WESTLOCK – Pembina North Community School students will soon be better equipped for track and field as a new 300-metre running track nears completion.
The project, which began in August and is expected to be completed shortly, is part of the Pembina Hills School Division’s efforts to enhance sports programs.
PNCS principal Raime Drake says they offer volleyball, basketball, soccer, and badminton, but she has had her eyes on enhancing track and field programming for some time.
“It was a strong desire of our students and our staff to build up our track-and-field program,” said Drake. “Normally we would go to a divisional event hosted in Barrhead and our kids just didn’t have the same exposure as the others. It’s completely different running on a shale track instead of grass or the road.”
Costing just over $54,400, the new track was funded through school reserves, but due to COVID-19 affecting attendance in the 2020-2021 school year, there was additional funding available to complete the long-awaited project.
“It has been something we have worked on and was something a little bigger than our fundraising society could handle. But it was a unique year for lack of better words where we couldn’t access as much PE as we normally would. Through a combination of different factors we were able to do this project,” she said.
The track has been a source of excitement for both staff and students at the school as well as the community as a whole.
“It doesn’t sound like much but it is a big deal for us,” said Drake. “We are just trying to get the kids outside. We want to take the kids out for different classes for some running and get them active and excited at a younger age.”
PNCS teacher Mike Ivey, who coaches track-and-field, says that both he and his students are excited for the new running track as it will provide a proper place to train for track and field and cross country running which students participate in yearly.
“We’ve been thinking about it for a while. We’re all super pumped to have it,” said Ivey. “Raimie Drake has done a majority of the work for it and we’re very lucky to have her here. It’s been something in the works for a long time and it’s nice that we had the money available to us for this project. We can use it for so many things. We’re going to use it a lot in our phys ed classes for warming up and any kind of running events.”
For students hoping to pursue track and field as more than just a hobby, he says the new track will be the perfect place to train due. The track uses shale imported from Saskatchewan, is one of the most common running surfaces, which Ivey says will prepare students for higher levels of competition.
“There’s kids who want to go to higher level events such as divisionals or track meets or if track and field is something they want to do in college or university, this track will help them train with the proper stuff,” he said.
