Wed, June 2, 2004
By STEVE COAD -- London Free Press

Babcock hitting her full stride

After a breakout 2003 season, the Chatham native sets her sights on the Athens Games


Last year taught Courtney Babcock that "anything is possible."

The Chatham native now living in Missoula, Mont., spent 2003 putting together a run of success that included setting Canadian track and field records and racing right up there with the best in the world, setting personal bests along the way.

But not the least of her accomplishments was tying the knot with her best pal of nearly five years, Miles Key.

Proclaiming it "a wonderful year," Babcock, 31, says "things just came together, which is not uncommon for distance runners in their thirties.

"Things I always thought I could do, I'm doing."

The centrepiece of Babcock's season came at the International Association of Athletics Federations world championships in Paris in August, where she finished eighth in the women's 5,000 metres in a Canadian record of 14 minutes, 54.98 seconds.

The good times really began in May when Babcock set a Canadian record of 31:44.74 in the women's 10,000 metres, knocking nearly six seconds off the old mark set by former University of Western Ontario star Sue French-Lee.

In September, Babcock popped a personal best at yet another distance, racing 1,500 metres in 4:01.99 at a meet in Brussels, the third fastest time ever by a Canadian female.

Add up her 2003 highlights and the women's 1,500-, 5,000- and 10,000-metre events will all be on Babcock's Olympic radar for Athens Aug. 13-29.

If she qualifies in all three, as she's likely to do, she'll pick a pair for Athens.

The challenge ahead, Babcock says, will be building on last year's success as she eyes up the Summer Games, her first Olympics.

And she has added incentive after being left off the Canadian team that competed in the Sydney in 2000.

A knee injury kept Babcock from training or competing for three months -- February through May -- in 2000. She battled back, finished second in the 5,000 metres at the Canadian championships and met the Olympic A standard. However, she failed to meet an even tougher standard set by Athletics Canada, the sport's national governing body. Her appeals to be included on the Canadian team were denied.

"It was disappointing and puts a bit of pressure on me this time around, I think," Babcock says.

Despite last year's brilliance, Babcock still has to earn her way onto the team for Athens, which means cracking qualifying times and then finishing in the top four in her events at the Canadian championships July 9-11 in Victoria, B.C.

Qualifying, she says, should not be a problem. She runs well under the standard in the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 metres.

She has an ambitious competition schedule ahead, including the Canadian 10-kilometre nationals Saturday in Vancouver and the Prefontaine Classic June 19 in Eugene, Ore.

In the meantime, Missoula remains her base, training with coach Mark Timmons and her Mountain West Track Club. She has received a final OK from Athletics Canada and IAAF on the asthma medication she takes, so that her training is in full-blast mode.

Babcock's move to Montana came by way of the University of Michigan, where she was an eight-time all-American in track and cross-country, and Boston, where she moved to race for Reebok after graduating in communications (emphasis on sports broadcasting) and marketing in 1996.

"I'm a bit of a big-city girl," Babcock says through a laugh. "I was in Boston for a year and I really liked it there."

Then Timmons and Mountain West came calling.

"I was recruited (by Timmons, a friend of her Michigan coach Mike McGuire), so I thought I'd check the place out," Babcock says.

Once there, the "big-city girl" was smitten with Missoula, population 49,000. Close to the Idaho border in western Montana -- straight south of Calgary on a flat map -- Missoula looks up at the Rockies.

"The mountains and trails are literally just outside my door. Now, it takes five minutes instead of an hour to get to places. And, of course, my teammates are terrific.

"Hard to believe but I've been here six years and I just love it."

She met Key, her husband of seven months, at a triathlon.

"He's a great supporter," Babcock says. "There's no ego. He supports me totally and he does his own thing, too."

Babcock comes from strong athletic stock. Her dad Larry was recently inducted into the Chatham Hall of Fame. He played major junior hockey for the Peterborough Petes, then went on to brilliant university hockey careers at both Michigan and Western, where he took his law degree.

As well, he received more than casual attention from a handful of major league baseball teams. Her mom Dorothy grew up skating and playing basketball.

Courtney's siblings -- Alexandra, 35, Whitney, 34, and Blair, 28 -- have all been athletes. Alexandra competed for Canada in cross-country last year.

Although Babcock is a bona fide national track star these days, swimming and basketball -- she was a five-foot-four guard for Chatham Collegiate -- were her earliest athletic pursuits. She didn't get serious about track until her final year of high school when, while attending Bishop Strachan in Toronto, she joined the University of Toronto Track Club.

"Our parents were super supportive," Babcock says.

"They never pushed, they never put any pressure on us.

"They just tried to expose us to as many sports as possible, then let us take it from there."

While, Babcock dabbles in interior design these days, she is committed to being a full-time athlete and says Athens isn't likely to quench her Olympic thirst.

"2008 (in Beijing, China) isn't out of the question. I'll play it by ear," she says.

"Distance runners can often go well into their thirties, although late thirties might be pushing it. . . .

"As long as I feel I can compete, I will."

TRACKING BABCOCK

Future plans:

• Potential Olympic events: Two of 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 metres.
• Canadian track and field championships (and Olympic trials): July 9-11 in Victoria.
• Ten-kilometre nationals: Saturday in Vancouver.
• Prefontaine Classic: June 19 in Eugene, Ore.
  
  

reprinted with permission