Lisa Labrecque of Sudbury's Track North Athletic Club, placed 78th at the World XC Running Championships in St. Etienne France last weekend."
It was a disappointing race," said Labrecque. "I got caught behind some slower runners at the start, was bumped and spiked and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by other runners near the back of the pack. I'm afraid I expended too much energy on the first lap trying to get out of that mess and move up through the field."
The Canadian team placed 9th out of 16 teams, led by Olympic 1500m finalist, Carmen Douma, who placed 25th. Twenty-eight countries were represented in the race.
The 4k race, conducted in 28 degree heat in front of 28,000 fans, followed a winding course that forced runners to cross dirt mounds, logs and, strangely, a patch of manure.
http://www.iaaf.org/wxc05/News/index.html
