Back on the track: Calgary high school athletes compete in city championships for first time since pandemic
More than 600 athletes from 29 schools competed Saturday in the first Calgary high school city championship competition since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
It’s been three long years, but it was worth the wait for newly crowned javelin city champion, Bronwyn Larsen.
The Grade 10 student from West Island College achieved a personal best.
“This was a big one for me, I really have no words,” Larsen said.
“It’s so great to be out here again and to be competing after the pandemic because I don't do track outside of school so this is really like the only opportunity, I get to do it and to meet everyone else.”
Other athletes, like Grade 12 student Jaxon Vandenberghe, were just amazed at how tough the competition has advanced after not seeing friends from other schools for the past three years.
“There’s just so many fast guys out and I thought I was pretty fast, but I guess not,” he laughed.
“Getting to have fans in the stands and just being able to compete against other people again after a few years off, it really shows you who's been putting the work in and it’s a ton of fun."
This year’s event brought forth more athletes than ever before according to Kim Cousins, chair of the Calgary High School City/Zone Track & Field Championships.
She says the athletes continue to outperform year after year, but she also emphasized how inclusive the track community has become.
“If you don't want to run you could throw, if you don't want to throw, you can jump, there's so many places that anybody fits in for track,” said Cousins.
“One of the coolest things is that we get to do this every year and we get to come out and play in an area like this with amazing volunteers. The teachers that work here are just incredible teachers, there’s so much school support, and our volunteers that are helping us are really awesome so it’s a community effort.”
Athletes that finish in the top two of their event will now be granted entry to compete in the Provincial Track & Field Championship held next weekend in Medicine Hat.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
2 military horses that broke free and ran loose across London are in serious condition
Two military horses that bolted and ran miles through the streets of London after being spooked by construction noise and tossing their riders were in a serious condition and required operations, a British government official said Thursday.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.