Harry Jerome would agree.

Let’s build a system that allows our Canadian athletes from the far north to reach their potential in the sport of track and field.

The 2022 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Track Classic provides that opportunity, but our local May weather looks more like a wet winter day-10 degrees C and raining buckets.

Meet director for the Jerome Classic, Nigel Hole is hoping that “Mayvember” will be over by Tuesday, June 14^th at Swangard Stadium.

Meanwhile, our Canadian track and field athletes are traveling far and wide looking for optimal conditions.  

This week almost a dozen Canadian athletes will fly over the Atlantic to Birmingham, UK for the second Diamond League competition of the year. The first Diamond League meet has last weekend in Doha, Qatar, but extraordinary heavy winds hampered almost every event.

Canadian entries for Birmingham Diamond League this Saturday, May 21 are

Men’s 100m- Andre De Grasse 9.89, Aaron Brown 9.96,

                        Jerome Blake 10.00 and Brendon Rodney 10.18

Women’s 100m- Khamica Bingham 11.22

Men’s 800m- Marco Arop 1:43.26

Women’s 800m- Lindsey Butterworth 1:59.19

Men’s 4x100m-Canada 37.70

Women’s 4x100m- Canada 43.11

Men’s High Jump- Django Lovett 2.33m

STREAMING LIVE HERE

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Next stop is Walnut, CA.  The United States track and field governing body USATF have released the final entry lists for the USATF Distance Classic 2022. The meeting focuses on middle distance events and will gather some of the best US and international runners. The meeting takes place on Thursday, May 19 at the Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California

16 Canadian middle distance runners will travel south of the 49^th in their preparation and quest for the vital standards needed for qualification for the 2022 World Athletic Championships set for Eugene, Oregon starting on July 15^th this summer.

Canadian entries in Walnut are

Women 800m-Gabriel Debues-Stafford 1:58.70, Madeleine Kelly 1:59.83,

                           Julianne Labach 2:00.88, Addy Townsend 2:01.24

Women 1500m-Natalia Hawthorn 4:04.20

3000m Steeplechase- Charlotte Prouse 9:33.00, Jessica Furlan 9:38.43, Julia Howley 9:47.24

Men 800m-Brandon McBride 1:43.51, Mohand Zine Khelaf 1:47.06

Men 1500m-Moh Ahmed  3:34.89, Cameron Proceviat 3:36.80, Kevin Robertson 3:38.04

Men 3000m-Steeplechase, Matthew Hughes 8:13.56, John Gay 8:16.99

Men 5000m-Ben Flanagan 13:20.67

STREAMING LIVE HERE

For the Canadian runners who have already obtained the standards, this event offers a world class field to sharpen the race tactics.  Others need the fast times to obtain the qualification standards. Canadian NCAA student athletes who qualified last weekend for the NCAA east and west semi-finals set for the end of May, will train through this weekend to optimally prepare for this important next step.

Many of these athletes will compete at the 2022 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Track Classic set for June 14^th at Swangard Stadium.

Gary Kingston, the Jerome media co-ordinator reported, “The Jerome, Canada’s longest running track and field event, will feature a full field of athletes and fans in the stands this year. The 2020 Jerome was canceled outright because of the Covid pandemic and the 2021 event was limited to just 71 athletes and no spectators inside the stadium. But that meet was still a resounding success with one Canadian record set, one Olympic standard reached, four meet records and 27 personal bests”

World Athletics, the international governing body lead by Olympic Champion, Seb Coe, has classified the Jerome as a World Athletics Continental Tour, Bronze Level. This designation of the Jerome Classic will provide the athletes with the opportunity to collect World Ranking points.

Tickets to the meet are now available online at www.harryjerome.com