Performance
In search of the edge
Andrea Seccafien is chasing greatness down under
Canada’s Andrea Seccafien, a Rio Olympian and back-to-back national champ in the 5000m, has recently packed up her life in Toronto and moved to Melbourne, Australia.
Seccafien has started training with Melbourne Track Club (MTC), regarded as one of the world’s best programs for the women’s 5km.
Andrea hopes this training group, and the guidance of renowned coach Nic Bideau, will help give her the edge she needs to take the next step in her career.
After a disappointing race at the IAAF World Championships in London, Seccafien looks to some of Bideau’s other athletes for motivation.
“Susan Krumins, who also trains with Nic, made the final and came 8th. Now I have this opportunity hopefully to find out what sort of training someone like Susan was doing”.
For all the benefits of moving to Melbourne and joining MTC, the move wasn’t made primarily for Seccafien’s career.
“My partner, Jamie, got a job in Melbourne and he moved here in March. I stayed in Toronto to finish my outdoor season and then moved here in September.
I contacted Nic before I came here to let him know I was coming. We met in my first week here and he agreed to coach me. I wasn’t really running at the time, I was on a break and I wasn’t fit at all.
The next week I decided to go and join a workout and I was off the back straight away! That was exactly what I needed, to be pushed by these women and this great coach”.
Bideau had 3 runners in the 5000m final at the Rio Olympics in Eloise Wellings, Susan Krumins, and Gen LaCaze.
“Eloise is my hero. Before i moved here i thought she was amazing. She’s 35, she has a child, and a charity and all this other stuff going on. I really admire her. Meeting her in Noosa was really cool”.
Seccafien’s first event in Australia was the Noosa Bolt 5km race as part of the Noosa Triathlon Festival.
“I came 3rd, but I wasn’t very fit. I knew I would probably get 3rd because Eloise (Wellings) was running, and Melissa Duncan was running, who I had been working out with and she was a lot better than me at that point in training”.
With the 2018 Commonwealth Games looming, Seccafien is realistic that she probably won’t get the opportunity to compete.
After the Glasgow Games of 2014, the Commonwealth Games Federation reduced the number of athletes allowed to compete in 2018. For Canada, this translates to a reduction of nearly 30% of their team. Long story short, Canadian authorities announced their new selection criteria would prioritise athletes that rank in the top 5% in the commonwealth, thereby delivering the greatest chances at medals.
For someone like Seccafien, competing against strong fields in a popular individual sport, it makes it very difficult to gain a place.
“It’s hard when it’s out of your control. I ran faster this year than I did to qualify for the Olympics, and I’m still not going to make it”.
For a last chance at representing her country on the Gold Coast, Seccafien plans to race the Zatopek 10,000m in Melbourne in mid December.
“I’m running the Zatopek in Melbourne in mid December to try and run a faster time than any other Canadian to hopefully qualify for the 10,000m. I’ve never run a 10,000m before though! I’ve also never run a race in December. I hope I can run the time but I have no idea”.
Seccafien doesn’t mind taking a risk. In fact, taking a chance on a 10,000m race is pretty low on her list of gutsy moves. In 2015, after battling a foot injury for most of the year, Seccafien switched coaches, training programs, and even moved to Toronto.
“In 2015 I was training in my home town where I went to college, and then I left and moved to Toronto”.
“2015 was not a good year for me, I was always injured or just existing. I made the call in late 2015 to go all in, and if I didn’t make the Olympics I was going to quit”.
Seccafien did make the Olympics, and ran a solid 15:30:32.
“Looking back at the Olympics now, I’m pretty happy. I had never competed at that level before. To finish 20th, only a few places from the final, it was a good result”.
It’s obvious Seccafien has a deep sense of pride when it comes to her country of origin, Canada. As a multiple national champion, Seccafien isn’t just focused on her own career but wants to see the overall quality of Canadian 5000m running keep improving.
“Right now in Canada we have a lot of women who are right on the cusp of running qualifying times for events, but over the past couple of years it has been Jess (O’Connell) and I really going head to head. Jess and I are very competitive but we’re also very good friends.
Hopefully I have a few more national championships in me. I love winning and I love competing at Nationals”.
At the age of 27 and with a fresh move to MTC, there’s nothing to suggest Seccafien can’t add to her tally of national titles. But in the end, and as much as it’s about winning, Seccafien sees bigger goals for her time in running.
“I hope I leave the sport satisfied and I hope I leave Canadian running better than it was before. We went through a drought where there were no 5km runners at all, so I hope I’m part of this resurgence in middle distance running. I also want to leave knowing I did everything I could to succeed”.
Editor's Note: Andrea Seccafien is not only a runner, she's a talented writer as well. Keep up to date with her progress this summer at Canadian Running. Andrea writes frequently for the magazine.
