The last race of the cross country running season took place on Saturday, October 29, 2022, at the Thames Valley Golf Course in London, Ont. The eight-kilometer course for women and men had runners running through bumpy moguls and open green space.

The women took their marks at noon and started strong behind the pack, slowly picking off the competition at every turn. Rookie Avery Cooper started off reserved and increased her pace around the four-kilometer mark. While multi-sport athlete and captain of the women’s soccer team, Faith Holmes made her first and last appearance at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships. Holmes completed her final soccer season at AU on Sunday, October 23, 2022.

During the race, Cooper and Holmes began strong together and slowly started to pull away from each other in the second half of the race, but they kept each other in sight the whole time.

Cooper and Holmes finished one after another. Cooper took 81st place with a time of 40:12. The first-year biology student had an average pace of 5:02 per kilometer. Holmes finished seconds behind Cooper. The fourth-year psychology student had an average pace of 5:03 per kilometer.

As the season ends, the AU Thunderbirds will take some well-needed time off and begin their off-season training in a few months.

Source: Algoma Thunderbirds Athletics