We’re simply days away from the 2024 Canadian Cross Nation Championships in London, Ont., and UBC grasp’s pupil Kiana Gibson is one runner trying to break by in opposition to Canada’s finest. Nonetheless, successful isn’t what excites Gibson essentially the most; the 25-year-old loves the game and the working group.
The Ottawa native is contemporary off an unimaginable collegiate profession with the Guelph Gryphons and UBC Thunderbirds as a cross-country and monitor runner. Her last race was at Might’s NAIA Outside Championships, the place she claimed double gold within the 5,000m and three,000m steeplechase. Final November, Gibson represented Crew Canada for the primary time on the 2023 Pan Am Video games in Santiago, Chile, putting fifth within the 3,000m steeplechase.
“PanAms made me notice how a lot of an honour it’s to symbolize our nation,” Gibson informed Canadian Working. “It’s one thing I by no means imagined was doable for me; I didn’t anticipate to really feel a lot satisfaction in sporting the Canadian flag on a global stage.”
Heading into cross-country nationals, Gibson says her purpose is to execute her race plan and never exit too onerous. “This 12 months, I need to have a race the place I really feel good for the primary half and nonetheless really feel like I’m capable of progress within the second half,” she stated. “I’ve discovered that for those who stretch your self out an excessive amount of within the first couple of kilometres, within the last kilometres, the hills are going to chew you.” She positioned tenth eventually 12 months’s championships.
The small subject of 42 racers within the ladies’s 10K doesn’t hassle Gibson. (Final 12 months’s championships had 67 entries.) “I nonetheless suppose it’s an superior alternative to race,” she stated. “I don’t get to come back to Ontario fairly often, so it’s thrilling to see lots of people.”
The athlete took a break from competing over the summer time, the place she spent a month in Ethiopia at altitude for program placement, and took benefit of the chance to coach and do exercises with a neighborhood workforce. “I educated extra behind them than really with them,” Gibson laughs. Over three journeys, she collected and donated 168 pairs of gently-used and new sneakers to the Ethiopian working group.
“While you’re not in that collegiate environment, you replicate extra on if you wish to do that and why you need to do that,” she added. “I’ve realized I actually love working, the individuals and the group. To do one thing like this for enjoyable is such a privilege.”
Gibson returned to racing in October in Victoria, the place she raced her second-ever half-marathon on the Royal Victoria Marathon occasion. She squeaked in a private finest by eight seconds, clocking 1:15:11 for second total. “I needed to dip underneath 1:15:00,” she stated, revealing she was caught in an elevator quarter-hour earlier than the gun went off. “I needed to tempo my method to the beginning line and weave my method to the elite part.”
After ACXC, Gibson plans to take a while off to get better and reset earlier than travelling for a couple of months in 2025. “I’ll be coaching in a modified format throughout that point and leaning into working for the enjoyment of it,” she stated. She’ll return to work at Vancouver Normal Hospital as a medical dietitian earlier than shifting her focus to her outside monitor season.
Leslie Sexton, Rachel Hannah and Laura Desjardins will likely be among the many athletes competing in opposition to Gibson for the rostrum on Sunday. The ladies’s 10K is ready to start at midday ET. A livestream will likely be obtainable, right here.