Natasha Wodak leads the West all-star team into this Sunday’s Toronto Yonge Street 10K and to say she is excited about the prospect is a bit of an understatement. “Yeah I think it’s a really awesome idea,” she said from Santa Cruz, Calif., where members of the West are locked into a warm weather training camp. “One of the things I always loved about cross-country was that it was a team event. It wasn’t just about your own result, which is why I think I loved it so much. “It’s really cool that when you cross the line it’s not over because you are part of the West team. You turn around and wonder ‘where are my other teammates?’ It’s exciting to be part of a team. It creates a good story.” The accumulated times of the top two males and top two females from each team will decide the winning team. The 32-year-old Vancouver runner has been on a roll since winning the 2013 Canadian national cross-country championship last November. Just last week she handily won the Modo Spring Run Off 8K in Vancouver, the race which launched the 2014 Canada Running Series. Wodak’s team from Western Canada will tackle an East all-star team that includes two of her biggest rivals, Krista DuChene and Tarah Korir. The former represented Canada at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow while Korir returns from six months of high altitude training in her husband Wesley Korir’s native Kenya. Korir won the Toronto Yonge Street 10K in 2012 with a time of 32:07 and, along with DuChene, she will be supported by Toronto’s Rachel Hannah, who certainly knows the course well. She was second in 2013 (33:40) and third in 2012. The East team also includes two-time Canadian Olympian Eric Gillis who originally hails from Antigonish, N.S., but is a long term resident of Guelph, Ont. Rob Watson and defending Toronto Yonge Street 10K champion Kip Kangogo are the top male contenders for the West. Almost ten months ago, Wodak switched coaches, joining up on a full time basis with Richard Lee who is now coach of the BC Endurance Project. “Training with Rich’s group; we are all similar in age,” she declares, “We all have the same goals. We all want to make national teams; we all want to go to the Commonwealth Games, go to the Olympic games. Those are our dreams and goals. Canada Running Series organizers are expecting some of the West team to join in the ‘Tune up’ training run on Saturday, April 12. The run is part of the Toronto Yonge Street 10K runners expo and begins outside the Sheraton Hotel at 9 a.m. Eric Gillis will be among the East team members participating. For everyone, there will be the thrill of the race-day dash down the middle of Canada’s most famous street, from Eglinton to Fort York. There are finishers’ medals waiting for everyone after they cross the line on Fort York Boulevard and a post-race victory party with live music from The HoneyRunners Band in Garrison Common Park. Ten important local charities that include Kids Up Front, Camp Toronto Triple Threat, Right To Play and Children’s Peace Theatre are also hoping to go home winners. Edited from a press release.
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