What began as a love story become a record-breaking weekend for a gaggle of former Queen’s College runners. At this yr’s 276-kilometre Cabot Path Relay on Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island, a crew led by 2020 Olympian Julie-Anne Staehli crushed the ladies’s course file, clocking 18:18:39—a full 36 minutes sooner than the earlier file, set simply final yr.
Nicknamed “The Boys”, the all-women crew lowered the 2024 mark of 18 hours and 54 minutes set by the Halifax Highway Hammers, however the win, and even the file, wasn’t the precedence. “We went into the weekend simply desirous to have a blast collectively,” says crew captain Caela Fenton. “A few of us had been racing for the primary time postpartum. One teammate didn’t have a college working background. So, there was zero stress.”
The crew was made up primarily of former Queen’s Gaels cross-country teammates, together with Fenton and Staehli. “We went by means of a lot collectively in our college days,” says Staehli. “It was particular to come back full circle—and I feel our former coach Steve Boyd liked seeing us nonetheless working and nonetheless shut in spite of everything these years.”
Nonetheless, they didn’t simply win—they did it in type. 4 runners set new leg data: Colleen Wilson (Leg 5), Claire Sumner (Leg 9), Madeleine Sumner (Leg 10) and Shannen Murray (Leg 15). Since its begin in 1988, the Cabot Path Relay has yearly attracted round 70 groups and 1,200 runners. The purpose-to-point race loops by means of Cape Breton Island, beginning and ending in Baddeck, N.S.
The concept (to race right here) got here from Veronica Allan, a former Queen’s XC captain who met her husband on the Cabot Path Relay. “We heard the story at her marriage ceremony, and thought—we must always do that!” says Fenton. Allan additionally joined within the enjoyable, working Leg 16 together with her three-month-old son Darcy cheering her on close by.
Regardless of being largely Cabot rookies (solely Wilson and Allan had run the race earlier than), the crew set the file along with the logistical feat of assembling 17 ladies to race by means of the night time. “Coordinating this crew took two years,” laughs Fenton. “Because the captain, I needed to do some homework—fortunately, some earlier relay veterans had been extremely beneficiant with their recommendation.”
Satirically, Wilson helped set the earlier file final yr as a part of the Halifax Highway Hammers. The 1:15 half-marathoner and Cabot Path Relay veteran was mentioned to be pivotal within the crew’s success. “The Boys” weren’t the one crew beneath the outdated file. The X-Ladies Previous & Current, a crew of former St. Francis Xavier College runners, additionally completed beneath the 2024 mark, solely 14 minutes behind The Boys; a small margin for a 276km race.
As for standout moments? Fenton and Staehli say there have been too many to depend. Beginning a dance celebration at a café on Leg 3. The crew’s signature gold glitter face tattoos. The unbeatable East Coast hospitality. “It’s unattainable to select only one,” says Staehli.
Yow will discover the complete outcomes from the 2025 race right here.
