Three Club athletes took part in the Junior National Track and Field Championships in Abbotsford BC

July 25-27.

Alyx Treasure age 16 had qualified for the BC Team at the Kamloops Jamboree earlier in the month, and took part in the National Event as a member of Team BC.  Junior Nationals are age 18 and 19, however younger athletes may qualify if they achieve the entry standard.

In a strong field of jumpers Alyx dominated the event with a Jump of 1.80 meters to take the National Jr. title for 2008.  She had also intended to take part in the Triple Jump however due to tight scheduling she was unable to do so.  Her next event will be the Canadian Youth Championships in Sherbrook Ontario, Aug 6-12.

Alyx will represent Team BC in both High Jump and Triple Jump. 

Eighteen year old Kyle O'Meara narrowly missed making the final round of the Jr. Mens Javelin, and ended 9th overall with a 51.50 meter throw.  While this did not match Kyle's personal best of the yearof 53.50 meters, he was quite satisfied that he is in position to medal in 2009 at Nationals as he will be at he top of the age group.

Cassie Keeping age 19 did not have a good weekend, as an injury plagued her and she was not able to advance in either the 200 or 400 meters. 

Thirteen of our Club members took part in the Kamloops Jamboree Track and Field Meet July 11-13.

The event acted as the trials for Provincial Team qualifications for Age 15 (1993) and age 16/17 Juveniles for the right to represent BC at the Legion Nationals in Sherbrook Quebec August 6-12.  It was also the qualification for the BC Junior (18/19) team for the Junior Nationals to be held in Abbotsford July 25-27.

Although the athletes visited the Podium 11 times at the trials most of the performances were below personal best marks set earlier in the season.

In the 15 year category Mich Elliot brought home two gold and one silver medal all in throwing events.   His gold medal performances were in the shot put and hammer while he took the silver in the Javelin.  Although he did not achieve the standar distance required to make the Team to Legion Nationals, there is an outside chance he may get the call based on top BC  15 year male thrower in 2008.

Sixteen year old Alyx Treasure will likely be a member of the BC team based on her Gold Medal performance in the triple jump.  Alyx had a less than stellar performance in her specialty the high jump, and ended  with silver.  Her jump was however well over the standard required to make the team. This was only Alyx second loss in 4 years.

Ismael Karidio 16 was the one club athlete with a big personal best in the triple jump, but again it was not quite enough to qualify for the Provincial Team.  Ismael represented BC in 2007 at Legion Nationals.

Chris Dinsdale (PGT/Quesnel) was 3rd in the 200 meter steeple chase and probably would have achieved a higher placing had he not taken several days off training for a family holiday.  This was also the case with other members of the team who found that a lapse in training prior to a meet is not conducive to a good performance.

Kevin Gaiesky age 15 one of the Provinces finest race walkers had to walk solo in his 1500 meter RW that was tied in with the open 5000 meter event in a last minute decision by officials.  A very foolish move on the Officials part I must say as it allowed Kevin virtually no time for a warm up.

Eighteen year old Kyle O'Meara took the gold medal in the shot put and bronze in the javelin. Casie Keeping had a sstrong run in the Jr. womens 200 meter and captured gold. Unfortunately  the time was wind assisted which eliminates her standard making time for the nomination to the provincial team.

Cassie, Alyx and Kyle, will participate at the National meet in Club colours if they do not qualify for the BC team. 

 Going back over the history of our Club attending the Annual Jack Brow Memorial Meet in Kelown, we find that the number of participants from our group seems to decrease from year to year. Originally when the meet started in 1993 upwards of eighty PG Athletes would attend.

This year, our lowest entry ever of only 34 were able to attend.  Much of this is due to rising costs each year, and families or athletes choose less costly options than traveling to the Okanagan Centre for the July long weekend.

 Despite this however the competitive crew returned home with 5 Gold, 20 Silver and 15 Bronze individual and relay awards.

The top medal winner was ten  year old Keiran LeBoe who had a gold medal relay performance, and also took home 4 silver and 1 bronze individual award.  This is the second year that Keiran has won six medals at the  highly competitive meet.

Other gold medal performances came via Cassie Keeping's gold in Jr. Womens 100 Meters; Alyx Treasure's win in the Juvenile girls High Jump, a gold medal performance by Mitch Elliot in 15 year men's hammer and his  younger brother Duncan in took the gold in the 13 year boys 800 meter event.

This was the 25th consecutive year our club has attended the event.