Kicking into high gear
Runners among elementary athletes testing their limits at board-wide track and field meet
The long and short of it is successful track and field athletes come in all sizes.
At six-foot-two, Queen Elizabeth public school’s Daniel Amos towers over his Grade 7 peers. His long legs powered Amos to victory in the 100 and 200 metre dash at the Kawartha Pine Ridge Elementary Athletic Association board-wide track and field meet Wednesday afternoon at Thomas. A. Stewart Athletic Field. He also won the shot put.
R.F. Downey Grade 5 pupil Makaylyn Gentle thinks her short stature gives her a running advantage. Gentle is not even sure of her height but says she’s the shortest girl in her class. She won the 100 and 200m dash.
“My brother (Kevin) says if you’re short you can run really fast,” Gentle said.
She says her older sister Ashunna won medals all through school.
“I have my sister’s blood,” she said. “When I was younger I used to race my brother and he’d try to put me in last and I’d always pop up right behind him and he would turn around and wouldn’t notice that I was actually in front of him.”
Gentle is in her first year at R.F. Downey after moving here from Oshawa.
“She’s amazing,” said R.F. Downey coach Jenny Moore. “She’s very tiny but she can move. She actually practices against our Grade 6 boy Ben (Swindells) who has also done very well today. Her and Ben have challenged each other back-andforth the whole time we’ve been practising. She came to us as a good runner. We’ve just taken that and ran with it.”
Swindells won the Grade 6 boys 100m dash.
Amos says he didn’t excel initially at track and field until he had a growth spurt. He joined the Peterborough Legion Track Club earlier this year and is working on his technique.
“I’ve learned better technique and form and I think it’s helped,” Amos said. “Good technique and form can help you get faster times in sprints.”
His success has given him big ambitions.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to be fast enough but one day I aspire to be in the Olympics,” he said.
Amos got a scare in the 200m final. With a large lead Amos turned his ankle in the final 50 metres and stumbled.
“I was scared I was going to go out of my lane and get disqualified,” he said. “I had worked so hard to get to where I am that I didn’t want that to happen.”
There were more than 600 athletes representing 78 Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board schools in seven track and four field events. The top three in each event qualify for the second annual Central and Southern Ontario Elementary School Meet June 25 in Oshawa.
NOTE: See the complete results list online at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.