On Saturday, January 11, three Georgian Bay Coyotes high school-aged athletes travelled to the Toronto Track and Field Center at York University to participate in the Ontario Relay Championships.
Isabel Spence, Vani Mahajan, and Emmett Leary all ran individually, despite most of the races being relays. They were able to showcase their endurance while tackling the 10 lap, 2,000m race on this indoor, banked 200m track. Races were organized by gender and by speed, eliminating the age categories until calculating the results, and placing racers with the most similar seed times within the same heat. There were eight heats of 2,000m racers, four for the girls and four for the boys.
The first Coyote to toe the line was 15-year-old Isabel Spence. She was feeling nervous about the first indoor race of the season, but she put on a clinic while on the track. Her goal was to run a negative split race, with the second half of the race being faster than the first. At the gun, she took off, starting with a quick first 200m. Then she settled in and held a steady and strong pace. After the fifth lap, true to her plan, she started increasing her pace and finished with a beautiful burst of speed, winning her heat by quite a margin. Her hard training and carefully calculated efforts helped her knock an amazing twenty seconds off her previous personal best, placing her in fifth position in the U18 age group.
Up next was U20 runner, Vani Mahajan. Vani is busy working hard to get into medical school and had not raced the 2,000m since 2022. She was brave to jump back into racing and was very realistic in setting goals as she prepared for the start. She pushed hard during her first lap and then settled into a strong pace and held it throughout the race. She beat her estimated time by 15 seconds and showed excellent strength and determination on the track.
The final Coyote runner for the day was Emmett Leary. His seed time was good enough to place him in the fastest heat of the day and this gave him some very strong runners to battle and chase. Starts are often a weakness for Emmett, but his timing and experience with the start line paid off. He got out cleanly and claimed his space as other racers jockeyed for the inside lane. He started out mid pack and then moved forward, aiming to stay within striking distance of the lead group. He fought hard, but the front pack of four runners managed to create a gap that could not be closed. Emmett finished on empty and earned himself fourth position in the U18 boys category.
Coaches and parents are very proud of the way these young athletes conducted themselves both on and off the track.
“They are an incredible group of young leaders from our community and their present and future achievements are, and will be, remarkable, of that I am sure,” said Coyotes Head Coach Mary Jack.
For more information about the team, please check out their website at: www.georgianbaycoyotes.com
