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Runner’s XC skiing background key at provincials

Whether she is on skis or in running shoes, Canmore's Issy Hendry is a cross-country dynamo

MEDICINE HAT – Canmore’s Issy Hendry is a speed demon.

Put a pair of skies on Hendry and she’ll go fast. Put a pair of running shoes on her and she’ll rock it. That’s exactly what the Canmore Wolverines athlete did at cross-country running provincials on Saturday (Oct. 19) near Medicine Hat.

Hendry finished third in the five-km senior girls race, where using her elite skills as one of Canada’s top teenaged cross-country skiers, outworked and out-hustled the competition on the course’s steep slopes and rolling hills.

“I don’t do a ton of running races, so I think a lot of my fitness from skiing helped me out a ton,” Hendry said. “I had more of a cardio advantage over the track runners, I found.”

Hendry’s podium finish almost didn’t happen though, as the Grade 12 runner was tempted to skip provincials in favour of testing the powder at the newly opened

Frozen Thunder ski track at the Canmore Nordic Centre. She’ll be competing at the upcoming Frozen Thunder races, as well as the NorAm race series at the beginning of December.

Hendry was "torn" between the two activities and said it took some talking her into it from her coach, Rodney Falkenberg, to get her to travel to Medicine Hat on the day Frozen Thunder offically opened.

“Now I’m super happy I went,” Hendry said. “I thought I got a good shot at top 10. I wasn’t really expecting to podium, so it was exciting for me, for sure.”

Hendry was the lone Canmore Collegiate runner at provincials, but a pair of Our Lady of the Snows (OLS) Avalanche runners also competed, with one cracking the top 20.

Tabitha Williams finished 17th in the junior girls four-km race and Sophie Kirk finished 103rd.

OLS coach Ryan Washburn said they ran extremely well and both acehvied achieved personal best times at the course.


Jordan Small

About the Author: Jordan Small

An award-winning reporter, Jordan Small has covered sports, the arts, and news in the Bow Valley since 2014. Originally from Barrie, Ont., Jordan has lived in Alberta since 2013.
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