Christine Bayliss Profile - 2010

Her Winning Streak Continues

By Bob Burns

Another season, another national championship.

If only distance running – and winning – were as easy as Christine Bayliss makes it look.

With her victory at the 2010 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on Dec. 11 in Hoover, Ala., the 13-year-old from Danville has now won four consecutive championships against the best female runners in her age group.

Competing for Oak Hill Racing, an East Bay club, Bayliss clocked 14 minutes, 16 seconds over 4,000 meters on the Veterans Park course to win the Youth Girls (ages 13-14) national title in Alabama. She has won a pair of national cross country championships and successive 3,000-meter titles in the national outdoor meet.

“Our whole philosophy is based on progression,” said Christine’s father and coach, David Bayliss. “This was a season in which she really saw a lot of progression.”

Her cross country season got off to a slow start due to an illness that prevented her from training until the middle of September. Bayliss competed in a series of low-key CYO races before winning the Pacific Association race by 46 seconds and the Region 14 title by 27 seconds.

“By the second half of November, she finally started feeling like she was back,” David Bayliss said.

Competing against many older girls in the Youth division at nationals, Christine waited until about one mile into the four-kilometer race to take the lead. She wound up finishing 13 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Hannah Long. Bayliss averaged 5:45 per mile.

“I took the lead on the hilly part of the course,” Christine said. “I was really pleased to defend my title. I felt really happy and excited.”

For the first time since she started competing four years ago, Christine didn’t play competitive soccer this fall.

“I was really busy with school, soccer and running,” she said. “I didn’t have much spare time.”

With her father closely monitoring her training load, Christine runs about a total of two and half to three hours per week. She hasn’t run a step since her latest national title. Her father says she’ll resume once-a-week training in February.

“We’re just trying to keep it fun,” David Bayliss said. “Our club had 31 kids qualify for nationals, and 17 made the trip. They all ran good, solid races. We combined the trip with a family reunion.”

David Bayliss was an all-state runner in Connecticut who later competed in professional triathlons. Christine’s mother, Jennifer, was an All-American distance runner at Montana State in the mid-1990s. Jennifer and David have three children. Christine is an eighth-grader at Charlotte Wood Middle School in Danville. Next year, she’ll attend San Ramon High School and add strength to a program that qualified its girls’ and boys’ team for the state high school championships.

Christine won the 3,000 meters at the 2010 Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, clocking a Pacific Association age-group record of 10:03.60. Her father believes she was in similar if not better shape in Alabama. Christine will get an opportunity to extend her streak of national victories to five at the 2011 Junior Olympic Championships in late July in Wichita, Kans.

With comparable talent in the 1,500 meters – she has a best of 4:50.24 - which event does she plan to run next summer?

“I don’t have any idea,” she said in a recent phone call over the holiday break.

That decision could wait for another day. She had a sleepover to get back to.