Barrhead Elementary School indoor running club extends streaks

BARRHEAD - Two Barrhead Elementary School indoor running club teams will advance to the final day of the Running Room's Indoor Games competition on March 8 at the University of Alberta's Butterdome.

The event, formerly known as the Edmonton Journal Indoor Games, is a community track and field event that allows elementary and high school students from Grades 3 to 12 all over the province to experience the thrill of competition.

BES has competed at the event in some form, mostly in Grade 4-6, 8x200 metre relay competitions, for over 30 years.

On Feb. 21, five BES relay teams, two boys and three girls, attempted to qualify for the quarter-finals, with one boy and one girl team making the final cut. Kate Fitzpatrick also competed in the individual 200-metre event and qualified for the final day of competition.

BES coach Kelly Klein said this year's event has a more condensed schedule, which presents a challenge in getting the squads ready to compete.

Especially, she said, when the club has so many participants.

This year, the BES 38 students tried out for the team.

In past years, Klein said they opened the indoor track team to any Grade 4 to 6 student for open tryouts and then dwindled the squad to 20 to create one boy and one girl 8x200 relay team, each having one alternate.

However, she said this year, she decided not to make any cuts and continue to add relay squads as the numbers allowed.

"This year, we had 38 students come out for the indoor track team," Klein said, admitting the change made practices a bit chaotic at times.

The reason for the change, she said, is to help continue to build and grow the program.

"But even more important," Klein said. "Is to help foster a more healthy and active lifestyle. Running is an ability people can do for their entire lives."

The school's indoor running club or track team started in earnest in the New Year with twice-a-week practices, one in the BES gymnasium and one at the Barrhead Agrea walking track.

"We are fortunate to have the walking track," she said, adding it is a facility that not many other schools in small communities have access to. "It is a little longer than the 800 metres that we need, and all the dips slow down our times, but that is a good thing because when we get to the Butterdome, we tend to be faster than our training times."

Klein said she has been involved, as a teacher, with the program since about 2018, her association with the school's indoor running track team goes back much further.

"I was on the team when [Mr. Laurin Lamothe] was the coach," she said.

Lamothe started the program with his wife,  Gayle, over 30 years ago. The couple retired from full-time teaching in 2016, with Laurin stepping away from the indoor running track team's head coaching duties in 2015.

She also noted that the indoor running club usually gets off to an earlier start, more often than not, in the fall.

"But, they've done great," Klein said. "They've really listened and learned how to pass the baton well."

In all the years BES has sent teams to the Indoor Games, they've always had teams that advanced to the final day of competition.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com