Armstrong’s Rebecca McOnie was always been savvy in the saddle. Now she’s good at five sports, all rolled into one.
McOnie, who started as a youngster with the Armstrong Pony Club, recently placed sixth in the women’s open division at the Canadian Modern Pentathlon Championships in Calgary.
The one-day event, which features fencing, swimming, show-jumping and a final combined event of shooting and cross-country running, has been an Olympic sport since 1912.
“It’s exhausting by the end of the day,” said McOnie, 22. “You feel wiped out.”
McOnie said Pony Club acts as a feeder system for pentathlon through its heptathlon program, which is basically pentathlon without the fencing.
“I really started pentathlon through riding; it’s my favourite sport,” said McOnie, who competed in her first nationals in 2008.
While the sports that make up modern pentathlon appear to have nothing in common, there is a connection. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, chose the events to reflect the attributes of a Napoleonic officer.
According to Pentathlon Canada, those traits include: fitness (running and swimming); control and concentration (shooting); agility and speed (fencing); and determination, adaptability and courage (riding and jumping on an unfamiliar horse).
“It’s based on military tradition,” said McOnie. “That’s the common thread, kind of the idea of the ideal solider.
“In our modern day it seems a little ridiculous, but it is pretty entertaining when it all comes together.”
Even with her background in horsemanship, McOnie said there is a leveling factor in that competitors choose their horse through a lottery. Once selected, horse and rider go on a 20-minute speed date, with a maximum of five practice jumps, before performing a scored round.
“There’s so much unknown to the riding in pentathlon because you draw a horse,” said McOnie. “You never really know what you’re going to end up with.
“The organizing committees try hard to find horses that are reliable. They’re definitely capable of the jump heights.”
The other disciplines have each presented their unique challenges for McOnie, the 200-metre freestyle swim being her weakest event.
“Although I grew up swimming leisurely, I didn’t grow up in a really competitive swim background,” said McOnie, who noted there were several former Olympian swimmers at nationals. 2012 Olympian Melanie McCann of Mt. Carmel, Ont. won gold.
“That’s been the learning curve, trying to bring down my swim time.”
Conversely, McOnie appears to be a natural at fencing.
“In high school, I did a lot of dance so the rhythm and footwork of dance have really followed through to fencing quite well. I have really grown to love fencing.”
In the combined shooting/running event, athletes shoot with 0.177-calibre air pistol at five targets 10 metres away, and then run 800 metres. This is repeated four times.
McOnie is entering her freshman year at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, which is part of the University of Saskatchewan. Her studies won’t leave her much time to train for pentathlon, but she intends to continue the sport on a recreational level.
“When I get a bit more time, I’d like to try to be more competitive,” she said.
For more information about modern pentathlon, visit www.pentathloncanada.ca
