For the second time in two weeks Langley, BC played host to a national championship. This time around it was the Canadian Masters Track and Field Championships taking place at the McLeod Athletic Park Stadium and again Lions athletes were in it to win it, bringing home 13 medals overall including 8 gold.
A pair of nationals rookies led the medal haul as Erinn Joseph and Ashley Crawford each took home a trio of medals from the Championship.
Joseph made it a clean sprint sweep – taking the top spot at 100, 200, and 400 metres. The 33-year-old produced seasonal best performances at all three distances to claim gold, including dropping nearly half a second of each of her 200 and 400 metre bests.
Crawford also garnered three medals in the sprint events. A seasonal best of 67.05 at 400 metres was good enough for bronze in the W35 category. Crawford was a combined nine hundredths of a second off her bests at 100 and 200 metres, but nonetheless took home the silver and bronze medals respectively in the two events.
Our undisputed queen of masters sprinting, Wendy Alexis again showed why she is one of the best in the world – comfortably taking home the gold in both the 100 and 200 metre events in the W65 category. At 68 years of age, Alexis won the 100 in a time of 14.12 seconds – her fastest performance since 2020 and the third best regardless of age at the Canadian Championship. Alexis also produced her fastest 200 metre performance in three years, winning in 29.89 seconds.
After a bronze and gold performance at the indoor championships, Michael Conway upgraded himself to a pair of golds at 400 and 800 metres in Langley. The 39-year-old’s winning time of 55.33 was more than three seconds faster than the second place finisher. Over the two lap race the margin of victory extended to 8.5 seconds as Conway crossed the line in 2 minutes and 5.76 seconds.
Rounding out this year’s medalists was Kimberley Howitt, who also picked up a pair of medals over 400 and 800 metres. Last year’s Most Outstanding Masters Athlete for the Lions was a silver medalist at 400, finishing behind former national junior team member Corri Fell with a seasonal best time of 1:06.05. Over 800 metres, Howitt produced the fastest women’s time in any age category, winning in 2 minutes and 31.52 seconds.
Marino Sani also added a bronze in the M60 400 metres with a time of 1:13.66.
For updated Club performance rankings, please visit: https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/