Athletes run through the water in the youth girls 2,000-metre steeplechase.

PHOTO: ADAM DAY

2013 Legion Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships

It was  a record-breaker of a year at the 2013 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships held Aug. 7-13 in Langley, B.C.

Leading the way was Chicago Bains, a young track competitor from British Columbia/Yukon Command who not only won three gold medals at the event, but broke two Legion records, one in the midget girls 80-metre hurdles and the other as a part of the B.C./Yukon 4×100-metre relay team. Bains’ 80-metre hurdle time of 11.48 was also good enough to break the Canadian youth record, which has stood since 1982.

Beyond the standout Bains—who was awarded the Leroy Washburn Award as the meet’s top female athlete—there were no less than 10 other records broken at the event—12 in total.

At the opening ceremony on Friday evening at McLeod Athletic Park, Dominion President Gordon Moore welcomed the athletes and guests with a short speech. “This annual event is now in its 37th year in this particular format,” he said. “Since the beginning of these championships hundreds of thousands of young people like you have gathered for this event and many have gone on to fulfil their dreams at the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics or other world championships.”

Moore also explained to the gathered youth the deeper meaning behind the Legion’s long commitment to supporting events such as this.

“The Legion is proud to organize these kinds of events because we believe there is a need in this country to develop our youth,” said Moore. “We do it in the name of those whose youth was cut short by the wars this country had to fight. And we do it to honour those Canadians who still put on the uniform to serve their country.”

Luisa Schwarz winning the youth girls 3,000-metre race.

PHOTO: ADAM DAY

Among the other speakers was B.C.’s Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon, who offered the athletes a nice overview of the importance of the event. “It is a brilliant idea to combine remembrance of those who have sacrificed to protect our freedoms and safeguard peace with the inspiration and mentoring of our young and rising national heroes,” said Guichon. “And how appropriate it is that this should all take place throughout this week and today, Aug. 9, Canada’s National Peacekeepers’ Day.”

With the opening ceremonies out of the way, it was time for the young athletes to show their stuff. And that they did. Just to get a sense of how high the level of competition was at this year’s games, here’s a list of the 12 record-breaking performances, each one representing a truly spectacular level of preparation and performance: in the midget girls 200-metre, Zion Corrales-Nelson of B.C./Yukon ran a 24.53; in the midget girls 80-metre hurdles, the aforementioned Chicago Bains ran 11.48; in the midget girls pentathlon, Nina Schultz of B.C./Yukon scored a 3,332; the B.C./Yukon midget girls 4×100-metre relay team ran a 47.69; in the midget girls pole vault, Kassandra Hordal of Alberta-Northwest Territories cleared 3.20 metres; Grace Tennant from Ontario threw the discus 39.23 metres in the midget girls event; midget girl Chanell Botsis of B.C./Yukon threw the hammer 55.21 metres while Natasha Akbarizadeh of B.C./Yukon threw it 56.21 metres to take the youth girls event; in the midget boys pentathlon, Jasper Schiedel of B.C./Yukon scored a 3,257; in the youth boys 3,000-metre race walk, Marek Adamowicz of Quebec did it in 12:47.97; and last but certainly not least was Joseph Maxwell of Ontario in the midget boys division who threw the shot put 19.66 metre and the discus 63.22 metres, breaking two national records. Maxwell would go on to receive the Jack Stenhouse Award as the top male athlete of the games.

Joseph Maxwell receives the Jack Stenhouse Award from Nancy Stenhouse and Dominion President Gordon Moore.

PHOTO: ADAM DAY

Beyond the broken records and the awards, there were stellar gold-medal performances pretty much everywhere. For example, take Luisa Schwarz, 15, from Team New Brunswick who dominated the youth girls 3,000-metre race with a time of 10:03.34. This is her second time at Legion nationals and while she’s only been running competitively for a few years, she has the potential to go far in the sport. “I was ranked fourth so I thought I might get silver or bronze, but I didn’t think I’d win,” she said after the race, elated to have broken through and become a national champion. “I would like to go to some kind of international competition sometime,” she said of her future plans. “I don’t expect Olympics or anything, but some kind of world competition would be nice.”

To get a sense of how hard these young athletes work to achieve this level, consider the case of youth girls heptathlon winner Keely Watts-Watling of British Columbia. The 17-year-old came out on top in her competition after two days of events. She’s been training at track and field for nine years already and during the summer months will spend as much as 30 hours a week running, jumping and throwing in order to prepare herself. “It’s just a great feeling to be done and be on top of everyone,” she said after clinching her win on the track. “I think this is a great experience because you compete against the same people all year and then you get to come here and compete against people at your level.”

Athletes from Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command on parade.

PHOTO: ADAM DAY

But it wasn’t just on the field that history was made in British Columbia this summer. The organization of the games—no small feat as more than 700 athletes were involved—was handled for the first time ever by the B.C./Yukon Command Ladies Auxiliary. Local Arrangements Committee Chair Lesley Maudsley reported that no less than 16 different ladies auxiliaries were involved with 25 people on the event committee marshalling dozens and dozens of volunteers.

“I received a call from Dominion Command about two years ago now saying they’d like to bring the competition back to B.C. It’s the first time in history that the ladies auxiliary has ever hosted and permission was granted from B.C./Yukon Command as long as the L.A. did it,” said Maudsley. “I was quite overwhelmed when I got the list of what had to be done. I put out a call to the L.A. telling them it was the first time this has been tried and the ladies came through without hesitation.”

Legion Grand President Larry Murray presents the Leroy Washburn Award to Chicago Bains.

PHOTO: ADAM DAY

Working alongside the L.A. executive—L.A. Command President Karen Crashley, for example, was on hand during the games and volunteering for duties large and small—Maudsley and her crew of helpers put on a nearly flawless event.

“The ladies come out, we don’t have to beg and plead,” said Maudsley. “We’ve got some that aren’t able to do a lot of the duties but when it comes to something like putting things in goody bags a couple of ladies in wheelchairs will sit and do that and then they feel like they’ve been a help. It’s a small task but to them it’s an honour.”

At a banquet on Monday evening, Dominion Command Sports Committee Chairman Ed Pigeau presented the awards for the top male and female athletes and thanked all the volunteers, including the head chaperones John and Helen Ladouceur.

The meet was over for 2013 but they’ll be doing it all again next year, as the 2014 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships will be held next August at the same venue in Langley.

Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon at the microphone during the opening ceremony.

PHOTO: ADAM DAY