Saturdays 10:30am to 11:45am Mt Royal University Indoor Track
Wednesdays 6:30 TO 7:45pm Talisman Center

It is $150 for the 8 week (16 practices) session. The athlete must also be a member of Athletics Alberta (our governing insuring provincial body) for $50 - this particular fee is payable just once in a calendar year.

If you can only come either the Sat or Wed please speak to the coach when you register.

More information and a map to the locations are available here.

What a fantastic day we had up at the University yesterday!

Congratulations to all the athletes who ran and thank you to all the parents who helped out, and a special big thanks to Coach Hayleigh who did it all herself as I was working at the finish line all day.

You can read the full results below
http://calgarytrackcouncil.com/2012/DOResults11.htm

I was very happy about a lot of things.  We had thirty athletes who competed, that is almost the entire group.

Almost everyone had PBs in the 60m which tells me you are all getting faster.  Some people had huge improvements like Caitlin and Sean who improved by about a half second.  That’s a lot in a race that only takes 8 or 9 seconds.  Talk about the depth in our group: 1st in 14 yr old girls (Meghan), 2nd in 13 yr old girls (Emma) and 3rd in 12 year old girls (Hanna).

The relays were exciting because we had so many teams and I got to watch so many of you run.  Our Midget Boys team (NathanK, Sean, Harrison, Lyle)  came second to another team from the CALTAF PD group and our Midget Girls (Merel, Erica, Delainy, Caitlin) proved themselves real competitors in with the older girls and women.  Our two Bantam Boys teams came second (EthanP, Liam, Matt, EthanN) and fourth (NathanC, Charles, Adeem, Jeremy).  Our Bantam Girls teams came first (MIa, Grace, Lauren, Emma) in a great race with Calgary Olympic Track and sixth (Kiannah, Syd, Maddie, Hawaa).  The fact that we can put six relay teams on the track confirms for me the depth of the group and the enthusiasm and commitment the athletes bring to the sport.  Thanks so everyone who ran!

I didn’t ask too many of you run the 150m or 200m because they came right after the 4×200 relays, still I saw good early season speed from Cam and Mia, NathanC, Adeem, Harrison, Sean and Ben.  Just like in the 60s almost everyone recorded PBs.

The 800s were highly entertaining!  I watched all of you run through cross-country season and I’ve been looking forward to some racing on the track. The next meet, on January 8, has both a 600m and a 1000m in it so let’s think about what it will take to run one of those distances now.  Sahad’s 2:29 was a PB which goes to show what a little (or in his case a lot) of hard work will do for you.

PBs?  For those of you not up on all the track lingo PB stands for Personal Best and it means the fastest you’ve ever run.  It is one of the ways we measure success in our group.  We all see the races on the track and it’s obvious who wins those but as coaches we look beyond that to the effort and improvement shown by each individual athlete.

Not everyone had a PB on Saturday.  Sometimes it just doesn’t happen and that’s OK.  Some of you, especially those of you going into second year Midget, have the bar set pretty high already and PBs will take an extraordinary effort to achieve.  Don’t worry, keep training, I assure you that for the beginning of the season we are in great shape.

I especially want to congratulate the athletes who are new to our group.  You survived your first track meet; well done!  Saturday was the first time I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching Sydney, Erica, Merel (great relay leg!), NathanC, Adeem, Charles, Jeremy, SImon, Liam, EthanP and last but not least EthanN (great finish in the 800!).

See you at practice tomorrow!

Coach Ed

Brennan Undseth wins silver at Cross Country Provincials (also shown Derrick and Isaac)

Most of us were up in Edmonton yesterday at the Provincial Championships so let’s wrap up the season with a report from that event.

CALTAF had the largest number of entries of any club in the province (33) and a presence in just about every race that was impossible to miss.
The course was hard, with a single track switchback pathway on the downhill and an unforgiving long hill into the finish. It was what I would call a character builder and I think everyone who ran is a better runner today because of it. Most important was the outstanding effort put in by everyone!

I will cover the results of the Cheetahs and the JD athletes.

In the first race of the day, the Peewee Girls 1700m, Colette Benko was 15th (out of 43) and Emily Stirling was next in 16th.

In the Peewee Boys 1700m, Charles Voglewede was 7th (out of 34),
Jarvis Chantler was 20th and Sam Yardley was 28th.

In the Bantam Girls 2km we had seven entered and we won second place in the team competition. Hats off to the Leduc club who has had a lock on this event for many years. The top finisher from our group was Marissa Stirling, 5th (out of 24) then Lauren Yardley 10th, Grace Hilton 13th, Maddy Lee 15th, Deia Hida 17th, Cam Knowles 22nd and Rhea Foster 23rd.

In the Bantam Boys 2km Ethan Nishimura, in his first competition with the club, was 5th (out of 17) and Matt Voglewede was 15th.

In the Midget Girls 3km Sarah Voglewede ran a gutsy 22nd.

Congratulations to everyone who ran cross country with us this year and thanks for making it an exciting and fun two months for me.

–Coach Ed

Here is a map of all the Caltaf training locations.

1km
2km
Men’s 8km
Woman’s 5km

Here is a map of all the Caltaf training locations.

This summer CALTAF is delighted to have so many of our athletes qualify for national and provincial teams. In addition to those athletes who have already been mentioned in earlier posts, CALTAF would like to congratulate the following youth and midget athletes who made the Alberta Legion Team and will compete at Legion Nationals in August:

Nicky Charlesworth, Shaunie Morrison, Emily Wilson-Bodnar, Ellie Hirst, Alex Ivan, Bryce Clements, and Adrianne Erdman. Well done athletes!

One of the reasons for the success of CALTAF athletes (apart from all the hard work and training they put in) is the amazing and dedicated coaches, all of whom deserve a big thank you for the work they do. Many of the CALTAF coaches are also very active in the wider athletic community and once again this year several CALTAF coaches have been named to Provincial and National Teams.

Jason Lindsay is the Head Coach for Team Alberta at the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops from August 5-9. This is Jason’s third trip to the WCSG and his first time as Head Coach.

Tara Dressler is one of the Team Managers for Team Alberta at the 2011 Western CanadaGames. This is Tara’s first official Alberta Team position. Previously, in 1997 and 2005, she competed as an athlete at the Canada Summer Games. Team Alberta begins competing at theSaskatchewan vs. Alberta dual meet in Regina on the July 15-17 weekend.

Derrick Johnston is the Head Coach for the Alberta Legion Team at the 2011 Legion Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships in Ottawa from August 5-7. Derrick has previously been a coach at the 2008 Alberta Summer Games and the 2010 Alberta Legion Nationals.

Christine Laverty is the Lead Coach for the Canadian Youth Athletics Team at the 2011 Youth Commonwealth Games in the Isle of Man, UK from September 7-13. Christine has held many coaching positions for Provincial and National teams in her career. Most recently she was the Distance Coach for the Senior Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India in 2010.

In addition Christine Laverty as Chair of the Organising Committee was recently instrumental in Calgary’s successful hosting of the 2011 Canadian National Championships at the newly renovated Foothills Athletic Park. Christine put in many, many hours of work over long months which resulted in a truly spectacular Track and Field event in our city. Calgary will host the Canadian National Championships again next year when they will be the qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics. Be sure to look out for them.

Congratulations to all these coaches who have made such significant contributions to their sport. We truly appreciate all the incredible work they do.

Photo Finish of Gareth Hadfieldath at JR Nationals 2011

Report from Christine:

It has been an exciting summer for the Caltaf athletes but it will prove to be even more exciting as two of our athletes have qualified to represent Canada this summer at the Pan Am Juniors  and Commonwealth Youth Games.

This weekend Gareth earned his way onto the Pan Am Junior Team by winning the Gold Medal at Junior Nationals for the 3K Steeple (see a video of the race and awards here). Although Gareth already had the standard for team selection he was ranked Number 4 in the race and only two would get the honour of representing the country. It was a very exciting race to watch as the lead changed hands numerous times but at the last water barrier, 150 meters from the finish line Gareth was in a close third. The battle maintained all the way to the finish line and they needed the photo-finish camera to determine the 1^st and 2^nd place finishers. Gareth was the only Alberta male to take home the gold medal honours this weekend and he did it by thousandths of a second. This will be Gareth’s second time representing Canada as he was part of the World Youth Team in 2009.

Adrianne Erdmann traveled off to Langley, BC on June 17^th where she ran a 20 second PB over the 2K steeple and ranked herself 3^rd in the country which earned her  a trip to the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Isle of Mann. This will be Adrianne’s first time representing her country

Caltaf had other outstanding performances at Junior Nationals…

Nikki Charlesworth won her heat in the 100m Hurdles and placed 4^th in the Final with times of 14.63/14.79 respectively. Nikki also tied for 6^th in the High Jump with a height of 1.60m and 15^th in the Long Jump with a 5.15m jump.

Alex Smith placed 8^th both in the heats and the finals of the 110m Hurdles with times of 15.21 and 15.43 respectively.

Matt Galea ranked 26^th on the starting list had a 16 second PB in the 5K and moved up the result list to the 15^th position.

Young Ellie Hirst (still a first year youth) placed 14^th in the Qualifying rounds of the 400 with a time of 57.57 and moved up the ranking to 12^th in the B Final with another good time of 57.80.

Alex Ivan donned his spikes at his first National ever and placed 21^st in the 400 with a time of 51.09.

Well done to all the athletes and their coaches. It was a great Junior Nationals…