Heather Steacy

At the Sun Angel Classic yesterday in Tempe, AZ, Heather Steacy of Lethbridge achieved a new personal best in the hammer with her  72.16m. This gives her the Olympic A+ standard. Last season Heather won the NTL’s hammer throw title and represented Canada in the World University Games in Shenzhen, China and the World Championships in Daegu, Korea. She improved her previous best of 70.98m set in 2011 by 1.18m.  This makes two Canadian hammer throwers to achieve the Olympic A+ standard of 71.50m. She may join Kamloop’s Sultana Frizell on Canada’s  team at the London Olympic Games. Sultana ‘s Canadian record of 75.04m was set on March 16 prior to the qualifying period of April 1 to June 30. Sultana will have to throw over 71.50m again this season for selection to London.

James Steacy

Jim Steacy of Lethbridge, opened his hammer season with 74.66m.  He is looking to regain his Olympic form of 2008 when he set his personal best of 79.13m.  His 2012 mark exceeds the Olympic B standard of 74.00m but he will need the A standard of 78.00m to qualify for this summers Olympic Games in London. Jim won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in 2007 and silver medals at the World University Games in 2009 and the Commonwealth Games in 2006

Nicole Sifuentes

Good Friday lived up to the name last night in Palo Alto on the Stanford campus for Canadian middle distance runners. Jumping up to the Canadian early season leader board was almost the rule. Jeremy Rae of Fort Erie, ON pushed BC’s Cam Levins’ personal best time of 3:42.61 in the penultimate section off the lead with his fast finishing 3:41.34 in the last section of the 1500m..  Simon Bairu of Regina  returned to track after his marathon attempts with a 13:37.23 over the 12 ½ laps 5000m.  Nicole Sifuentes of Winnipeg ran  from  the front in a valiant 1500m with 4:11.80 while Edmonton’s, Jessica O’Connell and Vancouver’s, Erica Digby did 4:20.91 and 4:22.18 for season openers.  Megan Brown of Toronto set her personal best  of 15:44.11 in the 5000m.  Regina’s, Kate Kujawa’s personal best of 10:27.15 leads the Canadian 3000m steeplechase.

Jenna Martin

At the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Jenna Martin from Bridgetown, Nova Scotia did 52.68 in windy conditions to take the Canadian lead in the 400m.  Gavin Smellie of Toronto ran 10.32(1.1) in the hundred but his 200m time of 20.58 (3.4) was negated by the strong wind.

By Terry Bell, Postmedia News April 4, 2012 2:02 PM

5 Minutes with Jeremy Rae

The Notre Dame junior is on the rise after a strong indoor season

Last year, Notre Dame’s Jeremy Rae anchored the Irish men’s DMR squad to a fourth-place finish at the 2011 NCAA indoor championships, setting a new school record of 9:30.16. This year, Rae received the baton in a similar position in a loaded field, which included collegiate mile record-holder Miles Batty of BYU, and raced his way to the top. Rae, a junior, pulled away from the rest of the field with 400m to go and, with his 4:00.67 split for the 1600m anchor leg, helped the Irish men to the school’s first-ever relay national title. It came a few weeks after he ran the second sub-4:00 mile of his career with a 3:59.31 effort at the Meyo Invitational. It was a fitting rebound after his injury-riddled finish at the 2011 NCAA cross country championships (Rae finished 105th). We talked with Jeremy about his nagging Achilles injury, his plan for the outdoor season, being Canadian and his secret source of power.

Running Times: First things first, how does it feel to be a national champion?

Jeremy Rae: I mean, it feels really great. After the race we were all very excited. We thought we had a good shot at winning. I actually spent awhile looking through every leg on every team and I told the guys that there’s a good possibility that if they could give me the baton close to the lead, that’d be really great. So we were really excited. But, it didn’t take me that long to move on and start thinking of the future. So I think it’ll be more exciting when I win an individual title.

RT: How did your leg of the race play out?

JR: The guys gave me the baton in great position. I got the stick in third place and was less than a second ahead of fourth. It ended up being kinda slow. I think we were at 2:01 through 800m and then ended up being 3:04 or something like that through 1200m, until I decided to take the lead. It was nice they had the video board at the end of the backstretch — I could watch everybody and I saw Miles Batty closing the gap on us. I knew he was coming so as soon as he got up to our group, I decided to take off with 400m to go. I didn’t want him to sit off the group and rest.

RT: How is your training going now? Have you taken any time off?

JR: I took a couple days off after the relay, just the weekend off, then started back up. Not much of a break. I don’t run all that many miles so I didn’t really think I needed it. We’ve been doing more strength base stuff. I won’t race until Stanford which is still another two weeks from now, so we’re just putting in more strength and things like that.

RT: How many miles are you running?

JR: Shockingly little. I mean, during the season, I can get as low as 40 or 50, but right now I stand right around 60. Just talking to people I compete against I think it’s a little low, but I’ve always been a little low. My mileage was very, very low in high school, in like the 20s and 30s. This is almost a step up.

RT: Have you ever tried to step up the mileage?

JR: A little bit. In cross I get up to the 70s and a few weeks in the 80s, but it’s never been much higher than that.

RT: Why is that?

JR: (laughs) I don’t know. We’ve kinda tried but I tend to just break down a little bit. Just to avoid that we decided to just keep it around 70 or 80. We don’t really focus on mileage. I’m more of an 800m–1500m guy or 800m–mile guy, rather than a mile–5K. For an 800m–1500m guy, I don’t think you need that much more mileage than 60 or 70.

RT: Is there any hope for a 5K in your future?

JR: (Laughs) I’ve always thought about it. The cross season didn’t go as well as I wanted to this year. But initially this summer when I was trying to plan out my season, I told myself if I was an All-American in cross then I’d want to run a 5K at Stanford in the spring. I ended up getting injured last summer and didn’t really start training until the beginning of September. The cross season wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. It’s just not going to happen. I’m going to go out to Stanford and probably run a 1500m and maybe the 800m. I just don’t have the base and am not running the miles. Maybe a few years from now.

RT: What was your injury?

JR: I’ve been battling this Achilles injury. I actually hurt it last March so it’s been 12 months and it always bothers me. I’ve just kinda learned to deal with it. That’s another reason why I haven’t increased my mileage. It doesn’t allow it. With all the pounding, it flares up when I run too hard or too often. I think it’s just tendinitis and I’m working with my trainers to keep the inflammation down.

RT: Do you have a staple workout you run where you judge where you are in terms of fitness, a benchmark workout?

JR: Yeah. In the spring we always do this workout right before the Big East meet. It’s basically just to sharpen up. We just do 4x400m with 30 seconds rest and we try to keep them under 60, at the very least. Last year, the week before Big East, three of the reps were 58 and the last one was 53. That’s what we’re expected to do, just step it down on the last one. That’s the one we always look forward to. Everyone gets excited for it.

RT: Do you still have the rat tail?

JR: I do.

RT: What’s the deal with the rat tail?

JR: (Laughs) Well, I had a mullet in the cross country season, the whole team did, and we did the mustache thing too. We ended up winning the team title for Stachies at Nashies. We were all excited. After cross, everyone cut their mullets off but I wasn’t ready to part with it yet. It slowly got trimmed down and it was sometime over Christmas break when I wanted to try a rat tail, so we did that. It was kind of a joke but then I started to win races. And everyone told me that I couldn’t cut it off until I lost a race. Unfortunately, I’ve kept winning races so I haven’t allowed myself to cut it off yet. It’s a running joke that’s been going since the summer, since growing the mullet.

RT: You’ve got to keep your source of power.

JR: (Laughs) Yeah, exactly.

RT: What’s your plan for the outdoor season?

JR: Well, we’re going to start at Stanford and then from there just focus on the 1500m. I don’t think I’ll be able to run an 800m unless I decide to run it at Stanford. I’m just going to focus on the 1500m. I ended up missing out on an All-American spot last year, I was ninth outdoors. That really frustrated me. I also ran most of last year hurt, so it was really frustrating going to nationals and getting up to the line and knowing that I was hurt and knowing I couldn’t give my best. I just want to make sure I go back there and do well. There’s no reason I couldn’t be in the top five, that’s definitely my goal. After that, I’m Canadian so I’m probably going to run at our Olympic trials. Those two weeks between NCAAs and our Olympic trials will be the two weeks I’m looking forward to the most.

RT: Have you bonded with Cam Levins over your Canadian heritage?

JR: (Laughs) No, actually. I only met him for the first time in the cross season and I don’t think he knew who I was. That guy is amazing. I mean, we’re complete polar opposites in terms of the mileage we run. He’s doing great things.

Warner, Adjetey-Nelson and Arbour from L photo courtesy of PL Lam

The James Click Shootout Multis in Tuscon, Arizona today was the 2012 debut for several of Canada’s best multi-event athletes. Damian Warner of London, Ontario took the gold in the decathlon with 7977 points while getting personal bests in the 110m hurdles with 13.61 (0.0) and the shot put with 13.74m. Windsor’s James Adjetey-Nelson took the silver with 7706 points while also getting a personal best shot put toss of 15.47m.  Patrick Arbour of Ottawa took 4^th spot with a new personal best of 7086 points. He recorded 7 individual bests in the 10 event challenge.  The qualifying standard for the London Olympics is 8200 points.

University of Western Ontario graduate, Jen Cotton took the bronze in the heptathlon with a new personal best of 5707 points for the 2 day event. She got individual bests in the 100m hurdles, 13.69 (0.0), high jump 1.69m, shot put, 11.14m and 800m, 2:12.01

Inaki Gomez (R) and Evan Dunfee (L)

Today Inaki Gomez virtually printed his ticket to the London Olympic Games.  He recorded an A+ Olympic qualifying mark in the IAAF Challenge 20 km Race Walk in Taicang, China with his personal best performance of 1 hour 21:05.  His time narrowly misses the Canadian record of 1 hour 21:03 set by Arturo Huerta twelve years ago.  Wang Zhen and Chen Ding of China had a furious competition to decide the winner in Taicang with only 3 seconds between them. Wang prevailed in a new Asian record of 1 hour 17:36.

Inaki and his Canadian team mate Evan Dunfee have spent the winter training in Australia preparing to attack the qualifying standards in the 20 km race walk to represent Canada at the London Olympics. These University of British Columbia graduates gave a favourable indication in one of their preparatory races over the short 5 km distance in February. Inaki and Evan recorded personal bests of 18:45.64 and 19:08.87.   In fact Inaki did improve his personal best in China by over a minute from 1 hour 22:06. Evan clearly was off form, as his time in Taicang was 1 hour 26:20 compared to his personal best of 1 hour 23:25 set in Naumburg, Germany last season.  Predictions from his 5km time in February would equal the Canadian Olympic A qualifying mark of 1 hour 22:30.  He will surely seek another opportunity to make the required mark needed to join his training partner in London.

Harry Jerome

A RUNNER’S MIND: Harry Jerome: A Canadian track and field legend

One of my favorite running legends is sprinter Harry Winston Jerome because of his iron will to succeed both on and off the track, which is depicted in the National Film Board documentary Mighty Jerome.

Vancouver native Jerome’s star was so brilliant, when he set a 100-metres world record of 9.90 at the 1960 Canadian Olympic trials, officials decided not to count it because it was hand timed in Canada, insisting it should be “rounded off” to 10.0 to match the previous month’s world record set by German, Armin Hary. They basically implied no one could have run that fast—it can’t be true.  Note electronic timing of sprinters did not take place until 1972.

Later he set the world record for the 100 yard dash at 9.2, making Jerome the only athlete to own both the 100-yard and 100-metre world record simultaneously.  “There has been no one like him since Percy Williams,” Paul Winn, Jerome’s close friend who appears in the movie, has said.

If you don’t know Harry Jerome, (1940 – 1982) a prestigious international track meet is named after him—The Harry Jerome Track Classic at Swangard Stadium, June 10—and there is a larger than life bronze statue of him in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.  In 2010 he was named by the Canadian government as a Person of National Historical Significance.

Jerome is regarded as one of Canada’s greatest Olympians, competing in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Summer Olympics, winning 100 meter bronze in 1964 at the Tokyo games.

There were many notable career highlights, including gold medals at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and 1967 Pan American Games.  During his stellar career Jerome set or equaled seven world records, mostly under the tutelage of legendary University of Oregon track coach and Nike founder Bill Bowerman.

From early high school he showed promise, soon becoming a track and field star. At 18 he broke the 31-year-old Canadian record held by 1928 double Olympic gold medalist Percy Williams for the 220-yard sprint.  A year later he became the first Canadian to hold a world track record in the 100 yards distance in 9.2 seconds.

In 1959 at 19, Jerome was well on his way to the Rome Olympics. In ‘62 he suffered a severe leg injury and despite this he made a comeback. According to Bowerman it was the greatest comeback in track and field history.  A Canadian hero whose story in the film is told through close friends, his high school coach John Minichiello and family: his mom, ex-wife and daughter about his triumphs and tribulations during his life and career as a track star.

Mighty Jerome, written and directed by Charles Officer in his first feature length documentary—has received rave reviews. The movie is filmed in black and white which gives it a sense of nostalgia.  Dr. Douglas Clement is in the film, and along with his wife Diane Clement are the organizers of the Harry Jerome Track Classic.

The film inspired me because of Jerome’s strong character and “Don’t Give Up” motto that helped him not only to overcome his injury in 1962 but also his personal struggles and racial conflict.  He didn’t have a good relationship with the Canadian media as some members of the fifth estate were harsh on him and didn’t understand his injuries.

Dan Cumming, avid runner and editor of Running in the Zone remembers the late track star Jerome while growing up as they both belonged to the same track club, the Vancouver Optimist Striders.

“I met Harry when I was in my teens (16 or so).  I was a kid and Harry was moving onto the international stage just about then. Mighty Jerome brought back many memories of those early days, but also of Harry’s international triumphs and tragedies, as well as illuminating things I could not know.  I found it a wonderful blend of celebration of Harry’s accomplishments and spirit, but I was also saddened by learning what he endured and angered as well, by the racism involved. It is a true story and I think accurate, but any movie that can portray so much and make you feel it, is a ‘must see’ in my books.”

In 1982, age 42 Harry Jerome died of a brain aneurysm.

Christine Blanchette is a Richmond runner and writer. Follow  her on Twitter  (@christineruns) and at www.christineruns.com

Aaron Brown of Toronto made a massive improvement in the 100m sprint today as he won the Trojan Invitational in 10.25 seconds in Los Angeles representing University of Southern California.  In his sophomore season, he has improved his personal best of  10.38 by 0.13 seconds.  Aaron defeated a strong field with Prezel Harvey Jr. of Texas A&M taking the runner up spot in 10.35 seconds.

Aaron a Brirchmont Park graduate, showed great promise in 2009 and 2010 when he took the bronze medal at the World Youth and Junior Championships and last summer he took the bronze at the Pan American Games Junior Championships. He will turn 20 years old on May 27 this spring.

His time of 10.25 with a legal wind of 1.0m/sec would rank him #5 in Canada from 2011 marks.  He definitely is a threat to make the Canadian 4x100m if that team was selected to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.