SUDBURY — The Canadian Junior/Senior/Para Track & Field Championships — 2016 Olympic Trials will likely offer Ross Proudfoot one last crack at earning a spot on the national team that will travel to Brazil in August.
Thankfully, he will enter the 5000m race on July 7 in Edmonton armed with the knowledge of just how close he is to realizing his dream.
True, his most recent race earlier this month still left the graduate of Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School nine seconds off the Olympic standard of 13:25. But in his mind, he was only about 300 metres shy of reaching his goal.
"The main pack in Spain was shooting for 13:10, which is still pretty rich," Proudfoot said. "But I was comfortably on pace, going through three kilometres in 8:04. I was trying to chip away at the front pack, but at least I had some guys working with me."
In his previous attempt in late May in California, the Guelph-based runner got stuck in no man's land, running alone between a lead group on a pace he could not sustain, and a trail pack 70 to 100 metres back, running too slow for his liking.
With precious little room to maneuver in Spain, Proudfoot covered the next two laps in 65 seconds apiece.
"With three laps to go, it looked pretty good," he said. "Three 64's looked do-able to me."
With 800 metres remaining, he needed a 2:06 to close, certainly not outside of the realm of possibility.
"I've closed in a sub-60 last lap before, so I thought I still had it. I went a little tired, a little lactic with about 500 metres to go."
"But from 500m on, I noticed that my body was starting to labour, and it really showed at 300m. I had lost it and it wasn't going to happen. The last 100m was a complete wreck."
As tough a pill as that was to swallow, Proudfoot quickly put things into perspective.
"The time (13:34) really doesn't do justice to the race," he said. "I don't look at it as being nine seconds off. I look at it as being within 300 metres of staying on pace."
The trouble, now, is that the window is closing fast.
"There will be Diamond League races, but they are really hard to get into. I'm kind of shooting for that race that has a couple of guys that have been at World Championships and Olympics, to pull a race along, but it's really hard to find those."
Which brings us to nationals in early July. With a July 12 cut-off date for achieving the standard, there simply will not be enough time left after taking a 5km shot on the July 7 to attempt a do-over less than a week later.
And nationals is hardly the ideal setting.
"The problem with this is that you have two guys that already have standard, and are really just looking to finish in the top three, more than happy to make it a tactical affair," said Proudfoot.
"It's very rare that Canadian champs would go under 13:25, and Edmonton is at slight altitude, which is not ideal."
Still, there was good news to contemplate for the 2015 CIS Male Athlete of the Year within the past month or so.
In late May, Proudfoot was informed that he had been selected as a recipient for the Reed Athletics Fund, a non-profit foundation that helps provide financial support to "Canadian men and women attempting to participate in the Olympics and World Championships in the sport of track and field during the developmental phase of their sporting careers."
The additional funding will help Proudfoot extend his own personal window, as he seeks to reach his full potential. "Most middle distance runners hit their prime in their late 20s," said the soon-to-be 24-year-old.
"Next year, I plan on running for sure. Four years is such a long commitment to make, but by no means am I out of my prime by 2020. It really will be a year-by-year decision."
A decision that would be greatly impacted by Proudfoot's ability to defy the odds and somehow reach his Olympic standard in the next three weeks. It won't be easy, but few goals that are really worth achieving seldom are.
- Sudbury.com
