Julia Gagnon is a seasoned runner and there's nothing like a race to stoke her competitive fire.
But until she took her place in the junior team relay event at the Prince George Iceman, the 12-year-old Malaspina elementary school student had never lined up for something so big as the city's annual winter multisport endurance race.
As it turned out, junior team racers aged 10-15, more than 100 strong, made up nearly one-fifth of the 568 competitors who took part in the 29th annual race.
Gagnon was part of the Icebreakers team from Malaspina which finished sixth in the junior mixed relay. Her school rounded up six teams and 30 students for the Iceman. She tackled the last of three five-kilometre running legs in the race, after Ian Platzer had skied four km and runners Kelsey Dent and Darian Dresen had each ran their segments. Dent, also swam 400 metres in the Aquatic Centre pool.
Gagnon first got interested in the race after seeing the fun people had in previous years at the post-race awards banquet.
"I like running, I've done it for all of my intermediate years (at the elementary school track meets) but I think I over-pushed myself, I don't feel that good," said Gagnon, while waiting for the other teams to finish their races.
"The turns were hard because they were icy and I slipped. I got a lot of cramps too, but I didn't stop because if you stop you get worse cramps."
Warm weather wiped out the ice oval at Exhibition Park and that meant the kids who signed up to skate in the Iceman didn't get lace up their blades, but it did not keep them out of the race.
Instead, they joined their teammates on the run, running side-by-side with their schoolmates on the road which leads from Otway Nordic Centre to the Aquatic Centre.
"This is kind of the culmination of all of our work - for the last few months all of our schools have pretty much been training since September," said Erica McLean, community school co-ordinator for School District 57.
"For some of these students, this is their first opportunity at something like that. The most amazing part is the growth we all see from when we start training to today. Of course, the anxiety is there, the nerves, the stress, and they say, 'I'm not ready, there's too much pressure,' and that's probably the best growth we get out of this. Our students really rise to the challenge."
Some elementary schools have been involved in the Iceman junior team event for six years and McLean says more schools and more students are getting interested in the race. Some of them have gone on tackle the race as soloists.
"We all come together and we train together and you really see the spirit in the race, as compared to our training days," said McLean. "We do this in partnership with Integris (Credit Union) and the Iceman community and the goal is not to just complete the race, it's to make our students feel like they belong in the community. It's really to get our students engaged and feel like they belong. It's enforcing healthy living all throughout the school year and the summer. Because we train together, the kids know each other."
Westwood elementary students Brooklyn Colbert, 10, and Brooklynne Sanderson, 11, each swam for their teams and took time after the race to warm up in the hot pool. They weren't quite so relaxed during the race, waiting for their relay runner to arrive.
"Before I hopped in the water I was nervous and shaking when I was standing with all the other people who were swimming but when I hopped in I felt great," said Colbert, a Level 3 synchronized swimmer. "I was late joining and only got five practices but it was fun. This race encourages kids to work hard for what they want."
Sanderson had no problems finishing her 400m swim.
"I just kept thinking I have to do this for our team and it was really fun," said Sanderson, among 20 Spruceland students who raced in the Iceman.
"There's a lot of team spirit. It builds confidence."
