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Moh Ahmed and Ceili McCabe won the Canadian Cross Country Championships in snowy London, Ontario, on Saturday. For the 34-year-old veteran, Ahmed, it was his first win at the event. For Vancouver’s McCabe, it was her second in three years.
Ahmed’s race
Ahmed won the 2025 national championships not too far from where he grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario — less than a two-hour drive away. While it is his first national cross win, he entered as the unquestionable favourite. The 34-year-old veteran is a decorated international runner and was competing against fast national-level athletes seeking a spot on Team Canada for the 2026 World Athletics Championships in Tallahassee, Florida, on January 10, 2026.
As expected, Ahmed won in the cool conditions (0 °C) in a time of 29:30, while 20-year-old Xavier Perras-Phaneuf finished second in 29:46. Santiago Gaitan finished in a close third at 29:48.
For the first half of the race, Ahmed kept the pace under control and only dropped his competitors for good in the latter stages.
It was a competitive field with 37 athletes finishing within the next two minutes. Six finished under 30, and 18 more under 31.
The last time that Ahmed competed in the Canadian Cross Country Championships was in 2012 at Jericho Beach in Vancouver, BC. There, he finished second to Cameron Levins. Both went on to have international careers. Also, in that event was Justyn Knight from Toronto. He won the juniors and, despite a recent long injury battle, has proven to be one of the fastest North American athletes over 5000m.
Ahmed holds the Canadian records for the 5000m (12:56.87) and 10,000m (26:34.14). Levins holds the national marathon record at 2:05:36. Knight is the second-fastest Canadian over 5000m at 12:51.93.
Ahmed has also won an Olympic silver medal and a World Championships bronze.
Ceile McCabe dominates
As it turned out, McCabe, returning after a frustrating summer battling injury, came out swinging and crushed the field in a time of 32:57.
The 24-year-old ran to the front at the crack of the gun and kept the lead throughout. This was her second national cross-country championships win. McCabe was nearly a minute ahead of the second-place finisher, Chloe Tomas of Hamilton, ON, in 33:53. Florence Caron of La Malbaie, Que., finished third in 33:55.
The west performed well in the snow, with Grace Fetherstonhaugh of Vancouver finishing fourth. Makenna Fitzgerald from Alberta was just two seconds back, Glynis Sim of Vancouver finished sixth, and Katleyn Ayers from Victoria took eighth place. Alexandra McDougall, clubmate of Fetherstonehaugh, rounded out the top 10. Regan Yee, former national 3000m steeplechase record holder, finished in 11th place.
McCabe currently holds the national 3000m steeplechase record at 9:20.58. Over the past decade, the record has been held mostly by Genevieve Lalonde and Regan Yee. McCabe represented Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
*Cover photo credit: Screen capture from Instagram post.
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