Sean Gaiesky prefers to run on a flat track, where the finish line is never far out of sight.
But even when he's out of his element, like he was last Saturday cruising the trails of Cottonwood Island Park, Gaiesky rises to the occasion.
The Grade 10 D.P. Todd secondary school student was the top male runner in a field of seven high school runners who went the full three laps in the season-opening cross-country zone event, covering the six-kilometre course in 22 minutes 20 seconds.
As the only junior male runner, Gaiesky was five seconds quicker than senior athlete Austin Bartell of PGSS, 30 seconds ahead of third-place Nolan Hanson of College Heights secondary school.
Gaiesky took the lead in the second lap and felt the heat from Bartell at the midway point of the third lap, which was Gaiesky's cue to dig deeper into his reserves the rest of the way to the finish.
"It feels really good to beat the Grade 12 runners," said Gaiesky.
"I do prefer the track more. Cross-country is longer and you have to learn how to pace more so you don't kill yourself in the first kilometre. We usually do three laps and if you haven't run there before you don't really know where your loop is going to end or how many turns you have to take.
"It's tough, but it is fun, though."
Gaiesky, a 15-year-old Prince George Track and Field Club member, shaved six seconds off his best 800-metre time, from 2:12 to 2:06, while finishing fifth at the provincial track and field championships. The national open standard is 2:09.
"I think I've had a good year," Gaiesky said. "My age group is pretty deep. The top five in B.C. could be top-10 or top-13 in Canada."
Gaiesky has qualified the last two years at the high school provincial cross-country championships. In 2009 against the top seniors he finished 127th out of 230, and last year as a Grade 9 student placed 99th.
He's pushing for a top-three overall zone finish and wants to break into the top-75 at the cross-country provincials in Kelowna, Nov. 5. He'll be back in action this Saturday at the next zone race at Otway Nordic Centre. The zone championships are set for Quesnel, Oct. 11.
In the girls' two-lap race Saturday, Emma Balazs of Kelly Road breezed to victory in 15:36, well ahead of second-place Fiona Richmond of D.P. Todd (17:35) and third-place Abby Goodrich (18:05), a Grade 10 student at College Heights.
"We trained there the week before and did three laps, and just had to do two laps in the race," said Balazs, a Grade 11 student. "There are no hills and it's all on good solid ground, so that made it easy too.
"For the races here, I'm normally in front of everybody so I just go as fast as I think I can, keeping it up the whole way, and if there's someone just in front of me [usually a male runner] I'll try to stay right behind them."
Balazs, 16, was a 13th-place finisher at last year's provincial cross-country finals in Victoria, after a ninth-place overall result in 2009 in Surrey.
She also had a memorable season on the track. At the provincial meet in Burnaby she placed third in the 1,500m steeplechase, just missing a top-two finish needed to qualify for the Legion national championships, was fourth in the 1,500m run, and fourth in the 3,000m run.
In other cross-country results, Julia Babicz of College Heights topped the juvenile girls field in 16:40, while Isaac Goodrich of College Heights won the juvenile boys race in 17:55. Taro Nakahara of Burns Lake won the elementary boys one-lap race in 9:59. Barry Nakahara of Prince George was uncontested in the open category, covering three laps in 23 minutes flat.
