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 1st and 2nd 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 17th where she ran a 20 second PB over the 2K steeple and ranked herself 3rd 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 4th in the Final with times of 14.63/14.79 respectively. Nikki also tied for 6th in the High Jump with a height of 1.60m and 15th in the Long Jump with a 5.15m jump.
Alex Smith placed 8th both in the heats and the finals of the 110m Hurdles with times of 15.21 and 15.43 respectively.
Matt Galea ranked 26th on the starting list had a 16 second PB in the 5K and moved up the result list to the 15th position.
Young Ellie Hirst (still a first year youth) placed 14th in the Qualifying rounds of the 400 with a time of 57.57 and moved up the ranking to 12th in the B Final with another good time of 57.80.
Alex Ivan donned his spikes at his first National ever and placed 21st in the 400 with a time of 51.09.
Well done to all the athletes and their coaches. It was a great Junior Nationals…
