It’s been three years in the making, but MHC Rattlers runner Madison Scrimger finally landed on the podium at the ACAC XC Running Championships in Calgary on Saturday.

After finishing 6th in 2022, and 5th in 2023, Scrimger placed 3rd this year over a challenging 6 km course on the St. Mary’s University campus. Scrimger clocked a time of 24:58, 11 seconds behind Hannah Pilling from Lethbridge Polytechnic, and 26 seconds behind winner Cadence Laplante from St. Mary’s.

Scrimger combined with Rattlers’ team mates Ellie Barlow (16th), Mizuki Iwata (28th), Aki Iwata (40th), Hannah Ulm (41st), and Addison Weir (44th) to finish 5th in the women’s team standings.

The MHC men also took part in the championships, and placed 9th in the men’s 8 km race. Spencer Willson led the way in 30th place, one place better than Gage Smith. Askia Tahirou (39th), Claudio Reqena (55th), and Griffin Goodfellow (57th) were the other Rattlers’ finishers.

As Saturday marked the end of the provincial college XC season, the season-long Grand Prix awards were also presented. Scrimger captured first place in this year’s women’s Grand Prix, which was based on an athlete’s best four races during the season. This was the second year in a row that a Rattler’s women’s runner has won this award; Becky Ross was the 2023 winner.

Next up for Rattlers’ runners is the CCAA XC Running Championships in Windsor, ON on November 9.