The Edmonton Running Room’s annual Indoor Games may be more than two months away, but that doesn’t mean Barrhead Elementary School’s (BES) track team is resting on its laurels.
Since the start of school, the team has been busy preparing for the event, which allows Grade 3 to 12 athletes the opportunity to experience the thrill of competition.
Depending on the age group, events include 200 and 800 metre individual races for boys and girls, as well as the 8 x 200 metre relay, in which BES competes in both the boys and girls categories. In past years, the event has also included the long jump and a teachers’ relay race.
Brent Wierenga, who is in his second year as head coach, taking over for long-time coach Laurin Lamothe, said although the students have been training since the start of the school, it is just recently that the team started to take shape.
“We just made our final cuts of 11 boys and 11 girls less than a week ago,” he said, adding usually the final contingent consists of 10 members, but this year the coaching staff couldn’t narrow it down to just 10. “We just had some exceptional runners this year.”
In September, the team started with more than 60 Grade 4 to 6 students for one of the 20 coveted spots.
Wierenga said this is in part because the team has a long and storied history of at the Indoor Games. For more than 25 years the team has qualified for the finals on multiple occasions and brought home medals, including last year when both the boys and girls 8 x 200 metre relay teams won silver.
“One of the first things we (coaching staff) do is get the kids’ 50-metre times, as part of their gym classes,” he said, adding the coaches pick a target time and students who meet, or beat that time are officially invited to tryout.
Coaches reduce the team to about 20 a side in late November or early December by conducting another series of time trials. This is usually done on the Agrena’s walking track, but due to track upgrades the timings were held in the school’s parking lot.
“It made for some pretty cold running conditions and the snow was flying on some of those days,” Wierenga said.
Before the final team is selected, the 40 remaining runners have a chance to train on two separate occasions — one just before Christmas and the other in mid-January at the Universiade Pavilion, better known as the Butterdome.
“Which is pretty neat. We get to use the high school’s team bus and go into the city. It really is a big thing for them,” he said.
Currently, the squad practices three times a week for a qualifying meet, on Feb. 22. If successful, the team will move on to the Indoor Games, which will be held in mid March.
Wierenga noted that for the first time, Barrhead will also be taking a junior high team.
“I always tell graduating elementary school students if there is enough interest I will coach a junior high running team,” he said, adding due to the number of extracurricular activities offered at the older grades it has never happened.
“But this year, there is a core group, especially on the girls side, that are really interested in running,” Wierenga said, adding the junior high running club only started recently.
