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Prediction Quick Hitters
“OKAY. It’s A-C-X-C time. I can’t take this anymore. Everyday I check entries and it’s RISING.”
Listen to your yearly dose of 2021 Hard Rock Nick and then toss us a key because we’re cranking these out faster than you can shotgun a root beer.
But first of all, ACXC on a Sunday? What’s going on here boys? That’s like eating soup with a fork. And what is ACXC-legend-turned-Athletics-Canada-executive Chris Winter even saying with this comment.
“Sorry guys.” Don’t you literally set the schedule dude? An apology without changing the date back to Saturday rings more hollow than a phone in an empty house. You were even warned, apparently, so that means the date was set for Sunday on purpose… holy heck.
Jk tho, because this might not be all bad. There will be fewer NARPS at the after party bar on a Sunday night, and people from out of town still need to take the same amount of work vacation that they would have had to take for a Saturday race. Instead of taking Thursday and Friday off, you take Friday and Monday. Or, instead of taking Friday off to make the drive, you put rubber to the road on Saturday and take Monday off to drive home. Blessing in disguise? Who knows! Let’s get to the predictions.
Women
3 teams signed up this year and it’s gotta be an easy third straight T Birds win. Sexton, Mortimer, MacGillivray, Gibson, Pfohl, and Novak-Klotz. It could be a good battle between London Western and Monarch Athletics for second place.
Let’s check out some of the top individuals:
- Gibson
- MacGillivray
- Mortimer
- Sexton
- Breedon
- Couture
- Alkerton
Verdict: Yeah, the T Birds top 4 of Gibson, MacGillivray, Mortimer, and Sexton is nasty. Breedon was fourth at U SPORTS ahead of MacGillivray and Mortimer, so we’ll see if she can cleave through any cleves. Alyshia Alkerton was a few more spots behind them in that race. 20-year-old Québec phenom Marika Couture could also be up there. She has better track pb’s than Breedon does, but 10k might hit different. She was second in the junior division last year.
Men
Yeah, nine teams, but the London Western “Bandits” have gone bowling mode and split after a silver-gold-silver over the last three years (sad emoji). London Western still has Jeremy Coughler and Heath McCallister on the roster to hold down the fort, but it’s not the greatest fort. One made of pillows maybe.
Laval a remporté la victoire l’an dernier, mais ils sont en difficulté cette fois-ci avec seulement quatre athlètes. Heureusement pour eux, Morneau-Cartier est « really fuckin good ». Il a terminé deuxième l’an dernier et est l’un des favoris pour le titre. Jean-Simone Desgagnés sera également à l’avant, et Rudy Saal vient tout juste d’obtenir son meilleur résultat à U SPORTS. Cela suffira-t-il ?
Royal City is “gunning for third” for the third straight year after finishing fourth and fifth in 2022 and 2023, but this year, with Harbour Track out of the picture and London in pillows mode, they might finally do it. Mitch Ubene is back to form after taking the dub at the Ontario Championship, Nick Bannon was in the top 20 last year, and then they need two solid performances from Sam Kinahan, Rob Lawand, Cole Hannam, Dylan Brar, and Dan Rosen. Heck, there’s an outside shot they place second if they run well enough. They might have to “tank for third” instead.
Lastly, it’s looking like T Birds will be BACK ON TOP. They won the meme battle AND the gold in 2021, but finished 3rd in 2022 and were completely exiled from the podium last year. John Gay took the W at the BCXC Championships ahead of teammate Andrew Davies. Both will be vying for the win in London. VYING. Add in guys like Broatch, Tiwana, and Gravel and it’s looking like the meme squad will be cellying hard at Joe Kool’s bar on a London Sunday night. Make sure to tell DJ Joe that Sunday night be damned, they’re gonna HAVE TO dial up the Nickelback version of “Saturday Night’s Alright.”
Who’s in contention for the individual dub?
- Broatch
- Coughler
- Davies
- Desgagnés
- Gay
- Morneau-Cartier
- Proceviat
- Turek
- Ubene
Tommy Broatch comes in after a pretty nasty 2:14 and change Toronto Marathon, but it’s hard to do the Toronto-ACXC double. Maybe since ACXC is in December this year he will have had enough time to recover.
Jeremy Coughler is still out there trying to finish in the top 6 at a senior XC championship. He was third in the 10,000m on the track in the summer and sources are telling us he’s cracked more backs than eggs this year. That’s gotta be worth something.
We already mentioned how John Gay and Andrew Davies were 1-2 at the BCXC championships. Davies won the Hamilton Road2Hope 5k in 14:08, just a couple seconds ahead of Max Turek and Coughler, and he might be better over 10k than 5k. I don’t think anyone in the field has done as many thresholds as he has this season.
Desgagnés was fourth in that Hamilton race, but he’s gonna be out there looking to smoke a hot one with his pal Morneau-Cartier, who’s really fuckin good. JSD and friends did a « 5k des goons » a couple weeks ago, so they should be ready to roll.
Ubene was a ways back in Hamilton, but looked good at AOXC and is pretty solid when it comes to the 10k cross course.
CamRunPro Proceviat is a wildcard. He’s more of a miler, and was 20th last year, but he finished third in 2021.
Verdict: Les sources disent que Morneau-Cartier est « really fuckin good. »
Juniors?
I don’t know what’s going on over there. Seems like for the dudes, London Western might be nasty? Is London Western nasty? Their meme game needs work. Either make it interesting or make it short. Then again, the length of their video meant we got a minor amount of race context so maybe we’re wrong. A for effort. Davies placed third in the U SPORTS prediction contest, so that alone could be enough to propel their team to victory.
Is Harbour track nasty? They got 5 transfers? We don’t trust the chemistry in the room. But if it takes 5 transfers to make it interesting with London Western then we’re here for it.
Physikult seems to want to pretend to have a team but doesn’t actually have one?
Does anyone outside of Ontario have a good team? Our scouts need to do a better job. Good luck to everyone.