Another year down on the track
NWT Track and Field Championships wraps up its 27th edition in Hay River
James McCarthy
Northern News Services
Monday, June 19, 2017
HAY RIVER
From all accounts, everything went as well as it could have at the NWT Track and Field Championships in Hay River earlier this month.
Shamus Hagen of Behchoko prepares for his landing in the senior men's triple jump. - James McCarthy/NNSL photo |
Even the results were right this year.
After the mix-up in 2016 with the final winners, this year was a much different and happier story as the 27th annual gathering of athletes from around the NWT wrapped up beautifully with closing ceremonies on June 9. Close to 1,200 competitors ran, jumped and threw in the hopes of winning one of the overall titles up for grabs.
"It seemed like one of our best track meets this year and that's what we shoot for every time," said J.J. Hirst, co-organizer of the meet. "It was awesome."
All five of the banners up for grabs this year went to Yellowknife with Sir John Franklin winning both the overall and school grand aggregate championships.
The overall grand aggregate takes the total number of points athletes earn from top-six finishes and divides that by the number of athletes a team has for an aggregate amount.
The school grand aggregate takes the total number of points athletes 19 and under earn divided by the number of athletes 19 and under.
St. Pat's ended up winning the overall total points and school total points banners. That was no surprise as the Irish brought a team of 83 athletes and scored an incredible 716 total points as a unit.
Sir John Franklin also ended up winning the sportsmanship award. A large part of the win came from a wonderful moment on the track involving one of its athletes who struggled in the juvenile girls 1,500 metre event.
Lauren Seabrook of Sir John Franklin entered the event, even though she was suffering from what's known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). CRPS, is the dysregulation of the nervous system which results in abnormal temperature control, skin color/texture changes, swelling, muscle spasms, stiffness, complete temporary loss of movement in affected areas and intense pain of the affected limbs.
Seabrook was having trouble finishing the race but her fellow competitors, including Kristal Gambler of Fort Smith, helped her run the last lap of the race.
Hirst said it was the moment of the entire week.
"I'm sure the IAAF (world governing body for track and field) may have frowned on it but they weren't here," he said. "I can't remember anything like that ever happening and it just goes to show how good our kids are up here."
In terms of organization, everything went as well as it could have, even if things got backed up a bit due to so many athletes competing in events.
"If that's the worst that happened, that's alright," said Hirst.
