There were two local meets on the weekend with several North Shore athletes faring exceptionally well. On Friday at Swangard the Chancellor Invitational drew about 150 athletes to test their early season fitness. NorWester athletes Ali Hudson and Emily Sheppard were victors in the girls 800m (2:21) and high jump (1:65m), while Metro athlete Cody Smith took the boy’s 400m in 50.5. At the Valley Royals meet the next day, there was a more significant North Shore presence with NorWesters bringing home the most hardware. In addition to Winter, Lindsay Barrett placed 2nd (4:58) in the girl’s 1500m, Rebecca Quiring 3rd (5:01) and Casey Berardo 5th (5:06). Thrower Joe Eppele picked up 2 silvers in the Shot Put (13.03m) and the Hammer (56.79m). SFU athletes Carolyn Hay won the women’s hammer (51.32m) and Graeme Pitches took the men’s 400m hurdles in 54.22 seconds. Cody Smith tried for the weekend double in the men’s 400 but was edged for 2nd this time in 50.85.

As a coach in our sport I have been mystified at the difference in popularity of track & field locally and just over the border in Washington and Oregon. At the Gresham meet there were over 1200 high school athletes participating with 5000 screaming spectators in the stands, whereas there were probably not more than 200 competing in both meets here on the weekend and even less in the stands. My conclusion is that youth in the US have been turned on to the rewards of hard work, commitment, healthy lifestyle and forming strong social relationships that evolve through sport. Sport is ‘cool’ down there and increasingly track is returning to the stature it once enjoyed. Although discouraged at the status of track and field in Canada I am very encouraged by the increased participation this spring in the North Shore High School program. Perhaps we are leading the way and will inspire young people in other areas to join in the fun and hopefully we will catch up to our neighbours one day soon." - Frank Reynolds


April 27, 2003 - Centennial Invite, Oregon

This weekend, eight NorWesters athletes travelled down to Gresham, Oregon to compete in the Centennial Invitational. It was a great weekend which saw many PBs and other great performances. This was the 39th edition of this fantastic meet which sees 1200 of the best high school athletes from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia compete in a single day. Leading the team was Ali Hudson, running a marathon of events: 400 (heats and finals) finishing 2nd overall with a personal best of 58.01, the 800 in 2:27.14, and she finished the day with a solid performance running on the girls 4x400 team. The other breath-taking performance was Chris Winter's 3000 at 9:30pm. The stadium was lit up, and a competitive 3000m set off. Chris used a strong final kick in the last 200m (30 seconds!) to move from 8th to 3rd, en route to a 3 second PB of 8:35.85. PBs were also seen in the 1500 by Casey Berardo (5:08.97), Mike Adair(4:40.1) with both of these results being around 10 second improvements from their previous bests. Sarah Hudson ran a PB of 65.25 in the 400, quickly followed by an 800 in 2:36.03. Matt Mueller ran 2:18.97 in the 800, a huge PB. Lindsay Barrett was in the top heat of the 1500s, running a very hard and gutsy race to finish with a respectable time of 5:10. Tom Skinner ran a 9:31.24 in the 3000m, less than a second off his personal best. At the end of the meet, everyone's legs full of lactic acid, we put together a girls and a boys 4x400m team. The two teams showed great effort by everyone, unfortunately, the boys were a little out of their league, passing the baton to the final runner with a 200m gap behind the competition. None-the-less, we showed great heart and determination, both teams finishing with a valiant effort. Everyone had a fantastic time, with amazing memories that will last us a long time. Next stops are the Chancellor Invitational and the Fraser Valley Invitational to keep the PBs rolling.


April 22, 2003 - Lots of news from our club in the last few weeks, so here we go!

Chris Winter, Frank Reynolds, and Linda Noble each received an award in the respective fields of athlete, coach, and official.


Sun Run - Congratulations to Tom (35:31), Casey (40:41) and Ali (42:38) for winning your age divisions in the race. And Casey gets the most improved gold star improving 8 minutes over last year! Jeff was 2nd in his category in 37:08 and had a 1-minute improvement; Annelize (41:36) was 3rd in her category. Mikey (38:13) with a 1-minute improvement was 5th in his category, Linz (44:08) was 1 ½ minutes faster placing 8th in her category; Sarah (46:22) was also 8th and I also noticed the result of that mysterious member of our group who quietly goes about his training – Marco running 42:27 in 30th spot in his age group. Once again congratulations to all on running a ‘fun’ race with almost 50,000 other runners and walkers. It’s a ‘happening’. - Frank Reynolds


Mt. Sac Relays - Over the Easter Long Weekend, we had some athletes competing at the prestigious Mt. Sac Relays in California with some of the best runners in North America and the World. Chris Winter placed 5th with an 8:41 in the 3000 while Ryan Weber, running for SFU, had a fantastic 3000 steeplechase and Warren Hatch competed for UBC in the 1500.


April 17, 2003 - It's time for the NorWesters Elementaries Meet again. It will be held May 10th at Swanguard Stadium. meet information and entry form. Entry deadline is April 30th, 2003.


April 15, 2003 - The Practices and News sections are up and running. More to come over the next week. For any athletes considering the Chancellor Invitational or the Valley Royals HS Invitational meets, the schedules and information are here and here.


April 4, 2003 - We have just acquired www.norwesterstandf.com, and are in the process of upgrading to our new server and changing our layout. Everything will be up and running soon.