Malindi Elmore can now add the title of Cross-Country and Endurance Coach at UBC Okanagan to an already impressive resume of experience and accomplishment.
Elmore is among the best athletes of any sport that Kelowna and the Okanagan has ever produced, and she is steadily building a coaching resume of the same calibre. She will now bring that cache and her outstanding resume to UBCO as she leads the Heat cross country running program in the years ahead.
A professional athlete with 20 years experience in track and field, cross country, and road racing, Elmore is a Canadian champion seven times over. She has competed for her country at the Pan American Games, World Championships, World University Games, Commonwealth Games, and the Olympic Games. She hasn’t lost the desire or ability to compete, and currently the Kelowna resident is aiming for a spot on Team Canada and the Olympic marathon in 2020.
Elmore started her running career at Kelowna Secondary and dominated the B.C. high school scene. After graduating from KSS, she went on to be an All-American runner and school record holder at Stanford University, where she earned an International Relations degree. She followed up that degree with two more degrees, one from the University of Calgary and then a Bachelor of Education from UBCO.
“I am thrilled to join UBCO Heat as the new cross country and endurance coach,” said Elmore.
“UBCO offers amazing opportunities for student-athletes to pursue their academic goals, while also offering excellent training and racing opportunities in endurance running,” said the new coach who knows how to succeed and have a great university sport experience.
For the past two years the cross country programs at UBCO have elevated their status and now compete at the highest level of amateur competition in the country, U SPORTS. That jump has Elmore excited about the possibilities of the sport in the Okanagan.
“The inclusion of UBCO as a U SPORTS team was a significant change for the program in 2018. The program has developed steadily over the last 10 years with great coaching, leadership, and athletes, and I look forward to working with both current and future student-athletes to move UBCO towards its goal of Canada West and U SPORTS podium performances,” said the 2017 inductee into the Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame.
Elmore has been witness to the growth of the program at UBCO while serving as the Endurance Coordinator of the Okanagan Athletics Club since 2014, a role that she will continue concurrently with her responsibilities at UBCO. Many current Heat athletes have paid their dues and been a part of the local club before arriving at UBCO.
Elmore is an NCCP Performance Coach (Certified), with a proven record of developing athletes to top results from the provincial to international levels. Her recent work with the Okanagan Athletic Club placed her as a finalist for 2019 BC Sports “Female Coach of the Year.
In making the announcement of Elmore’s hire, Director of Athletics Tom Huisman said “We couldn’t be more excited to have someone of Malindi’s calibre and personality join the varsity sport family at UBCO. A proven winner on and off her many fields of competition, she has an infectious athlete-centered approach that we know will help bring the best out of our student-athletes and the team as a whole.”
Elmore will begin her new role immediately in the new year.