London Calling

Canadians hope to bounce back in second game

The Canadian women's volleyball team won't have much time to dwell on Sunday night's loss to Puerto Rico in the opening game of their Olympic qualifier.

The women, led by Kitchener's Sarah Pavan,  lost 25-18, 25-14, 25-21 in the match-up. Pavan was Canada’s leading scorer with 11 points, while Tammy Mahon of Holland, Man., had nine.

The Canadians started poorly, falling behind 8-3 at the first time out break in the opening set. In the second and third sets, the women built early leads but were eventually caught by the relentless Puerto Rican squad.

In the other match in their group, the Dominican Republic trounced Honduras 25-5, 25-5, 25-7.  The Cubans hammered Trinidad and Tobago 25-15, 25-7, 25-12 in Group B action.

The top three in each group after the round robin advance to the playoff round. Canada faces the Dominican Republic on Monday.

Canada must win the tournament to send a squad to the Olympics.

'We’re going there to haul'

GUELPH — They know what it’s like to pound out thousands of miles on empty back roads, to run until leg muscles are screaming and another step seems impossible.

Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis, the 32-year-olds who’ve helped make Guelph a hotbed of long-distance running, are preparing for the toughest race of their lives. And they’re doing it while carrying a country’s Olympic hopes on their slim shoulders.

On Aug. 12, they’ll line up on the last day of the Summer Olympics and run through central London in the 42-kilometre marathon, one of the most gruelling races there is.

It’s been a dozen years since Canada had anyone compete in the Olympic marathon. Canada’s return to the prestigious event has helped spark a renaissance in long-distance running, with these affable, reed-thin runners at the forefront.

Their coach Dave Scott-Thomas, a running guru who treats his athletes like family, has set a historic goal for his two marathon wonder boys. He wants them to run the Olympic course in under two hours and nine minutes — a time that would shatter the previous Canadian record.

“It’s not in Canadians’ nature to be cocky, but we’re not going to sit back and be happy just to be there. We’re going there to haul,” he said. Read the full story here.

Korir left off Kenyan marathon team

Wesley Korir of Kenya gestures after crossing the finish line to win the men's division of the 2012 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

If he ran for any other country, Wesley Korir would be going to the Olympics.

But Korir, this year's Boston Marathon winner and one of the fastest men on the planet, is Kenyan. That means as fast as he is, he's one of many world-class Kenyan runners left off the London roster of the world's most dominant distance running country.

Korir, who trains in the St. Clements area with his wife - fellow Olympic hopeful Tarah Korir - found out this week he's not part of the three-man marathon team headed to London. Neither is world record-holder Patrick Makau, who failed to finish the London Marathon last weekend because of a hamstring injury.

Multiple New York and London champion Martin Lel didn't make it. Geoffrey Mutai, who set a course record in winning last year's New York Marathon, also missed out. World bronze medallist Sharon Cherop didn't make the cut for the women, either.

Instead, London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang, two-time defending world champion Abel Kirui and Chicago titleholder Moses Mosop were the men named by Athletics Kenya for the Olympic race.

A disappointed Korir says he may still try to qualify for Kenya in the 10,000-metyre event. But his real priority is supporting his wife's own Olympic dream of running for Canada in the 5,000-metre event, he said.

We spent the morning with Korir, his wife and their young duaghter McKayla on Friday. We'll bring you their remarkable story later in May. 

Pavan and Canadians ready for battle

Sarah Pavan says size will be an advantage at the NORCECA Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament, whcih start Sunday. (photo courtesy FIVB).

Kitchener's Sarah Pavan and the national women's volleyball team are on their way to Mexico today as they get ready for a must-win qualifying tournament that's their last shot at the Olympics.

On Sunday, the No. 22-ranked Canadians face Puerto Rico (ranked 19). Monday's game will be against heavy favourite Dominican Republic (ranked  9th), and Tuesday they'll face off against Honduras (ranked 69th).

 After that round robin pool, they'll crossover with the second pool which has the ever-tough Cubans, Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago.  In order to qualify for the Olympic Games, Canada must win the tournament.

Pavan,  the team's undisputed star,  was the top scorer in her Italian pro legaue this winter. She'll be leaned on heavily to make somethign happen in Mexico. 

"’We definitely have a size advantage on our opponents," said Pavan. "And we’ve always been a strong blocking team. But a big key is the fact we are a team that has played together for awhile. We’ve really stuck with it."

Webcasts of the tournament can be watched at http://indebc.gob.mx/norcecapreolympic/

Here's the schedule:

April. 29: Round robin match #1 - Canada vs. Puerto Rico
April. 30: Round robin match #2 - Canada vs. Dominican Republic
May 1: Round robin match #3 - Canada vs. Honduras
May 2: Quarterfinals
May 4: Semi-finals
May 5: Finals

Here's how to run like an Olympic marathoner

Apparently, "butt kicks" aren't just for bullies anymore. Olympic-bound marathoners Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis share that technique some of their other interesting running drills - from high knees to box jumps - in this video for Cambridge-based Run for Life.

Shot outside Galt Collegiate about a week after both qualified for the Olympics at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon last October, the pair were still nursing sore legs, says John Carson, Run for Life's program director.

Run for Life is a non-profit organization that promotes accessible running programs to people of all ages across the country. They started with just one training group in Cambridge in 2002 and soon expanded to programs across Waterloo Region.

Today, Run for Life operates out of 200 locations in Canada, and puts particular focus on schools to help teachers and parents develop running programs for kids. Run for Life gives classes things like pedometres, a website to count kilometres, posters and tshirts to run their own running challenges, all free of charge.

"We're here to promote grass-roots fitness... but if you introduce a young child to the sport of running, and they become an Eric or a Reid, or a Carmen Douma, that's great too," Carson said. 

They have high-profile ambassadors, too, like Boston Marathon winner Wesley Korir, who will visit local schools that sign up for the group's annual Classic Mile Race. That race, for elementary schools kids to seniors, will go June 15 at Galt Collegiate. 

Run for Life is also working with schools in Kenya to give children education aides, as well.

Gillis can finally exhale

Marathoner Eric Gillis, far left, Speed River manager Chris Moulton, and runners Andrew Nixon, Genevieve Lalonde and Lydia Frost led students at Baden Public School on a 'marathon' this week. Dave Bebee/Record staff

When Eric Gillis, battling a 40-kilometre head wind, beat the Olympic marathon standard by just seven tenths of second at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon last fall - he celebrated.

Sort of.

By just squeaking under the Olympic cut-off, his spot on the Olympic team was tentative. His teammate, Reid Coosaet, had already secured his own spot with a stronger run.

But because only the top three marathoners from any country can go, it meant if two other Canadians posted a better time in a later race,  he could be bumped from the Games.

Gillis spent the next six months not sure if he was going to London or planning a last-minute scramble to try to qualify again.

Earlier this month, on the day he was to run in the Vancouver Sun Run, his mind was on a race on the other side of the ocean. Gillis woke up at 4 a.m. and checked his laptop for results from the Rotterdam Marathon, where two Canadians where trying to make the Olympic qualifying time.

It was the last chance for someone to bump him. Kingston’s Dylan Wykes had qualified, but Speed River teammate Rob Watson hadn’t. It meant Gillis was in. He was going to the Olympics.

Yesterday, Gillis appeared at Baden Public School, much more visibly relaxed. Six months of worrying were over. He was even recruiting some new fans.

"Remember on Aug. 12 to flick on the TV and watch for Eric Gillis," he told the kids.

In response, the students at Baden Public School peppered him with questions like, "Eric, are you any good at hockey?"  and "Have you ever run into a tree?"

Tomorrow, he'll take the stage at the Guelph Stadium for the official announcement from the Canadian Olympic Committee - that he, Wykes and Coolsaet are all going to London. 

Date: 4/24/2012

Caption: Baden 042412- Back Left to right Eric Gillis, Chris Moulton, Manager, Andrew Nixon and Lydia Frost, runners with the Speed River Track and Field Club laugh as Genevieve Lalonde tells a story to Baden Public School students The Guelph club members were part of a program with athletics Canada to introduce kids to running....David Bebee, Record staff, see story by Greg Mercer...wn1:2:25 PM ¥ 04-24-12 ¥ Keyword} ¥Local News

Milne, Brannen and Stellingwerff solid in Mt. Sac

Watch more video of 2012 Mt. SAC Relays on flotrack.org

 Taylor Milne's post-race interview courtesy of FloTrack.com

Taylor Milne and Nate Brannen both broke a stadium record at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in California over the weekend.

Former Olympians Milne (3:54.29) and Brannen (3:54.81) beat Bernard Lagat’s stadium record of 3:54.97, which was set in 2000. 

It wasn't enough to get either the win in the mile race - that went to France's Jamale Aarrass (3:52.21) -  but the Mt. Sac meet wasn't about winning, anyway.  Milne, of Guelph, and Brannen, of Cambridge, were using the race to get into qualifying shape in the coming months.

Milne just wrapped up a month of high-altitude training in Flagstaff, AZ, while Brannen spends his winters in nearby Scottsdale, AZ.

The pair need to run under 3:35:50 in the 1,500-metre race, which is their specialty. They'll have plenty of chances to do that between now and the end of their qualifying period on June 18.

Milne's Speed River Track & Field Club teammate Hilary Stellingwerff, meanwhile, won the Mt. Sac women’s mile race in 4:31.04. The 1,500-metre racer needs to run the shorter race in under 4:05:07, or 4:06 once and 4:08.90 once to qualify for the Olympics.

Coolsaet, McKay-Korir win in Toronto

Hamilton's Reid Coolsaet crosses the finish line first in front of Kip Kangogo of Lethbridge, Alta., to win the inaugural Yonge Street 10K race on Sunday. VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR

It was a good day at the Toronto Yonge Street 10K for Olympic-bound marathoner Reid Coolsaet and St. Clements' own Tarah McKay-Korir.

Coolsaet squeaked out another win in the men's race with a time of 28: 36, finishing three-tenths of a second in front of Lethbridge’s Kip Kangogo. Last year, he won the Toronto race with a time of 28:08, narrowly beating Kangogo again and Guelph teammate Eric Gillis. 

McKay-Korir followed up her win at Harry’s Spring Run Off Toronto 8K on April 7 with another big win in the women's - logging a person-best time of 32:07, the fastest on the course in five years. The 25 year old runner had the added thrill of breaking the fnish tape that was held by her husband, Boston Marathon winner Wesley Korir.

McKay-Korir, the former University of Louisville star, hopes to qualify for the Olympics in the 1,500 metre event this spring.

Coolsaet, meanwhile, was in a dogfight with Kangogo - surging to the win with a come-from-behind kick to take Kangogo by a step at the line. Kangogo had looked to have the race locked up with only 200 metres left to go.

“Kip just ran so tough, I had problems keeping up with him. Luckily enough I had just enough to get him. I wasn’t confident that I was going to get him," he said, after the race.

"Kip pulled away with about 400 metres to go and I somehow came back on him. I needed every single, last metre to beat him. If the finish line was 10m earlier, I’m not sure I would have got him."

Coolsaet will be back in Guelph for an announcement Thursday about Canada's three-man marathon team. Watch for that story and a profile on him and Speed River Track & Field teammate Gillis, this Saturday. 

Pavan's list almost complete

KITCHENER — As the most sensational volleyball player to come out of Canada in more than a generation, Sarah Pavan has done it all — from winning a U.S. college title to being the top scorer in the toughest professional league in the world.

But there’s one thing the six-foot-five Kitchener-raised athlete with the ferocious spiking ability is missing. Playing for Canada in the Olympics.

Pavan, 25, was in her hometown for barely 48 hours this week, resting from her long season in which she led Villa Cortese all the way to the finals in the Italian professional league before losing in a heartbreaker to rival Busto Arsizio.

Not that she had much time to relax. Her bags were missing, lost somewhere in Germany. She was jet-lagged, waking up every morning at 6 a.m. And Thursday, she was to board a plane for Winnipeg, for a one-week training camp with a national team that’s pinning its Olympic hopes on her shoulders.

Hardly ideal circumstances for Canada’s star volleyball player to end her country’s 16-year Olympic drought. But Pavan, the former University of Nebraska hero who joined the national team the same year she got her driver’s licence, is used to being put in tough situations.

“My body has been put through the wringer the past little while, and it’s about to get worse,” she said. “It’s hard, because I still keep replaying the last game in Italy. I’m not really good at switching gears quickly, but I’m going to have to.”

Read the full story here.

Bujold 'trains like she's demented'

Check out this great video on Kitchener's Mandy Bujold by Alicia Wynter, a photojournalism at Loyalist College.

Wynter uses still images, video, audio bits and a taped interview with Bujold to tell the boxer's story. One of my favourite clips in the piece is from Bujold's coach Rick Cadilha, who has trained the flyweight fighter and seven-time national champion for years.

"She trains like she's demented," he said.