By Danny Daniels
One of the most tiring events at the B.C. Seniors Games is the weight pentathlon, which sees competitors compete in five throwing competitions in one day. So it wasn’t surprising that Peninsula Track’s Sandy Anderson, 72, found her gold medal hanging a bit heavy around her neck in the late afternoon.
At the 25th B.C. Seniors Games in Burnaby, held Aug. 21 to 25, Anderson collected a winning total of 2932 points from her performances in the hammer, shot put, discus, javelin and weight throw combined events. But the gold medal earned in weight throw was not the only one she brought back to the Island.
Anderson also earned gold in the high jump (1.15m) and the individual discus event (16.39m), and added silver medals in the individual hammer (20.04m), shot (6.57m) and weight (8.02m) throws. She also snagged bronze in the individual javelin (16.28m) and the 4x100m relay event.
Helping to swell the Pen Track’s bullion haul were the five gold medals won by Les East, 72. Beating his own provincial record of 1.29m set just a few weeks ago, East cleared a first place 1.30m in the high jump to set a new masters standard, and followed that with winning performances in the long jump (3.58m), triple jump (8.03m), hammer (32.51m) and discus (30.18m).
Having to wait two more years before she can take part in the Seniors Games, Anne Murfitt, 53, nevertheless had a successful outing of her own in a Washington State Masters meet, bringing back gold medals in the hammer (22.53m), discus (18.11m) and weight throw (6.83m), as well as silvers in javelin (17.48m) and shot put (6.79m), and a long jump bronze, with a leap of 2.44m.
The season for Pen Track is winding down and they are hosting their annual awards barbecue at Centennial Park in Central Saanich on Sept. 8 (Saturday) from 2 to 6 p.m.