Posted: March 22, 2005

Athletics: Carmen Douma-Hussar top Canadian at world cross country running championships

March 20, 2005 SAINT-GALMIER, France - Olympic Games finalist Carmen Douma-Hussar of Cambridge, Ont., placed 25th on Sunday in the women’s four kilometre race at the world cross country running championships.

Dibaba Tirunesh of Ethiopia completed a golden sweep of the senior women’s races this weekend clocking 13 minutes and 15 seconds under unseasonably warm temperatures with the mercury hitting 28 C. She also won the eight kilometre race on Saturday.

Douma-Hussar, making her fifth appearance at the cross country worlds, clocked 25th in 14:11 for her second best individual career result at these championships. Last year she was 17th.

“It was pretty good overall,” said Douma-Hussar, 28, a silver medalist at the world indoor championships and ninth at the Olympics in the 1,500 metres. “I went out even more aggressively than last year and I’m glad I went for it like that because it probably improved my final standing.”

The course was considered one of the most technically demanding since the 1999 worlds in Dublin with an uphill climb in the first 500 metres and several sharp turns over the 2000 metre loop. There were also knolls, logs, mounds and a mud pit filled with manure.

“You would think it was a fast course with the solid surface but there were a lot of obstacles and that explained the slow times,” said Douma-Hussar. “There were logs to jump over, significant dirt piles and of course that nice mud pit.”

Douma-Hussar also coaches track at Villanova University in Philadelphia and her indoor track season this winter was highlighted by gold in the 1,500 at the Millrose Games in New York.

“I did a shortened indoor season after a laid back fall but so far I’m on track to continue climbing up the international standings again this summer,” she said.

Megan Metcalfe of Edmonton was 55th in 14:38, Courtney Inman of Vancouver 56th in 14:40, Hilary Edmonson of Guelph, Ont., 59th in 14:44, Rebecca Stallwood of Burlington, Ont., 74th in 14:59, and Lisa Labrecque of Sudbury, Ont., 78th in 15:04

Ethiopia was the top team and Canada placed ninth. Last year Canada won the team bronze in the four kilometre event but was missing two key members of last year’s team in Emilie Mondor of Mascouche, Que., and Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C. who are both recovering from injuries.

“We weren’t expecting to win a team medal but we were aiming for potentially a top-six finish,” said Martin Goulet, head coach of the Canadian team. “Still despite not reaching our full objectives we still showed we are still very competitive. We matched our standing from two years ago but this time with a younger and more inexperienced team.”

In the men’s senior 12 kilometre race, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia completed a golden sweep of both men’s races for the fourth straight year clocking 35:06.

Marcel Hewamudalige of Vancouver was 72nd in 39:00, Andrew Smith of Toronto 78th in 39:13, Calvin Staples of Kitchener, Ont., 103rd in 40:06, James Nielsen of Point Stanley, Ont., 119th in 41:07, Eric Gillis of Antigonish, N.S., 125th in 41:46 and Brent Corbitt of New Westminster, B.C., 126th in 42:37.

Ethiopia won the team crown and Canada was 18th.

In the men’s junior eight-kilometre race, Kenya swept the top-five placings with Kiprono Augustine Choge, the world junior five kilometre champion the track, earning the gold medal in 23:59.

Braden Novakowski of Kingston, Ont., was 59thin 26:51, Alex Genest of Lac-aux-Sables, Que., 76th in 27:26, Jake Gallagher of Bedford, N.S., 78th in 27:28, Jeremy Fisico of Windsor, Ont., 89th in 27:43, Chris Winter of Vancouver 97th in 27:56 and Nicholas Sunseri of Ottawa 112th in 28:41.

Kenya took the team title and the Canadians were 15th.

Canada’s best individual result this weekend was a 14th place for Danette Doetzel of Macklin, Sask., in the women’s junior race on Saturday. It was Canada’s best result in that event since Mondor’s 10th in 1998.

“Our goal at these championships is to expose some our best runners to top level international competition, put them in a team concept atmosphere and prepare them for the summer season,” said Goulet. “But obviously we would have liked to do better result-wise in the overall picture.”