The Road to London

The Olympic sport of modern pentathlon essentially defines the term “multitasking.”

But make no mistake. When she’s at her best, Melanie McCann — former SAIT Trojan, future Canadian Olympian — is the very picture of single-minded focus.

“It’s my will to perform,” offers McCann, 22, an ex-SAIT Trojan cross-country running athlete who’ll represent Canada at the 2012 London Olympics in August. “I think that’s what carries me through the tough times, the challenges of the competitions.

“I love being out there and getting competitive . . . sometimes it takes a little nudge, or a particular experience, to draw out your inherent competitiveness and desire to succeed.”

Take last Oct. 15, for example, at Guadalajara, Mexico, during the Pan American Games. At the time, it was the pinnacle moment of McCann’s athletic career — with a fourth-place finish at the Pan Ams, she would realize the Olympic dream she’d been chasing since the age of 15.

In modern pentathlon, a continuous Olympic event since 1912, some find their edge on the button of a fencing foil. For others, it’s dead-eyed pistol shooting. It could also be the finishing kick in the pool after a 200-metre freestyle swim, or a precious few millimetres of clearance on a show-jumping fence.
But for McCann, on that sweat-soaked day at Guadalajara’s Hipica Club, it all came down to the final event, a flat-out three-kilometre run.

“Throughout the race, I know I fell back into fifth, sixth, even seventh overall, but I was able to run my way back up to fourth two different times,” recalls McCann. “I was trying so hard to hold on to that fourth spot. During the last lap, I was sprinting for the finish line. It wasn’t a sprint finish, but I had to make sure that spot was mine.”

She did . . . and it is. With that frenetic fourth-overall placement, McCann became the first Canadian modern pentathlete to qualify for London.

“I am absolutely ecstatic,” she says. “Of course, there are hard days of training, but in the big picture, it’s all worth it — every hour in the pool, or sore muscle, or long travel day.

“I am so proud to say I will wear the Maple Leaf on the world's biggest stage.”

A Long Pursuit

McCann, from Mount Carmel, Ont., has had her eye on the Olympic prize for some time . . . and she took big steps toward that goal during the three years she spent in Calgary. McCann lived and trained with 2008 Beijing Olympian Joshua Riker-Fox of Delacour, Alta., while also earning her civil engineering technology diploma at SAIT Polytechnic, and leading the SAIT Trojans cross-country running team during the 2009-10 season.

In that fall of 2009, McCann was seventh overall in the women’s 5K final at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championships, earning all-conference status, and went on to post a 14th-overall finish in the women’s event at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association finals at Camrose, Alta.

Trojans cross-country running coach Jamie Grant recalls McCann’s determination and time management skills during her brief stint as a SAIT student athlete.

“The big thing I noticed was her ability to step up her performance when the races got bigger,” recalls Grant. “The best athletes perform on the biggest stage, and we certainly saw that in Melanie.

“She also had an amazing ability to manage all the things she had on the go — the five sports she was training for, plus her civil engineering studies on the accelerated program, and running with the Trojans . . . including doing indoor track events with us through the winter,” adds Grant. “I don’t know how she did it, but she did.”

Modern Pentathlon

Versatility is the name of the game in modern pentathlon, a continuous Olympic event since 1912 that was conceived as a way of simulating the experience of a 19th-century cavalry officer behind enemy lines.

“Basically, the soldier was to deliver a message by any means necessary. That would mean taking any horse off the line, running, swimming through canals, defending yourself with a sword and a gun. It really does have a lot of cool history,” remarks McCann.

“A teacher from another school scouted me” for modern pentathlon when she had just started high school at Exeter, Ont., adds McCann. “I was a mediocre swimmer and a decent runner . . . (he) asked me if I wanted to try the other two disciplines, shooting and fencing (modern pentathletes generally don’t begin riding until the age of 19).

“I was already involved in so many sports at that time. I was on the basketball team, the volleyball team, the track team. I played hockey and gymnastics growing up. I was doing everything. So for me to pick up another two sports? It wasn’t really a big deal.”

Since May 2010, following her graduation from SAIT, McCann has been living and training in Ottawa with national pentathlon coach John Hawes.

Hawes has helped to direct McCann’s personal bid for the London Games. And in McCann, Hawes sees a rare combination of dedication, focus, and consummate all-around athleticism.

“I don’t know if I can speak highly enough about Mel. Pentathletes are special people, and she’s one of those unique individuals who has all of the necessary qualities going for her,” says Hawes. “Mel is top of the line, in terms of her ability to stay on task for a long period.

“There are so many different challenges that come along — and she’s been very focused on the Olympic goal, ever since I’ve known her.”

In the spring, McCann will be preparing herself for the 2012 Summer Games with her third go-round on the senior World Cup calendar. The circuit runs through Charlotte, N.C., Rio de Janeiro, Rostov, Russia, and Budapest, Hungary, with the world championships in Rome and the World Cup final set for Chengdu, China.
McCann already has the lay of the land in London, after qualifying for and competing in the 2011 World Cup final in the English capital.

“I am so pleased with my Olympic qualification. It is such a dream come true for me . . . and I’m happy that I now have the time to plan and prepare strictly for the Games, instead of chasing standards all year,” she says.

Athletic Roots

Former Trojan, future Olympian, McCann still looks back on her time in Calgary — and her brief career as a SAIT Trojan — with fondness.

“Calgary was definitely a big piece of this puzzle for me,” she says. “Originally, I was either going to go to university or pursue pentathlon. But I was able to do both by going to Calgary, and training side-by-side with Josh.

“He was always a couple steps ahead of me, and the experience taught me about the dedication and the discipline and the hard work I needed to get to where he was,” she adds. “I was also involved with a lot of clubs that had sport-specific athletes who were extremely dedicated to their sport.

“It was a great place for me to start on that Olympic journey.”