Even before the race started, running partners Caleigh Bachop, Madelyn Brunt, Brittany King and Megan Kinghorn found each other. With Miryam Bassett of Nanaimo, the crew formed a lead pack, as they usually do, and jumped out ahead of the 4.5-kilometre high school cross country championships course at Beaver Lake.
No one noticed , a Grade 9 student from Mill BayB次元官网网址檚 George Bonner Middle School.
B次元官网网址淲e took our group out pretty hard, we didnB次元官网网址檛 see (Ridenour) at the beginning of the race,B次元官网网址� said Bachop, a Grade 12 student from Mount Douglas secondary.
B次元官网网址淲e were running our usual race, but on the second hill (Ridenour) took off. We all thought B次元官网网址榳ho is that?B次元官网网址� but I wasnB次元官网网址檛 feeling it for a push. We didnB次元官网网址檛 say anything, we just let her go.B次元官网网址�
Ridenour went on to win the race, 16 seconds ahead of Bachop (second) and 19 seconds ahead of Bassett (third), who is last yearB次元官网网址檚 champion.
Brunt, of the , finished fourth, while King and Kinghorn, of Spectrum Community school, slipped to seventh and eighth.
Word on the street is that Ridenour is the younger sister of Christine Ridenour, a former Canada Summer Games triathlon champion and national team member who transfered from UVic to the University of Guelph this fall.
B次元官网网址淚 had never seen (Ridenour) before, she ripped it up out there,B次元官网网址� Bachop said.
The Mount Doug girls team finished fifth and missed the cut for provincials, just a few points behind Campbell River high.
Bachop will attend as the only girl from Mount Doug, a contender for top spot.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 too bad we canB次元官网网址檛 go to Prince George as a team, we were so close,B次元官网网址� Bachop said.
The middle distance specialist will return as a go-to member of Mount DougB次元官网网址檚 track and field team this spring. She won the provincial 800-metre club championship in the summer and is weighing her post secondary options for 2013. That includes the possibility of joining the Vikes, which would follow in her dad SteveB次元官网网址檚 footsteps.
Steve competed for Esquimalt High before setting the VikesB次元官网网址� indoor 800m record, which he holds to this day.
Bachop isnB次元官网网址檛 going it alone in Prince George. She joins the Mount Doug boys team, which finished fourth, and her elite high school track and field teammates.
B次元官网网址淏runt, King and Kinghorn and I all go back and forth every race and they are highly fit right now,B次元官网网址� Bachop said. B次元官网网址淚t will be a tough race.B次元官网网址�
Now that they know about Ridenour, the crew can keep an eye on her just as theyB次元官网网址檒l be hoping to keep Kayla Stone of Vancouver and Regan Yee of Hazelton (north of Smithers) within reach.
sports@vicnews.com
