To The Haldimand Press
CAYUGA—After several meets for local athletes to regain their footing following two years of COVID, things are starting to come together for members of Athletiques International Track and Field Club of Cayuga as they head toward the outdoors and the first school track and field since 2019.
Masters athlete Lucille Green, 73, has been a consistent winner at every meet she has entered for the past three years, and elected to travel to New Brunswick for the Canadian Masters Indoor Championship in the hopes of finding competition at her level.
She was successful in that regard, coming up against a “youngster” of 71 from Alberta who managed a 7.58m distance on her final attempt in the 12-pound weight throw. While that would be routine for Green, who has a season’s best and Ontario Record of 8.05m, she pushed a little too hard, and found herself in foul trouble, losing four of her six attempts by that means, and having to settle for her first silver medal in three years.
Closer to home, Abby Martin, 13, travelled to York University for the Spring Showcase, and came away with three medals, a gold and two silvers, from her three events in the Under-15 girl’s category. She opened her day in an event she seldom runs, but is concentrating on improving this year, the 400m, and chopped seven seconds from her previous best, with a 1:04.64 clocking to win her first silver of the day.
In the high jump, she recorded her second Personal Record (PR), as she added eight centimetres to her previous best, winning gold and setting a Meet Record of 1.40m. She narrowly missed 1.45m on her third attempt, but the outing showed that she is moving in the right direction.
Her last event of the day, the 800m, started off like a rugby scrum with the girls on the outside of the starting line sprinting for the corner and crowding the top three seeds, of which Martin was one, to the back of the pack. Martin recovered by the back stretch, catching the leader by the third corner, only to have the top seed, a girl from East Toronto, who came into the event fresh, come up behind her.
They ran in lock step until the bell, but by then Martin’s earlier events were taking their toll, and she dropped back, but still managed to hold on for her second silver of the day, and her indoor PR of 2:32.29.
Martin has one more indoor competition before heading outdoors, as she contests the Ontario Under-16 Championships on the same track on April 9-10, at which time she will be narrowing down to one event to see what a difference fresh legs make.
Anyone interested in the local club is invited to visit their website at athletiques.webs.com or contact them by phone or text at 289-400-8725.
