Country’s best runners race to London

London plays host to the 2024 Canadian Cross Country Championships this weekend (Nov. 30-Dec. 1). The event, held at Fanshawe Golf Course, features the top elite runners in the country.

(Photo: Mundo Sports Images).

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There will be plenty lot of firsts at this weekend’s Canadian Cross Country Championships. For starters, it’s the first time London has hosted the event. The prestigious meet will take place at the Fanshawe Golf Course.

The Forest City will host more than 1,300 athletes (from U16 to Masters) competing in 12 races throughout the weekend, in addition to hundreds of coaches, officials and, of course, fans. Too many races and athletes, in fact, to fit everything all in one short late fall day.

“One of the first things we did after winning the bid was to propose a two-day event,” said Scott MacDonald, who serves as club manager at the London Western Track & Field Club and is the lead director for this year's Championship. “That kind of complicated things a little bit, though, because a two-day event is more of an undertaking.”

Organizers have made it happen, including the folks at Athletics Canada as well as Tourism London. And it’s expected to be a great event featuring the best elite runners in the country.

In addition to the usual roster of races, this year marks the first time the U16 division has been included. Another first is a mixed relay race.

“The second day is a co-ed U18 4x2km, which is a relatively new concept in cross-country running,” said MacDonald. “World Athletics has done it the last few years at their world championships. It’s not an official national championship, but it’s something we proposed in our piloting this year.”

The relay is set to close out the weekend, and 50 teams are set to participate. Should the pilot go well, the hope is to add the event in different age groups when London hosts the championships again next year. Unlike most events of this calibre, the Canadian Cross Country Championship takes place in the same city for multiple years.

“Instead of moving it every year, and kind of reinventing the wheel, it’s always good to have it two years in a row,” explained MacDonald. Ottawa actually hosted the event three years in a row (2021-2023), but MacDonald believes the course can get tiring after two years.

This year’s race course is a 2km loop at the Fanshawe Golf Course that includes a 500m extension, as well as a 1km loop for the kids event. The golf course has been the site of several meets over the years. Most recently, it was the planned site for the Ontario High School Championship before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Although the event never happened, the planning that took place was a big help in preparations for this weekend’s national championships.

“I think when this opportunity came up, everybody sort of thought, ‘Well, hey, we have this great course and the city’s support and backing. Let's take a look at Fanshawe [Golf Course],” MacDonald said. “I think it’s going to be a really nice course – really rolling terrain, and a good spectator course for everybody to see. We’re pretty excited about that.”

(Photo: Mundo Sports Images).

Excitement is a big focus for this year’s event, as there are several new fan-centred elements. “We’re trying to do a little bit of enhancement of the event for people coming out to watch. We’re going to have a big screen, lots of speakers, and music playing to make it a really exciting event.” 

While MacDonald and course designer Dave Mills are talented at putting together a good race, the entertainment side of things was a focus of Tourism London.

“They took the lead on that element, while we took care of the technical side of the actual races,” MacDonald said. “[Tourism London] was instrumental in supporting the bid, and they’ve been really great with us. They really want to bring more of this type of calibre event to London.”

The hope for MacDonald and company is that a successful event leads to London hosting even bigger meets in the future. One of the club’s goals is to host the 2027-2028 Olympic trials. They’ve already got their bid submitted.

“This event is sort of a step along the way in building that relationship with Athletics Canada,” MacDonald said. “The more we can do that and inspire our young athletes to not only come and watch the best athletes in the country compete, but also participate … I believe that’s how you build for the future.”

The weekend’s festivities includes events for the wider community of runners, too – a 5K ‘Canadian Cross Country Classic,’ presented by a local business, BackRoads Brews + Shoes, that will be held on the same championship course, as well as a 1km kids race.

MacDonald says hosting an event of this calibre is as much about the community than anything else.

“What we’ve tried to present to Athletics Canada is an understanding of how many great people and volunteers we have in this community.”

Around 60 such volunteers will be involved along the way, helping with setup and the races themselves. As the saying goes, it takes a village. Whether it be donations for the finish line gantry or equipment from Western University, MacDonald says he’s seen the community in London step up. And he’s grateful for that.

“I think that’s been the nicest part of it … just how everybody’s come together.” 

With nothing left but to host the country’s best runners, MacDonald is ready and looking forward to a good show.

“I think we’re just excited to show the rest of Canada our great city and our beautiful course. I hope everybody enjoys it, and that we get lots of people here not just to compete but to watch and support the athletes.”