Although classed as a Midget, Courtenay Neville-Rutherford is throwing the hammer like a giant this season.
The Peninsula Track athete won her event at the recent BC Athletics Championship Jamboree, and was chosen as a member of the BC team heading for the Legion Development Camp and Canadian Youth Championships in Ottawa August 5 to 11. The Parkland secondary student threw nearly nine metres further than her nearest competitor to earn the gold medal.
This result reinforces all the hard work she has put in this season, not the least of which was her 3,444-point winning performance in the recent Vancouver Island Weight Pentathlon competition, when she led all other throwers, most of whom were much older.
Other Pen Trackers who came home with gold medals from the Jamboree were Rachel Ross, 15, in the Girl’s javelin event, with a toss of 32.16m, and Spencer Gaby, 17, who triumphed in the 3000m race walk competition with a time of 16mins 41.56secs. Ross also gained a silver in the triple jump (10.47m), while Jacqueline Gaby, 14, secured a bronze in her 1500m race walk (9:04.10).
Rounding out the Pen Track contingent were Caelan MacEwan, 15, with strong performances in the 100m and 200m Hurdles events, and Leigh MacFadyen, 15, who missed out on a bronze in the Boy’s high jump on the “count back” at 1.50m.
While these up-and-coming youngsters were having a successful visit to Abbotsford, down in sweltering Sacramento, California, Sandy Anderson (W70) was competing in the World Masters Championships against older athletes from around the globe.
Having fought her way back from early season injury, Anderson was thrilled to win the silver medal in the high jump with a leap of 1.20m, setting a new Canadian Record and breaking her own previous Canadian record of 1.17m.
“I was so excited,” she said on her return. “Even the crowd was getting into the act and cheering me on.”