BARHEAD - Both Barrhead Elementary School's (BES) eight-by-200-metre relay teams advanced to the medal final heat for the Running Room Indoor Games at the University of Alberta's Butterdome on March 8.
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.
The girls finished sixth in the heat and 11th overall out of 119 schools, while the boys finished fifth out of 121.
"The girls had a mishap with one of the baton exchanges," said head coach Kelly Kline, adding they are not sure what happened but think one of the other competitors also in the exchange zone at the same time may have accidentally hit it out of one of the BES athletes' hand. "That created a big, long gap we couldn't recover from."
BES also had a competitor, Kate Fitzpatrick, in the girls' 200-metre sprint and reached the semi-finals.
"She did an amazing job pushing through," Klein said. "That day, she ran five races. I can't imagine what her legs felt like at the end of the day."
Barrhead qualified for the final day of the competition at a preliminary Feb. 21 qualification event. In the quarter-finals, the girls won their heat, automatically qualifying them for the next round, while the boys finished second in their heat but had a fast enough time to move on to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, both squads won their heats, earning a spot in the medal finals.
Klein said, unfortunately, Barrhead and other rural schools outside the immediate Edmonton region are at a disadvantage.
The quarter-final and semi-final races are in the early morning or afternoon, with the Butterdome then shutting down until the final competitions at 8 p.m.
"Where do you go when you are from out of town," Klein said, adding it doesn't make sense for athletes from places like Barrhead to go home during the break. "Instead, you have to go to a mall or a restaurant for five hours, and you don't get that downtime to get good sufficient recovery rest. That is our biggest challenge as an out-of-town school."
As a result, she said, BES contingents Indoor Games times are traditionally faster in the quarter and semi-finals, which was the case again for both the boys' and girls' relay teams.
She noted that all the other teams that made the Top 12 were from Edmonton proper or its suburbs.
"They have the opportunity to go home, have a home-cooked meal and rest," Klein said.
She added that the semi-finals and finals can be incredibly stressful for the team newcomers as the coaching staffing is not allowed on the track.
"Over the years, that has always been the kids' biggest trepidation about running in the later rounds, but they've always handled it like champs."
Klein said that she knew the kids were disappointed with their performance in the finals.
"They were very hopeful going into the Finals and felt defeated after their race. We, as coaches, were not disappointed in them at all. They gave it everything in that final race, racing on an empty gas tank. They just didn't have the appropriate environment to rest and recharge," she said.
Klein also thanked her fellow coach, Chelsey Morrow, and parent volunteer Mandy Veenstra, who helped at the Butterdome and their regular Monday practices.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
