On October 20th, our Junior Cross-Country Team received an inspiring “pep talk” from middle distance runner and YHS alumna Rachel Cliff ’06. Rachel discovered her love for running when she was a very young Yorkie. She joined the Cross-Country team in Grade 4, but did not become a running sensation overnight. Rachel shared some of her highlights of her running career as well as the lessons that she has learned with our Junior Tigers.
Rachel is one of Canada’s top runners. She recently won the women’s category at the 2014 Vancouver Sun Run. She has also competed in many national competitions and represented Canada in international competitions such as the Word Cross Country Championships in Poland and Kenya, Africa. As a Yorkie, Rachel was the school’s top runner and one of the top runners in the province in both cross-country and track & field.
After York House, Rachel continued to follow her running aspirations at the University of Guelph. She was soon recognized as one of Canada’s top runners at the university level, and has been recognized as an “All Canadian”, which is only given to top athletes at university. She was also named “Female Athlete of the Year” by the University of Guelph.
Rachel is now working on her Master’s degree at UBC and is preparing for some very big races including the Canadian Cross-Country Championships (she won the silver medal last year) and will be representing Canada in an upcoming race in Japan.
Rachel’s talk was a great motivator before the Cross-Country team participated in the ISEA Championships on October 29th. Thank you Rachel!