Mac represented on world stage

Laura Sinclair

Silhouette Staff

The snowy, slippery and cold conditions were not enough to slow down rookie Madeleine McDonald and veteran Lindsay Carson at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on March 24 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The two members of the Marauders’ cross country and track team managed to bundle up and use their experience with the snow to their advantage on the weekend. McDonald finished in 47thplace overall in the junior women’s race, and Carson finished in 60th place overall in the senior women’s race.

The two accomplished runners, with the help of their coaches Rory Sneyd and Paula Schnurr, made the tough decision to sit out this year’s track season in order to give everything they had into these world cross country championships. This meant that they would potentially be sacrificing a CIS medal at the prestigious CIS track and field meet in Edmonton.

This was a strategic decision that was necessary, however, for both of the athletes to increase their mileage and to perform their best in Poland this past weekend.

For rookie Madeleine McDonald, missing the track season was a good move, especially because of her outstanding result on the weekend, where she finished within the top 50 in the world. She will have plenty of opportunities to pick up a CIS track medal in future years, especially due to her tremendous potential that can only go uphill from this season. She has proven her dominance this year by quite handily beating other runners that are much older than her in her first University cross country season, which ultimately led to her 13th place finish at the CIS cross country championships.

She managed to carry that momentum to the one track race that she competed in this season, where she got off to a lead early in the 3000m and expanded that lead in the duration of the distance, winning the race by close to 20 seconds. She was the second Canadian to cross the finish line this past weekend, as she finished the 6km race in a time of 20:36, just two seconds behind teammate, rival and fellow rookie Madeleine Yungblut of the Guelph Gryphons. Together, they brought the Canadian team to a ninth place finish overall.

For veteran Lindsay Carson, missing out on the track season was not a huge loss either. She had already won the gold medal in the 3000m race at last year’s CIS championships in Winnipeg, and she also has several other CIS medals to her name. She could have easily won a gold medal repeat this year in the 3000m, but instead she decided to sacrifice another medal by competing among the best in the world.

She is not inexperienced when it comes to competing for Canada, however. She has worn the red and white singlet numerous times in her running career, and she has been a stand-out runner since the age of 14. Now, she is 23 years old, and despite being plagued with numerous injuries in the last couple of years, she has always managed to make a remarkable recovery and come back to the running scene better and more fit than ever.

She, too, proved her fitness at this meet, running the 8 km race in a time of 26:38, just three seconds behind one of her Canadian teammates, Rachel Hanna. The Canadian Senior Women’s team finished 8th overall.

Next on the schedule for the two accomplished athletes is a break before the training picks up for the outdoor track season, which gets underway in May. Carson will no longer be competing for McMaster, as her eligibility expires after this year. McDonald, however, still has four more years of running in maroon and grey, and her potential forecasts the possibility to compete for Canada again in future world championship meets.

In both the Senior and Junior women’s races at the World Cross Country Championships, the Kenyans won, while the USA team came fourth in the Senior women’s race and sixth in the Junior women’s race.

The two accomplished runners, with the help of their coaches Rory Sneyd and Paula Schnurr, made the tough decision to sit out this year’s track season in order to give everything they had into these world cross country championships. This meant that they would potentially be sacrificing a CIS medal at the prestigious CIS track and field meet in Edmonton.

This was a strategic decision that was necessary, however, for both of the athletes to increase their mileage and to perform their best in Poland this past weekend.

For rookie Madeleine McDonald, missing the track season was a good move, especially because of her outstanding result on the weekend, where she finished within the top 50 in the world. She will have plenty of opportunities to pick up a CIS track medal in future years, especially due to her tremendous potential that can only go uphill from this season. She has proven her dominance this year by quite handily beating other runners that are much older than her in her first University cross country season, which ultimately led to her 13th place finish at the CIS cross country championships.

She managed to carry that momentum to the one track race that she competed in this season, where she got off to a lead early in the 3000m and expanded that lead in the duration of the distance, winning the race by close to 20 seconds. She was the second Canadian to cross the finish line this past weekend, as she finished the 6km race in a time of 20:36, just two seconds behind teammate, rival and fellow rookie Madeleine Yungblut of the Guelph Gryphons. Together, they brought the Canadian team to a ninth place finish overall.

For veteran Lindsay Carson, missing out on the track season was not a huge loss either. She had already won the gold medal in the 3000m race at last year’s CIS championships in Winnipeg, and she also has several other CIS medals to her name. She could have easily won a gold medal repeat this year in the 3000m, but instead she decided to sacrifice another medal by competing among the best in the world.

She is not inexperienced when it comes to competing for Canada, however. She has worn the red and white singlet numerous times in her running career, and she has been a stand-out runner since the age of 14. Now, she is 23 years old, and despite being plagued with numerous injuries in the last couple of years, she has always managed to make a remarkable recovery and come back to the running scene better and more fit than ever.

She, too, proved her fitness at this meet, running the 8 km race in a time of 26:38, just three seconds behind one of her Canadian teammates, Rachel Hanna. The Canadian Senior Women’s team finished 8th overall.

Next on the schedule for the two accomplished athletes is a break before the training picks up for the outdoor track season, which gets underway in May. Carson will no longer be competing for McMaster, as her eligibility expires after this year. McDonald, however, still has four more years of running in maroon and grey, and her potential forecasts the possibility to compete for Canada again in future world championship meets.

In both the Senior and Junior women’s races at the World Cross Country Championships, the Kenyans won, while the USA team came fourth in the Senior women’s race and sixth in the Junior women’s race.