Posted: February 3, 2004

Athletics:Defending champion Mondor confirms entry for UBC Open Cross-Country Classic

From EmilieMondor.com

Emilie Mondor celebrated the new year 2004 with a pair of outstanding international cross-country results overseas. Now, the Canadian women’s cross-country and 5,000-metre champion is taking her fleet feet to more familiar ground as she prepares for the March World Cross-Country Championships in Belgium.

Mondor has confirmed she will compete at the Feb. 14 UBC Open Cross-Country Classic at Vancouver’s Jericho Beach Park. She comes into the UBC event off an impressive victory at the Belfast International cross-country meet in Northern Ireland where she defeated Kenya’s Susan Chepkemei, reigning world half-marathon record holder and 2002 Commonwealth Games silver medallist.

Mondor began the year by finishing fourth at another major international cross-country meet in Newcastle.

"Coming back from those international meets, I’m very confident about my fitness, my mental preparation and my ability leading up to the world cross-country championships," said Mondor. "I want to focus on training in the next few weeks. But the UBC Open is a good opportunity for me to combine fun, training and racing together. It’s also important for me to support our home meets and the Canadian running community."

Mondor, a biological sciences student at Simon Fraser University, is among the Lower Mainland runners training as part of the PacificSport National Endurance Centre-Vancouver. The centre, led by head coach Marek Jedrzejek, is made up of 15 training groups of endurance runners based in a variety of communities. Members compete and train at various levels and include internationally-ranked athletes such as Mondor, nationally-ranked runners and promising young competitors achieving at the provincial level.

With the addition of Mondor the women’s 4K race at the UBC Open is looking to be a spectacular event as the field also includes Olympians Tina Connelly and Leah Pells, plus Malindi Elmore, runner-up to Mondor at the 2003 national cross-country championships in Toronto.

Born in Quebec, Mondor moved to the Vancouver area in 2001. Coach Mike Lonergan is understandably pleased with Mondor’s recent success in Belfast.

"I’m not surprised she won but I didn’t think she would win this quickly against that calibre of competition," he said. "And this was a different kind of race from what she would encounter at a world cross-country championship. This event demonstrated her racing ability - we know she is a strong and talented runner but this confirmed her ability to race under different circumstances."

A year ago Mondor used the UBC Open as a springboard to an outstanding 2003 campaign. She won the women’s 4K race at Jericho Beach then went on to a 13th-place finish at the world cross-country championships in Switzerland, a Canadian 5K road record and victory in the 5,000 metres at the Canadian track and field championships. At the August world track and field championships in Paris she ran 14:59.68 in the 5,000-metre heats to become the first Canadian woman to run under 15 minutes for the distance.

In the final Mondor finished 12th in 15:02.36. On paper, the slower time may appear disappointing but Mondor came away from Paris having accomplished her objective - to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics by attaining the Canadian Olympic qualifying standard of 15:01 and by finishing in the top 12.

"Her goal was to make the final and finishing in the top 12 was the most important thing she could do after making standard," said Lonergan. "She was tired going into that final. The A-standard is difficult and all summer she just keeping finishing around the edge of the standard. Achieving it took a huge load of pressure off her."

Indeed, Mondor admits to being somewhat tired going into the world championships as just qualifying for the Paris event proved a challenge.

"I had no choice but to do a personal best in the semi-final and I did, that was a great day for me," she said. "I was very prepared in the final and I had no real objectives but to run my best, only my body couldn’t do it anymore. I got really sick for almost a month after that race."

Having attained Olympic standard and a top-12 placing, Mondor and Lonergan can plan a 2004 competitive campaign that does not include having to peak just to attain a difficult standard. To confirm her status for Athens she needs only to prove fitness by running a 15:19 during the season while also finishing in the top four at the national championships. This winter, the building blocks to an Olympic peak are being forged with training and racing on cross-country trails.

"The Olympics will be way different this year as I already have the standard so I can just focus on peaking," she said. "I will start racing track late as I have nothing to prove, probably with the Oslo Golden League in the 5,000 metres. Then, I want to run more 3,000 and 1,500 metres until the Olympics, where I will run only in the 5,000, even if I do the 1,500 standard, which is my little personal goal for the early summer."

Web Site: www.gothunderbirds.ca.

UBC Open Cross Country Classic:
Date: February 14, 2004
Time: 11:30 A.M.
Location: Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver, BC
Events: 4km women, 6km men

For more information on the UBC Open contact:

Marek Jedrzejek
Head Coach: PacificSport National Endurance Centre-Vancouver
(604) 822-6259
marekj@interchange.ubc.ca