Coolsaet Close to Olympic Berth

by Paul Gains

Reid Coolsaet never imagined he'd be on the brink of an Olympic Games berth when he ran cross country for Hamilton's Westdale Secondary School back two decades ago.

A mediocre athlete, whose goal was nothing more than joining his girlfriend in qualifying for the provincial high school cross country championships, Coolsaet finished 18th in the 1997 race. In the absence of scholarship offers he joined coach Dave Scott-Thomas at the University of Guelph. The partnership has certainly paid off.

A year ago he dipped under Athletics Canada's Olympic qualifying standard with a time of 2:11:23 to finish 10th in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. At this point he is the only Canadian to have achieved the standard but there's a catch. The IAAF announced after the race the qualifying period wouldn't start until January 2011.