VANCOUVER – Hosting a cross country meet for the first time in over 30 years in itself already made Saturday's UBC Farm Fest a success, but the results produced by the athletes donning the Thunderbird blue and gold made the sun-drenched day that much more special.
The UBC women's team earned a dominant group gold performance with all five scoring athletes finishing in the top ten while the men's squad finished second, led by individual champion
Maximilien Filion who crushed the field in his inaugural race of the season.
"I hope I'm not hyperbolizing by suggesting today was historic," said UBC head coach,
Laurier Primeau. "Our running community collaborated to produce a cross country event that brought the sport back to campus for the first time since Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister, and to have three former UBC head coaches on site to watch was incredibly gratifying! I'm thankful for co-organizers
Ryan Goudron and Blake Furtado who put in yeoman's work behind the scenes to ensure no detail was left to chance."
"It was amazing to see Max win the first race of the day and the men looked really good in a second place team finish. The women followed with a dominant team performance and a remarkably short 29-second spread between our first and fifth scorers."
Leading off the day, the men's eight kilometre race ran four laps around the UBC Farm grounds, a challenging course with tight turns, but one that provided outstanding scenery.
Filion's winning time of 24:48 was a full 25 seconds ahead of second place Ian Teichler from the University of Regina Cougars.
Regina boasted three runners in the top five to claim the men's team title with 45 total points to UBC's 75.
The women's eight kilometre race followed shortly after with
Katelyn Cotterell leading the charge for the T-Birds, finishing second with a time of 29:28.
Mia Zurkovic claimed fourth place in 29:39 followed by fifth-year T-Bird
Sarah MacGillivray just six seconds later.
Rachel McDonald and
Clare Goodison crossed the finish line in seventh and eighth, respectively, to round out UBC's counting five.
UBC Okanagan's Abigail Yakenchuk took the women's individual title with a time of 29:17.
"It's wonderful to be able to host a cross country meet in your hometown, to have everyone in it from miles around," said UBC lead endurance coach,
Steve Weiler. "This was a great opportunity for us to take a step forward from the Spirit Run on a more challenging course and have some pretty solid competition. I really appreciated teams flying in from the prairies to make this a stronger meet, that's fantastic for us."
"Our women's team is very strong and they showed that again today. We're very much focussed toward U SPORTS and just taking it a week at a time and know that we're building toward something special later on this fall."
The men's race saw six different schools represented in the top ten, led by Filion's dominant performance.
Second-year T-Bird
James Doughty was the second UBC scorer on the men's side with an 11
th place time of 26:04.
First-year
Kouken Narbett claimed 14
th, clocking in at 26:13, followed three seconds later by fellow freshman
Ryerson Stockton-Thomas.
Andrew Corbeil was the fifth T-Bird across with a time of 26:49.
"Today was certainly another learning experience for our men's team with some great showings from the front," said Weiler. "Max was super straight forward, Kouken as a first year has been transitioning really well to the team and had a solid day.
James Doughty who's a really solid, consistent guy for us coming up with a scoring performance is lovely to see."
The Farm Fest provided a key competitive opportunity for schools across the conference, and beyond, while also providing a real-time test for the site of next year's Canada West Championships.
The 2026 conference championship races are set for Saturday, October 31 in Calgary with the U SPORTS National Championship meet following two weeks later in Hamilton.
UBC FARM FEST RESULTS
