The Canadians won three of the four team titles at the third North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in Clermont, Florida on a brisk Saturday morning (March 3).  The USA teams followed the Canadians in the junior women,  junior men and open women  team races, but came back with a vengeance in the open mens  race, taking all four top places in the event.

The junior women’s race, contested over 4 kms, was won by Lindsay Carson of Canada in 13:59.00, closely followed by her teammate Marie-Louise Asselim ((14.08.00).  USA’s Aurora Scott was soundly beaten, arriving at the finish line in 14:20.00.   Jamaican Natoya Goule in fifth place paced her team to a decisive win over the Puerto Rican contingent (45-62).

Diego Borrego of Mexico, the defending champion, won the junior men’s race handily in 18:50.00 over Matthew Leeder of Canada who was six seconds behind, followed by his teammate  Matthew Hughes, contributing to another Canadian team victory over the USA contingent.  Puerto Rico bested the Jamaican team by a mere three points. 

In the senior division, the Canadian women  again prevailed as Malindi Elmore toured the 6km. course in 20:41.00, readily besting Jamaican Korene Hinds (20.59.00) and Desiraye Osburn of the USA.  Jamaica lost the silver team medal to the USA by a mere three points (41 to 44) with Puerto Rico trailing.

The men’s senior race was a thriller with the four USA runners never being seriously challenged by the feared Mexican and Guatemalan competitors who had done so well in the previous editions.  Basil Bizuneh overcame his teammate Celedon Rodriguez, who lead for the first three laps of the 8km course, to lead a USA sweep of the first four places.  Guatemala bested Canada by a single  point to place second while Puerto Rico beat Jamaica for the fourth place team post.

The competition was well organized under the direction of Don DeNoon, the Track and Field Coordinator at the National Training Center located in Clermont.  A total of 125 athletes representing 16 National Federations took part in this year’s event.

Full results of the several races may be found on: www.usatf.org/events/2007/NACACXCChampioinships/results.

The next venue of the NACAC Cross Country Championships will be decided at the NACAC Congress on August 5, 2007 in San Juan, Puerto Rico where long-term NACAC president Amadeo Francis will hand over the reins to his elected successor.