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22nd April 2019
Swiss sports wear company, On, is pleased to announce its latest global ambassador and Canada’s newly crowned marathon record holder, Rachel Cliff, to its stable of elite sponsored athletes this year.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of Rachel’s record-breaking performance in the marathon on March 9 in Japan. Hitting the Olympic A standard in the full marathon while setting the national record has fuelled Rachel’s hopes of becoming an Olympian, although she will not limit herself to one distance. Rachel will now shift her focus to the track, gearing up for the Canadian National Championships this summer.
“We’re very excited to bring Rachel into the On family as our newest sponsored athlete and global ambassador,” says Olivier Bernhard, co-founder of On, the Swiss sportswear company. “Rachel exemplifies the true nature of our sponsored athletes, as someone who is elite in their discipline and with depth in their story and character. Rachel has proven she has both the competitive and human spirit to go the entire distance in her field of endurance sport. We admire her true commitment and the life changing decision she has made to put off her career in order to pursue her athletic dreams. Rachel is someone who truly knows no limits and is willing to take a chance in pursuit of ultimate sporting excellence.”
Rachel trains with the British Colombia Endurance Project in Vancouver, BC. Rachel grew up in Vancouver but completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Toxicology at the University of Guelph and moved back home in 2012 to pursue a Masters in Occupational and Environmental Hygiene at the University of British Colombia. With the help of coaches Chris Johnston (from 2012—2015) and Richard Lee (from 2015 to present), Rachel slowly chipped away at her personal bests and athletic achievements. She is currently one of the top long distance runners in Canada and hopes to represent her country at her second IAAF World Championships in Doha this year, having already competed at the 2017 edition in London.
Rachel’s athletic philosophy takes a similar, scientific approach towards ultimate performance excellence:
“Pushing your body to its limits is both an art and a science,” she says. “In athletics, there are always new boundaries to push and ways to improve yourself. As a scientist, I like to think of it as ‘the ultimate science experiment,’ albeit one where me, the athlete, is the research subject in a study with a sample size of one.”