Joey Payeur
The Big Nickel will feel like a million dollars to Hailey Beaudry in just over a week—even if she had to slog through a mud bog to make it there.
The Grade 11 Muskie cross-country runner finished fourth in the senior girls’ division Wednesday at the NWOSSAA championships at the Can-View Ski Trails in Thunder Bay.
That earned Beaudry the last berth in that division to advance to the OFSAA showdown Nov. 2 in Sudbury.
The top four finishers qualified, unless they were part of the NWOSSAA championship team, in which case, the four-fastest non-members of that team also would qualify.
“The trails were really wet and muddy, and it was pretty cold,” Beaudry recalled about her run along the five-km course, which she covered unofficially in about 22 minutes (her official time was not available by press time).
“Everyone was coming up the trails with mud all the way up their legs,” she noted. “When I took off my shoes at the end, my white socks were brown.
“They had to change some of the trail that morning because they were too wet.”
Muskie co-coach John Dutton was thrilled with Beaudry making it to her second-straight OFSAA championship after she finished fifth in the junior girls’ division at NWOSSAA to advance last year.
“She had a really good race and considering she was up against tougher competition than last year, I was very pleased,” he added.
For her part, Beaudry is aiming to improve on her top-175 result at OFSAA last year, and will be looking to pick up her pace during practice before heading to Sudbury on Wednesday.
“If I can improve by five-10 seconds per kilometre, I can be faster by a minute to a minute-and-a-half,” she reasoned.
“Last year, I went to the starting line against 400 other runners and I didn’t know what to expect,” she added.
“But having learned from last year, I definitely have a goal to get into the top 100.”
Results for the rest of the Muskies competing at NWOSSAA were unavailable by press time today.
