Placement: 2nd place Grade 8 Boy
 
Comments: I was happy with this result because I didn’t feel too well in this race.  I was glad it was over.  It’s the last XC race I will be doing this season.  It’s been a good experience.

Placement:  6th Grade 8 Boy
 
Comments: This was my first XC race this season and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It felt good but it was frustrating because sometimes it was such a narrow path that I couldn’t get around anyone.  I think I could have done a little better, but I’m happy with it.  
 
Results: 

Placement: 6th in the 19 & Under, and 25th overall
 
Comments: I prepared on race morning perfectly just as my coach and I talked about.  I did almost everything I wanted to do.  At the start of the race I went out way to fast to hold for the whole time.  Because of that, my breathing was not very well under control, and my pace slowly started to declining.  Even so, at about two km in, I settled into a pace with two other guys, and stayed that way almost the whole time.  Nearer to the end at about the 7 km mark, I started to pay for going out too hard, and at the 9 km mark I really started to suffer.  My legs were tired!  The runners I was with left me behind and I ended up a few hundred meters behind them at the finish line.  I didn’t reach my goal, but was still happy with my race because it was my first ever and I wanted to do a 10k before I turned 13. 
 
Results:

 Placement:  15th
 
Comments: My goal was just to have a good race, and I guess I did but not as good as would have wanted to. The swim was the same as the across the lake swim where I didn’t get enough mobility in my shoulders before the race. On top of that, I had tight shoulders already. For te bike it was crazy windy, and I didn’t have anybody to draft with. I stayed in pretty much the same position the whole bike. Then on the run I did ok but got past by a few kids, and ended up in fifteenth place.
 
Results:

 Placement:  3rd in BC, 6th in the race
 
Comments: My goal was to get on the podium. I had a really good swim got out in the top pack except for Brock who had broken away. I had a decent bike and conserved energy in a pack of about ten kids, while dropping some others. On the run I started a bit back, because of my transition, and then further back because I started cramping. After lap one My coach told me how to breath and my cramping started to go away and by the last lp I could run almost normal catching a few people on the way.
 
Results:

 Placement: 11th in the 10-19 Category
 
Comments:  My goal was to swim about 26 minutes.  But I made one big mistake. I didn’t make sure that I had enough shoulder mobility in my shoulders in my wetsuit. Because of that I had to adjust it in the middle several times because of my shoulder pain.  That not only meant I had to literally stop in the middle but it affected the rhythm of my whole race.  I ended up getting a 29:48.  It’s still a good time but I know I can do better. 
 
Results:

Placement: 4th
 
Comments:  This was an open water swim.  I started the swim off well and got good positioning around the first buoy and was with the top 5 but when the person in front of me dropped off, I also lost the pack.  For the rest of my swim I was in front of the second pack, but I was still the second in my age group behind Brock coming out of the water.  On the bike I had trouble getting into my bike shoes (again) and got a bit behind.  Because this race was mixed (ages and boys and girls together), there was a pack of three girls and a boy that were working together ahead of me that I finally caught and finished the 10 k bike with.  On the run I was running at a good pace but not at my best because I was cramping from dropping my water bottle near the beginning of the bike.  I ended up in fourth place because two kids passed me right at the end and I just couldn’t stay with them.  I had used everything up!  I ended up within 11 seconds of 2nd place by the end. 
 
Results: 

 Placement: 4th
 
Comments:  I found this a tough race.  It’s my very first Youth Elite race, which is a draft legal race, ages 12 to 15.  In other words I was racing Brock.  It was a new course and had a few things I didn’t expect.  This was also a pool swim but indoors.  Two age groups of boys swam at the same time so I was second out of the water to Brock (who is in the next age group up).   I had a lot of trouble in the transition area because of an instant hill out of transition.  I couldn’t get my cycling shoes onto my pedals and start going because of the hill.  I realize that is something I really will need to practice.  Several kids passed me while I was having trouble and three of them I was never able to catch before the end of the race.  The run was also hard for me today because I made the mistake of not drinking eload on the bike causing me to cramp badly and slow my run down. 
 
Results:
 

Road race in Oliver:  This was the hardest and most painful.  My race was 40km, 2 laps of 20 km.  At the end of the first lap I was still with the leaders but I felt like the pace was starting to pick up.  We dropped some racers off the back, and I dropped off the back by a few meters too but only for about 4 minutes.  I worked hard and caught back up but by the time I got back, 2 kids had a break away going.  We never caught them again.  In the last 4-5 km, I made a mistake by pulling everyone in my pack for way too long!  I paid for it going up the last hill towards the finish line and the whole pack of 7 I had been pulling passed me and I couldn’t go with them. I ended up in place.  I learned what I would do differently in terms of strategy.  I had 3rd place and lost it in the last couple minutes of the race.  Placement: 10th