Don't miss the Pan Am XC Cup!
Come watch the best Cross Country athletes from North And South America at this weekend’s Pan Am Cross Country Cup just outside Victoria. Bear Mountain Resort & Golf Course will play host to the event and test competitors over its rolling terrain and golf course obstacles.
“This is the first time that Greater Victoria has hosted such an international field of cross country runners,” says Bruce Deacon, the event’s General Manager. “In the past, this event has been contested on flat courses and the Bear Mountain course will definitely test the athletes who are used to racing on flat grassy fields. This is a tough course.”
Can’t join us in person, you watch the races online through the CBC Livestream.
Race Schedule for Saturday, February 29
9:00 am Community Race (5k)
10:00 am Junior Women Pan Am XC Cup (6k)
10:45 am Junior Men Pan Am XC Cup (8k)
11:30 am Nations Cup (1.6k)
12:00 pm Senior Women Pan Am XC Cup (10k)
12:45 pm Senior Men Pan Am XC Cup (10k)
1:40 pm Pacific Northwest Youth Cup (5k)
2:15 pm Can Am Masters XC Challenge (5k)
One hundred and twenty six (126) athletes will compete in the four Pan Am Championship races. 14 countries have confirmed their attendance to run the challenging course at Bear Mountain Resort, Langford on Saturday, February 29. The countries are Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, United States and Venezuela.
“This is going to be an amazing competition featuring some extremely fit athletes from around our hemisphere,” says event General Manager, Bruce Deacon. “This will be one of the best cross country meets in BC’s history and definitely not an event that running fans will want to miss.”
Canada and the USA are fielding strong teams – both 24 strong – featuring the country’s best cross country runners. Peru are sending 18 runners, Mexico, 15, and Brazil and Puerto Rico, 12 each. Trinidad and Tobago will have five athletes, Bahamas, four; Columbia, three; Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, Panama and Venezuela two each, and one athlete from El Salvador.
BC Athletes on Team Canada include: Natasha Wodak, Kirsten Lee, Ceili McCabe, Annika Ariano and John Gay.
You can find the full Canadian Team here on Athletics Canada.
Additionally there are four community / all-comers events that include the Can Am Masters XC Challenge, that will see the best Masters (35+) members of Athletics Canada and the USATF compete to see which national will take home the cup. Canada leads the challenge series over the USA 18 – 14 and is undefeated on Canadian soil.
The 5km Community Race kicks off the day’s festival of running where participants will be able to run the championship course which including hills, mud and a sand pit! The Nations Cup for students in grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 has a schools challenge with schools being designated a country and they run in t-shirts with the country's team colours. For older students – grades 9 – 12 – there is the Pacific Northwest Youth Cup where teams of five boys and five girls can score points to determine the fastest city team.
For more information on the Pan Am XC Cup and the public races go to: https://panamxccup2020.com
Prepared with files from Pan Am XC Cup.
