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 means of in opposition to Canada’s greatest. Nonetheless, profitable isn’t what excites Gibson probably the most; the 25-year-old loves the game and the working group.
The Ottawa native is contemporary off an unbelievable collegiate profession with the Guelph Gryphons and UBC Thunderbirds as a cross-country and observe runner. Her remaining race was at Might’s NAIA Out of doors Championships, the place she claimed double gold within the 5,000m and three,000m steeplechase. Final November, Gibson represented Workforce Canada for the primary time on the 2023 Pan Am Video games in Santiago, Chile, inserting fifth within the 3,000m steeplechase.
“PanAms made me understand how a lot of an honour it’s to symbolize our nation,” Gibson instructed Canadian Operating. “It’s one thing I by no means imagined was doable for me; I didn’t count on to really feel a lot satisfaction in carrying the Canadian flag on a world stage.”
Heading into cross-country nationals, Gibson says her aim is to execute her race plan and never exit too laborious. “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 mentioned. “I’ve realized that when you stretch your self out an excessive amount of within the first couple of kilometres, within the remaining kilometres, the hills are going to chew you.” She positioned tenth eventually 12 months’s championships.
The small discipline of 42 racers within the ladies’s 10K doesn’t trouble Gibson. (Final 12 months’s championships had 67 entries.) “I nonetheless assume it’s an superior alternative to race,” she mentioned. “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 an area staff. “I skilled extra behind them than truly with them,” Gibson laughs. Over three journeys, she collected and donated 168 pairs of gently-used and new sneakers to the Ethiopian working group.
“Once 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 really 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 greatest by eight seconds, clocking 1:15:11 for second general. “I needed to dip underneath 1:15:00,” she mentioned, 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 well 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 mentioned. She’ll return to work at Vancouver Basic Hospital as a medical dietitian earlier than shifting her focus to her outside observe season.
Leslie Sexton, Rachel Hannah and Laura Desjardins might 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 might be obtainable, right here.
