Summer to Snow: The Aussies Tackling World Cross Country

By Cindy King.

On Sunday, 28^th March, 16 Australian representatives will line up at the 38th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

 

There were high hopes for a teams’ medal for the senior women, but this aim has been hurt by the late withdrawal of Nikki Chappel (who recently ran 1:08:37 for the half marathon) who is suffering from stress reaction to the bone marrow of her foot.

 

The team is one of contrasts, with its members ranging in experience from veterans such as Anna Thompson and Benita Johnson who are running in their 8^th and 7^th Championships respectively, to those who are competing on their first international team.

 

Approaches to training vary as well. Senior debutants Clint Perrett and Jeff Hunt have been focusing on marathon training to prepare them for the event, while veteran cross country runner Anna Thompson has had to train solely on the road and track, as she is based in Singapore.

 

Runnerstribe caught up with a few of the athletes before they headed off to Poland. Anna Thompson and Tamara Carvolth are both on the senior women’s team with Lara Tamsett, Eloise Wellings, and Benita Willis. Jeff Hunt and Clint Perrett are making their World Cross debuts in a team that also comprises Collis Birmingham, Liam Adams, and Duer Yoa. Kevin Batt, Ethan Heywood, and Joshua Tedesco will be joined by David Ricketts on the junior boy’s team. There is no junior girls team, but Demi Wood and Grace Thek will be representing Australia.

 

Here are some of their thoughts on their race preparations as they left the beautiful weather of Australia for a northern hemisphere winter.

 

 

Anna: My training is focused on World Cross Country at the moment, but given that I live in Singapore my specific cross country sessions are a little limited. Unfortunately, there are very few off road locations to on run here and no grass ovals or parks suitable for training, so I am restricted to track and road sessions. I did a cross country race in Chiba, Japan in February and I have plenty of cross country experience so that should leave me in good stead for the race. I have also changed coaches recently so there have been some other changes to my training.

 

Living and working in Singapore now is obviously a factor in my training and has made my preparations for this year’s WXC different than in previous years. As it is hot and humid all the time here, I do as much of my training as I can either before or after the sun is up. I also need to carry fluids on most of my runs so I'm looking forward to running without the extra weight in Poland. Racing is different here as unfortunately there is no structured interclub competition and road races are a little hit and miss in terms of organization and level of competition. The change to Singapore, while presenting some difficulties in my training, has been great for renewing my motivation and experiencing the sport in a different environment and culture.

Tamara: I have not specifically changed my training but I have been doing a lot of base and endurance work to help get a lot fitter. I was also fortunate enough to go to Falls Creek for two weeks with some of Nic Bideau’s group and got a lot out of that experience.  

Jeff: No specific training for Poland has been done - I’m not searching out mud baths and freezers to run in. Coach Ken Greene and I focused the last six months on my marathon debut, and are now just fine tuning the big base that I have. Three weeks of not a lot of running in February has helped with the marathon recovery and I feel like I'm going to be at my best come 28th March.

 

Clint: I am currently building up towards my first marathon, so have had a focus on mileage and strength since about November last year. As a result, this year’s domestic track season has been less of a priority as I look towards my racing goals in Poland and the London Marathon during March and April.

 

In terms of specific work for World Cross, our training group has included a Cross Country loop over undulating and uneven surfaces once a month, which has been effective for my cross country racing and has allowed me to prepare over a more relevant training surface.

 

Our training group has been masterfully coached by Mark Gorski, with both me and a New Zealander, Shaun Krawitz, making our debuts for our respective countries. We have been focused on this event since missing out in 2009, and have ensured that all the ‘1 percenters’ were covered to get on the team this year. Balancing work at Melbourne Girls Grammar as a PE teacher and a full time training load can at times be a challenge, but the sacrifices are worth it when they pay off.

 

Demi: Yes, since December I have not focused on sheer speed like I usually would for track season. I have focused more on longer reps and continuing my winter long Sunday runs. My training differs from the popular trend of long reps with short recoveries as I focus on long fast reps at race specific speeds with recoveries as required and get my speed endurance from twice a week 85% tempo runs over 30 minutes.

 

Joshua: The training that I am doing now is pretty much the same sort of training I have been doing since the start of the track season. We do a lot of long repetitions, mainly aerobic fitness.

 

Kevin: I haven't changed the training for WXC because I have been focusing on qualifying for the world junior 5000m and the training is very similar, with high volume and building a good aerobic base. My coach, Ian Hatfield, rides next to me and the rest of the group for every session around Wollongong, NSW. A few of my mates who went to World Juniors in Poland in 2008 say that Poland has a lot of good-looking girls!

 

Ethan:  It hasn’t changed much at all; we’ve just kept the km’s high and did some longer reps.