Normally on race day, Jack Amos doesn’t eat before his start. Instead, he prefers to eat the night before, loading up on carbs to fuel his effort.

But shortly after waking on the morning of the 2016 National Cross-Country Championships in Kingston, Ont. last weekend, he sat at Tim Hortons with his team and ate a croissant in the pre-dawn darkness.

“I usually don’t eat anything just because I’m a bit too nervous,” he said. “I just like to keep it light.”

With just two cross-country races under his belt this season – the Yukon Championships and the B.C. Championships, both of which he won – Amos entered the nationals field unknown, just one of the more than 200-person 6K youth boys U-18 field.

Used to running and racing by himself, the 15-year-old Dawsonite faced a shock at the start line. Joined by Yukon teammate Joe Parker and a couple hundred other racers, they lined up, ready to race on a freshly shovelled 6K course at Kingston’s Fort Henry.

The ground, saturated by rain and snow was a muddy mess. Wearing their cross-country shoes with borrowed more- than-a-centimetre-long spikes, the boys lined-up.

Amos secured a spot at the front of the pack and turned around to say hi to a friend. When he looked back at the line, he was sitting three-deep. Parker was even farther back.

The gun went off and a huge mass of guys started moving – fast. Jostling for position, some didn’t make it, slipping to the ground, curling up and hoping for the best.

“We’re all sprinting like mad, trying to get a good position,” said Amos. “Unfortunately me and Joe didn’t because we were in the back.”

Over about 500-metres, the course bottlenecked, going from about 60 metres across to four before it extended on a serpentine course, said coach Don White.

“I was definitely affected by the amount of people more than I thought I would be,” said Parker. “It was crazy how much people were pushing.”

By the time they reached the bottleneck, it was already too late.

After the race, Parker said,” I thought we were Canadian. I thought we were supposed to be polite.”

Boxed into separate groups, Parker lost sight of Amos up ahead and Amos, simply unable to go as fast as he would have liked, said his nationals turned from a race into a run.

“You’re still running at pretty close quarters. About 2K in, that’s when you finally got some space to yourself. But you can’t do anything because the leaders were so far ahead,” said Amos. “When it gets to that point, you’re just running.”

He ended up in mini races with other competitors and despite losing his footing a handful of times in the muddy conditions, he finished in the top half of the field clocking in at 20 minutes 36 seconds in 85th, less than two minutes behind the winner.

Parker, who said he was OK with his result and happy with his time finished in 170th at 21:47.

Yukon’s other competitor, Lindsay Carson, ran later in the day with the senior women. Familiar with the course from her university running days, she set out with the leaders. In a stacked field, including a 2015 Pan Am Games track and field bronze medallist, she kept in contact with the lead group for most of the race.

An historic event this year, the senior women raced 10K, the first time they had ever had distance parity with the men.

“It was good for about halfway, then I lost focus in the race,” she said. “I should have just kept with the lead pack and remained aggressive.”

The women went out hard, completing the first mile in about five minutes.

White said that at that point the pace was fast and she was still in the top 10.

“She knew herself that it was going to be too fast,” he said. “With the kind of training she was able to do, she knew she likely wouldn’t have the strength to keep up.”

Normally, in the fall, Carson would have had at least six cross-country races under her belt before nationals. This year, it was only her third.

She had geared her training towards the longer 10K race distance, and though she had raced 10K road events before, “A 10K cross-country is a whole different ballgame,” she said.

Carson was able to hold on long enough to finish 14th in her field at 35:27.

Another familiar Yukon name was Logan Roots, racing unattached in the senior men’s division.

Roots attends the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston.

“Logan kind of ended up right where he expected,” said White. “He was quite pleased with the way everything worked out.”

Roots finished in 68th, completing the 10K course in 33:06.

The trip was definitely good experience for the Yukon’s U-18 athletes, who will take some time off now before refocusing on track season in January.

“It was a huge learning experience for the two boys,” said White.

Amos, who is unsure what next season’s schedule will hold for him, said he’d love another crack at nationals.

“I would love to go back and race again,” he said. “Hopefully place a bit better.”