Credit: @richiebee_

It’s storm season, flu season, stay inside season. Fear not: here comes some entertainment. Alex Cyr hops on the mic (fear not, no singing this time) and catches up with two fantastic podcast guests.

First is Julie-Anne Staehli from Lucknow, Ontario. She's a former Queen’s Gael and a five-time U SPORTS All Canadian. Now a post-collegiate athlete, the 26-year-old Staehli trains out of London with the Backroads Bandits, or as she calls the women's division, the Backroads Bandettes. Just over a week ago, she just popped a massive PB of 8:47:95 in Boston. It was the second fastest Canadian mark of all time, and World Athletics Indoor championship qualifier. Here, Alex chats with Staehli about her move to London, her entrance into coaching, and the key to her staggering consistency.Credit: Athlétisme, Carabins de Montréal

Our second guest is Kevin Robertson, last year’s 1,000 m gold medalist at the U SPORTS championship. The 21-year-old middle distance runner does most of his workouts by himself at the University of Montreal, but his lack of training partners has not stopped him from clocking the fastest 1,500 m and 3,000 times in Canada’s varsity circuit so far this year. In Boston last weekend, he narrowly missed breaking four minutes in the mile, crossing the line at 4:00.25. Here, Kevin talks about the agony of coming just short of track and field’s most mythical barrier, the heartbreak of being a Montreal Canadiens fan, and which race distance he hopes to run at the U SPORTS championship.

Featuring: The Twilight Zone with Julie-Anne Staehli

Sometimes, we keep recording after the interview ends. Sometimes, the conversation just keeps flowing. So, this edition ends with Alex venting to Julie-Anne about student life, missing Windsor, and the craziness of downtown Toronto.

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By Alex Cyr

With the U SPORTS Championship only two sleeps away, we’ve transformed our weekly newsletter to a podcast for the occasion. In this edition, we feature two U SPORTS athletes who have big goals for the weekend.

This pod will be featured today in our main pod, The XC Podcast. You can download and subscribe to that right here:

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First, we talk with Branna MacDougall. The third-year athlete (fourth year-eligibility) was the bronze medalist at the 2017 U SPORTS championship, and fell to ninth last year after dealing with injury. This year, she placed second at the OUA championship, and will contend for the individual title on Saturday. Her team, the Queen’s Gaels, are poised to win at home, after finishing second last year to Le Rouge et Or de Laval.

Here, MacDougall discusses her team’s chance at finishing on top, how she deals with the constant pressure of being a favourite, , and what exactly goes through her mind on race morning when she faces her rival in the living room.

Our second guest is Josh Martin from the Windsor Lancers. The fourth year athlete from Courtice, Ont. is a leader on a rebuilding Windsor team, recovering from a difficult year. Only three men represented the Blue and Gold at last year’s championship and, just as the young team was starting to make collective strides the following spring, disaster struck. Cross-country head coach Gary Malloy had suddenly passed away.

With no coach and little direction, Martin logged high mileage all summer, and has led the Lancers through the season under new coach Colin Inglis. Martin, the 86th place finisher at last year’s U SPORTS championship, has finished ahead of national team members and varsity All-Canadians multiple times this season, and was 10th at the OUA championship.

Here, the 22-year-old business student tells us about how the Lancers recovered from the loss, supported each other through the season, and now find themselves ranked seventh nationally.

Hope you enjoy!