OFSAA cross country

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The OFSAA cross country championships are the Ontario high school cross country championships, held annually in varying locations around Ontario, usually on the first Saturday of November. Around 1600 runners contesting 6 races qualify for OFSAA, making it the largest OFSAA meet of any sport. OFSAA is the pinnacle of the high school cross country season and has become the de facto Canadian High School championships on account of there being no national high school meet. The team and individual champions at OFSSA become automatic and undisputed Ontario high school champions. There are always tense rivalries with school pride at stake. The importance of OFSAA to young harriers is immense, exemplified by how OFSAA is seen as more prestigious than the Ontario club championships (usually held two weeks later), and on par with the Canadian National Jr. Championships, usually held a month after OFSAA.

Contents 1 Qualifying 2 Divisions 3 Schedule 4 Location 5 Course 6 Season 7 Awards 8 Teams

[edit] Qualifying

Athletes may qualify as a team or individually. There are 19 regional meets that act as qualifying for OFSAA, usually held the week before the championships. Often, but not always there is another qualifying meet for the regional meet. The top 2 teams and top 3 individuals from each division at the regional meet qualify for OFSAA. In total there are about 240 qualifying teams and almost 200 qualifying individuals.

[edit] Divisions

There are midget, junior and senior divisions for boys and girls. The division ages recently changed; presently runners in grade 9 are midgets (usually 14 years old, but possibly 13 if a late birthday), grade 10's are junior (usually 15 years old), and senior is contested by grade 11's and 12's as well as grade 12 plus (returning/victory lappers). Athletes have only 5 years of eligibility and cannot compete if they are 20 years of age. Runners may run in higher divisions, but it is not allowed to run in younger divisions.

[edit] Schedule

The OFSAA meet usually lasts from 10 am to 3 pm on a Saturday, and as is usual in most Ontario high school cross country meets, the running order is: midget girls, midget boys, junior girls, junior boys, senior girls, and senior boys, followed by the awards ceremony. The course is always opened the day before for athletes to walk or run the course.

[edit] Location

The location for the championship is usually decided at least two years before. The committee tends to move it to all corners of the province. The race is usually held at park or golf course outside a city capable of meeting the demands of over 2000 people for the weekend.

[edit] Course

The course is usually looped, on short cut grass or trails, with a fair amount of hills. OFSAA results are notoriously tough compared to other championship courses. The distances vary depending on the division, midget girls run 3k, midget boys run 5k, junior girls run 4k, junior boys run 6k, senior girls run 5k, and senior boys run 7k. It is common that the actual race distance is not exactly the correct distance, but usually within 200m (less or more) of the correct distance. Last year, OFSAA Cross Country was held in Thunder Bay on a Nordic ski course.

[edit] Season

The high school cross country season is extensive, with around 50 meets between early September and OFSAA in early November. There are usually at least 5 meets every week throughout the province. Some larger meets attract over 2000 runners, as there is no qualifying during seasonal meets. One of the largest meets of the season is pre-OFSAA, which is a dry-run for OFSAA, held on the same course, usually about a month before OFSAA. During the season the OFSAA individual and team favorites become apparent.

[edit] Awards

The top 3 individual and team finishers in each race receive gold, silver and bronze metals, respectively. In each race, the top 10 finishers are considered first team all-stars for the year and the finishers 11 through 20 are considered second team all-stars. OFSAA all-stars, especially in the senior divisions, are exceptional athletes and considered future elite, perhaps national level caliber runners and commonly receive full scholarship offers from American Universities.

[edit] Teams

In Ontario high school races, the first four finishers of the school add to make the team’s score, which is all four finishing placings added together. Unlike some races, individuals are not skipped while giving placings. Teams are always allowed to run five runners, and normally do. Teams frequently also bring a sixth runner as a spare that cannot run unless another team member doesn’t run. At OFSAA, teams generally need a score under 200 to medal, a score under 100 is considered exceptional.

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