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PAGE A20 . WATEFILOO m. WED'ESOAV. MARCH 13, 1001 Watuloo’a Kathy Butler, the Junior Natlonal champion, will be topmntlng Canada at the World Croat-Country Champlonshlpa non week in Belgium. hummer» Accident hasn't slowed down World-class runner "If I had that race to run over again, I would rather that they had gone out faster and I would have sat behind them and hope to run a fairly fast time frame." The more experienced senior runners let Butler jump out front and set her own pace, eventually they caught up to her and passed her, Frustrated, Butler faded into the back of the pack and slowed down to a 43 second lap. She eventually began to make up time, cutting down her lap time to 36 seconds to finished sixth Last fall in Halifax, NS. she captured the junior National title winning the 4,00Grnetre run in 15 minutes and seven seconds in the worst possible conditions ever for cross-country running. Wet snow, cold temperatures and high winds kept the runners honest, preventing record-breaking times. However, Butler ign't concerned about record breaking times. and admits she doesn't keep track of her times in runs over 4,000 metres. “There's kind of a joke arodnd the club that the girls are more consistent than the boys. Whenever we get put in with the guys gr?.Pil it ar.te.ta their ego." 7 Bullet still has one iGi, year of junior running ahead and her coach believes that today's records could be re-written if she continues her torrid pace. “This PB doesn't go down " being an omeial because I was rabbited by male runners and it wasn’t a real meet time trial." Yet, as disappointing as her run in Saskatoon was, she also learned a valuable lesson. 'T've never run against seniors at that level before and they didn't do what I thought they were going to do. I thought that they'd go a lot faster than what they did, but they ran pretty She'll be running 4,500m in Belgium on a course she thinks is fairly flat. At last year's Worlds in France, the placed 69th, but her coach, Pete Grinbergs, believes she's capable of rutishing within the top 25 in the world. In preparations for the March 24 event in Belgium, Butler has stepped up her training and is running with close friend and club member, Angels Schwan. Schwan, who also attended Waterloo Collegiate Institute with Butler, is also a provincially and nationally ranked runner. Despite her accident, Butler has actually improved her times, especially in the 3,00Grnetre run. Although she ran a disappointing sixth place in nine minutes, 56 seconds at last month's indoor Nationals in Saskatoon in her first race against senior runners. since then she has managed to reduce her time to a personal-best 9:42 at a time trial meet in Toronto. sloiv." Three days later Butler, of the Twin City Athletics, was back on the road again, this time training, not driving, in prepare tion for next week's World Championships in Belgium. Her injuries were limited to muscle damage in and around the left side of hers back and ribs And while it doesn’t hurt her to run, warming tip is like a trip tp the dentist. During a winter storm, Butler's car slid into a pole damaging the car just behind the driver's seat. At ririst she didn't know how serious the accident was, but she had visions of her career going out the window. "It was really hard on me at rmrt. Nobody knew what was going on. but I could feel my feet, so I knew it wasn’t something really aetioutr" - _ V "Ai Cirat they (doctors) didn't know what was wrong with me," Butler said. This past winter, Waterloo': Kathy Butler had the cold and flu virus licked, but she didn't count on driving into a telephone pole, For the 17-yearold junior national female emu-country champion, this accident could have been a career ending incident. But Butler is tough and always optimistic. For mmreountey runners. surviving the hellish conditions of a Canadian winter without coming down with some rm Asian flu or a common North American cold is considered to be a major aogmpliahment. - INSIDE SPORTS M tyutlw H i. a Mr