The long haul: Luc Bruchet
At the tail end of a year that saw him qualify for the Pan Am Games in Toronto, UBC alumni Luc Bruchet finished fourth at the Canadian Cross-Country Championships in Kingston, Ont. in November, his final race of the calendar year. The 25-year-old had a quick turnaround to the indoor season running three of the University of Washington meets including the Husky Classic and UW Invitational, both of which are competitions that regularly feature UBC athletes. Having run a pair of 3,000m performances and a lifetime best in the event (7:51.56), the White Rock, B.C. native is shifting his focus to the outdoor season in what is an Olympic year.
Bruchet will be heading to Flagstaff, Ariz. for a warm weather training camp along with several of his B.C. Endurance Project teammates. Known as BCEP, the group is a high-performance training group headed by Richard Lee based in Vancouver and the surrounding lower mainland. The group also features UBC alum Theo Hunt and Justin Kent. The Asics-sponsored athlete will pass up on the IAAF World Indoor Championships (he was within 1.5 seconds of standard) and focus on the outdoor season, which typically runs from May to September.
Fresh off of winning the St Patrick’s Day 5k in Stanley Park in a time of 14:22, Bruchet said: “Training has gone really well the past few months. I'm fortunate to have a great coach and good group of guys to train with that keep pushing me to be a better athlete. I'm excited to head off to Flagstaff for nearly 2 months for a training camp. This is where the big push toward Rio begins and hopefully I'll be representing Canada and UBC at the Olympics.”
Looking ahead to the spring and summer, the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. provides one of the first competitive opportunities of the outdoor circuit on May 1. Bruchet will be looking to hit the Olympic standard in the 10,000m at that event by running under 28:00 min. It was at that meet last year where he made his 10,000m debut in 28:36.
In Canada, the National Track League is returning for another year, which spans one month from June 17 to July 16. The opening event of the series is the Harry Jerome Classic at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C. The prelude to the August Olympics is the Canadian Track and Field Championships in July, which will be held in Edmonton.
Tim Huebsch BA 2014 | Political Science XC, 1500m, 5000m
Photo credits: Justin Kent (above); Paul Merca (right)
