It was a long day for the Barrhead Elementary School (BES) indoor track team, but was worth the effort because at the end of the day the contingent of five different relay teams won two silvers and a bronze, along with a fourth and 12th place finish from the Running Rooms Indoor Games.
The games have been taking place in one form or another for the last 39 years. And allows Grades 3 to 12 athletes the opportunity to experience the thrill of competition against hundreds of other schools across the province — this year about 300 took part.
BES has competed in the competition for more than 20 of those years. This year the school entered boys and girls school 8x200 in both the elementary and junior high school categories. For the first time the school also entered the teacher category. Both the elementary and junior high school girls won silver, while the teachers captured the bronze. Although the boys elementary and junior high contingent finished out of the medals they still finished fourth and 12th respectively.
The contingent left BES at 6:30 a.m. on March 18, arriving at Edmonton’s Butterdome 30 minutes before the elementary girls first quarter final heat, followed by the elementary school boys about an hour later.
Both teams finished in first place.
“The girls finished in first place by quite a bit, but the boys’ heat was much closer,” said Brent Wierenga, head coach.
On the junior high side the girls, finished their quarter final heat in second place, while the boys were eliminated. Although the girls finished in second, their time was good enough to automatically qualify for the finals.
“It is a little bit surprising because I know going in they had done a lot of running in a short period of time,” he said.
Unlike the elementary school teams, which qualified for the final day of competition on March 22, the junior high and teacher qualifiers were held just three days before the day. Right after their qualifying meet the Grade 9s left on a high school ski trip to Jasper, returning to Barrhead the night before the finals.
“They got just a few hours of sleep before going off again,” Wierenga said. “My Grade 9s were tired and I know they had sore legs.”
After the junior high heats, the entire team had some down time, which they spent, in the conference room they reserved.
About three hours later, the team returned to the track for the elementary school semi-finals.
Once again the girls easily outdistanced their competition, advancing to the final. The boys also won their heat and moved into the finals, but not as convincingly.
“It was a super-close race,” Wierenga said. “We were behind the whole race and our last two runners really made up ground and overtook the leader near the end.”
After the semi-finals, the entire BES contingent returned to their conference room where they had supper, rested and talked about strategy and techniques.
About two hours later, they returned to the track, but this time it was the coaches’ turn to compete.
All things considered Wierenga and Jaylene Blum, assistant coach, said they were happy with the bronze, especially considering the lack of practice time. Before the qualifying meet, the coaches only had one practice.
Then the elementary girls then took to the track for the final.
“The girls did a great job of getting back into the race,” Wierenga said, adding there were times where the team dropped as far back as fifth. “By the time our final runner started off we made it into third and that is where we stayed until the final five metres, when Emma [Weeks] passed to take second place.”
In the boys’ final Barrhead were neck and neck and exchanged places multiple times with the eventual third place winner.
“Which is still really amazing, especially considering there were 300 teams,” he said, adding they just got stronger as the day went on. Going into the event, the boys had the 12th best time. “From the first heat I think they improved their time by something like 15 seconds.”
To conclude their day, the BES junior high girls final heat almost mirrored their elementary school counterparts. For most of the race they were in third place, but with five metres to go Sierra Lemp moved ahead securing the silver.
Jaylene Blum, assistant coach said she will always remember the amount of support the crowd.
“Every time they said Barrhead over the announcements, you would just hear this roar,” she said.
Cassie Smith, Grade 6, said one of the things she will take away from the race would be how well everyone worked together.
“All our passes were good and we ran as hard as we could,” she said. However, Smith said her most vivid memory would be what happened right at the end of the girls’ final.
“When Emma [Weeks] crossed the finish line we all ran to her and gave her this gignormous group hug and most of us started crying,” she said.
Nate Callihoo, Grade 6, who ran the anchor leg, said his favourite moment came in the semi-finals.
“Near the end of the race I was able to pass this guy and win our heat,” he said.
Teammate Sam McKale’s, Grade 6, favourite memory was when, on the anchor leg, he was able to overtake an opponent in the final to secure fourth place.
Weeks concluded by saying she will take away many memories from the games, she said it would be hard to top the final moments.
“When I came around that third corner and I could see this one girl in front of me and then I was able to pass her right before the finish line. I think that is what I will remember most,” she said.
