Zoe Unger or BC/Yukon and Lena Eys of Laurel Creek Track Club in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., finished 2-3 respectively in the women’s under-18 2,000m steeplechase at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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The participants came from both Legion-sponsored programs and private clubs: 307 Legion athletes representing nine regions of the RCL (Prince Edward Island did not send a team) and 629 club and unattached competitors.

Some 160 volunteers, 139 coaches and 62 officials made it happen. More than 300 medals were awarded, with Team Ontario taking 35, including 18 gold, and British Columbia/Yukon garnering 34. Quebec was third with 27.

At fourth in the overall medal standings, Flying Angels Academy out of Toronto topped the open participants, with 13, including six gold.

The Legion’s largest single monetary investment annually, the 46-year-old championships marked “the return of the Royal Canadian Legion delivering values-based sport, focused on positively impacting the lives of Canadian youth through meaningful engagement and life-changing experiences,” said senior program officer Steven Van Muyen.

“The RCL remains committed to Canada’s youth and building Canada’s communities through the power of sport.”

Quebec’s 4x400m relay team celebrates their second-place finish in the final event of the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

Stephen J. Thorne

The championships marked the 75th anniversary of Canadian peacekeeping and peacekeeping veterans were present throughout the three-day event.

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The Legion Nationals’ first honorary chair, wounded Afghanistan veteran and champion para athlete Mike Trauner, declares the championships open.

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Quebec’s Alexandre Gauthier steals a silver medal at the finish line for his U16 men’s 1,600m medley team, lunging past BC/Yukon’s Arjun Sandhu for first place in their heat and second overall. Gauthier injured his shoulder in the effort.

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Liam Miller of Bolton, Ont., Pole Vault cleared 4.45 metres to win the U18 event at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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The joy of running: Sara McKee, Ontario, U18 women’s 100m hurdles.

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Pursued by teammate William Scharf, Ontario’s Ryan Georgeson takes a glance back in the final 50 metres of his winning performance in the U16 men’s 1,200m. Georgeson took two gold medals at the Championships , the other in the 800m. Scahrf took silver in both events. Arjun Sandhu of BC/Yukon took bronze and won the 2,000m metres.

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Ontario’s William Scharf embraces teammate Ryan Georgeson after the U16 men’s 1,200 metres. Georgeson won gold while Scahrf took silver. They had identical resukts in the 800m.

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Sayant Arulrajan of United Tamil Sport Club of Scarbororough, Ont., took bronze in the U18 men’s long jump with a leap of 6.79 metres.

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Jorai Oppong-Nketiah of Ottawa Lion TFC won the U16 women’s 100m (pictured) and the 200. Jordynn Scott of Ontario (right), going head-to-head with sister Jurnee of The Speed Academy Athletics Club in Pickering, Ont., took silver while Kyla Findley of Mantioba/Northwest Ontario won the bronze. Jurnee Scott finished five-hundredths of a second behind her.

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Ryder Rattee of Alberta/NWT won the U18 men’s 400m in 48.53s, then anchored his team to a bronze in the 4×400.

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Kayla Kadji-Majo of Saint-Jean, Que., Olympique Athletisme took silver in the U16 women’s 80m hurdles, clocking a 12.10 to an 11.96 by Lily Stroda of BC/Yukon.

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Alicia Millar of Club d’thletisme de Gatuneau, Que., heaves the javelin in the U18 women’s event.

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Justin Knight of Ontario took the U16 men’s 200m hurdles in 25.54s.

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Eye of the tiger. Anna Somers of New Brunswick looks uptrack before her U18 women’s 400m preliminary at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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U16 high jumper Biren Balaramana of Ontario applies willpower to the bar. It apparently worked, he scured a silver medal with a jump of 1.87 metres.

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Muiltiple medal-winning Jordynn Scott anchors Ontario to gold, taking the handoff from Savanah Griffith in the U16 women’s 4x100m relay.

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Preliminaries in the U16 men’s 100m hurdles at the 2023 Legion National Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Riley Innes of Ontario cruised through the prelininaries to take the final in the U16 women’s 200m.

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Nate Phillips of Manitoba/Northwest Ontario shakes the hand of Quebec’s Noah Fortier after the U18 men’s 3,000 metres.

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Abby Lewis of Athletics East Nova Scotia checks out her winning time of 9:48.07 in the U18 women’s 3,000 metres while recovering on the track with fifth place finisher Beatrice Choiniere-Lambert of Quebec.

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Wet or dry, BC-Yukon’s Lily Stroda dominated in the under-16 women’s 80m hurdles, running a 12.03 in the early-morning heats on Day 1, then taking gold in 11.96s.

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Anchor Quinn Coughlin of the Ottawa Track and Field Club takes the pass from Meredith McCabe, while Jill Nyman of Laurel Creek Track and Field Club in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., hands off to anchor Anna Douma in the under-18 women’s 4x400m relay at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. The clubs finished 7-8 respectively.

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Runners compete in the under-18 men’s 2,000m steeplechase at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Isabella Mills of Ontario’s London-Western Track and Field Club has her eyes on the prize, but it was Emilie Gervais of Laurel Creek T&F Club in Kitchener-Waterloo who took bronze in the under-16 women’s 80m hurdles.

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Sicxty-two offcials ran a tight ship at the 2023 Legion National Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Delaney Self of BC/Yukon hands off to sister Makenna on the final leg of their heat in the U18 women’s 4x100m, while Saskatchewan’s Moyinoluwa Oluwasikun takes the baton from Halee Woodhouse. BC/Yukon finished fourth; Saskatchewan took fifth.

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Thank the bar.

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At 25.04s, Moni Galoun-Eta of Alberta/NWT ran the second-best 200m in under-18 women’s qualifying but couldn’t compete in the final at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. She took gold in the 300m.

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Susan Hurtubise of BC/Yukon won the under-18 women’s pole vault clearing 3.40 metres at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Isaac Annoh of Manitoba/NWT won the under-16 men’s shotput, heaving a 16.13m.

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Asia Phillips of Toronto Flying Angels Academy took three golds at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.: high jump, triple jump and she anchored the club’s winning U18 women’s 4x100m relay team.

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The carnage following the U16 men’s 2,000 metres, with a runner still coming in.

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Hannah Gates of Saskatchewan took gold in the under-16 women’s 800m, clocking 2:12.24 to Burlington T&F’s Maya Markowska’s 2:12.98 at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. Gates also won gold in the 1,200 metres and the triple jump, as well a bronze anchoring her team’s 1,600m medley. She received the Leroy Washburn Award as the top female Legion athlete of the competition.

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Myka Wilson of Nova Scotia/Nunavut takes a leap in the U16 women’s long jump at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Jurnee Scott of The Speed Academy Athletics Club in Pickering, Ont., took silver in the under-16 women’s 200m hurdles, running 28.03 — 0.10s behind her gold medal-winning sister Jordynn, who ran for Team Ontario.

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Runners congratulate one another after the U18 women’s 100m final, won by Roxane Tedga of Quebec (facing camera) in 12.37s.

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Brady Keller of Alberta/NWT and Elijah Bayne of Ontario’s Thorold Elite Track Club shake after U18 men’s 1,500 metres at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Anchor Alexane Hunter of Quebec takes at the pass from teammate Sofia Agudelo in the under-18 women’s 4x400m relay at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. The team finished second to Ontario’s Etobicoke Track and Field Club.

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Good times at the 2023 Legion Nationals.

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Quebec’s Robin Lefebvre ran a strong under-18 men’s 800m, pulling away from the pack in the final 200 to beat Saskatchewan’s Killan Naughton by almost a second with a 1:53.46. BC/Yukon’s Mark Molina took the bronze.

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Jenna Tunks took silver in the U16 women’s shotput and gold in the discus.

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Juliette Dionne of Quebec takes her shot in the U16 women’s long jump.

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Gursher Gabri, an unattached athlete from British Columbia, took gold in U16 discus (48.69m) and silver in the shotput (15.70).

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Naomi Byam of Ontario won the U18 women’s 100m hurdles in 14.13s.

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A hammer thrower takes his ball for a walk at the 2023 Legion National Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Jorai Oppong-Nketiah of Ottawa Lions TFC clocked a 24.65 to win the under-16 women’s 200m at the 2023 Legion National Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. She also took gold in the 100.

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Guillaume Tremblay of CA Universite Laval woin his heat in the under-18 men’s 800m but placed eighth in the final tally.

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Shadae Thompson of Ontario spreads a little love after winning the U18 women’s 200 metres in 25.10s.

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Five one-hundredths of a second seperated the Top 3 finishers in the under-16 men’s 200m. Ontario’s Dennis Iriowen came in at 22.50 and two runners from Toronto’s Flying Angels Academy, Jahleel Haley and Kerwin Brooks followed at 22.53 and 22.55 respectively.

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Quebec’s Samuel Pinceau took gold in the U18 men’s 110m hurdles, running a 14.29.

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Susan Hurtubise of BC/Yukon won the under-18 women’s pole vault clearing 3.40 metres at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Pole vault coaches wait for a race to end before they hump their charges’ equipment to the far side of the field.

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Zander Hill and the rest of his 4x400m team from New Brunswick had the Viking thing goin’ on during the men’s relay final at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Naomi Shillingford runs the third leg of the under-18 women’s 4x400m relay for the race-winning Etobicoke, Ont., Track and Field Club at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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Limbering up. Way up.

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James Hodgson overtook BC/Yukon teammate Samuel May to win the under-18 men’s 2,000m steeplechase at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. Noah Fortier of Quebec took second and May finished third.

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Ontario celebrates after winning the women’s 4x400m relay.

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Sixcty-two track officials kept things rolling smoothly at the 2023 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que.

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