that group) and stay comfortable.”
There are times in a competitive event where most runners need to decide to take things up a notch or conserve their energy. That was certainly the case for Joynes on Thursday.
“At some points, I feel myself giving in mentally a little bit and it’s always a back and forth in the race based on what everyone else is doing,” she said. “I can feel if someone is speeding up and I have to make that decision if I want to go with them. Usually, the want to push through wins out.”
Joynes won’t have to go far for the provincial meet, it’s being held at Christie Lake Conservation Area in Dundas. Between now and then it’s back to work alongside her father/coach Simon.
“I’ll keep training how we have been, so that will continue pretty consistently,” she said. “It’ll just be wrapping my head around it – it’s a race where there’s not much to lose so I’ll just go out there and see what I can do on a bigger stage.”
Finishing just beyond OFSAA qualification was Joynes’ friend/training partner Mackinley Boudreault. The Waterford representative came in sixth, one spot from moving on.
Joynes was pleased to know both she and Boudreault were able to place in the top ten.
“Definitely,” she said. “It’s really nice to have her so close, in any race really.”
jrobinson@postmedia.com
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